uganda: week seven.

i can hardly believe it. this is my last weekly update. i have five more days in uganda but by the time it comes for another update i will be back in the good ol’ USA. i can hardly put this experience in words. thankfully, i have many pictures and videos that will hopefully tell the stories for me upon my return. i thought about doing another weekly highlights list but the more i thought about it, the more i wanted to share things that i never want to forget. 

• absolutely for a fact number one on my “please don’t forget” list is the joy that swells in my heart when i walk past the toddler house and a certain little boy screams “AUNTIE HANNAH BETH” and runs full-force to me. and when he jumps into my arms and kisses my cheek with a big “mwah” and then looks at me with the biggest eyes and waits for me to say “i love you bugaboo” to which he replies “i love you my auntie hannah beth”. be still my heart. it is always the brightest spot in my day.
• second on my list to not forget would be the walk from house 1 to the guesthouse. to be honest, it’s a pretty short walk and could probably be done in 3 minutes. but when you walk past all of the kids houses’ to get to yours the walk turns into a 30 minute affair. you are constantly stopped to hug children and hear about their day and ask what they are eating for dinner and what they learned in school that day. it is the greatest to walk between houses greeting everyone on the porches. 
• i never want to forget what it is like to worship here. worship here is so free. i don’t feel like i have to perform or act a certain way. and the songs here are top notch. we sing songs in church like “jesus is the winner-man and satan is the loser-man” and “shake that body that jesus gave you. shake that body in the name of the lord.” absolutely. i can shake my body in the name of the lord. 
• i also never want to forget the level of contentment that is here among so many people. in america, i find myself getting caught up in petty desires when i need to remember how blessed i am. i NEVER have to worry about where my next meal is coming from or if i will have a good pair of shoes or if the power and water will be on that night. i always have more than enough and yet i struggle with being content. there is such a peace in being with people that are satisfied in what the lord has blessed them with. 
• i definitely don’t want to forget working in the office. there were so many moments of laughter and stories among the interns and employees that are normally in the office. 
• i also don’t want to forget what it is like to be prayed for here. in sunday school today, some of my kids thanked me for my time here and that i would give time to come teach them. and then in church, the interns were asked to come forward and people came and surrounded us and prayed for us as we journey back to america this week. the phrase i want to remember and pray forever is “just as they were given to us for a time, we give them back to you and ask that you would direct their steps.” yes lord. make it so.

so many more things i don’t want to forget: laughter, stories, quotes. this experience will stay on my heart forever. i am excited to come back but it comes with a price on my heart. i’m coming back a different person than when i left. and i wouldn’t want it any other way. see you in five days, america.