It's been a while...

so, I've been in Uganda for two whole weeks, and I haven't blogged at all yet! sorry guys. here's a recap of the trip so far.

Days 1-3 were spent flying to Uganda. it was rough, because I didn't sleep at all. I don't recommend doing that. on the plus side, I got to catch up on lots of movies! Rachel said I only watched kissing movies, but I don't think "My sister's keeper" and "Avatar" count as kissing movies..she just had a great ability to look over at the only kissing scenes. lol. (ps- I cried through Avatar...but I think being awake for 30 hours might have had something to do with it.)
We flew over Greenland, which was absolutely STUNNING. I'm not even kidding...watching the sunrise over Greenland was breathtaking. European flights are more fun then American ones.

By day 4 we were settled in with the missionary families we're living with this summer, and we started our team orientation. Laura Love, Rachel Jones, and I are housing sisters for the trip. I have TONS of little siblings here- eight little brothers and two little sisters. (three belong to the missionary family, and the rest to the Ugandan family who lives on our compound.) Laura and I play chase and ninja with them (Laura's dorky motorcycle helmet makes a great ninja helmet, and is excellent for blocking foam darts.) We met the rest of the team here in Mbarara.

During orientation, I ate grasshoppers. Laura was scared of them but I was brave and tried them before the rest of the Covenant group. ha.
I also ate goat for lunch one day. and Josh couldn't cut his. haha.

We then started learning about life in Uganda. our host dad, Dale Hollenbeck, is great about making us think about things and talking about issues. We've had some tough talks about Homosexuality (which is a BIG deal here in Uganda and pretty much all of Africa), Doctrine (which is very weak here) missions and singleness, and many other things. Learning from him has been interesting.

Kathy, our mom, taught us to shell beans.

James, who may be my favorite brother here, is teaching me to be an excellent milker of our cow. that's right, we have a cow. two actually, but the other one is mean.

Speaking of cows, Josiah has been threatening to sell me for some. American Females are a very valuable commodity. Josiah's holding out for about 16 cows, but Josh said he'd sell me for a Starbuck's frappachino. Dr. Ward told Josh I was worth a lot more, but he also threatened to kick them both out of Covenant if they sold us, so I might be okay. in their defense, the cows here are much cooler than American cows.

I rode my first boda boda on Monday. I was the first team member to ride by myself. it was exciting. they are like small motorcycles, only dangerous. when riding one, you must first haggle the price, then tell your driver to go slowly ("Mpora Mpora!") and that if he doesn't get you there alive, you won't pay him. Dale was worried that on our way here we'd see dead bodies from accidents. don't worry guys, I'll come back alive. they're really fun to ride.

There's lots more to write about, but I'll try to keep this blog moderately short...the last thing I want to tell you about is our safari. we just got back last night from a two-day safari in rural Uganda. we didn't get to see any lions, which was probably good because we threatened to feed Josiah to one. (he's REALLY annoying at 5 am because he doesn't stop talking. but you've gotta love the kid...he makes life exciting.) we saw lots of other animals though. the team discovered that I have an incredible talent to get completely dirty. Rachel couldn't stop laughing whenever she saw my face, because I was covered in African dust. it was pretty funny. I'll post pictures on facebook when I can.

Please keep praying for my team. not all has been kicks and giggles (as Josh says), or poka-dots (as Laura says). one of the long term missionaries has been really ill for the last two weeks. several of us have had trouble sleeping, getting sick, and getting exhausted. there's spiritual opposition here, and some of us are still pretty worn out from this last year at Covenant. so I ask once again for prayer. don't forget us, we really need your support.

Sorry this has been really long. I'll do better about updating more often, and more shorter. (sorry. don't judge the grammar.)

It's been a really incredible time here.

Marriage proposal count: 3. and KT almost bought an African child for some cows...or she was about to sell herself. I have to keep an eye on her, because her language isn't that great yet. oh, sisters. :)