Jambo, Mzungu!

We made it! And goodness gracious, what a long trip. We got here last night at 1 am Uganda time (which is 7 hours ahead) to conclude our 48 hour journey from New York City to Entebbe, Uganda. For a full explanation of all the insanity, visit our group blog at servinginuganda2010.blogspot.com. We're now at the Matoke Inn right outside of Kampala, it's about 10:30 pm, and my brain is spinning literally and figuratively.

First of all, the journey here was crazy and yet turned out to be one of the best learning experiences I've had so far. While standing in line for what seemed like an eternity and riding in shuttles to who-knows-where, we met a lot of very interesting people and learned more about what it means to love people whatever the circumstances and be open to ministry whenever the Lord leads. For some reason, before we left Pearl River I had this idea that I didn't have to start doing ministry until I was actually in Uganda. In my mind, I guess I was saving emotional and mental energy for the Ugandan people.

Boy, was I kicked out of that mindset through the whole experience. We had the opportunity of telling a few people (the ones from the many lines that we stood in) what we were traveling to Africa for, and how we had gotten where we were. From that moment on, I think we all felt the burden of the fact that we were representing Christ to those people around us. We all sucked it up and tried to put our frustrations aside, and ended up having some great conversations with complete strangers, who somehow became our fast friends. We met 2 African couples and 2 young African men in the process, and were able to learn from them. God was so amazing in giving us opportunities to love and learn in what seemed like a pretty crappy situation. That was such a blessing to me, and a great encouragement in looking forward. Yeah, KLM Flight 216!

Please continue to pray for us as we're encountering the culture for the first time, and continuing to get in the right mindset for ministry here. We had a great talk with the cab driver we met today, who was pumped to answer any questions about his home. But we're already starting to hear of the tribal revelry, the oppression of some people groups, and the lack of adequate resources for many things. Please pray that we would be continually seeking God in prayer and in his Word, since this is the only way we will really be able to minister to people in a culture that is not native to us.

I often find myself thinking...What do I have to offer these people? Why am I here when there are people already so many whites here doing ministry, as well as many that are Ugandan. God has begun to show me that I may have had some mixed motives in the whole decision to come. However, I want to trust that God is ultimately the one that has called the four of us to be here, even though I don't know the reason right now. May we continually be pouring out ourselves so that we can be full vessels of God's grace, no matter what form that may take.

Jess