Orientation.

I'MMMMMMMMM HEREEEEEEEE!

Sorry I haven't gotten a chance to update sooner! I just got the internet connection set up. 

It's been such a crazy week! We spent two straight days traveling. Thank you Mrs. Thomas for the Ambien. It was a dream drug! Jet lag hasn't even been that bad, I think I'm just an awesome sleeper. 

We've been doing orientation stuff all week, so its been lots of early mornings and long days. But it has been so beneficial as we have been learning such insight into the culture, but also very overwhelming. Part of me is just excited to jump into my internship and working with the church, but also I know that this time is so crucial. 

When we got here on Wednesday, we spent a lot of the day napping :). Then we had a training session with a local Ugandan and then had dinner at the Davis' house, who are our internship coordinators and the Short Term programmers for WorldVenture.  We spent Thursday in the market learning how to bargain for our food, which was a totally overwhelming experience. There were so many people! But I'm starting to learn that this is the case anywhere I go in Uganda. Friday was so awesome, and probably my favorite day so far. We went up into the bush and spent some time at New Hope, which is this awesome orphanage and Bible Institute. They have a really neat program, in which they set up orphans into family units that work their own land and learn how to sustain themselves. Every family unit has a Ugandan "mother and father", which adds so much balance into their lives. It was so powerful. Then we spent some time in the living room of  the McFarlands (Moody grads who work there) talking about African worldview and how to better reach the African people. It was such a special time. Then today we tried to master public transportation. It's real different from the CTA. Taxis are like buses and "bodas" are like taxis. Bodas are just motorcycles that you pay to ride. Thank you Dad and Matt Tinken for helping me know how to ride motorcycles. What you didn't help me to know is how to ride them side saddle, because thats what women do here. Sarah and I were freaking out. But it was fine. Rode them twice today. holler!

I also spent some time today in the church that I will be working with. Tomorrow they are having their 8th anniversary, so that will be neat to be apart of. I was there when the choir practiced today, and they basically do a ton of Hillsong songs, which was surprising to me. I am excited about the opportunity that I will have there. I think at the end of this week, Dr. Lightbody and I are going to be traveling up country with Pastor Micah (the head pastor of the church I am with, which is called University Community Fellowship), so that will be a good chance for me to get to talk with him more. 

Things you can pray about:

I've been having a terrible tooth ache, and got some grind gards before I left, but they don't seem to be working. I wake up every night in pain and have to regularly take advil throughout the day and night. Pray that my toothache goes away.

Pray that I will make some great, fast connections with women in the church.

Pray that I would be able to make my way around the city. Like I said, the transportation is a little different and difficult for me to understand at this point, so pray that I would be able to figure it out and that I would be safe.

Pray that the Lord would fill me and I would rely on Him alone. Life right now is pretty exhausting, and I know that the Lord is the one who gives me strength, and it is the desire of my heart to rely Him for everything.

p.s. there is a Shaggy concert happening on an open field at the bottom of the hill we live on right now as I am typing. So outrageous and hilarious! until I want to go to sleep... then not awesome.