Earlier
this month one of the planes was due for some routine maintenance. Thankfully,
all our paper work is now finished so the kids and I were able to travel with
Joey out to our maintenance base in Uganda. We stayed in the guest house while
Joey worked. We then spent the weekend just hanging out before returning to Congo.
So, why
do we like going out to Uganda every once in a while?
Co-workers:
The maintenance specialists on our EDRC team are based out of Uganda. They are
great people! Trips out give us a chance to visit and catch up in person. We
arrived in the early afternoon this time. The wife of our mechanic graciously
came out and picked up me and the kids, took us grocery shopping, and dropped
us off at the guest house so we didn’t have to wait for the guys to finish working
for the day!
Shopping:
Kampala is a big city compared to our little village. So, it is a great chance
to find things that we haven’t been able to get in Congo. Funny thing, I had
originally hoped to buy fabric in Uganda to make curtains. I can find African
print fabric locally, but plain/single color material is hard to find*. In
talking to the mechanic’s wife she suggested I look at the curtains available
at a particular store. I laughed. I had totally forgotten that you can buy
curtains ready-made!
*There is
a new store carrying solid fabrics in Bunia as of last week. :)
Food:
There are so many options for restaurants and convenience foods in Uganda. And
we are a family that loves food! The thing we get most though is ice cream. The
girls kept track this trip. We had ice cream four times! Ice cream with
chocolate syrup. Ice cream in mini-cups in the car. Ice cream on a stick. One
time we got six different bowls and had fun mixing and matching!
Recreation:
A zoo, parks, pools, playgrounds, theaters, etc. When we first moved to Congo,
getting to go to a movie when we were out for maintenance was the fun treat.
Now that we are parents, we spend our free time at the pool and play ground.
However, it is so nice to have a place to just relax and play as a family.
Worship:
We are firm believers in the benefits of translation work worldwide.
Conceptually, we have always agreed that having Scripture in your mother tongue
is so important. Thus, we love flying for those doing translation work here in
Congo. However, we don’t personally have any experience with the lack of
Scripture in our native language. Now we have lived in Congo for six years and
although we do have scripture, we have lived without regular worship services
and teaching in English. Our hearts long for it. It speaks to our souls in a
different way. So, one of the things Joey and I look forward to the most in
Uganda is worshiping in English. I don’t completely understand why it is that
understanding the words (as we generally do in French) just isn’t the same as
hearing the same words in English. It is the language that speaks the most deeply
to us. Worshiping in our mother tongue was again a balm for our souls this
trip.
