Hello everyone,
I am home as the title says, home as in Uganda but, I can't feel better about being back in a place where I feel so comfortable about the environment and people. Well, as most of you guys know, I have been on my outreach in both kenya ( two weeks ) and tanzania ( 6 weeks) and what an outreach is, is when we go out into two different environments and preach to the villages there. It was such a life-changing experience for me. It was definitely difficult though thats for sure. ok let's see where i should start...the beginning duh :)
so 1st week - mutwala, Kenya
So, on the first week we went to this tiny village called mutwala, and we arrived there late on a night. And our bus that we were traveling in couldn't make it to the village so we had to walk ( in the dark) to the village ( with no torch) with the leader of the village ( up some hills and across a river). it was a "fun" journey. when we got there, they fed us the best meal of chapatis, and this bean soup. After that, they told us where we all would be staying. The girls first..." you guys will be staying up there" and by up there that means up a mud hill ( how fun that was to climb every morning). So we stayed in a mud hut..( not a joke) and it was definitely an experience i will never forget. we had 6 girls in one mud hut. space was VERY limited. not good with girls..just saying. But besides that we did ministry at secondary schools, primary schools and we did open air crusades. I LOVED it. at one of the secondary schools we went to, there was over 200 students aging from 16-25, and we had to go on stage and introduce ourselves. When it came my turn to introduce, i was so nervous. ( I'm very insecure of my voice through a microphone .. :) ) but when i got the mic, before i said a word they started cheering and cheering ( great ego boost ) and of course i laughed and then introduced myself. and then i was told that i would be leading the dance game. ( oh man) and so i went back on stage and called 6 boys and 6 girls up on stage to play essentially the freeze game while dancing. people swarmed the stage ( i felt like a celebrity ... who knew it was only cuz I'm a muzungu) and so the music started and people dance and froze, danced and froze. it was sweet so how much mad skills they have in that area. then the preacher ( one of our students) came and preached and we did a skit and then worshipped. That is pretty much the program went when we went to every school. such an amazing feeling to minister. I didn't know how much i would enjoy it. God found a strength in me and used it to his advantage. AMEN. We also did open air crusades. Open air crusades are when we "set up shop" either near a church or in the middle of town and essentially have a church service right then and there. At first it was very awkward, but you get so used to it and learn to really love it. My favorite thing about them was the children that were there. They either would be dancing or just really soaking in the Word of the Lord. wow! So the ministry there was phenomenal!
Week 2 - Riat, Kisumu , Kenya
The house we stayed at was so nice. Most of us felt uncomfortable staying at such a nice place, but we didn't complain. We did essentially the same thing as we did the week before, but it didn't feel like that spiritually. It felt like God was needed so much more that He was in Mutwala. Time for us to show what we had learned. Loved it. During this time, 4 out of the 7 westerners came down with malaria and the rest of us made sure we kept taking our doxy and bug spray. ( Still no malaria for Tess Jones!! win win) After every crusade that we accomplished we would watch a movie, the movies that we watched were : Passion of the Christ , David and the Ten Commandments. It rained so much here and we got caught in the rain so many times, hey its a very convenient shower! I started to feel a strong pain in my chest towards the end of our stay at this house, and i was told that if it still hurt when we got to the next place , we would handle it then. Sounded fine although I really wanted to be home in the comfort of my parents and family when something goes wrong. So, we left the house and embarked on our 16 bus journey to Tanzania.
Week 3 -week 5.5 - Kilala, Tanzania
We arrived safely, although every bump we went over I wanted to cry because of my chest pain. People thought I had cracked a rib. So the place we were staying at for this extended period of time was one of our leaders houses. His mom is the pastor of the nearby church and he has three brothers. The house was so lovely and just welcoming just by the appearance. We moved into our rooms ( 6 each) and had a day of relaxing. ( much needed). The next day, I told my best friend on this trip, Naomi. that my chest was still killing me. We went to the leader and he took us to a clinic. ( for those who know me you know I HATE clinics..hospitals...blood...needles... all of that. so for me to ask to go there is big). The first clinic we went to was just a small local clinic. The gave me a blood test to check for malaria ( blood..check, needles...check,) negative. The doctor then said that I had sprained my ribs. They gave me pain killers and I was on my way. The pain killers didn't seem to work. I still continued in the ministry because I wouldn't let that get in the way of blessing people. I then went to a actually hospital twice more. I was then diagnosed with kidney stones and then later a liver infection due to contaminated water. how lovely. Back to the house was the best feeling ever. I couldn't have asked for a better place to feel ill. This was my favorite place to stay. I could have quiet times right outside on the lawn and feel relaxed.
Week 5.5- week 8 Kikititi, Tanzania
The house we stayed at here was our school leaders Musaki's house. It was such a nice house. but the location was in the middle of town. And having a missionary house in the middle of a small village draws a lot of attention to us. The town there was filled with drunkards. It got to be a little scary at times , especially at night when you are unfamiliar with the environment you are in. We got to celebrate Christmas and New Years there. Definitely different. Christmas day consisted of us waking up early to go and fetch water from the well. I carried 20 liters of water on my head!! ( hold your applause) I felt like an actual african :) Then we had to go and cute-ify ourselves. We all got in our Christmas dresses and headed to the Church service. It was long and hot but well worth it in my opinion! After that we returned to the house for lunch. This lunch was open to the entire community! 70 people swarmed in for food ( which was amazing). All of this was fine until they pulled what seemed like a cruel joke, they announced to everyone "time for cake!!" so all of us ran out primarily the westerners. Little did we know that when they say cake they mean a dead goat. ( my mistake) we were all sooo disappointed! New Years was fun we stayed at the church until about 12:30 am and when it struck midnight everyone cheered and cheered and prayed a lot. It was a great culture experience. We also had the option of leaving and going back to the house early but me and my my friend Naomi decided to stay the whole time and I am so glad that we did. We finished out outreach there and then headed back to Uganda ( 26 hour bus ride) not fun. but we were all so excited to get back home. we all had the same feelings.
Now I am home and couldn't be happier. I had my graduation from my DTS this past Saturday and I am free now!! I am now going to be starting my placement which for me is running a program called cherish which is an abstinence program. and then i am going to help staff a VTS ( vocational training school) both of these with start in february and will take place on base.
I am very excited for all of this to begin :) i have definitely missed posting on here! i love you all!!
p.s. I know so much more swahili then luganda now so my departure will be in Swahili.
Nakupenda Sana ( I love you very much)
Tess
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