And whither then? I cannot say

Words seem like broken cups that leak their meaning before I can complete the sentence. How to put the past weeks into words... I can only think in snapshots for now:

Lingira Island, the fishermen out on Lake Victoria with their floating lanterns in dark season with the late rising moon, it looked like hundreds of stars had fallen out of the sky and were burning on top of black glass, and the rich scent of drying fish still lingering on the rocks. One thing I've realized here is the sense of scent... America keeps things so sterile, grocery stores with everything sealed up in plastic... here aroma is everywhere, good and bad, but it makes life taste deeper. Running around the island (rock-hopping up the hills)... and talking to the beautiful people and playing with children.

Sipi Falls, meeting backpackers and fellow NGO workers, trading stories while eating a breakfast of bananas and coffees overlooking the valley and the 300ft waterfall. Hiking with our guide through the villages on an invisible trail and campfires on the side of the mountain.

Christmas, I think one of the best I've ever spent, worshiping God at church, then serving a feast to 20 widows and 50 children from the local community and having a program for them... their gratitude over the simplest things convicts me. Then, Shannon and I spent the rest of the day with Gerald's family at their home in the nearby village. (10 siblings and their mother, as well as some spouses and children.)

We've also been enjoying the fellowship of a team on their Discipleship Training School (DTS) outreach from the Swiss base (though I think only one is actually Swiss), and are expecting a team from Australia on Tuesday and in January two teams from the Tyler Texas base (home sweet home!)

I can hardly believe how quick time is passing here. Outreach begins in a month. We'll be spending some time in Pader, an internally-displaced persons camp. Then, four of us are going to South Africa where we'll be focusing more on urban development and community education/empowerment -- especially with street kids. We'll be spending some time in Cape Town, Jefferey's Bay, and Durban (which is Shan's hometown and working with her local church.) The rest of the team is heading to Sudan. I am really excited for them, and my adventurous side wishes to be trailing off with them into the intense and unknown but for now God seems to have another plan.

I recommend everyone read, What is the What- it is about the lost boys in Sudan. I can't come to grips with the intense violence and death these kids had to experience, but I think everyone needs to hear their story... if only because our hearts are often too calloused to learn from good examples but the atrocity of evil can cause us to repent and run from the same impulses in our own heart. We need to hear stories like this to be reminded of the value of every human life and how spoiled with God's blessings most of us are-- and to intercede. Because these are real lives. These are children who had to bury children, who watched rivers turn red with blood, these are innocent children and people who had to bear the evils of war and they might be your neighbor now. These refugees who turn into invisible people we ignore in our country, and yet, they have so much to teach us. (Jax and Kate, I am so proud to have two sisters who are serving refugees/immigrants in the US and listening to their stories.) Anyhow, read it, and let your heart break for these things.

God bless.