Two Weeks!

Just about two weeks from now I'll finally be on my way to Uganda! After a year of serious thought and preparation for this, it still hasn't hit me that this is really happening in just a few short weeks. Just to make everything clear right from the beginning, I will do my best to explain what this trip is all about.

I am going to Uganda this spring semester (January 12 - May 2) to study abroad. I am going through an organization called Best Semester and this specific program is called Uganda Studies Program (USP). I will be attending Uganda Christian University (UCU) and taking a full course load so things will be just as busy and crazy as a normal semester. Most USP students (there are about 35 of us from all over the U.S.) will stay in the dorms on campus at the college, but some of us get to stay with a Ugandan host family for all 4 months! This is part of a new missions & ministry emphasis track they added to the program for students who are specifically interested in missions or becoming career missionaries.

So no, this is not a missions trip. This is an experience that will help prepare me for becoming a missionary later on down the road. I am doing this to learn things that are vital to my future career but cannot be learned in a classroom. In missions and ministry classes at IWU we learn about the importance of respect, adapting to cultural customs, how to communicate cross-culturally, etc. My hope is that spending 4 months living in a different culture will allow me to learn first-hand how to do these things and will bring insight for what I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

But enough about all that - now I'll tell you what you really want to know.

-I don't know who my host family will be yet, but soon after I meet them I will tell you all about them and maybe post some pictures if they don't mind. I'm secretly hoping for some younger siblings because I've never had them and I think it would be a blast for 4 months!

-The house I live in could be anywhere from a 5 to 30 minute walk from campus and it may or may not have electricity and running water.

-The main languages spoken in Uganda are English, and Luganda, their native language.

-It is summer there and Uganda is on the equator so the average temps will be in the 80s and 90s! I'm very excited about this but buying an appropriate wardrobe in the middle of Michigan winter is proving to be very difficult!

-I will have access to the internet while there but I don't know how often I'll be able to post updates. Feel free to email me (I would love to hear from you!) but please don't be offended if I don't reply every time.

As you can see a lot of things are still unknown right now, so I will just have to wait till I get there to give you all the info.

At this point I am very excited, nervous, and terrified all at the same time. Part of me knows that I will probably fall in love with Africa and build incredible relationships while there, but part of me already feels a little homesick and frightened by all the "what-ifs." Still, the more I pray about this, the more God assures me that he will be with me in everything. He has also assured me that through this experience he will reveal more of his calling on my life. It has been an incredible journey thus far and I think this will be one of the milestones along the way.

I would definitely appreciate your prayers even during this time of preparation, and I am so thankful to my family and friends who have already been praying about this for a while.
Mom, Dad, and Scott have been so supportive, but it's hard for them too so please lift them up in your prayers as well.

I may post a few more times as the departure date gets closer, but if not, I will write to you all from Uganda!