Not doing that great with keeping up with blogging lately. I also felt like my posts might be starting to sound a bit repetitive, so I posted a request on my FB page for any questions that people might have about our time here that I haven't yet answered.
Thanks to those of you that threw some out there! There were some good ones. Here they are with my responses.
We'll start with the fun one.
Question 1: Who is your favorite CLD American staff member besides me (submitted by none other than Cody Goings)?
That one is easy Cody - your super fabulous fiancee Leigh. Maybe if you had stayed longer in Uganda after we arrived you could have won this honor.......or maybe not? :) You know we love you both! Seriously, wish everyone back home could have an opportunity to work with this great team that is CLD America. Oh, wait a minute - everyone does! If you ever have the wild idea to go to Africa to serve CLD is the way to go. They welcomed us with open arms even though they didn't really have a model for families coming over for this amount of time. They were really the only organization we were able to find that did this and wow, has it changed our lives being able to serve with them.
Question 2: Eric Smith had some good ones. His are the next four.
What feature of Ugandan culture will you continue to practice back in the States?
I hope several, but I do worry that American life can easily distract me from these, so I will need to be very intentional in trying to continue these things once I get back home.
-To be joyful and thankful in life no matter what I have
-To make people feel welcome and loved in my life even if it is my first time meeting them
-To make room in my life for God on a daily basis, love him outwardly, and anchor my life in prayer
Question 3:
What food will you eat first upon return?
-Such a hard choice, but think it will have to be a perfectly grilled steak. Eating meat (other than the minced meat which is like ground beef) has been a challenge for me here. Seeing it just hang out all day in the open air butcher shops is something I just can't get used to. Other things I really miss are turkey sandwiches and chips and salsa. Overall I just really miss having a variety of foods and more of a choice of non-fried foods.
I'm adding a related question of my own here (hope you don't mind Eric).
What are some foods that I will miss from here when I get back home?
The amazing fresh fruits: truckloads of pineapples everywhere you look for around 75 cents a piece and they'll even skin it and slice it for you, mini bananas, the unique experience of jackfruit, and "breathtaking" mangoes, as Henry is famous for describing them. The avocadoes are also amazing, they are just a bit lower on my personal favorite foods list. But, if you love them, you will never taste any as good and see any as beautiful as you do here for an unbelievable 40 cents or so.
And the incredible vegetables: the tomatoes and carrots taste like you just picked them that day.
And, also I can get any of these by walking outside our gate just a few steps.........
Question 4:
How do you think Facebook has impacted your experience?
I will admit that I was not a FB user until about a month before our family left for Uganda. I didn't get on board earlier I think because I was mostly fearful that it was one more thing that would distract me and I would find myself spending way too much time on it when I have other more important and valuable things I should be doing with that time. I felt like I already spent way too much time on email and that FB would only be a bigger time suck.
But, I finally gave in because I was even more fearful of losing touch with everyone when I was leaving to move halfway around the world. I am really glad I did. I've found FB to actually be a time saver since we've been here compared to email. I feel like I can post pictures and a few quick updates every week to keep people in touch with our lives here rather than emailing all our friends on a regular basis. It sounds silly, but every time someone "likes" a picture or post on my FB page, it's like I was a little part of their lives that day and I wasn't so far away. I also love staying in touch via FB with what is happening in their lives back home as well.
With that said, there are a few realizations/regrets I've had in regards to using FB. It's all just too much for me to keep up with and the one thing I've given up and used FB as a substitute for instead is journaling. I am sad to say that I have one entry in my journal I bought for my time here. It is an entry I wrote on our plane ride over. I wish I was more of a journaler and I have always wanted to be, but I have never found it something I can do consistently. I think it may be related to my tendency to be long winded. I have never been someone who is able to just write in little blurbs or short thoughts. I end up writing a book each time and with all the adjustments and emotional transitions, I just was too overwhelmed to open a blank page in a journal knowing it could be an hour affair each time I did. So, still need to try again in life to change my perception of what journaling has to look like. But for now, I have tried to keep a journal of sorts on my FB page and blog.
The other disappointing realization I had when my parents visited is that even though I have tried really hard to capture our experience here mainly via pictures on FB, it just isn't really possible. They said after seeing it first hand that you just can't really "get it" unless you see it in person. But, I just have to accept that and I'll still keep posting pictures, but at the same extend the invitation to anyone that really wants to "see" Africa that you should just come!
Question 5:
How are you going to fill First Plymouth (our home church) in on all the adventures?
-Funny you ask this question. I was processing this in one of our morning devotions just last week. I'm not sure my exact answer to this, but this is what I am thinking thus far. What I don't want this to look like is Troy and I conducting an informational series of Sunday CE hours about our experience. I know people will have many questions about what life is like here and not that I won't be willing to answer these or probably have hundreds of stories I could tell, but us just describing our time in Africa to a big group of people is not going to be an agent of change in people's lives.
