Did That Just Happen?!

My time in Uganda has been filled with teachings from God. He has moved me in many ways, and has taught me more than I will ever be able to describe. These things are deep and moving, and I know I will never be the same. However, not all my lessons are serious. He has given me plenty of times of full on belly laughs! And even in those times, I find God teaching me something amazing. I have four stories I would like to share, as I reflect my first few weeks in Uganda.

Story Number One: Crickets are a Ugandan specialty! They fry them up, and chow down. The kids will hunt them down all day long. When I arrived, it was the beginning of cricket season. It is like the beginning of watermelon season in the US. Remember the joy inside when you find the first perfect watermelon of the season? That is what happens with the crickets. And bugs come in huge packs in Africa. Which means there are crickets everywhere! Before I came, the rule was “No live bugs in the house.” All the kids were trying to get away with bringing the crickets inside, but I knew the rule and enforce it well! The boys have a bad habit of going cricket hunting right before a meal. They will have handfuls of crickets! Then they are called for dinner, and they grab their food. A few different times, I will be eating with them. I look at their plate, and it is swimming with crickets! The kid just goes about business as though nothing was wrong. I just look at them and say, “Two options. Get rid of the crickets, or eat outside!” Usually they do not want to lose their treasures, and will bring their bowl outside. My favorite cricket story involves Api. He comes up to me, and says, “Auntie Mary! Look!” I look straight into the face of some poor defenseless cricket. I reminded him of the rule straight away. The logical response in his mind was to bite the head off.... Problem solved. The cricket is now dead.

Story Number 2: I took the girls to get their hair plaited (as they call it. Braided in the US). As we walked down the street, an older gentleman came dashing across from the other side. He cut through the girls who surrounded me. He stuck his hand out for a shake. As I grab his hand, he says, “Welcome! Why don't you buy your citizenship and become one of us?!” I was not surprised, but I honestly did not know what to say in response to this man. My girls cracked up laughing at the man, and I simply said, “Thank you, but we will see. I just got here.” We continued to laugh at the situation. After a short stretch, we saw a couple missionaries that we know. They knew I had just been left on my own a few days before. They asked how it was going, and I said, “Wonderful. Except some strange guy told me I need to buy citizenship!” We laughed pretty hard, and they found it even more funny that I had never seen the man before.

Story Number 3: For Christmas, the kids have been making an advent tree. So each night at prayer, we color a little picture and decorate a construction paper tree. We also talk about what we are coloring. One night, the kids were wild. I am not really sure what got into them, but they were all bouncing off the walls! I don't know which child was underneath the table, and I will never know why. Suddenly, I felt a marker coloring the bottom of my foot! Whoever it was, they colored as fast as they could and tried to color as much as possible. They knew I would tell them to stop. I stomped my foot to the ground, and tried to bend underneath the table. I simply asked, “Um, why are you coloring the bottom of my foot?!” Peels of laughter came from below, and by the time I got all the way below, there was no child under the table. I have my suspicions on two children, but I will never know the truth.

Story Number 4: We have this balcony type thing around our front porch. It is my favorite place to just sit. I can read a book, journal, eat, or simply observe the world around me. One day, I sat and watched the boys play. Soon, they all started beating the tree. They are always pulling branches off. I am trying to teach them to respect the trees. They love to climb them, and if they destroy the trees, then their climbing days are over. So on this particular day, I yell across the yard for them to stop. Eddie looks at me and says, “We are trying to get the broom down!” A broom? In the tree? I saw no broom, so I walked over to get a better look. Sure enough there is a broom in the tree. I asked them why there was a broom in the tree, and all three just giggle. Okay, I guess I have seen weirder things in life. Then I look back up at the tree and notice a giant rock wedged between two branches. Why is there a rock in the tree?! Trevor looks at me, and exasperatedly replies, “I don't know. Auntie.... I just don't know!” Okay, whatever! Then I glance at another tree. There sits a bowl almost all the way up the tree. Africans are a bit of monkeys! I don't think I could ever climb a tree with a broom, a rock, or a bowl of food! But these kids do, and it simply makes me laugh! Then later, Maureen came to me and said, “We have a visitor!” Oh, okay. I wonder who it could be. Then she looks again and says, “In our tree!” Of course. Everything else is in our trees. Obviously a visitor must belong in the trees too!

I know this will be a blog in the making. I have only begun to experience Uganda, and apart of that will be the funny cultural differences. It is fun to be apart of them as I venture off into a new culture. Our lives are so different, but God loves us all the same. He created every culture, and every people group. He is the master of it all, and He sees His creation as beautiful.