Day Two: My first day in Africa

First off.. I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to get to posting here. I have been traveling in the UK... which has meant fairly unpredictable schedules. So, I will do my best to get all this up in a timely manor.

Day Two!
We woke up at about 9:15 in order to get to church on time. Leah and I dug out our skirts and tshirts, which is the appropriate wear for rural Africa. We were both rather tired after traveling.
We got to church with plenty of time. It happened to be the last mass of the priest who had started the community, 18 years ago. So it was a bit more of a big deal than it would have been. They had dancers process in and 4 opening songs! Most people were moving and praying with great joy. It was really beautiful when they brought in the scriptures, they had another procession to proclaim the Word of God! The priest even started dancing.
The Homily (sermon) was excellent. It was about being chosen, called and sent. He also talked about how when we go forth in the power of God we don't have to take a lot with us. It was a very inspiring message. Then he gave some gifts to the Emmaus Community which were really beautiful.
(Side note: In English we would say Emmaus... but because the center was founded by a German, the name is pronounced A-mouse. No one will know what you are talking about if you say Emmaus)

After mass we "freshed" up. I ran to take a show, I felt so gross! We ate some food around 11:30, then I think we all rested and got our selves settled.(taking much needed naps) At around 4 pm we met up again to go exploring. Euphrasia offered to take us on a proper tour. So we got to see where some of the community members live (in houses just outside the retreat compound). And then she took us around the large farm area. They have several acres of land devoted to farming. They also have a large number of pigs, a few cows and some chickens.

After our tour we met as a team to pray and get ready for the week. It was an excellent time of worship and prayer as we went into this time of service.

That evening was a celebration/goodbye to Fr. Sievers (the community founder). It was actually a blessing that this happened on our first night because we weren't the center of attention. We just got to enjoy, watch and learn about the culture. After the meal the other community founder, Joseph, met us just outside the dinning room. He prayed with us and that was a real blessing. Then we were invited to help do the dishes! This was a huge blessing because they never would have allowed us in the kitchen if this meal hadn't taken place!

It was an incredible time. I just decided to dive in and make friends. I ended up singing with Maria and Angela... two women who over the course of the week became my good buddies. We sang "We are marching in the light of God" to different words... mostly.. "We are washing in the light of God". We laughed and laughed and it was so wonderful! I felt very at home!

Then the team headed back towards are rooms, but ended up standing around and talking for a good while.

I think that night I went out to look at the stars. They were amazing!

We rested up so we were ready to start the conference the next day.

And so we begin... Travel Day 1

3:45 am, Saturday July 11th... Leah and I roll out of our beds. Thankfully most of our stuff was all together to grab and walk down the block to meet the guys at the Servant's of the Word house. The taxi was right on time and we easily made it to the airport.

We stood in a long line for a quiet a while, until we got pulled out because we'd done online check in. After that it went smoothly checking our bags and getting through security. Sadly Dallas had his peanut butter taken from him.

Some got coffee or breakfast, and we chilled in the airport until we boarded. Flying to Amsterdam takes about an hour. Flying over the Netherlands was cool.. you can see all the dikes!

We had a quick stop over in Amsterdam. It was odd because they have security at every gate. We couldn't figure out if it would save money or not. For the flight to Nairobi I sat next to Mark, with Leah on the other side of him. PM and Dallas were elsewhere.




Flying over the Sahara was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! It was over 3.5 hours over the desert! And there were farms... and mountains. It was amazing. I have a rather chilling story about that as well, but it's not the type you post on a blog. Feel free to ask me when you see me.






The flight was over 8 hours... the last hour and some I always get antsy. So I went and talked to PM for a while.

Once in Nairobi we had some time. We were all tired, so we walked the length of the terminal we were in several time and then found a spot to camp out. Mark and I both slept some on the floor, the rest of just talked and read. The boarding calls were a bit confusing... so we went to our gate and once again were routed around the line and into the security area. Apparently our flight was before the others.

