I have been terrible about updating this blog. I know that. But I think that there is more to it than the fact that I am on holiday in Ireland.

I have traveled extensively in my short life. Many places have stolen my heart. I leave them and experience the pain of being away from that place acutely. But that way of living is hard, to always be torn into various numbers of pieces, wish you were somewhere you aren't. I've moved away from that way of being. Which is one reason it's challenging to write here. I want to share my experiences with you all. Yet reliving them just makes me want to be there. So please, be patient with me. I am trying to learn to be more present.

Anyways, I defiantly want to share about Thursday of our time in Africa.

Thursday was the day that I was most involved in teaching. With the help of our African team members, we decided to take a whole day to cover the area of Christian sexuality. I already wrote about the various meetings for prep that we had.

So that morning Leah and I woke up a bit early. We were going to go watch the sunrise, but were both too tired to get out of bed. We managed to stagger to morning prayer. After morning prayer I skipped the first part of breakfast (just seeing everyone and chatting lightly), to shower and make myself feel human. I quickly joined the team, got some prayer for the day, and ducked off to finish my notes before the session started.

The session opened with Clemintina introducing the speakers and the day. Then Martin gave a basic overview of Genesis 2. After about 15 minutes, I got up and gave a teaching/testimony following Martin's teaching. The goal of the talk was to impart an understanding of God's purpose and plan for sexuality. It was a great blessing to be able to share from my heart, with my African brothers and sisters, what God has shown me in this area. It was a classic Noelleishly passionate talk. :O The team had a fantastic laugh later about how I speak. :D



Then Amlin and Folgencio got up and just reiterated the points which they thought most important from what Martin and I had said. It was good to have them put in their point of view from a married couples position.


After the talk we had a time for a panel discussion, where people asked questions. It was alright... could have been a bit better I think. Then we had tea break and came back in a split session. So the girls met in the normal meeting room. This was space for specific discussion about issues which women would need to talk out. It was on some levels a sad discussion... the Ugandan women face terrible things. (One example: "Sexually Transmitted Marks") It was painful to hear about how corruption effects these women's everyday life.

After the talk ended, Leah and I were both exhausted. We went for a rest directly after lunch. We were awakened before our alarm went off by a loud banging on our door. We tried to wait it out... sometimes that worked. It didn't. The person kept knocking. I hid under my sheet, half asleep, while Leah answered the door.

Long story short there had been a mis communication (surprise surprise... haha) Basically people thought that one on ones were right then... not later. So we rolled out of bed and made our selves presentable. Eventually we figured out we'd just sit on benches around the compound and if anyone wanted to talk they could. I spoke with 3 girls, it was a good time of sharing. It was prep for that nights meeting.

After one on ones we had tea (the 5 pm tea). I don't honestly remember if I went to mass or not. I think I might have. After mass, as usual there was dinner and a team meeting. The meeting solidified the plans for that evenings prayer meeting. The prayer meeting was to start at 8... but the church wasn't open. It actually was really cool to all be gathered in the dark, outside the church, "learning" a song from PM (most people already knew it). The coolest part was when the church opened we all processed in singing "Let the fire fall".

Martin gave the exhortation, we had some worship, and then prayer ministry. All of it was excellent. I love worshiping in Africa. :)

We once again had team time in the evening. And I believe Leah and I stayed up fairly late talking.

I was pleased with how the day went.

Wednesday... this is when we stopped journaling

I think that tuesday night was the last night Leah and I wrote in our journals with a blow by blow of what was going on. Not because I didn't want to remember, but simply because by 11:30 on Wednesday night I was so tired that writing was the last thing I wanted to do.

So, these next several days will be a bit more scattered in terms of what exactly happened.

Wednesday: A much better day.

We were up at about 6:30 again. In Africa it's not as hard to get up at this hour. Life really revolves around the sun. The sun starts coming up at 6:30, and sets at 7 or 7:30... every day. So every morning going up to morning prayer I got to look out from the steps of the church and see the beautiful African sunrise.

I slept very well on Tuesday night, which I was incredibly grateful for. Wednesday morning Clemintina, who was aa African member of the team, gave an excellent meditation of 1st John. She spoke about being children of God. It really inspired me.

Some mornings I left the actual church and sat on the benches near the compound gate. On Wednesday I sat and looked at the beautiful earth beneath my feet. It is a deep red. My toes are still stained from it. (May they be forever) There was a good view from those benches, I could see part of the road and the well which was just outside the compound. Lots of people used that well. It was glorious sitting under the trees, praying, and watching the world I want to be a part of.

