Bethany Christian School

Our arrival in Uganda came during the end of rainy season (there are two seasons, rainy and dry and they each happen twice in a year). That means that every day is never the same. Rain can come and last 5 minutes or it could last 3 hours. It could turn from a tiny sprinkle to a torrential downpour within seconds. Or it might just tickle your sense and move along. But more often than not it is a downpour that means we have to find shelter for a while.

There is no such thing as a "Plan" for the day. The plan (obviously) always changes. Brenda likes to say there area lot of "re-do" days. The intentions for the first few days were to integrate Robinson and myself into Bethany Christian School, this included finding the right class for Robinson to join, while for myself it included teaching English and helping teachers grade. We were also signed up to work Awanas with the kiddos and a few fútbol and Volleyball games. However for all three of those things that we were supposed to do we got rained out the whole week! haha So this week is a re-do week when it comes to Awanas, fútbol and volleyball. We had one successful game of fútbol our first Saturday here which happened to be my birthday as well.

I sat in all but a few of Robinson's classes.

We settled on the Advanced Kinder class with Miss Susan as his teacher. He fits in well with the kids in that class as far as cognitive awareness, he felt more understood and could understand more in the 2nd grade class so he does miss being able to communicate with those kids but he is adjusting and enjoying his time in class. During Sunday's however he hangs with the older kids. They are able to speak a little more fluently and he likes building that relationship with them.

Bethany Christian School is apart of a different Non Profit than Develop Sustainability, we do a lot of projects together, but we are separate entities. While we are separate things, we support each other, and Bethany is most likely where Robinson and I would be staying full time when in Uganda. That of course allows Robinson to be living around the kids that he is building his relationships with and true create community for himself. The teachers and other staff at Bethany all speak English and that means that I am creating a community for myself as well. I have taken all of the breaks with the teachers and gotten to know a few of them now as well. All but one of the teachers (one I happen to like a lot) are married so I am glad that I have a girlfriend to hang out with now and chit chat about life.

Bethany will become a staple to our community if and when we move here to work full time and I am excited for that prospect. I am aware that means that there will be times that we don't have much privacy alone time or even peace and quiet. But let's be honest I live with a 6 year old when am I ever experiencing those things anyway.

One thing that I am learning is how not o have expectations. Everyone that asked me what I would be doing and things like that can attest to me already trying to live in that state of mind... "what will you be doing, who will you be working with, what's it like, will you be ___?" While in Oregon I kept answering with "I don't know but God does and all I can say is I am letting Him lead". Now that I am here and having to live that mindset out I am seeing how that also means you have to find worth in not doing things. I have to remind myself that since we are a new NGO there is a lot of behind the scenes things that need to happen, a lot of office work, planning, grants applications, team arrivals etc that all involve office work...the main thing that I will be doing.

It seems odd at first in my mind that I will not be knocking on peoples doors or building houses all day every day, like isn't that how you show Jesus' love? hard labor? ha!

I am working on coming around to the fact that showing His love can involve emails, google searching, grading papers, playing fútbol, cutting grass, planting seeds (literal seeds in soil), trimming banana trees, cleaning dishes, cooking dinner or even just as simple as cleaning a wound. Jesus shows His love in different ways here...I am learning to do life like He did and just love everyone.

Pray for us in this journey as it is all new on us both.