Crazy Kampala Days.

After lunch on Friday we went to Kampala. We went to the ARA ( American Recreation Association) and slept there for the night. In the morning, my Dad went to a car place to get a wheel alignment and we went to swim. It took a long time, and my Dad had to come get me for a dentist Appointment. He came on a Boda-Boda ( a motorcycle) and we went to the dentist.

The Dentist looked at the tooth that was hurting and said that they would have to pull it out. So they pushed and pulled and it finally came out with a lot of pain ( they put Anesthesia in). So we went back to the car place and it still wasn't done. So we waited until it was done.

On the way home the tire wore the air thing down. I heard it clicking and asked my dad what it was. He said it was just the new tires. Turns out, it was, but in a bad way! So we kept going. Then at the end of the day we went to the car to go to the next place we were going to stay. The tire, a new tire, was flat.

So we got another guy to help us. The bolts wouldn't budge. So we got some poles and then the bolts came off. Then the jack we had didn't work. Then after a while another car pulled over and they had a better jack so we got the tire on but then the car wouldn't budge. So another guy came to pick us up and brought us to the next place. The whole thing took about two hours. The next day we left back to New Hope. Now that was a crazy day!

Blisters

The days seem to fly by. Here we are, in Africa! It's exiting to meet new people, plan fun things, take beautiful vacations, all the while knowing something big is happening to the lives of people here. I've experienced many embarrassing moments in the past few days, by just trying to be friendly. I'm not saying that trying to be friendly is bad, but the more you do it, the more you learn from your mistakes. I'm not the most social person, so it's hard to find friends.

I've been learning Luganda, the local language. It is very hard but I'm picking up a few words here and there, sometimes enough to figure out what they're saying. It's amazing, that here, the younger the Westerner, the easier to pick up the language and the accent. I'm sorta in between 'child' and 'adult', which means I'm picking up the language but not as fast as someone younger than me. Maybe that's not true because my parents keep telling me I'm the farthest along than anyone in our family. I don't know.

Hard work is the key to survival here. I remembered the passage in Genesis that says 'you will live off the sweat of your brow' or something like that. It is very true here. Our family group, my dad, Micah and I were mounding for sweet potatoes. When I say mounding for sweet potatoes, I don't mean we are looking for sweet potatoes, I mean we're gathering dirt to plant the sweet potatoes with. This proves to be hard when you need to gather lots of dirt in one place, get all the weeds out, and continue to the next spot. At the end, if you do it right, you will have a nice long mound line. Micah got dirty from playing in the mounds when we were finished. I got blisters from handling the hoe. Oh well, my hands aren't as blistered than as when we first came. I take that as a good sign.

Please pray for us as we settle in. Our house will most likely be finished by the end of this month, we still need to get furniture and paint, thank you Aunt Sherri, MorMor and family for putting our tubs together. We have them and are loving the M+Ms!

Please also pray for our hearts toward each other, it's hard on emotions to move from one place to anther halfway around the world. Thank you everyone for your support!

-Kara :P