"Give me your eyes so I can see everything I keep missing"

So, since I have not posted in over a month, and it is my 2 month anniversary tomorrow of being in Uganda, I am going to do a series of a few posts. 

Also, in case you were curious, most of my titles are song lyrics. This one is from a Brandon Heath song called "Give me your eyes". I thought it was fitting for a few reasons. One, God is showing me lots of things here, and only a few of them are mentioned here. Two, you can't be here to see what I have, so I am trying to share just a bit of that with you. Three, I still feel like I am God is teaching me things, so I am praying that He will give me His eyes to see all of the things around me.

Here is the first post:

Things Learned in Uganda

1. Don’t think about driving, just go. People here don’t know how to drive. It’s a mad house, but you learn, and just pray that you won’t get in an accident.

2.“You are fat.” This does not mean that you are fat. It means you are healthy looking, which could or could not mean that you are fat.

3. “You are lost.” You’ve not been around for a while, where have you been?

4. Please litter. No matter where you are, it is perfectly acceptable to throw trash on the ground, out of the window, or into the water on the lake.

5. Monkeys are not surrounding you. Contrary to popular belief in the city, those noises you hear are not monkeys. They are called “go away birds” that sound like monkeys laughing! They still make me laugh.

6. Expect to be followed. Instant celebrity. Kids will follow us to school, turn around and follow you around the city, etc.
7. Everyone poops. Ever heard of the book? Well, it applies to animals too. In fact, every morning there is more gecko and bat poop on my desk. One day, while washing my hands, a gecko even pooped on my head!
8. 10am is really 5pm. “African time” is set up so that it is 7 hours later than ours…they don’t count the night hours. Even if they know you mean western time, don’t expect them to be on time. It is not a time based society, but a relational one.
9. Tennis racquets kill. That is at least the ones that are electric and are sold for the purpose of exterminating mosquitoes.
10. Drive slowly in the rain, and after. It’s illegal to splash someone via a mud puddle with your car or boda boda (small motorcycle).
11. Cheese is costly! On average, for a pound of cheese that is good, it can cost you around $13 and up.

12. Proper greetings must be established. Everywhere you go, you must at least ask people “Hello, how are you?” and reply to them. After this you can keep walking around the store, or down the street even.
13. You are white…things will be more expensive! As missionaries here, we are fully aware that people at Friday market and dukas are over charging us (and even the super markets sometimes with the price tags). We will always barter down the prices some, but not always as far down as a Ugandan would. We know that we have some more money, and that extra bit really could be what they need, but we don’t want to be taken advantage of at the same time.
14. Never expect to find what you want. There is no such thing as one stop shopping. Even at the big grocery stores, you might find something there one day, and for the next six months it won’t show up there, or even the whole country. In short, if you see something you like- stockpile if at all possible ☺
15. Speed bumps are illegal. Most of the speed bumps in the city are dirt and put up by the people who live next to the road (even many squatters). If you want the police to do something about it, you’ve got to pay them money. Otherwise, you just deal with the crazy bumpy roads plus the speed bumps.
16. There really are millions of stars. Even in the city on a clear night, you can see more stars here than any field in the country back home. It’s breath taking!

"School could be a mini-me of the rest of society"

School has been really pretty good so far. The classroom, yes, was the messiest thing ever. I thought my brothers room was messy, and I guess this is a different kind of messy, but it was still gross. All of the paperwork from past teachers has at least some reminisce of rat pee on it. It took me a whole afternoon to clean just 4 of my desk drawers. Things came together though, even if there is more gecko poop on my desk every morning. Sunday afternoon I had an interesting experience of a baby bat falling on my table and twitching. Blech. I didn’t know what to do with the poor little thing. Luckily some kids from Sunday fellowship were willing to take it outside for me.
The first week in school for me included the following: kids throwing rocks, calling each other ugly, a child disappearing for 1 ½ hours, karate chopping, and too much calling out to even remember. However, such is the first week of a 1st grade classroom. It’s hard to expect much from a group of kids ranging in ages 4-7 who had three different teachers in the course of last year. Things will get better. Some fun facts about my classroom is where the kids come from. From what I can tell so far, I have 2 Koreans who do not speak much English, 1 newly adopted Ugandan who does not speak much English, 1 Pilipino, 1 Japanese, 2 from Holland, 1 from the UK, 1 from Kenya, some “Americans”, and some other Ugandans.
Some of you may have caught wind that I was very ill this past week. At around 1am Wednesday morning I woke up violently and spent the rest of the morning in the bathroom or in bed with a bowl. I am almost completely better now. Thank you all so much for your prayers! I returned to school on Thursday and taught while sitting, but the kids did a great job that morning. Friday morning chapel was a wonderful experience. I got goose bumps as the whole elementary school (play group through 6th grade) slowly sang “Lord I lift your name on high”. It’s pretty cool to be at a school where you can freely worship the Lord and encourage it! I am learning how much of a ministry it is however. Not everyone in the school is a Christian. There are some Muslims, a Jain, Buddhists, atheists, etc. Some people simply send their kids to HIS because other people tell them it is a good school. It’s not just a teaching job; it’s a way to reach out to people. On Friday night I helped out with the first youth group of the year for HIS. We had a bunch of kids come out who really did seem like they wanted to know more about Christ. Please pray that this ministry is successful. Some of the kids who came are known to really be struggling and made some very bad choices. I have been surprised how easy it is for kids to find some real trouble here.
I’ve been able to put some pictures up on my facebook page-I have found it the easiest way to share pictures. Here is a link to the photo album: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023912&l=b3e99&id=30200100