While in line we found Martin! Martin is a member of the Servants of the Word, a group of single for the Lord men. He was going to Uganda for 2 weeks to work with the community that we also were going to serve with. His roll was very different than ours... we were running a conference. He was helping the conference center (Emmaus Community) to develop. However, he was an invaluable help for the whole time we were there.

Once through the not so secure security we waited in a big room with a lot of other people. After a bit, Martin went to check that we were in the right place. We were't ... we just crossed to another connected room and walked out to our plane.

It was my first time standing on African ground!!! :D (We weren't allowed to take pictures in Kenya's airport)

It was late by now... I think we got onto the plane to Entebbe, Uganda at 10:30 pm. We'd been up since 4 am! But PM and I managed to have a great conversation as we flew to Uganda... another short flight.

Once in Uganda the five of us stuck together and got our visas as a group. It took a little extra long because they had a swine flu health check before going through immigration. Immigration was a breeze... just give them $50 and they let you in the country!

We met up with Martin again at baggage and everything came through! Some things were stolen from our luggage... but it could have been much worst than it was.

As we were walking out of the baggage area Martin turns to me and said "So Noelle, you made it"

I looked over at him, did a little dance (which Leah and Mark had to witness on the plane) and I said

"Martin, I feel like I've come home to a place I've never been." And that was the truth.


We came out, stood for two seconds, and then suddenly there were arms around us, hugging us, grabbing our bags, and welcoming us to Uganda.

10 of us piled into a mini bus taxi and we were off.

At 2 am we were in our room in the Emmaus Center, Uganda.



(We flew KLM/Kenya Airways... AMAZING!!)

Before the details...

Before I go into a detailed explination of what we did in Africa, I want to take a moment to say a few quick things.

I went to Africa knowing that it was somewhere I thought I wanted to be.
I left Africa knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that I want to live there for a very long time.

I went to Africa with a vision of how human dignity should be lived out.
I came back with friends, and a deep understanding of how love can reach across bound, especially skin color.

Skin color is a funny thing, something which should bring humor and joy.

I LOVED Africa. I felt so at home in Uganda, at peace. I fit in well with the culture and the people. I made friends with both women and men, something which I have been told is hard.

Many people asked me when I had been to Africa before. I asked one of my friends, Clementina, why this was. She said it was because I greeted people and spent time with people.

I loved how the people move and dance in worship, how they sing and don't hold back. I loved how they hold each others hands just to show friendship.

The continent has officially stolen my heart, her people are my people, for we worship the Living God.

My work now is to patiently wait, and do whatever I can to get back to this land.

I am back in London!

So I am back from Uganda in one piece... except I left my heart behind with the continent of Africa and her people.

I had an INCREDIBLE trip. There will be many updates and photos over the next several weeks. Stay tuned!

The Team

The Team!!! From Left to right...
Dallas Burkholder (Ann Arbor, MI), Paul Michael Graham also known as PM (Glasgow, Scotland), Mark Jordan (Originally from Glasgow now living in London, England), Leah Moran (Dublin, Ireland)

Please pray for us! We leave tomorrow morning at 4 am! :) It's going to be a long journey, but we know God is with us.

From Morning prayer this morning... 1st Cor 16: 13 and 14
"13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done with love."

Pray that we all can live that out.


Just for artistic sake.

A quiet day

Tomorrow everything starts. We have training, the whole team (well almost) will be together. I am excited to see the team and how we will all interact. I am not really concerned about whether we will get along or not. I am just excited to see how we will compliment each other.

I took today to rest, write talks and pack. I am about 3/4 of the way done with my talks... and about the same way through my packing. I am finding the lack of stress a bit disarming, as I am use to having all of my motivation be based on a strict due date and approaching deadline. Now granted, talks and packing have those things. But it has a different tone about it.

Tonight will be dinner with the Brothers, then out with Bob Bell. :) Leah M comes in tonight, the only other woman on the trip and a good friend from Dublin.

I will try to post pictures of people soon, so you know who I am talking about.


