Hakuna waku Tanana-nawe

As you may have guessed, I have experience more in these past couple of weeks than I could ever consider writing about on a blog. In short, almost immediately after arriving in Uganda we took a nine day trip to Rwanda. While at Rwanda we attended churches, visited memorials, and listened to speakers. We learned and embraced what happened during the Rwandan genocide. I cannot express to you the magnitude of emotional stress we dealt with every day. I refuse to go into details about what we heard about the genocide, if you have questions feel free to ask, but it was almost too hard for me to hear. One thing I will say is that I learned that humans have an immeasurable capacity for evil. However, they also have the same capacity for good. The mere fact that victims are able to forgive (or in the process of forgiving) the very people who murdered their family absolutely amazes me. God is working in Rwanda in amazing ways that I will never fully understand. But I can take heart in knowing that God is moving in people’s hearts to forgive and reconcile, and there are noticeable changes.
After the Rwanda experience, we took two days to debrief. The location of the debrief: Bunyoni Island! This island is amazing lush and absolutely beautiful. We were able to relax and take in God’s wonderful creation. It is an easy 30 min walk to get around the island, and has a rope swing, canoes, trails, etc. The time there allowed a lot of us to really bond and sort through all the emotions we had been feeling throughout the week. It was a time well-needed and well-spent.
Upon returning to campus we immediately began classes. Classes schedules are extremely different here-I might go into details another time. But I came realize two things during the week. 1. I am not on a mission’s trip and 2. my spiritual journey is determined by God, not me. To address the first thing, I know many want me to go and “bring the gospel” to the world. Not surprisingly, the gospel is already here and being spread by its own people. I have been so encouraged by the students in Uganda. Many of them have such a deep relationship with God and vast knowledge of scripture. Many know more about the Bible than I do-not to mention that they talk more openly about their faith than I have experienced by many people in the states. Although I don’t bring the gospel, I have realized that I can join in the spreading of God’s word, but just going to Africa does not make this so. I am just as much of a missionary here as I am in the states. And if I lack the ambition to share my faith with people of my same culture, what good am I in another country with people whose culture I do not understand? With all that said, I guess what I am trying to say is that life as a Christian should be a constant sharing the Truth rather than assuming that a person traveling to a different area of the world is any different of a Christian than the person who stays at home….it’s life, not a missions trip. As far as the second thing, God is really working on me. If I may be as bold as to say that God is revealing to me who I am-my identity in Him. I am being challenged every day by new thoughts/ideas/interactions/experiences that are molding me and testing me. I don’t really know how to put it into words. It is a hard but good thing. It’s like a spiritual workout, constantly wrestling with God to find out what He is showing me and teaching me and turning me into. I’m sorry if you are disappointed by my explanation, if I possessed the words to fully explain what God is doing, then believe me, I would.
Well, there is it. A little bit of what has gone on and what is going on. There are hardly details, and for that I apologize-I have neither the time nor the energy to write EVERYTHING. I hope you can forgive me, if you ask, I will be more than happy to share specific examples . Just know that your prayers are well embraced, I think of you all often, and I cannot wait to see what God has in store the next couple of months. Yup yup yup. Good night!