Weeks 8-10

On Tuesday, October 12 a shrill scream came from the bathroom and Lucy came running out the door.  After finally settling down she explained that when she looked up from brushing her teeth all she saw were ants everywhere.  Upon, looking for myself I discovered that our bathroom walls were full of scurrying ants.  Searching farther, us girls discovered that our entire room was being invaded by ants and some of the ants were the type that bite really bad.  During the rainy season ants have the potential to become a real pain in the butt, literally!  Thankfully I have not experienced the pain yet, but most of the other girls have.  The other night Scovia, one of the Ugandan girls came running into the room screaming and wriggling.  She had been talking on the phone and was not paying attention to where she was standing.  Turns out she was standing on or near an ant hill and they attacked her.  Anyway, the night the ants got in the room, we washed our walls with kerosene water and once the ants died we scooped them out in piles.  It was an experience that I would prefer to never have again.  The rest of the week was not very eventful in comparison to that night.  That week we were learning about Praise and Worship/Relationships/Personality.  I really enjoyed the topic of that week.  It helped me in what I was going through at the moment.  I realized that no matter what situation I am in, no matter what is going on around me God is still in control and is still good.  We always have a reason to praise God and when we praise him in all circumstances it gives the devil less of a foothold.  So although it was a challenging week I was able to trust God and give the situation over to Him.  The things I am learning are all elementary stuff but it is a matter of taking it from the head and putting it into my heart.

Friday night the electricity went out and stayed out until Monday evening, but thankfully we still had water.  On Sunday I went to a very small Ugandan church with Lucy.  Lucy was asked to preach so I went along for moral support.  There were like only seven people attending the church and three of them were relatives of the pastor.  It was an enjoyable service other than the fact that they preached so loud my ears were ringing.  After church we got to eat at the pastor’s parent’s house.  We were served hot sugared milk with bread.  It was actually really delicious, probably the highlight of the day for me!

On Monday we did not have a teacher so we spent a lot of time praying and having discussions.  Tuesday through Thursday the teacher came and taught on worldview.  He was my favorite teacher so far.  He made the class very interactive and time went by quickly.  Tuesday night we had a very funny bat experience.  All of us western girls went to the office to get internet and we were sitting there calmly when I notice a creature in the corner of the room.  I did not say anything because I did not want to alarm the two other girls who are scared of almost any creature.  So I motioned to the girl beside me and pointed it out thinking it was a frog.  All at once the other two girls saw it and it flew right towards me.  It really surprised me because I was thinking it was a frog and not expecting it to fly.  So Lucy and Kelly screamed and ran into another room while I just fell over in laughter.  Meanwhile Lindley grabs a thin grass and turns in small circles trying to hit the bat that is flying in big circles around the room.  I think we finally managed to injure it after much screaming from Kelly and Lucy and much laughter from Lindley and myself.  Eventually we got it out of the room and calmed down.  Later that night I got to watch Scovia pick a flying ant off our bedroom floor, de-wing it, and then eat the live bug.  I was not brave enough to try it but I will take her word for it that it tastes sweet.  So the week went on as normal and on Saturday we went to town and I finally did some shopping and bought some dresses and stuff.  Then that evening we went to the source of the Nile where we took a short boat ride on the Nile and Lake Victoria.  It was so beautiful!!  That day was an enjoyable day, but I spent a lot of money and I hate doing that.  Oh well, I guess it was just one day.  That night a bat came out of our ceiling so we had another screaming episode.  This time Kelly killed the bat with a mop while sitting in her bed under her mosquito net.  Then I had the pleasure of scooping up the twitching bat and disposing of it outside.

On Sunday I enjoyed a relaxing day on the base with no schedule or list of things to accomplish.  I actually ended up playing basketball for like three hours.  It was a lot of fun to play some competitive basketball, but it was extremely hot and I did not have any water to drink so I was dying of thirst.