Prayer Requests:
- Spiritual protection and strength as we all go into this adventure
- Unity and love among the team members
- Clarity of mind as we all prepare our talks
- For Mark Jordan as he prepares to lead the trip.
- For all of the team as we start our medications, there none of us experience side effects!

Pray I see a giraffe!

SOAS and rain bringer

I went this morning to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Mark J took me there before a meeting he had in town. It was a very pleasant time. I learned a lot about their programs and talked with various people.

You know you are a nerd when... I was standing outside the book shop looking at the discounted books. They had course packs which weren't going to be used the following year for sale for only 2 pounds. However they weighed a lot more then that. I was so torn before "Human Rights in the Developing World" Or "Development; evidence and experience" I went for the ladder because it was lighter. Which was sad... because the Human rights one looked equally awesome. Is it really really nerdy to say I fully intend on reading the course pack??

It's been raining. Last week was an incredibly hot and beautiful week here. Not so much this week. Mark and I came out of the tube to POURING rain. We got the bus home. I think that I am a rain bringer.


This afternoon was talk prep with Mark, and getting my phone together. I am off now to write my talks! Please pray God inspires me! :)

Quote of the Day: "Ok, so all I have to do is find a UK to US converter. That way I can plug that into your US to Europe converter and actually charge my phone in Africa." - Mark Jordon

A very long, but now completed journey

Once in a blue moon I wonder if I am getting a little old to be bouncing all over the place, traveling from place to place. These thoughts really only hit when I am about 20 hours into a trip, I haven't slept, and am realizing that things aren't going as planned. I had a couple of those thoughts yesterday.

Yet they all have disappeared now and I am 100% sure that travel is in fact something I love and am suppose to do. This is, of course, now that I am over jet lag.

My trip started at 5:40 am,July 4^th 2009… when Jaci and I got up. I packed up the last of my bags and ran around the house... forgetting to do about 10 things. We made it out of the parking lot at 6:44... and got to the TINY Grand Rapids train station. We were able to sit for a while and take in the beautiful morning before I got on the train and rode to Chicago. It was a pleasant train ride.

In Chicago I managed to find my way to the subway station, get my ticket, and get on the subway. At Ohare everything went well... I had about an hour wait before the luggage check opened. Everything went perfectly through security all the way through the trip... didn't get stopped once. I made a friend who was going to Dublin, we chatted about what to do and see there. Before getting on the flight we met two other woman, one from England the other also from America. The two other Americans had never left the country, so the English woman and I gave them lots of thoughts and ideas. It was fun! I love people...

I didn't have a seat mate on the flight. I managed to sleep for max 2 hours. But that was ok... I survived. I was on the night side of the plane (during the summer when you fly to these islands the sun doesn't set on one side of the plane... it's always light) But on my side it was dark and the moon was bright. I checked on the moon from time to time and got to watch it set in a blaze of orange moonish glory. It was beautiful.

The lack of sleep was rough, but really only made the trip tough at one or two points. Shannon was one of those points. The plane stopped at a small town called Shannon in Ireland. Most of the plane actually got off this time (that doesn't usually happen). But it was an hour until we were underway to Dublin... a very long and boring hour. It's hard to read or do anything productive when you've been awake all night and are being told that it is 5:45 am.

But we made it to Dublin in a very timely manner. ALL of my flights were early/ right on time! That is a blessing. In Dublin the immigration officer looked at me sideways as they always do. I promised I wasn't even going to leave the airport. Just let me go to London. He was nice enough. It was fun being in Dublin, it was hard to leave though. Looking at the hills which I saw every day for 1.5 years did my heart a lot of good. I wondered why I hadn't been back sooner! I was very grateful that I knew I would be returning for sure this trip.

Made it to London, I actually got a bit of sleep on that plane. My bags were some of the first ones out... another blessing. However, I noticed the top of my backpack had gotten wet.... didn't find out why until later...

