The day before the team arrived in ATL I was out running errands for SaraBeth in Cheryl's car and got pulled over by the police. I truly was baffled as to why I was being pulled over because I knew I wasn't speeding. When the cop appeared at the window and asked if I knew why I was being stopped I could with all honesty say, "I have no idea." Come to find out Cheryl's registration on her jeep was expired and lucky for me it is the operator of the vehicle who gets the ticket. What a way to start a trip, huh?
Second back tracking story...during our first day together we did a blindfold walk as a team. As you can guess I was the only one who could see where we were going as I led the team through a parking lot and field in search of orange cones. This was just the first insight the team got into realizing that I was going to be leading them blind into a lot of adventures. I was struggling in giving them directions. I would tell them left when I really meant right. I realized that I can't flip directions in my head when I am facing them. The funniest is when we started down a hill and for some reason I told them we were about to go up a hill. Jimmy was in the front of the line and took a large step up to find the hill and almost hit the ground face first. Luckily I was there to block the fall. Again, just the start of realizing that even though I was the leader I didn't know much more than they did about what was ahead of us. In fact they would ask me all kinds of questions on a daily basis and I would just start making up answers. I would usually preface my answer with "well the last time I was here...." and they would just laugh and remember that I had never been to Uganda either. Here are some pics of our blindfold walk through the field.
okay now back to Uganda adventures.
So after landing in Entebbe and waiting in line to get our visas I had a small nervous breakdown...all internally of course. We had to have documentation of getting a yellow fever shot in order to enter the country. I told the team no less than 10 times the day before we left to make sure that the documentation was with their passport. In fact I kept reminding them and told them that the only part of Uganda they would see would be the airport if they forgot it. Guess who got to the airport and didn't have their yellow fever documentation? Yours truly. I knew exactly where it was..in the ziplock bag in my luggage with my allergy shots. Glory. Only by the grace of God did we make it through customs without having to show proof of vaccination and man was I relieved that it wasn't my luggage that was still in Amsterdam. As soon as I got my luggage I dug out that piece of paper and I had it with me at all times from then on out. Needless to say the team got a good laugh at my expense.
Morning one in Kampala we wake up and Geoffrey is nowhere to be found. No worries...at least that is what I kept telling myself. When I asked the lady at the desk if she knew where he was she told me he had not been here all night. A little confused I just said okay and walked out of the office. I knew Geoffrey has stayed with the boys so I figured he must have gone into town for something. We ate breakfast and got our bags ready for the trip to Gulu. As we loaded up the vehicle that was going to take us to the bus we quickly realized it was only by God's sovereignty that the boys bags didn't arrive. You see what happened is that the five of us, plus Geoffrey, plus the driver and all of our luggage (5 duffle bags and 3 big plastic containers with supplies) now had to fit into a toyota 4 runner. Yep that's right...a 4 runner. This was just the first of many times I would be told to sit in the front seat so that everyone could fit in the vehicle. The joys of being the chubby kid. Not too far from this day I would start affectionately be called big big momma. I am okay with the new name because being big in Uganda is a honor. I've been living in the wrong place my whole life, apparently. So here is just a glimpse into how packed the car was as we headed to the bus station.
Nothing like forced closeness?
Then came the six hour bus ride to Gulu. Just a warning this next part is not politically correct so if you are easily offended browse down to the next paragraph. For those of you who know me well this will not be shocking at all. I have grown up knowing and using the phrase "they were packed in like a bunch of mexicans" which is a reference to putting too many people in a little space. I have a new phrase now because Africans can pack in just as tight as Mexicans can. We were packed in like Africans on a six hour bus ride to Gulu. Matt, Maggie and I were crammed on the backseat of the bus with three African guys. The guy I was sitting by was named Stephen and he was a believer. He told us lots of stories of the rebel army and how he had escaped on three different occassions. The two most memorable things about sitting by Stephen were him using big big momma as a pillow. More times than I could count he would fall asleep and find himself sleeping on my arm, shoulder..wherever he landed. The other thing I remember was him buying us so much food. The bus would stop about every 45 minutes and people in the town would rush the side of the bus to sell their items. Every stop Stephen would buy us food...chapatte, corn, goat on a stick, kazava, grilled bananas, mangos, mango juice...you name it. I even got some boiled peanuts which made me feel like I was back in Alabama. The food was so good but we were all about to pop if he didn't stop buying us food. Stephen just wanted to make sure we got to experience true African food. CHECK!
The absolute funniest part of the bus ride...I heard a child start throwing up and looked up to see his father catching the throw up in his hand. Here we are in a close, confined space and this kid is hurling his cookies all over the bus. I was a little grossed out as I began digging in my bag for a napkin or wetones...something to pass up to the man. It was about that time that I looked up and realized that Jimmy was sitting right across the aisle from where all this is happening. I about died laughing...what are the odds that one of the two team members who doesn't have a change of clothes would get thrown up on. Classic. Luckily he dodged the bullet and only got a little splatter but I am still laughing about it as I write this post.
So that gets us to Gulu where our first days of ministry started. I will have to sort through pictures and see where to go from here. Stay tuned....
No comments:
Post a Comment