Bush flight, Soap Making, and Plans to Fort Portal

    So second week down...crazy. I went on a bush flight with Simon on Friday into upper Uganda. I rode in the co pilot seat and it was fun wearing the headphones and talking to Simon through the mics. We flew from Kajjunsi to Lira, to Kaabong to Maroto, to Amudat and back to Kajjunsi. On the way back we flew over Sipi Falls, the three waterfalls flowing from the dormant volcano between Kenya and Uganda. They were beautiful, as was upper Uganda. I so enjoyed getting to see some of the places Simon would fly into and also more of the country, outside of the city. It's gorgeous upland. :)

   Yesterday I went downtown to Kampala again with Luan and we went to watch soap be made by a soap merchant. So...the men on the streets and in the shops are super creepy. We were everyone's "friend" and the conversations they try to start are completely ignored. When we were on the taxi, which should hold 12 people but normal hold 20, we had just paid when the man sitting next to me asked how much we paid because he thought we paid too much. He was genuinely asking, and it was a nice change. We saw a botabota taxing a man carrying a calf and on the way home I sat beside a man holding a rooster. It's very interesting with the women here. Those that maintain eye contact seek to make you smile...which in turn makes them smile and say hi. It's really funny but endearing too.
    At the soap merchant's we had an appointment at 9:00am and didn't get started till 10 or 1030...lol. We went through the entire process and left at noon. It was very interesting to watch the soap process as it was heated soap. Luan told me that the previous times she had watched him make it, the directions he gave her and the info she had gained from the phone were all different every time and this time while he was making it, it was a different process as well. Basically...the soap process is infallible unless you have bad palm oil. So Luan and I are going to try to make the soap once we get to Fort Portal and if we can get it perfected, we'll teach the women Luan does ministry with.
 
     Along with the soap, we're going to do some cake decorating with the women who are trying to start selling cakes mainly for birthdays and graduations. So I've been learning and researching SO much cake decorating stuff. haha...I feel like icing is coming out my ears. I am enjoying it though...and have a renewed desire to work at a bakery. Luan and I have been discussing the different ministries she has going on and one of them will be going to Bwera in a few weeks to do some baking, bible study and hopefully soap making with the women. We found out today that the pastor is expecting at least 100 women...which will probably be more! So we'll spend almost a week in Bwera. So I'm excited to learn and work with Luan, but I'm really going to miss Simon, Pam and the kids.

   It's been hard this past week as I'm really missing family and friends and am starting to experience more violence within the supposedly "peaceful and loving culture". God is ever faithful and I am looking to Him for guidance and strength this summer. He knows best and loves these people here. I'm so thankful that I'm here, even though it's been hard seeing some of the stuff I've seen.
   I head to Fort Portal on Thursday at like...6:30am. So I don't know when my next post will be as I don't have really any internet.

A World Discovered

    Wow! My first week in Uganda is already over. It's flown by, I must say. This week has been good, a bit crazy, but I've enjoyed it nonetheless. Kampala is unlike any city I've ever been to.There are several paved roads with massive speed bumps, but all the other roads are washed out, red dirt. Most barely fit a car it seems, but somehow cars seem to pass each other without scraping mirrors. Oh yeah, and everyone drives on sides opposite from America. haha...that's fun remembering to go to what I'm used to as the "driver's side" is actually the "passenger's side" when getting in the car. Most houses have walls surrounding them with loops of barbed wire. haha...reminds me of prisons...and when you see the houses, it develops that thought even more. Every building  that is lived in or business has bars in the windows and doors and is locked with padlocks. The bars however, are on the inside.
    There is poverty everywhere, even in the upscale part of town I visited. Very eye opening and saddening as it is the way of life here. There are shacks on the some of the main roads that are made of tin and boards, and there are people asking for money or food everywhere; especially at roundabouts and intersections.

    I spent a day in downtown Kampala...scary place...but it is where all the markets are and if you need it, it can be found down there, whether it's illegal or not. It's interesting and very different to walk around the town, downtown and down the road at the Embassy Market and the guards or police are shouldering rifles. While in downtown Kampala, Luan and I were in search of soap merchants and yarn merchants. Both inquiries were for ministry and business in Fort Portal. Downtown, the area is focused on the taxi stage, which is where all the taxis go to turn in the money they make to the taxi business owners. All around the taxi stage and "further in" downtown are different sections. You have all the yarn sellers in one area, all the movie stores in one section, all the plumbing material in another area, clothes in another, and etc. It's crazy. One would think they wouldn't have good business if only grouped around the other businesses, but the way it works is if one store doesn't have it, you move on to the next and so forth. It's a spider web of alleys and roads that seem endless.
    I also joined Pam for the Thursday lunch Bible study. They are finishing up a study on Spiritual Warfare. There were about 7 women, it varies week to week with the office ladies, but we sang some songs and then dug into the Scripture. Tomorrow, I'm playing worship for the missionary wives' Bible study and we are beginning a study on the "I Am Sayings". The first one is from John 4:1-26. And I'm interested to learn what these women, European mostly, will discuss. :) Wonderful having older women to listen to and learn with.
     I just finished playing keyboard for tomorrow, interrupted by the power going out, and am listening to the constant noise of the neighborhood. I have been learning so much...about the people, the country, the missionaries, everything. Thank God I like to journal as that is a way to help me process!!! I have loved being back with Pam and her family. They are simply wonderful and such a blessing to me. The kids have grown taller in two years...but it seems like just yesterday we spent a month together! Pam is out tonight and Simon is on an overnight flight, so I put the kids to bed. I read Zara a story and then she practiced her reading. Joshua reads on his own now and I teased him by taking his Panda...long story from 2 years ago that they STILL remember! Apparently Panda and I have preceded me coming as one of the kiddos friends upon meeting me said, "You're Emma! I know you're favorite game to play is Panda!" :)
   
     Anyways, I thank those of you who have been praying for me. I've needed them, and God is good. My prayer has been that He was the one that led me here and as I've had two women teaching and discipling me, it has been wonderful and challenging. But I am thankful God has brought me here and is placing people in my path that I might learn from.
     Until next time, may God grant you peace and rest!