Culture Shock

We have been out of America for 14 days now. I’d say I’m getting used to the culture, but somehow, something new surprises me, often. Yesterday we went to St. Andrew’s Anglican Church for their service, where they welcomed and honored us, because we are teaching at their Secondary School. We sat in the front of the church, but the way it is laid out, everyone could see us. We each introduced ourselves with a 30-second testimony, after all the church officials were introduced to us. They interpreted everything into English, just for us, and sang songs in Lusoga and then translated them into English, again, just for us. As Americans, it was a bit overwhelming, and uncomfortable for some. From a Ugandan perspective, they wanted to make sure we felt a warm welcome and their deep appreciation for getting involved in the community. After all, the aim of this project is to come back for the next two summers. Having learned about the way their culture works, it makes perfect sense that they would welcome us in this way. They take a long time to introduce and do welcomes, even in informal situations, because, as I’ve said before, they like to make sure everyone feels valued. They value people more than time; a valuable lesson for Americans, who are always on-the-go. Afterward we went to one house for a delicious, huge, home-made Ugandan meal, followed by drinks (sodas in bottles, it’s so fun) at another person’s house, and then we headed home, so James could catch his football match.
Today was a tiring day, though it doesn’t seem like I’ve done much. Mike, Walter and I went out with the Hospice, and we did two clinic visits and three home visits, for a total of 11 patients. They were pretty far out from Jinja, where we are, and we got to ride on some tough roads, some of which weren’t even roads! It feels like riding a bull, without being bucked off. Literally. The roads in developing nations, well, the two I’ve been in this summer, are pretty terrible. They have potholes that aren’t usually filled in, and our awesome driver, James, maneuvers like a stunt driver, but often the bumps and rocks are unavoidable. Again today, we saw children wearing clothes that may be their only pair, and encountered patients that had HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other terminal illnesses. Every day on these visits, I try to spend some time in prayer for these people, for their pain, and for their families. We’ve heard that some patients, because of the medicines, will be able to walk, which they couldn’t before, or will otherwise benefit greatly from the medicines.
God has been doing amazing things in my heart… and it may be few days until I can post again, but please keep us in your prayers, that God will continue to work in our lives like this! We still need $8,000, as far as we know, to perform all the things on this trip that we had planned to.