Double blessing

In Africa, having visitors is everything.  Since I received my first visitor to Uganda in July, I've had a steady stream of visitors, which has been wonderful.  First, Dr Alison stayed with me for most of the All Clergy Conference, then my classmate Beatrice stayed with me the last night of the conference because she was locked out of her room (and we still don't know why). 

Then, about a week ago, SAMS president Stewart Wicker, the Chairman of the Board, Rev. Jeff Rawn, and his wife Cinde came for a short visit after the "Pathway to Global Vision" Mt. Kilimanjaro trek.  Though they were on campus just about 24 hours, it was such a joy to visit with them, share a bit of what my life is like here, and pray with them.  I know I don't talk about SAMS much, but this organization is staffed with people who are so fabulously supportive.  It is a tremendous comfort to know that my people are just a phone call or email away, and that they will do everything in their power to help me.  I have worked in organizations in which this is not the case, so working for SAMS is like a breath of fresh air.

These visitors have been the first blessing.  The second blessing is my current visitor, a missionary named Leah.  She serves in South Sudan, and needed literal peace and quiet to work on papers for her masters program.  Fighting has been increasing in her area, and she felt it wise to leave for a little bit so she could work, but also for safety.  She will be with me until the end of October.

Leah said that she's not slept this well in two weeks, and I imagine that it's difficult to sleep while there's gunfire, or even the threat of gunfire.  Many people have left the town where she lives, and she said that being here in Uganda, where it's safe and quiet, is a blessing.

However, I've realized that she is the one blessing me.  This is my first "long holiday" without the Dennisons, who were my default go-to people whenever I wanted to be around people, or go get coffee off-campus.  I am still adjusting to being "alone," and not having my students here has certainly exacerbated things.  Then Leah came, and now I have built-in community right up to the time that I go to the US for leave. 

I'm rejoicing in how faithful our God is in providing what we need, even when we really don't know it.

Goings-on

I know I've been light on blogging of late - as soon as I think not much is happening, things happen.

First, some good news... my proposal is done!  It will be presented 4 Oct, and I'm thrilled/nervous/relieved/thankful.  My supervisor thinks there will be changes, and that is fine with me.  It's just great to be at an end-point, even if it felt anticlimactic to read her email.  I get to keep reading (what else?), but I can work on the questions I will ask in the interviews, and I can watch YouTube videos on how to conduct a focus group.  That made me smile; my supervisor has no idea that I've conducted quite a few focus groups in my day, though I probably need to brush up on my skills.  It'll be interesting to see how those work in the African cultural setting!

I have some friends who are in Uganda for a mission trip, so I wanted to visit them.  If they can fly several thousand miles, I can drive a couple hundred kilometers!  Michael and Jen were "deep in the bush" as we say.  Getting to that village was a typical Ugandan adventure... drive down the road, branch off where you're supposed to, go down the murram (it's dirt, but it's not called dirt) road, praying that you're going down the right road, then calling to get the remaining directions and paying a boda driver to follow him because he's the only one who knows what those remaining directions mean.  Pray as you go down that path that you're using as a road that you can climb the hill that feels precipitously steep as you go down, then offer many thanks to God that you arrive at your destination well.  Amen.

I will be having a visitor for the next month.  She's a missionary serving in South Sudan, who needs to get away for some literal peace and quiet so she can work on her masters dissertation.  I understand that concept, though I'm completely humbled - she is serving Jesus under tremendously difficult circumstances.  I am in awe, and am looking forward to having her.

Hope deferred

Tomorrow is the day that my proposal is supposed to be presented to The Powers That Be.  Unfortunately, that's is not going to happen.  I'm more than disappointed; I was really ready for this phase of my life to draw to an end.

This morning I received an email from my supervisor that she sent at 10:30pm my time (South Africa is an hour behind us), and she says that I'm closer to begin done, but I have missed the presentation deadline.  I have to get this draft to her by Friday.  I can't even begin to think that this might be the final product, though it could be the end.  That would be utterly delightful.

I am clinging to Romans 5:3-5:  "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (ESV).  I feel like I'm stuck in suffering, though I may be in endurance.  I'm not quite sure whether I've developed any character through this yet, but I am trying to rejoice in my sufferings.  I'm grateful that God is patient with me!