Please keep those prayers coming, they are being felt! I love hearing from you all!

Buvuma Island

Yesterday, I returned to Buvuma Island. For those of you who have heard the story of me getting stuck in the middle of Lake Victoria (or experienced it with me) that is the place where we were coming from. I was so worried about going and the possibility of us breaking down again, though, somehow I knew that nothing could be as bad as what happened last time. If you haven't heard the story, the incredibly short version is this: We went to Buvuma Island to teach some kids at an orphanage and visit a health clinic. On the way out we had trouble starting the engine, but we got there. Leaving, it never started, but we were pushed out and floating for an hour or so with storms coming. Eventually got to a spot of mainland. Found a random person to take us. People licking necks and doing african calls. Stuck in the mud and dropped off on the side of the road when the taxis had stopped running. I'm sure your imaginations can fill in some of the blanks!

There were some missionaries were headed out to the Island and this would be my roommate and my only chance to go out for a long time. So, we went. It was really great to be back on the island and see some of the same people and wander through Chicongo with kids using us Muzungus as pets. We left and got back to land safely, but we were having an issue with the breaks in the car. So we went to a mechanic that Pastor David knew. All of the girls sat in the back of the car where as many as 20 'mechanics' gathered around trying to figure out the problem after removing the front seats. 2 1/2 hours later we left the mechanic with a new pump of some sort that we inevitably paid to much for being Muzungus. During that time some of us took naps or twiddled our thumbs, but we did not go wandering because we kept thinking we would be done any minute. However, it was MUCH better than last time and I am glad to have gotten the chance to return after all. 

Thanks for the prayers. I hope to get pictures up here soon. I have moved into the apartment, and things are slowly coming together, with or without water and electricity ;)

Here are some of the pictures from the Island.

Pastor David starting up the engine! 

A chicken hanging out in a window of a house :)

And my new roomie and I with some of the kids who nabbed us as pet muzungus!

I have arrived!

Hello all, just a quick note to say that I am in Uganda! Currently, I am staying in an apartment behind one of the missionaries homes while we get the electricity fixed and a refrigerator in my apartment. Hopefully I will be moving in on Tuesday night or Wednesday. I drove down to my apartment after lunch yesterday to set up some of my things before the evening fellowship! It was not as hard as I imagined to remember to stay on the left side of the road, but it was just the first time. I am SO thankful that the car I borrowed to go down was an automatic. The car that I will have access to is currently in Kenya, but will be back next week.

My time here so far has been really great. I am slowly adjusting to the time difference, though the call to morning prayer for Muslims at 5:30 am has not helped. My stomach is still dancing, but nothing major has happened, praise the Lord! The other missionaries have been so wonderful in helping me to slowly get acclimated. They have been hosting me for meals and doing orientations with me slowly. Last night for dinner I had popcorn and ice cream. If you know me well, you would know that these are two of my favorite foods and just happens to be the normal Sunday dinner for the family that hosted me last night :) The WGM office has a high speed internet connection, so skype can be used there, but the internet is so slow in the other places, it is not even imaginable. To give an example of how slow it is, my internet connection will be 7k. Putting it in perspective, a dial up is 56k, and high speed at home is 3500k. Wow, right? Patience will be learned!

Back to financial orientation!

All my bags are packed

As hard as it is to believe, I leave today. At 6:30 pm I will take off from Newark and head to London for a 14 hour lay over, then at 9 pm I will board another plane headed to Entebbe, Uganda.

