Oh and we got to see the Passion on Wednesday after we got back to Kampala from Mbali. OH and there is this girl named Ashley who is teaching the missionary kids in Mbali Uganda and she is from Lubbock. She even went to Coronado! But she is about 2 years older. Anyways she went rafting with us and so did Mark and Brian the guys we stayed with in Kampala. Oh and on the way to Kampala the bus got stopped on the Uganda side and the police were taking out smuggled goods that the bus was holding!!! So that took a little extra time, I guess Uganda has really high taxes and people try to avoid them in many ways.
We have a youth rally here at the school Saturday and that is why we had to come back early. We are going to be preparing tomorrow. Then we are leaving for Mombasa around the 19th to visit the Switft's and help with a youth rally and spend some time on the beach! This is a busy month because the kids are gone for the April break. School went well with the final tests and things we had to prepare last week.
"Yeah, I've run into him before, down at the diner. He comes in and sits on me, practically, until I scoot over. Then he smiles- like his big, silly grin will make up for stepping all over my shoes and being rude."
Let me introduce you to a man named Shadrack. I don't know his last name or even how old he is; I'd guess somewhere in his 30's. I don't believe he has his own family and I bet he lives with his parents or alone. Yet these glaring traits so uncharacteristic of most adults his age are not the only ways that make Shadrack different.
Everytime I go to town he finds me. I know by now that his wardrobe doesn't change from day to day, or even week to week. He limps up to me with a smile to match his bright, albeit dirty, yellow sweater that I'm certain would have Mister Roger's approval. His hair isn't very neat and his sideburns, though bushy, aren't what you'd call even in any culture. But all these things are (almost) forgotten as he somehow manages to smile even bigger and extends his hand. As the words "How...ares...you?" stumble slowly out of his slightly slobbering mouth, Shadrack's hand tries to squeeze mine. However, the same ailment that causes Shadrack his extravagant limp and slow speech also prevents his fingers from obeying him completely- on a good day he'll get three fingers to cooperate and squeeze your hand, whilst the other two stay rigid and seem to point in many directions at once.
For all these things that hamper Shadrack, he never has let them get in his way of coming to me, of somehow making my day. I've seen him as I drive by one end of town and I'll wave, thinking our encounter is through 'til next time. But thirty minutes later and on the other end of town, I see him coming in the distance as I am about to leave. I wait and watch as Shadrack persistently avoids cars that don't share the sidewalk (there isn't a sidewalk and the road is an ambiguous term many times) and even stationary objects, like fruit stands. His limp makes it hard to avoid these things, and no one but the deaf or blind can escape the stares and murmurs that precede and follow his every step. Some people will put up with him- he always tries to get us to buy a newspaper, even though he doesn't sell them, so I suppose the newspaper guy puts up wit him. What gets me is that I don't do hardly a thing to make him go through all that just to come see me. Unlike so many of his peers, Shadrack doesn't ask for much. Seems that he is most content to share his joy to a willing listener/receiver, and to be blessed by what little I do or say.
Shadrack and I never say a lot, but he tells me so much. There's a song by 40 Days that says: "I run, I crawl/it doesn't matter how I get here, only that I can be here at all." I am so thankful when God still speaks to me, the one that doesn't always honor Him by reading my Bible like I should. But I'm learning more and more that God is ever pursuing me and if I'll look and listen, if I'll be willing to learn, he'll speak. What do I learn from Shadrack? For one, I learn that I should have that same determination in seeking God, God who'll not only accept me and embrace me, but run to meet me. Luke 15:20 says that "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him. And he ran and embraced him and kissed him." These Kenyans can run fast, but I'm guessing God can move pretty quickly if he can do all the other things he does in the Bible and in our lives. I also desire the joy Shadrack has. I don't want to draw more than is deserved from this living analogy, but it is so clear to me. In his brokeness he still comes, despite the obstacles, he comes- grinning the whole way.
We've been teaching some of the guys how to throw/play frisbee after school. It is a lot of fun, but they are just getting to where they catch it (try to) and not run away; at first they freaked out like it was a boomerang or something. Anyhow, I was listening to my cd player while I was playing, so of course a crowd came over. I let them listen to it and this one guy started yelling (as only people with headphones on for the first time can) "Wow, this is so feet!" I think he meant "neat" but I'll take an ecstatic feet anyday.
I celebrated my birthday and that was fun. The guys surprised me with a great looking cake. It was real big with white and blue icing and my name even spelled correctly. We got excited and cut big pieces, but that was a bad idea. It was made of sponges, I think. They forgot to ask for sugar; I guess you have to request that here. Really, it was very chewy and sucked the moisture from your stomach even, and the icing tasted like playdough. But it was a great thought and I was so happy about it!! They also found me some "American" cheese singles (as a gift)...from New Zealand.
I might've mentioned before how we bathed down by a creek for a while and it was kinda out in the open and all that. Well, what we once thought to be just a cultural difference was not. Apparently the students that told me/us it was okay were misleading us; while we were gone one weekend they got in trouble. Apparently some kids took water from a guy's well and started bathing in the field/creek area and he came after them with an African hoe...we found out from the school's "vice principal" type guy, also our neighbor. He said, "Yes, some very rude and obnoxious boys were bathing out in the open, where people could see them and everything." We were appalled, we let him know. The nerve of some people... ~Denton