so, i do have time

so i actually haven't done anything today. at all. which is really odd. i've been at the skinnners all day and we have been taking things easy. the skinners are way cool (can't really say they are the coolest missionaries, but ya know...).

so, let me take a few minutes to talk about tony. he is incredible. i work with him. he is from rwanda. his family fled the country right before the genocide. both his parents died for aids and he went to live with his uncle who made him walk for kilometers to do trading and would often beat him. he still has the scars. one time he fought back and knocked his uncle out with a rock they used in a pestle. he started running and ran from 5 am till 6 pm when he got to mbarara. it was 60 miles. he went to his sister who lived there but she didn't want anything to do with him (he is the third youngest of 11). so he was out on the streets of mbarara for a while. then he found a white father (muzungu priest) to pay his school fees. he started school in rags with no food and the girl who was assigned to sit next to him cried when she found out she had to sit with him and wouldn't even talk to him. fastforward to now. he is a 30 year old farmer and compound guard with 2 kids and a wife. he also takes care his niece whose mother has aids. he can swim. he's a mechanic. he can take apart an entire engine and put it back together. he also knows how to weld. he has a vision to start a program for boys to learn practical skills they can use. like a trade school. university (college) is the highest good here. everyone wants to go even though only 10-15% of graduates get a job right out of university (sound like america?). he says that the trade skills are highly undervalued and the youth want to work but have no way to learn. he wants to sell the products and services the students produce to fund the program (business as missions. so awesome). i think it is an awesome idea. we are leaving now so must go. but there are tons of stories like this all over the place. everyone here has a history of pain and suffering. it is incredible to hear their stories and then see them say God is good. mukama asiiwe (praise God)

my african name

so i don't really have time to post a lot, BUT i have to tell you about one of the most exciting things that happened to me. i was given a african name by the guys i work in the field with. it's vumiria. it is swahili for persistant. totally awesome. i am so excited. i will post more later. we have had a lot of power outages lately.

sick. blaaa

i was in bed most of the day today. not at all a fan. i have less energy now than ever before. i get exhausted so easily. of all the times and places to be sick, this is probably the most inconvenient. but this is somehow part of God's plan. i am not as good at being flexible as i thought i was. i have definite expectations for my time here. it is looking like God has different ones though. please pray that God would teach me what he wants me to learn through this. and if it is in his will that i would get better and get my energy back. thanks guys.

2 days in a row. wow.

so, i don't know what to say right now because nothing has happened since i last posted. well, a little has. i slept and had cereal for breakfast and then went to church. it was interesting. it is the largest church in the town (and as dale explained after, where all the powerful figures of the community go to church). the service was much more lively than most american services but it was actually fairly conservative for uganda (it was the church of uganda which is anglican...barely. it is not at all anglican in the way we would imagine it). a member of parliament was there and she spoke twice. once to reassure the people that they should vote and that parliament was godly people who would not promote homosexuality in schools (this is a big deal here for the coming election) although she did it in very diplomatic way. then the second time she announced she had given 800,000 shillings (about USD 400) to the church and that corruption was not a problem (which it is. a huge huge problem. it made me wonder where the 800,000 schillings she was giving was coming from). it was rather disconcerting and disingenuous even for a muzungu. i would love to hear what some of the nationals thought of it. i am going to a youth fellowship at 4 at that church so maybe i will ask some of the youth (or university students). the youth act very much like the american youth. there is a lot less difference in the culture when it comes to the younger generation. they all wear shorts and act much like youth in our country. i haven't spent enough time around them but i am sure that there are deep differences under the surface. but they are all consciously trying to westernize and so it is much easier to get along with them. josh is going to be working with youth for all ten weeks and i am kinda jealous. please pray that we will be a good influence and show them the west is not just what they see on movies.

wow

so i spent the last two days basically on a team vacation. we went to queen Elizabeth game park (http://www.game-reserve.com/uganda_queen_elizabeth.html) and went on a safari. it was ballin. this was our 'touristy' event without which no short term trip is complete. honestly, i was needed. i got sick this week due to exhaustion and wasted a whole just sitting in bed trying to recover. so the time off was nice. adapting to new cultures actually takes a huge amount of energy. it was nice to be able to be an american again and wear shorts and listen to my ipod and speak only english. at the same time, it kinda felt like an 8th grade trip. we were carefree, loud, joking, and only with friends of the same age. some of it was wicked fun (like riding on the roof of safari landrovers that have giant wholes in the roof while driving up and down mountains) and it was incredible beautiful. there was some of the most breath taking land scape i have ever seen. God has created some incredible things. i am finding that the tourist mentality is occurring more often now. i think it is fueled by the fact that i am only here for 2 more weeks. also, it can take a lot of energy just surviving in a new culture (finding food and knowing how to get around. it is like learning to live in a whole new way). it is a lot easier to just remain foreign and let the ugandans conform to your customs because they willingly do. it is much easier to play the role of the mzungu (white person) than to try to adapt to the culture. please be praying for energy. as an almost 20 year old boy, i do not easily recognize my limits and i fear that i will miss a lot of what is here, and what i can be learning, if i run myself out. my mental faculty has seemed rather dulled of late and i am wondering if it is because of this tiredness. it also might be spiritual oppression. i am really inexperienced in this area, but both me and my roommate josh have noticed that we have been 'out of touch with God', for lack of a better term. please pray that the holy spirit would protect us and change our hard hearts. we need to be thirsting after God. we cannot worship what we do not treasure (yup, that's a piper). also, pray that our team would draw together in terms of our purpose. we are jelling socially, but sometimes i feel we need to focus more on what we are here for when we are together. thank God that he has protected us all from sickness and outright spiritual attacks. also praise him for the beauty he has made available to all his creates. pray that all people would have their eyes unveiled and see it. and that their response would be to turn to him. thanks so much for all the prayer and the support.

