Uganda

Well, we made it to Uganda! Not gonna lie, so far there are a lot more food options so I am grateful for that. But we are only here for 8 more days and the time is flying by. Having lived in east Africa I can confidentially say I can conquer any weird or gross situation life throws my way. We are all living in a guest house but we all have our own rooms which is super nice and it lets me have my alone time. Not knowing about college yet is really starting to make me anxious so if anyone who is reading this could throw up a prayer for me or send some positive vibes my way that would be much appreciated! Here in Uganda we are working with a church, that is made up almost completely of refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, teaching English and helping build there website and social media up. The people at the church are so sweet and loving and I am going to be so sad to leave. It always blows my mind how people coming from the toughest situations have the most hope. Noah preached the other day about home and it was honestly incredible... one of my favorite things she said was "I'll never forget the day someone told me that I didn't have to carry the hope alone and that they would carry it with me." Realizing that you don't have to have it all figured out by yourself and that you don't have to carry everything alone has been one of the biggest lessons I have learned this year. It has given me so much peace just knowing that it's okay to be vulnerable with others and trusting people will take so much weight off of your shoulders. It hasn't been an easy journey and it has taken so much to get here but I finally feel like I can build relationships and love myself and live like Jesus to my best ability because I have learned so much and grown as a person so much this year. Also I have made friends this year I know will last a lifetime! The people I am so close with now have helped me work through so many of my struggles and hardships I have faced in life. I also know that my adaptability is at an all time high considering some of the conditions I have lived in or been around here in east Africa. I am not ready to leave but at the same time I am so pumped to climb kili! I am also kind of ready to be back in America but it's going to be kind of weird for sure... like I have kind of gotten used to not being in the states so everything will probably feel strange and weird again and I will have to deal with the huge time change and the reverse culture shock so yeah that will be fun. I probably won't be able to blog again until I get home but I'll try to do another short one before we climb Kilimanjaro. Stay tuned.. thanks again to everyone who has been keeping up with this journey and all the prayers! Much love!