I’m sure glad to be back in Uganda. After 5.5 weeks touring the Western USofA, it’s nice to sleep in my own bed (with it’s 6′ mattress & footboard for my 6’2″ body), bathe in my own shower (once I remember to turn on the water heater), and be in familiar surroundings (plucking bettle larvae from my bedsheets). In the first 24 hours on the red soil, I’ve been re-baptized into the culture, having viewed the holes in my ceiling from the exterminator frantically escaping biting bats in the attic, the marred passenger door on the LandCruiser that lost more parts than were fixed while at the mechanic’s, & killing a black mamba lurking sneakily beneath the cover of the sandbox.
While in America, many people asked us what our biggest difficulty is in living over here. You would think it might be demon possessed people or witchdoctors or corrupt officials opposing the freedom of the church, or lack of funds, lack of laborers, or lack of sleep from the burden of the work. But it’s not. Our biggest challenge is the daily frustrations that come from living in a place so different than the one we grew up in. Having to boil water and strain the ants out to get a lukewarm drink of water. Having to talk the tomato seller down .50 on principle as she tries to take advantage of our white skin. Being forced to jump through bureaucratic hoops in order to not participate in corruption and pay bribes. It’s the little things that try to get us.
“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You…” This is our greatest challenge – that in the midst of daily setbacks and frustrations we would be in perfect peace as we work for the One who sent us here. On the other side of all these little things, a great harvest is begging to be saved.