lots happening

so there is a lot of stuff happening. i do not have time to go through my adventures in narrative form, so i will just leave you with my random musings

this is what i wrote in my journal during the pastor's training yesterday.

"day 7: I need to start engaging. it is almost 1/2 way over. i am in the pastor's training with mike right now. it is like an adult sunday school with a children's class reluctance to answer. there is not a lot of prideful talk here. i don't know if this is because a muzungu is teaching or if this is just the cultural disposition. once we started talking about money, they became much more talkative. money really is a big deak here. it is (almost?) as big a deal here as it is back home. nothing is new under the sun. africa is the same as america. money is god everywhere. the longer i am here, the more i realize that the differences do not overshadow similarities. there are real cultrual and worldview differences, but under all that there are real humans with universal human problems.

"there are no real hereos in the kingdom. Jesus is the only hero" --mike
missions is not about being a great builder in the kingdom. you HAVE to have humility.

"the greatest are the biggest repenters" --mike
Christ uses the failures of the world to build his kingdom. this country is a failure according to worldly standards and God can move powerfully here. God can't use us till we realize how much of a failure we are. till we acknowledge it is only Christ working within us. Matt 16. get behind me satan. we are of worldly ways and are dominated by powerful systems of the devil. luke 22, peter denies Jesus before he can be the foundation of the church. the church is built of failures and the leaders should be the biggest failures of all. this is what produces the humility."

today we went to a youth fellowship (youth group. any kind of meeting of any kind having to do with the church is called a fellowship here) and it was very interesting. i helped serve coleslaw like stuff after they talked. janessa helped serve chapattis (yummy things that are like fried tortias. they eat them here all the time). and i didn't realize this till after it was all over, but apparently i was being rather flirtatious. i sat down to eat in a mixed group but them i ended up just talking to these two girls. they were cool and in high school (sorta. they have a completely different systems of grades. it is kinda complicated and i still don't get it all the way) but apparently i was seen as being overly friendly. at the end of it, a girl came up and introduced me to the pastor's daughter. and it was awkward. people offer marriage a lot to the girls. and apparently the guys are in high demand. g2g. sorry guys. for a poly chronic culture i am always rushed on the comp

good day

agandi basebo na banyabo?,
or
how are you ladies and gentlemen?

today was fantastic. i started the day with bread and jam and language lessons after a brisk walk in beautiful country side (sounds great, eh?). then i turned compost piles for a few hours with Josh and Tony, the ugandan who does most of the work at growing God's way. Growing God's way is a farming initiative that was started by some german farmer in africa. it centers on a more natural form of agriculture that draws heavily on the concept of creation care and taking ques from nature. they do a lot of composting, crop cycling, and cover the the ground around plants with a straw mantel. i found it very interesting. i will be working with farming God's way next week and the week after. tony is incredibly interesting. he speaks english fluently (but very quietly. most ugandans speak much quieter than we do) and is very friendly. he roots for manchester united, he is 30, has 2 kids and a wife, he likes to go clubbing (before he was married), really wants to travel, and doesn't like small towns. we talked about these things and many others while we turned compost piles. they have beans, maize, irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. right now, it is all on the hollenbecks property, but once they test out the program, they are going to try to get some ugandas to join the program with their land.
after that, i went to the hospital that zillah works at and visited the children in the ward. many of them had been there for weeks and one 17 year old boy had been there since january. they were very cool kids. it was a great opportunity to practice the language. tomorrow i am going to a pastor trainging with one of missionaries all day. it will be interesting.
must go. we are going out to eat for a farewell to one of the missionaries on the team.
turebane obundi

majority world internet

it is very unreliable. i am experiencing the web the way most people do outside of the US, in a tropical internet cafe on an old dell with an intel 3 with a designed for windows 95 sticker on the side. it is only 25 schillings per minute. which comes to about 80 min for a dollar. which is pretty good price. this cafe is the fourth i've visited in the last 3 days and the only one whose internet has actually worked.