This past week we started getting up at 4:40am so that we can be out praying by 5:00am.  Truthfully, it really is not too hard but I think that is because I am a morning person.  So I go to bed around 9:30 and then when I wake up I am normally wide awake until around the time of class, which is when the sleepiness begins to hit.  I have been playing basket ball like almost every evening for an hour or so and I am hoping that I can improve enough that by the time I get home I will have enough skills to beat Austin in some one-on-one. J  On Wednesday my small group went out to eat which was quite a long, yet enjoyable experience.  It took us from 12:30-5:30 just to get to find pork to eat and then to come back.  It was fun though.  I enjoyed joking around with the others in the group.  I am the only mzungu (white person) in my small group so they like to tease me when people in town always talk to me or try to get me to buy stuff and to tease me about my hairy arms etc.  So yeah things are going great here and I am really enjoying it.  Also there are only two more weeks until outreach so the school is like almost over….well sort of.

Halfway Done with Lecture Phase!! (Written on Sunday)

Alright so I again have to catch up on the past two weeks.  The week of September 27 through October 1 we were taught on the Holy Spirit.  I still want to go back over the notes from that week so that I can understand more fully what we learned.  It is hard for me to take in everything while in class.  That week was a very hard week for me, but not because of the topic.  I guess there was just a spiritual battle going on, and it really affected me in that all of my joy was zapped out of me.  I felt really confused about some things going on around me and I did not know what to do.  Anyway, this past week has been so much better.

This past week our DTS leader taught on Mission and Evangelism, and he gave more details about what to expect on outreach.  It got me really excited for outreach, even though I know it will be very challenging.  On Tuesday night we had a social event which was a lot of fun.  We started off by playing wink and then did some other games.  The first game I volunteered for and it was where we had to eat an apple while it was hanging by a string, and, of course, we were not allowed to use our hands.  The people that held the string were allowed to move the string around while we frantically tried to bite the apple.  I think I might have won the game because I ate most of my apple, but in order to bite it I would push it up against the person beside me so that I could get a good bite.  I think I almost bit the guy beside me a couple of times while trying to get the apple.  Then some other people volunteered for the next game.  For that game there were three sets of two people who were blindfolded and then they had to try and feed their partner across from them melted ice cream.  So, as expected, the ice cream went practically everywhere except in the people’s mouths.  It made for lots of laughter and a good bonding time with the whole DTS group.  On Wednesday morning I had to preach again and it went fine, but I still really dread preaching (hopefully that is the last time I will have to do it).  Thursday night we had what the base called a “love feast” but really it was not much different of food than normal.  We just ate it at a new location and everything was more decorated.

Saturday was a really fun day for me.  Us western girls planned a treasure hunt for one of the boys on the base because it was his birthday on Thursday.  So we made clues and got little presents for him and went out to eat at the American restaurant.  We also went together to buy him a real Spalding basketball which he absolutely loved.  Today, Sunday, I had like a two hour long basketball training session with him.  I taught him some simple drills and basic moves.  The weekend has gone by fast and now it will be on to week 8 which means only 5 more weeks until outreach.  And only two more weeks of sleeping in till 6:00am.  For the last three weeks of lecture phase and all of outreach we are going to be getting up a 5:00am to pray together as a team.  I normally go to bed around 9:30 on week days but I guess I should start going to bed even earlier once we start getting up at 5:00am.

For the most part things are going well here, but I feel like it is such a mind game.  Like to constantly be identifying the lies Satan is feeding me and not believe them can get tiring.  Also it is hard when there is constantly someone in our room being unhappy, upset, or grumpy.  It is a very rare occasion to find all four of us western girls happy at the same time.  I keep reminding myself when I get weary of stuff, “God is in control and He knows what He is doing and He has our best interest in mind”.  To be completely honest, I have recently really wanted to go home.  I want to see my family and friends again.  I miss so many little things and I am sort of counting down the months till I return.  I am still having trouble with relating to the people here and feeling comfortable around them.  It comes down to I am having trouble loving them (the other DTS students) for who they are.  God showed me the other day in devotions part of the problem.  He showed me that I have a spiritual pride when it comes to relating to them.  I constantly try to find out where they are wrong or immature in their faith.  It is an attitude of pride that keeps me from seeing them through God’s eyes.  So that is something that I am trying to give over to God during this time.  God continues to reveal to me areas that I need to change me and patiently helps me through many struggles.

Philippians 1:6

“And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns”