Loving life

 “I needed to start seeing the purpose of my life as not doing something to accomplish or acquire something but to always be doing something for someone, as Mother Teresa did.” Mother Teresa’s Prescription: Finding Happiness and Peace in Service by Paul Wright

I can’t believe I’ve already been here for a month! Who knew time would fly on African time? A lot has happened since my arrival including new kids coming to the orphanage and a crazy rafting adventure on the Nile. God has also blessed me with so many new thoughts and insights while on this trip. First, He tells us to always have child-like faith and to trust in Him for everything. There have been so many times here where I do feel like a child and I have so much to learn about this new place I’m surrounded by. A few weeks ago, there was a thunderstorm at night. I woke up in a panic and couldn’t tell what the sound was exactly. This was no Virginia thunderstorm! The thunder sounded like bombs going off in the distance and it kept me awake and praying for the rest of the night. Back home, I love thunderstorms but here, something so familiar turned to fear. New sounds, new sights, new smells (some good, some not so good) keep me wondering and experiencing this place through the eyes of a child. I love it. I’m not one to ask too many questions but here, I’m constantly asking them. And because I feel like a child, I think my prayer life has flourished. I pray for the things that I, as a child, see as pretty significant yet God’s probably smiling down at me with those Fatherly eyes knowing very well how small this problem will turn out to be.

Another aspect that really hit me the other day was the idea of the universal Catholic Church. Of course the Catholic Church is universal yet it really clicked when I was in mass and the Ugandan priest says in a thick accent, we pray for Pope Benedict the XVI. The songs may be a little different and the Ugandan traditions alter things in the mass ever so slightly but the Pope is the same (well, until February 28), our Church is the same. It was such a cool feeling to pray for Pope Benedict the XVI in Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Jinja, Uganda just as we pray for him at St. Robert Bellarmine Chapel in Fairfax, VA.  How awesome is that?

We also have a few new children that have come to stay with us at the baby cottage including baby Salim. Salim is a year and a half years old but is by far the smallest and thinnest baby I have ever seen in my life. He was very sick when he arrived but by the grace of God, he’s gotten so much better and now smiles and laughs a lot. He’s in the same cottage that I’m working in so I get to feed him and play with him often. Since his time here, he has filled me with so much joy with his progress over the past couple weeks. His big brown eyes just melt my heart every time I see him.

Finally, three of the other volunteers and I went white water rafting last Saturday. I’ve been white water rafting in West Virginia a couple times but I’ve never fallen out of the raft and things seemed like they were totally in control while there. My first warning that things were going to be a little different was when the guide said at some points, he’ll do everything in his power to not flip us since that’s crocodile territory. Great. So I not only have to worry about staying on the raft in class 5 rapids, I also have to worry about being eaten alive if I do happen to fall off.  However, my fear of crocodiles quickly escaped once we started since the whole raft flipped in the first two rapids of the day… I’m thinking the guide did that on purpose. He was so funny with his Ugandan humor and it really helped us relax.  We had a great day with tons of beautiful sights along the river and getting completely drenched multiple times by a speed boat with tons of mzungu passengers. Figures. I ended the day with a pretty nice sun burn from the African sun, great memories, and tons of laughs. I’d totally do it again if I could.