Mingoni! Amamuke!

Hey everyone,

So we are finally in Arua and picking up some of the local language. "Mingoni" means "How are you?" and "Amamuke" means "I am fine". I love passing people on the street and saying mingoni and seeing them smile in surprise and joy seeing a white guy greet them in their local language. We are enjoying getting to know friends here, learning about their culture, their lives, their church, etc. A lot of the stereotypes are being broken down, as always on trips like these. These are beautiful, loving, kind people, and they are very much in the heart of authentic Africa. They are not what they are often characterized as.

Right now we are sitting in an internet cafe and Kevin is behind me playing guitar with a Ugandan man who enjoys Jack Johnson. The youth pastor here, Leviticus, serves as our guide and leader during our time, and he has been so very helpful. He devotes his time to us, and has loved on us ever since we arrived off of the bus. We have spent our nights here talking about the Lord, talking about culture, and singing worship songs with him and another friend named James. They teach us words and things about Uganda, and we tell them some about the US.

So we took at 7 hour bus ride up from Kampala to Arua. We went from Kampala, which looks a lot like a poor ghetto that we'd be familiar seeing in any major city in America, although poorer and more compact. Yet the people were all very kind to us, and we surely stuck out like a sore thumb. The bus driver was going about 100 km/hr up the main road that goes from South to North through Uganda, flying by bicyclists and other onlookers. Every hour or two we would pull over and different vendors at a market would lift food up to the windows of the bus for us to buy. And we only had one bathroom break :) Haha, that's always fun! It was interesting to see the changes throughout Uganda while going through it. While Kampala is more of a city, we eventually started to see the grass-roofed huts in small collections along our trek. There are many stretches of beautiful green, as well as beautiful people. We commonly see men riding motor-bikes and bicycles on the side of the road, with women carrying heavy loads on their heads with amazing balance.

We were met by Leviticus and Shem at the bus stop and they gave us very warm greetings with big smiles on their faces. Every since then, they have taken the best care of us. We have already spoken at an elementary school, done Bible study together, sung worship songs, talked about family and friends, walked around town to see everyday life in Arua, watched the World Cup together while drinking a Coke, and overall just done life together. We have a cook who prepares our food over what is essentially a campfire, and until today had no refrigerator. We have asked them to only give us what they would normally eat, but it seems they will give us meat every day and other such luxuries regardless of what we ask. It is hard to know what to do when they want to give us everything, but we only want to be among them as equals. It is hard though when we come from America. We have so much privilege.

Well my group is waiting on me to finish, so hopefully I can update sometime soon! It will probably be a few days though. Love you all and blessings! :)