What No One Told Me Once The Journey Was Over

What no one told me about traveling, was what happens after that plane finally lands and you're back where you began. 

People tend to only mention the glamorous things about traveling, the things you see and experience, the growth that comes from it and the people you meet along the way. But what about when all of the glamour stops, your'e back in your own bed, the Instagram pictures slow down and become less exciting, you enter back into your old routine and you go back to a new normal.

After spending half a year in Uganda, the best six months i had ever experienced, six months of meeting incredible people, traveling around the country with freedom and wonderlust, learning about myself, my faith and becoming closer to God than i had ever been before, it was a dream. Almost quite literally. Now that i'm back home, Uganda almost seems to be unreal, like i just dreamt of it and it never really happened in real life. 

No one told me that once i got home that i would feel like nothing changed. No one told me that it feels like someone pressed pause while i was gone and when i got home it went on again like nothing new. No one told me that i would feel like a million bucks the first couple weeks i was back and then week four, everyone forgot i even left. No one told me that i would gain back every pound and more that i lost and stuff myself to the point of throwing up. I didn't know how much frustration i would feel, constantly feeling like people don't understand things outside of themselves, outside of what the American culture outlines for us. 

Life after the journey is frustrating, your heart constantly aches to be back or to be somewhere else, you crave rice and beans everyday, you constantly miss people, the word 'weird' has become an overused word in your vocabulary because when your at a restaurant and you can get free (good/clean) water WITH ice is a weird feeling, when people dont understand that you can eat local food for three months straight and it would be the same cost as one Red Robin burger...its weird. When you can swim in a lake or river and not worry about parasites and large animals in the water its a weird feeling. 

My point here is not to discourage any sort of traveling, im just being honest in the inevitable struggle after the journey is over that no one talks about. While the struggle is certainly real, you gain so much by it. 

You gain a new perspective, you become thankful in so many things, you realize that some people around you know what youre feeling or at least willing to listen and nod their head and especially your dentist who, thankfully, had some grace on me when the first thing i said to her was "im so sorry, i ate lot of the rice that had rocks in it and i drank soda everyday." and even my doctor that doesnt think the "bite" on my leg that is still here is "interesting" but "nothing to worry about"...

One of the things ive taken away from traveling is taking certain situations and thinking of them as learning situations, realizing that this is just part of the plan God designed for me, while i cant be in Africa at the moment, as much as i want to be, God wants me to be present here, in Woodinville Washington.

Theres certainly something that comes from living somewhere else for awhile, that takes up a place in your heart and because of that i know that one day i will be back on those red dirt roads, embracing my Ugandan family again someday soon.

Easter in Africa

All my life and all the years that i have been going to church, this is the first year i have fully understood Easter.

Easter to me used to mean wearing that new sun dress my mom picked out, easter egg hunts and going to church early Sunday morning wether i wanted to or not. 

This time its different, this culture that i have been immersed in, is different.

Here, i have a faith of my own, no one here to force me to keep reading my Bible, pray or go to church, here i have to have the strength and endurance to do it myself, i have to want to have a relationship with God. That has been a lesson to me in being independent here, something that would be very difficult for me to learn in the comfort i live in at home. 

In this culture, church is a huge deal. Here churches are a party, every week its a celebration; which it totally should be! It has become my favorite part of church here. People sing so loud that you cant here your own voice, there is constant dancing and rejoicing because there in celebration of what God has done. (Which is a constant reminder to me that God is good all of the time.) Churches here are packed over capacity, so much so that people will sit outside pressing their ears to the wall just to here the word of God! People here get to church early hours early just so they can get a seat, people crowd the doors before service as if they were waiting for a black friday sale at Wal Mart. 

So here i am sitting in church, remembering all of the times i had dreaded waking up early for church and all of the times i had walked into service half an hour late. 

So why in a culture where there is so much hurting, pain, reasons to be angry with God and poverty surrounding these churches that people are in constant joy and have faith to be envious of.

Im continually dumbfounded and inspired by these people. they have showed me how to genuinely rejoice in Him and to live with a faith not to be afraid of and hide. They showed me that today is a day of rejoicing that the tomb is empty and will forever will be, that no other god did what our God did, he loved us enough to pay the ultimate price, he is a great God! 

  

Kupenda

I have been learning so much here. God is providing me with so many reminders of Himself, teaching me more about His love that He continues to give me, His protection, His grace, His provision. He truly is a great God. 

Coming here i came with many insecurities and flaws that i continued to beat myself up about. Sometimes at home i feel uncomfortable in my skin, self conscious and have felt like i don’t have a voice for people to hear or are interested in hearing. I think a lot of times that shines through at home.

But God has placed me somewhere where those problems that i face with myself everyday are exposed. He provided people in my life here with listening ears, he has placed me in a culture that comforts and loves people regardless of their flaws and imperfections, a culture that embraces goofy, fun, crazy and not wearing shoes all of the time. He has placed me somewhere where i am tested and challenged in my faith, strength and trusting in Him through all of good and bad times.

He reminds me everyday that He is good, not some of the time, but all of the time.

Hand in Hand

The other day i was walking to work by myself. as usual it was a hot and dry day, the fifteen minute walk felt long and never ending. There is one part of our walk everyday that sometimes we dread because its a fairly steep hill especially in the heat.
As i walked up it that particular day i had dreaded it more than most days, i began the, what felt like trek up the mountain, a little girl that i had never seen before came running up to me and immediately grabbed my hand. Shocked, because kids dont ever do this to a mzungu walking along the road. From the bottom of the hill to the very top she held my hand, walking along side me until we reached the top, she let go and slowly walked right behind me until i reached our work compound.