well, there's a lot that has happened. i've tried goat. i've been to a dancing worship service where they auctioned off a mystery gift in the middle of the service. i have learned how to say 'my name is josiah' in orunyakore (niba nyeta josiah). and i have been struggling with the concept of cross cultural evangelism in a culture where christian terminology is universal and being saved is often a form of divine manipulation which done on a regular basis. as usual, i feel like i should be living here instead of just visiting for a few weeks.

the missionaries are incredible. they are really really smart. dr ward (our team leader and missiology professor at cov) said they are doing so cutting edge thinking and taking the concept of cultural engagement further than many missionaries do. we have been doing orientation and training up till now so we have been spending a lot of time with the missionaries. dale hollenbecks is the team leader. he is a visionary. he has a great concept of where the team is going and why they are here. mike bouettes (sp?) is very smart and has enormous biblical wisdom (especially pertaining to missions). they both do a lot of pastor training. zillah is a british physical therapist (or physiotherepist as they are called in the UK). she is sooo nice and writing one of the first physiotherepy text books in uganda (i think in orunyakore). there are a lot of other members of the team but these are the three we have interacted most with. it is interesting that i am learning a lot about british culture as well as ugandan culture. not only are there many brits among the missionaries, but my roomate, josh, lived in northern irland and then canada for his whole life. so i am learning to call the back of the car a boot instead of a trunk and a motercycle a motorbike (actually, they are called boda bodas in uganda. they are basically taxis. haven't gotten to ride in one yet.)

tomorrow we start our various ministry projects. after language training, i will be working with farming god's way (a biblical farming initiative/training program). i have to go. josh is waiting and we have dinner ready back home.
till next time (should be less time than last)

finally here

so, after almost 3 solid days of traveling, we finally arrived in mbarara (from chattanooga to detroit to ampsterdam to entebbi (spelling?) then drove to kampala and slept then the next day to mbarara). it was a lot. on the plus side, i am a college student and my sleep patterns are already so messed up that i don't think jet lag is affecting me at all. this is a beautiful country. we are here for the end of the rainy season and so it is not that hot yet (which is very good because we have to wear pants all the time). the tropical climate and the abundance of vegetation and birds quite breath taking. this morning, i woke up to a chorus of birds sings and a giant green grass hopper climbing on the outside of my misquito net (speaking of grasshoppers, we ate some fried grasshoppers with dinner last night and they are really good. they have a fishy taste to them and they pull the wings and legs off so it doesn't look too weird). i am going to organize my narrative because there is too much to talk about.

trip was fine. food was actually really good on the plane.i watched more movies in that stupid little TV they put in the backs of the seats than i ever wanted to. i am fine without watching another movie for a month. the only really good one i saw was precious which was incredibly depressing but a really really good movie. we went to Dr k's mansion for the night after we got in (he used to lead covenant trips to uganda but is getting too old and busy to do it anymore). it is really nice house for uganda and has an incredible view of lake victoria. we traveled all the next day to get to mbarara. we road in a microbus (for all the people who went to nicaragua with me). we got a great view of kampala, the capital, as we drove through it. it is a very busy city. i was struck by the economic prosperity there. it was definitely a third world economy but it had a hopeful feel to it. there were all kinds of businesses and shops open and everywhere people were carrying raw material and working. it seemed like a place where i wouldn't be afraid to start a small business. i noticed that there was no infrastructure to control all the raw material and consequently, it was all over the place. at the same time, there were roads being build all the way to mbarara. in the towns it was all dirt roads but then when you got out in the country there was paved roads and working crews making more roads all along the way. uganda seems to be developing rapidly.

we got to where we are staying and it is much nicer than i thought. we are staying in a guest house of hospital and we (the boys) get our own kitchen we can use for to make food. it is awesome. but also a very different way of life. we can't drink any of the water (from the tap) and we have to cover everything because the geckos and bugs will get into it. it is really cool. i have to go now cuz our rides are here but i'll probably be able to blog later. there's lots more to tell.

not all that important

So, I'm bored in the airport. I'm on rachaels blackberry and it sucks but it works. It is kinda cool to blog on a cell phone. And rachael is super cool. She the leader of the invisible children club on campus so this trip is super cool for her (even though we aren't going to northern uganda). She's also very short and one of the ten weekers. Now you know a little more about our awesome team. When we are actually awake (we woke up at 5) we all get along really well and are quite funny. Ok, we're boarding

first post

this is my first post.
i am going to be leaving covenant in 10 hours. somewhat sad. but i'll get over it.
i need to get more in touch with God. i was super busy before finals and after finals i have been rather lax in my spiritual discipline. i should work on that before i leave.
i am excited and cold because the window is open.
off to forage food. hopefully my next post will not be full of mundanity.
ps- i am using kampala time for my blog so it isn't really 3 am