Am I ready? I don't really know. My bags are almost ready to go, but my brain is probably not. But I'm not sure it ever will be. I know that Uganda is where I am supposed to be, I know that I will be doing great things there, and having all sorts of new adventures, but it will be hard for me to leave home. One great thing about modern technology is Skype...the free online video chat service! Check it out, its pretty great. Now I just have to pray that Uganda's internet service is fast enough to handle it ;)

Besides prayers for mental health as I leave, and for traveling mercies, I have a physical prayer request. The other night I was going to sit down and I missed the chair (big surprise coming from me) and now I have 7 cuts going up my spine. They are not large, some are tiny but others are at least the size of a nickel and it hurts to sit against anything. Great for going on an airplane for 15 hours, huh? I've got some pain numbing meds, so hopefully that will help, but pray that I would be comfortable on the airplane and that the wounds would heal.

Many of you have been so amazing these past few months as I have been preparing for this journey, and I am SOOOO grateful for that. Please keep the encouraging words coming. I may not have gotten a chance to respond to all of you in my craziness, but they have not gone unappreciated at all. Hopefully I will get a chance to reply during my week of settling in to my new environment.  Once I get to Uganda and rest up some, I'll be sure to take pictures of my place and let you know how the adventure over was. 

Lastly, do I have enough funds to hit the skies? Yes! Wouldn't you know that I have about $9563 in my account presently (with more promised to come in) and the amount I had to have was $9545. God works wonders :) Pretty cool if I do say so myself. Thanks for letting God use you to help me get where He wants me to be serving Him!

For now, Weebale (Thank you) and Weeraba (Good bye). God Bless!

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Two weeks from tomorrow (July 23rd) I leave the country. Two weeks! It's hard to believe that it has really snuck up on me. There is still so much to do. This week is filled with doctors appointments, shopping for supplies, and cleaning out my room. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a simple stamp pad now a days! 

Thanks so much to all of you who have donated financially! As of today, I only need $684.64 before I can hit the skies. God is faithful and he has used you to help me in working with the people of Uganda! Please continue to pray for me, especially as I prepare for this big leap of faith with leaving my family, friends, and the world I know to go and do His will for my life. The next few weeks will be hard ones no doubt, but I know that this is where God wants me right now. 

I will arrive in Uganda on the morning of the 25th of July and will proceed to move in my new home: an apartment that is a 5 minute walk from the school! I will have a roomie but I do not know anything about her yet. The apartment is one fourth of a house, we are one of the apartments on the bottom floor. Our guard, Joseph, does not speak much English from what I know. I will have occasional access to a car that is automatic (praise the lord!). So my failure to find someone to help me re-learn stick will suit me well...hopefully.

Next week I will be the missionary again out at Delanco camp in Tabernacle, NJ. I'll be speaking on Thursday night if you want to come out and hear!

Will this journey be joyful?

Some may wonder why I would choose a blog name such as Jean's Joyful Journey. How could a whole journey possibly be completely filled with joy, especially in a war-torn land such as Uganda? I would suggest that perhaps we have our definition of joy a little mixed up. When a typical American thinks of joy, they would assimilate it with happiness. While yes, they are very similar, there's a difference.

If one would go to the ever-popular Christian website biblegateway.com and type in the word joy, 242 results pop up. How about the word happy? 21! Only 21 times is the word happy in the bible. And three of those times, the word joy was added in right near it to help describe the situation even more. One might wonder why the word joy was chosen over happy so many times!

My handy-dandy Webster's Pocket Dictionary defines happy as characterized by good fortune; prosperous. Having pleasure; gratified.
If you then look up joy in Webster, you would find delight; happiness; gladness. A source of pleasure.

Happiness is momentary, it depends on what is going on in that very instant. Happiness is a situation while joy is what causes the great happiness-and for me that is Christ.

I find my joy in the Lord. Will the Lord always be there? YES! So no matter where I am or what I am doing, I can find joy. Therefore I will choose to be joyful always.

A few months ago my mom found this quote and showed it to me. “If you are making something, you must call to mind the Creator of all things; if you see the light, remember the Giver of it. If you put on your clothes, recall whose gift they are and thank Him who provides for your life. In short, let every action be a cause for your remembering and praising God and lo! You will be praying without ceasing and therein your soul will always rejoice.” -St. Peter of Damascus

With this in mind, let's take a second look at my key verses, 1 Thes. 5:16-18. Notice in verse 17 how it says "pray continually." If Christ is our focus and we are continually with him, we will always be joyful, just as St. Peter said. Praying continually will make us ever look to Christ and be continually joyful.

My prayer would be that for all of us, we would continually look to our Lord and Savior for everything.

Will this journey be happy? No, not all the time. Will it be joyful? I would say yes.