Last night we stayed at a resort on the shore of Lake
Victoria, not far from the source of the Nile River. Yesterday was rather
challenging….but through it all I am remembering to focus on God’s goodness and
faithfulness.
It started in the morning. We were leaving Kasana at 9, but
I had to run up to the admin office before then. I wasn’t planning to bring the
sponsorship laptop with me, and I couldn’t sign in to access that email
remotely. So I wanted to set up an automatic vacation response so people
emailing questions would know it would be a couple of days. But I couldn’t find
it anywhere in Outlook.
Made it home and it was time to go. In the process of trying
to finish things up, I forgot to close my windows (hopefully it doesn’t rain
too hard while we’re gone) and I forgot to grab my sleeping blinders. Neither
of which I realized until that night.
We made it into Kampala, I got a few things I needed at one
of the malls, and we had a good conversation with our driver. He is one of New
Hope’s grown sons, now with a wife and a new baby, and we really appreciate
him!
{It’s now Friday morning in Kobwin! I didn’t want to write
as we drove, because I wanted to observe the new regions of Uganda where I had
not yet been!}
So on Wednesday for lunch we went to a restaurant I had been
to a couple of times earlier this year. It’s in Entebbe, not far from Lake
Victoria. Sitting there looking at the lake somehow felt so restful and just
what my soul needed. I had delicious chicken lasagna for lunch (and dinner,
thanks to a takeaway box!).
At the airport, we picked up a gal who had spent a year at
Kasana and another at Kobwin. Then we really got on the road, back up through
Kampala and then off towards Jinja. There was a good bit of traffic, plus tons
of slow, big trucks. So the journey seemed long and a bit tense.
We arrived at the resort tired and hungry. Once we got a bit
settled in our rooms, we went to the outdoor seating area for dinner.
Thankfully Constance & Allison had called in to preorder their food, and I
was just eating my leftovers…so we didn’t have to wait for that.
Within 10 minutes of being outside, I could tell the
mosquitoes had found me and were having a feast. So I headed inside and counted
seven quickly swelling lumps. :/ I had also found out there was no wifi at the
resort, which was disappointing because I had been hoping to enjoy a Skype with
my family.
I was pretty sore and tired, so I was looking forward to a
hot shower Constance said they would have. Fought with the bathroom door a bit
that wouldn’t lock easily and wouldn’t stay closed, then thought I heard
someone trying to come into my room. I still don’t know what the latter was
about, I was too nervous to come out and didn’t want to have to fight with the
door again.
Got all ready for my shower, turned on the hot water, and it
was cold. My hand ran into a spider web in the corner, and he ran away as I
continued letting the water run hoping it would warm up. No such success……I
gave up in frustration.
Let down the mosquito net (which had a small hole) and
grabbed my tablet to read in bed for a little while. Fought with the confusing
bedcovers….It took me a bit to figure out that instead of having a sheet and a
blanket, two sheets had evidently been sewn together to make a sort of duvet (a
word I learned in N.Ireland!) over the blanket.
This is when I realized I didn’t have my blinders, and the
lovely porch light right outside my window would make it hard for me to sleep.
Climbed out of bed and turned it off, and as I climbed back in something among
the covers moved and all I could see at first was a tail.
“You’ve got to be kidding, please don’t let there be a snake
in my bed!!!” was my first thought. Then I noticed a small foot near the root
end of the tail and breathed a sigh of relief. It was “only” one of the common
5-6” skink lizards that I usually enjoy watching. But I was still definitely
NOT amenable to him sharing a bed with me. He wanted to run away as well – so I
untucked the mosquito net near where he was and he fell to the floor and
scurried off.
At that point I curled up in bed and had a self-pity cry. It
had all been a bit too many failed expectations and frustrations for one night,
I guess. If I had been making the decision at that moment about going home for
Christmas, I would have gone in a heartbeat. But the decision to stay had
thankfully been made the week before on a better day, in a more reasonable
frame of mind!
I finished the chapter on Friendship that I had been reading
in C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves, and
then I turned to my current relaxation reading: Anne of Avonlea. The title of the next chapter was “A Jonah Day,”
about a day when teacher Anne Shirley felt like a failure.
A toothache colored her day all dark, and she was irritated
and harsh with her pupils. On top of that, assuming that a package contained a
banned nut cake, she told the offending student to drop it in the fire….and
since the package was actually fireworks it created no small sensation! Then
her trouble-maker student put a mouse in her desk, and she actually whipped him
for it….something she had said she would never do.
Wow did I ever identify with her that evening! It may not
seem like God would typically use a fluffy fiction book to encourage a
frustrated, somewhat weepy daughter…..but He did just that :)
“Jonah days come to everybody,” as Marilla reminded Anne,
and “This day’s done and there’s a new one coming tomorrow with no mistakes
{and no frustrations} in it yet.”
And so yesterday (Thanksgiving) my attitude and thus my day
were very much better! Thanks to God’s unending faithfulness and graciousness
even in those times when I get so frustrated when things don’t go my way.
On Thanksgiving, I had the privilege of worshipping God as I
watched His lovely sunrise over Lake Victoria. I took a shower that, while
still not hot was not as cold as it might have been. We arrived in the
beautiful Kobwin safely. I was reunited to some dear friends and greeted
warmly. We had a delicious dinner. And I had no problem with cell phone signal
to call my family for a bit before I went to bed.
Through ALL of it—both a Jonah day and Thanksgiving—God is
good :)
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