Well today was the volunteer's day off. And if you read yesterday's blog, 5 of us headed to Kampala for a day of travel, shopping and church. At 8:00, we were picked up by our driver, Wilson. He was so great! He's lived in Uganda for 14 years, so he was a great guide on our drive to the city.
I got to sit up front with him on the way there, so I got some great pictures and learned a lot about the area, community, and way of life.
One thing that's bad about driving to the cities is the pollution. It's terrible. Almost all the vehicles run on diesel, and none of them run cleanly. So we're always getting breaths full of thick black carbon exhaust when we travel. But luckily it only took us about an hour and a half, so by the time the girls were getting naseaus, we arrived in Kampala :)
The first stop was a mall. Kampala's a fairly large city, so the mall was a nice stop. It had a huge grocery store inside of it too, so we stocked up on the (African) essentials: tuna, peanut butter, canned vegetables, fruit, and dark chocolate.
We did a little souvenier shopping at a nice African craft/decorating store, then visited the bookstore, which was fun. I just really, really love books (thanks, mom), and could've spended hours in there. But we had to move on! So we got a bite to eat at the food court- I ordered some Indian(?) food and I'll get back to you tomorrow on whether or not it was good.
After the mall, we had Wilson drop us off at a big local craft shopping area, about a block away from where we would be going to church.
After bargaining for a couple gifts (and Dad, I got you a one-of-a-kind father's day gift!! Hilarious. You just get excited. Waaaay better than your cow sweatshirt. :D ), I was looking at a couple purses, since I promised some friends I'd get them one. I picked them out and reached into my purse to pay the woman. When I pulled out my little case for money, of the 140,000 shillings (about 70 USD)I had in the case, there was 6,000 left (about $3). Somehow, I had been pick-pocketed. I have no idea who did it, but regardless, it happened. And it stinks! To come here with completely good intentions, and to still meet those with completely opposite ones. But after about 20 minutes of complete frustration, I realized that they probably needed it more than i did. And off to church we went.
Church was unreal. The church we went to was called Watoto, located in central Kampala. They have services 4 days a week, and on Sundays they have one at 8, 10, 12, and 2. We went at 2:00. Their average service attendance? 400. Needless to say, it was PACKED! We started with some loud worship music- my favorite :) And the first song of choice: Arise, by Don Moen.
Haha incredible. For those of you who don't know my sister, Julie, she lives with one of her best friends, Mel. Mel's last name is Moen, and her dad is Don- the writer of 2 of the 5 songs we sang today at worship. With 400 people. In the middle of Africa. Pretty incredible, huh?
Thousands of miles away from home, and there I am at church in Uganda, with connections. I hope Mr. Moen knows how huge of an impact his ministry through his music has made all over the world. Amazing.
After church, we headed back home to Jinja. Three of the volunteers leave tomorrow, so we'll be a little busier this week.
Week two- here we come :)
I'll write again tomorrow,
God is great,
Linds
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