Muddy feet, crow presents and safety pins in a veggie patch!

Hey all!

So a bit of an update on my week so far! The conference has gone pretty well! There’s been a nice turnout and I have been very busy!

My day started early yesterday at 7:30am when I left Makanga [where I am living] to head to the conference about 2.5km away. And for Africa, a place you imagine to be quite warm- it was absolutely FREEZING! There was so much fog, and my hands and feet were so numb, I felt like it was the middle of winter in Melbourne! Because we are in the highlands, the temperature can get quite cold. Not that I’m complaining- I rather like wearing jeans and jumpers and drinking hot tea!

I spent the majority of yesterday trying to organize things for registration. I was assigned to help out with a Pastor from another church named Obed at the registration desk. The task required us to have name tags for all of the ushers, worship team, officials and speakers, as well as prepare delegate cards for all of the out of town visitors! This was no small feat! Seeming as we had none of the materials, including cardboard and safety pins, Ps. Obed and I went searching through town to find the required materials. After walking about 3km through town,[of which gave me extremely muddy feet that could have been mistaken for Mukiga feet they were so dirty] and going to about 10 different stationary stores looking for safety pins, we finally had what we needed. Unfortunately when we found the pins in a fruit and vegetable market, we didn’t have enough money to pay for them! Luckily, the nice man at the market allowed us to pay him later on. Then I had to design the cards, get them printed, cut them out and put into their plastic holders or with safety pins so people could attatch them. Organisation in Africa is not really a strong point, as you could tell by the fact we had nothing for registration a day after the conference had started! But as always, most things always manage to get done!

After getting what we needed I headed back home on a boda boda to print out the cards- and in true ‘liv style’ as I was ‘gracefully’ getting off the bike in a skirt mind you, I toppled off and landed in a ditch! But that was not the end of my luck for the day! Later that afternoon once the cards were done, and we were signing people in, [or rather I should say, a Ugandan teacher named Marion signed them in as there is no way I can understand, let alone write African names] a crow pooped on my shoulder! Whilst cleaning it off I found yet another dried present down the back of my shirt! Lovely hey?! I sure am welcome here now! Finally by 7pm I arrived home and my 11 hour day was over. It’s really exciting seeing so many people from different churches coming together as one. There have been some really insightful preachers and workshops. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the week pans out! Oh and the above picture is of a little boy at the conference named Bright, who was quite fascinated with my Muzungu hand! He was so adorbale- I took heaps of cute pictures of him!

Oh and Pastor Obed has asked me to preach at his church in 2 weeks time! I’m pretty excited- it’ll be my first time preaching to a congregation- I’ve preached to kids many times before, and at a youth group a few times, but this will be a new experience! I can’t wait!

Tomorrow I am taking the kids at the orphanage for a morning of sports, so that should be fun! Its not long now till I return- 2 and half weeks left in Kabale, then 1 week in Kampala with Esther. Oh and I will be visiting my sponsor child, which I think will be a huge highlight of my trip.

I hope everyone is well back home, I’m missing you lots! But I am not really missing anything else! [oh except Moses my cat!]. I think I could get quite accustomed to life here. I’ve even been eating the local food of Posho [maize- kind of like flavorless hard mashed potatoes] and beans- and to tell the truth, I actually like it! Especially when you add some G-nut sauce- peanuts that have been ground up into a paste- yum yum!.

Well have a great week, and thanks for reading! I’ll update at the end of the conference.
God Bless,
Olivia