Currency exchange then down to the tube (subway/underground)... thankfully I asked someone which train I should take to Acton Town because there were no signs to tell me which direction the trains were headed. He told me that the line wasn't going all the way there and that I had to get off at a different station and take a bus. This worried me slightly, as I didn't know how that would all play out. I, and most of the train, did get off at the other station and there were buses waiting.

Now when Americans think of riding a bus, it's a pretty standard, safe, unexciting thought. Not so here in London (well all of the islands). See... there isn't much space here and the streets were built a very long time ago. The buses go a) really fast and b) are very big... generally two levels. The drivers are really really good at what they do... it is 100 times more exciting to ride a bus here than in Grand Rapids. I enjoyed it a lot.

I made it to Acton Town Station, which is under construction, and didn't see anyone I knew. I'd been given an address "if all else failed" and it appeared to have done so. I took a moment to collect my thoughts and get myself sorted and ordered a taxi. The taxi drive, an immigrant from somewhere who had an incredibly large and jagged scar all the way across the back of his head, was an engaging conversationalist. He asked my thoughts on our last two presidents and then told me how everyone over here feelings about Bush... which I am use to hearing.

He took me to the Turners where I am staying... there was no one home. BUT there was a note on the door. The poor taxi man thought that I was just going to be lost and wandering. I convinced him that I was totally fine, as the note had a "detailed" map on it. He said ok... but that he wasn't liable if anything happened to me. Haha.

On the map, provided to me by Mark Jordon, the Servants of the Word (the brothers) house had been indicated. I made a V line for it... it was the closest house on the map, only a block or so away. I always feel ok about just showing up at any of the SofW houses… I don’t care what country I am in. I was really tired at this point and pretty much just wanted to see someone I knew. I rang the bell and after the 2nd rings Vo came down. What a blessing... he looked at me for a moment and I introduced myself. He did remember the one time we'd met. He gave me a glass of water and let me use the phone to ring Mark.

Mark came over as Vo and I caught up a little. It was soooooooo good to see Mark! We realized later that it had been 2 years since we'd seen each other, though we'd talked. Mark took me to the Women's house, where his fiancé Rachel met us. It was really good to hang out with them. I got my wedding invitation. It was good to be back in a row house.. hmm. I took a bit of a rest, but got to the point that I realized that if I stayed in bed any longer I'd just sleep all day. So I got up. I went to change my clothes and realized why my bag was wet...

My shampoo had opened and emptied into my big back pack. Thankfully not in the big clothing section. That was an adventure. I pouted for 2 seconds to Mark, but then moved on. The trip had gone too smoothly for something like this not to happen. Mark made me laugh, so it was all good as I cleaned shampoo out of my 3 inch heels.

At about 2:30 we went to the men's house to watch the Men's tennis final. It was a blast. Lots of great people, really good tennis... fun and very funny (mostly because of how tired I was and how much I love the British sense of humor.. the pims helped too) times were had by all. It was really good to see various friends and make new ones.

Rachel and I had to leave at 6 (before it was over!) to go to mass... which was really really good. The Perrems were there, so afterwards we got dinner at Subways with them. Then Rachel, Annie and I got a pint at the pub across the street. That was really good times... just to chat it up.

We hurried back to get my stuff before they went to a meeting. I had to go into the guys to get my purse and keys... even though it was Mark's bachelor party...it was fine. I went to return the keys, giving them to Andrew Bull and was about to hurry out of the house when I heard "Is that NG??" I turned around and it was Bob Bell!! I gave him a Huge hug and we made quick plans to see each other while I am here. What a blessing!

Then Dominic was a gentleman and drove me round to the Turners. I had some water and a chat with Mimi, before watching a bit of Who wants to be a millionaire with Mimi (who should go on the show… she knew every question!)... then I was actually very tired and went to bed. I slept really really well and feel really good.

Now I am clean, happy, content and am feeling incredibly blessed.

I am so happy to be back in this culture! Now off to lunch and a walk... perhaps an afternoon cricket game with the Everingtons!