Palm Sunday, Pleasantries, Poultry and Paperwork

Gotta love alliterations! 

We've had a pretty eventful week, filled with culture, traveling, and tons of paperwork. 

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Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, as well as our first Sunday in Gulu Town. 

Cultural note: In Uganda, you don't go to church. You "go for prayers." If you want to ask someone where they attend church, you ask them, "Where do you pray?"

We went for prayers at Watoto Church Gulu, where we celebrated Jesus with a combination of Western- and Acholi-style worship songs and a message about giving. 

Watoto Church Gulu is about to shift to a new, bigger location across town, and thank goodness! Both last week and yesterday for Easter we danced shoulder-to-shoulder during worship, and I probably ran into the ladies next to me a dozen times! There were so many people! 

I am overjoyed to be back with my home church in Uganda. <3 

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I've noticed something that I somehow never picked up last time... 

When someone sneezes, I naturally proceed with the pleasantries of "God bless you," and I half-way expect an, "Oh, thank you" or at least a nod of acknowledgment that they received the blessing...which I passed to them... from God... (Our pleasantries seem weirder to me every time I think about them.) 

Here, however, if I say "God bless you" after someone sneezes, that person just stares at me.

Finally, I asked Tony, a friend of mine and our boda driver, whether it was customary to say anything at all after someone sneezes. 

"No, you just look at them!" he replied.

Pleasantries- out the window! 

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One of the biggest priorities on my to-do list while I'm here is the registration paperwork for opening an NGO (non-governmental organization). I'm so blessed to have on my team a few men of God who have "been there, done that," and can offer advice and connections here in Uganda. 

One of those connections is a great guy named Steven who lives in Kampala. This past Monday, Ashlie and I travelled back down to Kampala for a week of meetings with Steven and a lawyer that will be helping me with the registration process.

Traveling to Kampala from Gulu... what an adventure. 

The trip is six to seven hours...

It can be made one of two ways: 

Private hire- this is when you have a taxi service (usually a 15-passenger van) drive your group only the whole way down. It's definitely the more comfortable option, but it can be really expensive. 

The second option is taking the bus. My favourite bus to take is the Post Bus, which goes from one post office to the other, making brief stops along the way. It's cheap, safe and reliable, if a bit slow. However, it leaves at 8 AM, so running late is not really an option. 

On Monday, we took the Homeland Bus... such an experience. 

The bus was scheduled to leave at 10 AM, but did not even arrive until 10:45. 

Ashlie and I ended up at the back of the boarding line, which meant we had no options when choosing our seats. The only two seats together were on the back row of the bus, in the middle of four other people. Every time the bus went over a pothole, we flew at least six inches into the air, crashing into each other on the way back down. 

Now, picture this: a crowded bus comes to a stop on the side of the road. All the windows are at least partially open, because there is no air conditioning. As the bus rolls to a stop, all of a sudden, voices come calling through the windows, and items begin to appear through the window cracks...

"Madam, soda?"

"Ssebo, you want pork?"

"Yes, please, water?"

And my favourite:

"Madam, you want a chicken?"

Not a piece of chicken, not even a cooked chicken... 

A live, wriggling, squawking, upside-down chicken is pushed through the window for sale, and sure enough, the last half of our journey is spent with poultry passengers. 

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The process ahead of us is an adventure... it's been stressful at times, but God has shown us so much favour. 

Currently we are going forward with the registration process, which may take up to two months. I'm also researching other NGOs here in the Gulu area, learning what is sustainable and what has best impacted the community, etc. 

A large part of my job right now is simply living and learning. Immersing myself in the Acholi culture, learning the language, "going to prayers," shopping in the market, walking through town... doing life with the people in my community and building relationships with them. 

That's what being a missionary is, after all: doing life in a way that shines the light of Christ through any culture or circumstance. 

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Thank you, everyone for your prayers and support! There are many more stories to come. 

<3, Robin