In that not so significant earthly moment, i knew God had designed that for a heavenly meaning. God knows that the way i best see and understand Him is through moments like these.

In that moment i was reminded that, God never abandons us, sometimes it may feel like He is very distant but He is standing right behind us, testing our faithfulness in Him. he is always there walking the tough climb with us, hand in hand.

Expecting the unexpected

Coming into this trip i came without exceptions. i had no idea what i was doing, i didn’t know any of the people i was about to meet, i didn’t even bother looking up what Gulu looked liked on Google. 

This journey i let go and let God do the work. i wanted to come into this fully trusting in Him and trusting the plans that He had. 

It truly is a God-given miracle that I’m physically sitting in the place that i had dreamed of for so long. Lets be honest i don’t have money, I’m not some smart scientist that can cure malaria, I’m not some world-renowned missionary, i can’t even fix a decent meal to feed the hungry, I’m just me. What i can do here is learn, and i can grow, i can listen to others and grow in their understanding and knowledge. I can take pictures and through my pictures convey truth, the truth of the beauty of not only Africa but of the people that live here. 

Not only do i realize how much you have to relay on and trust God here, but you also have to acquire patients. Something that is certainly not easy to do in the states. We have wifi 24/7, we have running water and power everyday, all day, we never really have to think twice about those things.

I have definitely been tested in patience because as of now were going on a week without running water in our house, everyday the power goes out, decent meals at restaurants take hours to prepare and boda drivers sometimes get lost.

There are certainly valuable lessons to be learned here that would have a substantial impact back at home. Many of those lessons I’ve been learning from the Ugandans specifically: patients, outlandish love, hard work and even being able to rock some crazy patterned clothing. Sometimes i think we come into situations like this (mission trips etc.) thinking we will do some kind of impact, big or small to the people we meet, but in all reality its the people we meet who make the impact on us.

Random thought

As i sat outside this morning surrounded by the cool morning air and the sun just about to peak over the African-looking trees, i was instantly transported back home to sitting on the dock in Wenatchee watching the sun rise over the mountains, because there, as the sun slowly begins to warm my face, and the refection of the suns rays hits me, i see God in the little things.

He reminds me that He is like the sun. We put our faith in knowing that the sun will rise every morning, the sun provides light to our darkness, some days we hide from the sun, running to the shade but we will always need the sun to keep us alive; providing us with warmth, light and a way to see. 

Because of this morning i was also reminded that God is the same God here that He is back at home. Just because I'm here living in the third-world doesn't mean that God is going to find favor in me and drastically show up in my life. Even here i must radically pursue Christ, running full force towards Him. 

Here, the only difference is ill be running on red dirt roads. 

The start of a glorious adventure

Ive finally arrived in my new abode in Gulu! The minute we started flying over the green bush and red dirt roads it felt like i was home.
After months and months of difficult trials of finical issues, going against the norm and many other things, God finally took me back to where my heart has been. Here i come alive. Here, I’m fearless and adventuress, here I’m not afraid of spiders or cold showers, boda rides or even fish head soup. Its awesome.

In Africa days are much longer, we wake up early and go to bed late. A normal day for us here consists of waking up and going straight to work at Krochet Kids. Its about a 10 minute walk from our house which isn’t so bad considering we make lots of friends along the way and sometimes i like to pretend that by the end of this trip ill of gained some muscle or something from walking so much on the rough African terrain. But thats most likely not the case.

As soon as we arrive, we make a habit of greeting every women that works there, that way we make relationships and they help us learn more Luo. We greet everyone by saying “Achema bae!” which means good morning and they laugh mostly because we might be saying it wrong or because they love it when we speak in Luo to them which makes me want to learn more of it.

After we’ve greeted around 150 women we get to work. Our job as interns is quality control. After the products have been made we are the next people to see the it. All four of us look at different kinds of KK products, we make sure that each product is up to its standards and a lot of times it won’t be and we have to send it back to the lady who made it, which a lot of times can be very hard considering some of the mistakes they make, mean they have to start all over. A lot of our job is recording every single thing that is made, every single label and tag that is used and making sure that every lady gets credit for what they made, which can be stressful considering they get paid for every product they make.

After we have worked for most of the day well usually go home and collapse out of exhaustion. A lot of times we will boda into the city to pick up veggies and some fruit from the market, theres even a pool around here that we can jump in to cool down and other days well go over to other expats' house around the area. I had know idea, but there are a lot of cool mzungu people here. Some work for 31 Bits, a jewelry company in Gulu, some work for invisible children or a high school started by Bob Goff. Everyone here comes from all over the country and even the world. they all crave adventure and they all have a heart for this place, I've gotten to meet some really cool people who have a pretty cool perspective on life.

Even though there is a lot of work that go into our days here in Gulu, everyday feels rewarding, not in the sense that you’re making a difference in peoples lives, but they are making a difference in yours. I learn a lot here and I’m constantly being pushed outside my comfort zone, which is exactly what i came here for. 

I am blessed. Even here, living in Uganda i realize that i am blessed. I’m blessed because i know that i have a loving and supportive family back at home that misses me and a big bed waiting for me to return but i also know that i am blessed here in Gulu. Even though we live in an ant infested, no-door-closing, small house, I’m blessed. Just outside our gates we have neighbors living in little grass huts and little boys that i have become friends with. I know all of their names because they wear the same clothes every day. I am blessed.

Its funny how your problems back at home become smaller, you forget about the dumb drama back at home, the times when i would freak out about a stain on a piece of clothing or scream when a spider was in the house make me laugh knowing that thats my life now. Life is simple here and I’m happy and you treat everyday here as a glorious adventure.

I’m so thankful for this crazy life and this calling God has allowed me to pursue.