I would rather invite people into a challenge or discussion about doing God's work and "being the church" in whatever way that looks like for them in their own lives. While we are here, the spring team is doing a group study on three books. I'd love to do something more along those lines within our church back home. If you're curious about these books in the meantime, they are: Crazy Love, Hole in the Gospel, and Radical. But, a warning comes along with these. I had already read two of the three before coming here and I would say they were very instrumental in us making the decision to come here, so I can't guarantee they won't change your heart, but in a really great way! Hole in the Gospel was my favorite.
I don't want this to sound negative, like I won't answer any questions or share any pictures when we return. Being able to talk and share our experiences with people back home will definitely help us in our attempt to transition. I just fear that people won't be able to really understand the experience without being here themselves, but that doesn't mean I can't try to share it. We are totally willing to do this, I guess I'm just saying that I want it to go beyond this and have the conversation continue on and on. Not just about Africa, but about what in life are we being called to do?
And I would so much more enjoy having these conversations in a small group in someone's home over a good meal. :)
Question 6:
Thoughts on living in community.
Wow, this one has been really interesting for me. It's been a bit of a roller coaster of sorts. We were living pretty solo in the house here up until mid January and had our own groove and routine going and then our world changed. The spring intern team arrived, my parents, and various visiting groups started coming in and out and that will continue until we leave.
I always thought of myself as someone who loved being in community with others and I still do, but I have realized that I also am challenged when the community is 24/7 and in larger numbers. I have always been more of an observer and an introvert and therefore really large groups can be overwhelming for me. I also have realized that I need and enjoy quiet time to myself to just decompress after the day. Living in community has also helped me realize how much you need to learn to try and appreciate everyone's different personalities even if they have traits that you find annoying. To have an open heart to engage in conversation with someone that you might not have much in common with or feel very comfortable with is a hard but good challenge. Like we've been talking about in our book studies - God says it pretty simply. Love God and love your neighbor. Easy to say, hard to do sometimes.
With that said, I am starting to hit a groove now living in community. I'll never be really great at it, but I'm getting better. It begins to feel like a family. Sometimes you really like your family, sometimes you'd like to have a different family. But, some of the joys of living in community are seeing the kids really thrive in the environment. While she is still shy, Avery is beginning to warm up to people more quickly and show them her personality. And, she is becoming quite the little babysitter thanks to adorable Saylah who is living with us in the house. She is always disappointed now in the house whenever it's just our family around and is just waiting for her
"other family" to come home. The kids are also learning how different people are from each other and how to adapt to these different personalities. It has been a challenge though for me also with people coming and going all the time out of the community. You don't want to avoid getting "attached" because you know they're leaving, but yet it's hard each time someone leaves that you've connected with. And lately when people leave it's made me miss home a bit more.
My heart must be opening more to living in community as I mentioned to Troy in a conversation we were having last week that I thought when we return we should consider opening our home to invite someone to live with us in our finished basement. I'm still not ready to live permanently with 20 people, but maybe just 1 more wouldn't be so hard? We shall see......We've realized we have to be very careful with these "what if" conversations around Avery as we were joking around about maybe just keeping our house rented out and living in a different house and that really impacted her. I'm realizing that while she has done incredible adjusting to this experience, knowing we are returning to our home and life as she knows it is one of those anchors for her that has enabled her to handle this adjustment. So, think we'll be calling 3197 E. Otero Circle home still when we return. I just had to type that out as the other day I actually blanked out on our address as I hadn't written it in so long. Funny.
Question 7:
What is still on your "must do" list while you are still there.
Good question. As I'm realizing how quickly time has been passing since the new year, I've started to be more conscious of this and trying to think of these things.
Here are some that I can think of right now.
1. Go to Rwanda. We have sponsored children there through our church for quite a few years now and we would love to try and visit this village.
2. Would like to get in one more short family getaway to an island on Lake Victoria.
3. Still wanting to attend an Introduction (like an engagement party) or a wedding, but not sure this one is going to happen......can't rush anyone into marriage. :)
4. Go to the village - I wasn't up for the trip to the village that everyone went on a couple of weeks ago so I stayed back with Avery, but we're leaving tomorrow morning to go to the village of a good friend here so am excited to have this experience. Usually no running water or electricity in these areas, but their families are so excited to have us and sure we will be shown grace beyond what we can even imagine.
5. Still wanting to get two photo series' yet: all the different fruit trees and the amazing things they carry on bicycles and bodas.
6. Try to make pineapple samosas.
7. Just try to keep pouring into this experience and the people we're surrounded with on a daily basis and not get overwhelmed or completely distracted by thoughts of what life looks like when we return home.
Sure there are more, but it's getting late and need to sign off.
Hope I answered everyone's questions. Thanks for asking them!
~Love Heather
