Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....... In Africa

There are so many things that I find interesting living here. Uganda is a place where most things are not done with excellency and so you bear the fruit of that. Some examples are

- buying new items and within a few days they no longer work

- electrical outages for days because company doesn't have vital parts needed

- electric gets turned off because of not paying your bill, which you did but they
were behind on billing- so to turn it back on all you have to do is switch the
breaker back on inside the electrical box:)

- electrical boxes outside that are not water tight so wires rust and catch on fire

- dogs barking/kids screaming all hours of the day. This last week there was a dog on our lane that has barked all hours of the night.

- when getting dependent and student passes for family, lawyer tells you that immigration has lost the file. Waiting to see what to do about this one:)

- still waiting for screens to be finished on guest house from January when the man told me that he would be back the next day

- when you go purchase cooking gas, all the gas stations say "it is finished"

- security company that you have hired doesn't pay guards for weeks and if we were not to pay our workers we would be taken to court

So these are just a few things off the top of my head in the last few days I've been dealing with. Life here is a huge adjustment and sometimes frustrating. The Lord has said we will have trials, which can be every day trials such as these. In James 1:12 it says, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial." We are blessed because if he exude the Love of Christ through these small trials then God will bless us with "the crown of life." My interactions with the people around me is a direct correlation with how much I love the Lord. Sometimes I don't want to think this because then I would realize that sometimes I don't love the Lord very much. My sinful nature takes over and I'm not very loving to the people that I'm speaking to because of by own desires (retaliation for what I think is right) as Peter wrote in 1:14. Peter 1:15 states, "that desire gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. I thank God for the trials here, because if we didn't have them then I would think I could live here without seeking God's wisdom and direction. Daily I'm reminded that is not possible here in our new home nor in the U.S. either. But it becomes much more evident when you are constantly out of your comfort zone:)

My prayer is that people (my family, workers, students at the seminary, other missionaries, shopkeepers and parking attendants in Jinja) when they see me will know that I love them like their Creator loves them. In some ways I do wonder if that is possible, but since I have the Holy Spirit in me which is the same as Jesus walking right beside me, then it is. I pray that each day I learn how to be more and more like Jesus. To do that every interaction I have needs to be more and more like Him. Please pray that every step I take is one step closer to being like Jesus:) For everyone who reads this, I pray that we all will heed what Colossians 4:5-6 says, "Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."