The interns and I are just finishing our third week here in Uganda. It is amazing how fast time has flown by and how quickly Uganda has come to feel like home! When I steeped off the plane I was not exactly sure what this summer would entail, I only knew Uganda through the eyes of a short term mission trip. I was excited to learn more about what it was like to actually live a life in Uganda, rather than the go, go, go of a short term mission trip.
What I have learned so far is the two are not comparable at all. My short term trip was amazing, I met some incredible people, was introduced to Uganda and some amazing ministries (including Healing Faith) that I would have never known about or truly understood without being there. Over the course of my short term trip, I fell more and more in love with Uganda and knew that God was calling me to return. I loved getting to visit the different mission organizations and to learn about their philosophies and having the opportunity to love on as many children as possible.
Not everyone knows that living on the mission field is nothing like being on a short term trip. This internship has done such an awesome job showing us what life in Uganda is really like. As an intern we get to see what happens in every day life in Uganda. What life is like when teams are not here. We do not go to the village everyday, some days the rain keeps us away and life does not even come close to following a well planned
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out day to day schedule. The relationships that we are forming are much longer lasting and have a much different meaning because we are staying for a longer time and have the ability to really invest in the people around us. I love spending time just hearing about the hearts of the Segner Family and really getting to know their children. What you may not know is Kari and Jason are not just investing in the lives of the people they meet in the village, they love on us as interns, the other staff members of Healing Faith, the guards who protect their home and ours every day and night and the community members all around Jinja. They have amazing relationships with shop owners and other Christian ministries around town and live their entire lives as part of their mission field, and somehow have time to raise 5 kids, and supposedly find time to sleep. I love that as interns we have the ability to help out in any way possible. Some days we help with home schooling, some days we make spread sheets, count t-shirts, count malaria supplies and nets. Unlike short term trips not everything we do in in direct service in the village, but we are still spending each day serving Healing Faith, the Segner Family, and most importantly Christ.
So far I am loving everything about this summer! It has been so amazing to really understand what life is like and to get to experience all of Uganda, from trying to buy things in the market, having no clue what to buy in our version of a supermarket to make dinner, watching Greg in his safari hat conquer the 10 inch lizards in the kitchen, learning how to make eggs and toast like a boss and to learn how to just go with the flow. My favorite days are still those days that we get to spend in the village, but seeing all of the other work and love that happens outside of the villages makes the village days so much more rewarding. Knowing he story behind specific children and adults in the village makes hearing them respond to "Do you love Jesus?",
with a loud yell of "yes I do!"mean so much more than it ever did before. I lover understanding more and more about the people that we are able to server everyday, and I love that each time I go into the village I come home with new friends and a deeper understanding than what I had the day before.
Healing Faith is entering a huge summer, with three of us interns, the 8 McMorris Family who arrived a week ago, a Healing Faith team, a few Visiting Orphans teams and other visitors who are all about to be on their eay over in the next few weeks. I am so excited to get to witness all of this excitement and growth this summer and know that God has some amazing thing in the works for the future of Healing Faith. It is such a blessing to get to serve here every day and to witness all of the amazing that God is doing on a daily basis.
I cannot imagine loving being anywhere else more.
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