Once again team breakfast was at 8, with a meeting attached. We gathered at 9ish and I am sure that we had some silly song presented by David or Charles. Wednesday we started with another scripture talk. This one was about Old testament geography. Leah did an excellent job explaining how geography effected the history of Israel, as well as giving an over view of important dates and ruling empires. I learned a lot.

We had small groups after her talk. I had been given a new small group because a bunch of people had joined the conference late. So we had a good amount of time to get to know each other. I really liked both of my small groups. They asked a lot of questions (good questions) about biblical history. We had a good time getting to know one another.

We had tea break and then had session two. Alfred was back to do part 3 and 4 of his series. I think that the 3rd talk was about Being Proactive. I had asked Alfred the day before if we could have lunch together on Wednesday. So after the talk I met up with him and we sat together at the end of one of the long tables in the dinning room and had a really good chat. I heard all about what Cornerstone is doing. I asked a lot about what they do and how they do it. Pretty much they are about bringing up a new generation of good, strong leaders for Uganda (and actually all over Africa) so that change can be brought about by people of true character. It's incredible work they are doing. I told him my situation... he asked flat out what was keeping me from moving to Africa. I explained. I look forward to seeing how our paths will cross again.

The next session, also by Alfred was about writing our personal statements. He did an excellent job of articulating the need for goals and how to see them from start to finish. I think this was when he picked up the guitar randomly and sang the "Song I sing when I am defeated". It was in his first language (they all speak at least 4... not counting English)... and it was inspiring. I love how language isn't often about the words, but the message.

Alfred's session was earlier again, so we had a long afternoon break. I met with Clemintina on the benches under the trees. It was a wonderful (WONDERFUL) conversation!! :D We really became real friends there. We talked about everything. She had incredible insight into her own culture, which was so helpful. I learned so much from that woman. And we laughed a lot too. Then about 5 pm, Martin came over and was available to meet about our talk for the next day. This was an excellent time.

Pretty much he told me I wasn't allowed to use the out line I'd been given. I hadn't really wanted to, but thought that it was the material that we "had" to cover. He stole it from me and asked what I would talk on if I didn't have it. I told him I'd speak from the heart about my own experience of freedom and redemption in regards to the area of sexuality. He said... go for it. It was freeing. So our talk came together nicely. We agree to speak with Amlin and Fulgencio that night about the rest of the talk. (I don't know how to spell their names!)

At mass that evening, going up to communion, I got to randomly hold a little girl's hand. I thought it was Clare, but realized later it wasn't. It was a profound experience which truly solidified my desire to be the mother of African children.

7 pm sounded another dinner and team meeting. These meetings generally were just about how the day was going and what to expect that evening and the next day. This amount of communication was actually needed. At 8:30 we had another session with Dallas and PM about doing University work. I actually only heard one of their sessions... due to how things worked out.

I was scheduled to give a testimony at the start of the session. So I did. I spoke about my experiences in Grand Rapids and how having a Christian group at my university helped me grow in my faith during college, as apposed to loss it. The testimony went well I think... I ducked out of the meeting room right after I gave it. Martin and I walked over to Amlin and Fulgencio's house... it was my first time in an African home! We sat for about a half an hour sharing with them how we envisioned the next day going. It was a peaceful and helpful time of preparation.

Walking the short distance back to the compound the stars were incredible. Martin and I had a good chat. I was standing in awe of the fact I was in Africa. Instead of going to the rest of the session, I needed the time to work on my talk for the next day. About 40 minutes later Leah stuck her head in the room and asked if I was coming to team time because everyone else was there. I hadn't realized the session had ended, so I hurried over to our eating room.

I think that evenings team time was one of our funniest. I think the first question Mark asked for was the funniest things that had happened that day. So it was great. Then several inside team jokes were created about awkward dogs, and all in all it was a great team meeting... especially when we ALL cracked up when trying to pray over Martin. (A big part of this was that we were all pretty tired and getting really comfortable with each other... it was a great team of people!)

That night Leah and I talked for a while. I think she talked me to sleep... sleep which was needed for the next days happenings.

Day Four: not all a bed of roses...

Tuesday was the hardest day of the trip for me. It didn't start well... Something happened with my mosquito net during the night and I think there were more mosquitoes in my net than outside of it. They are loud, and rather annoying. I didn't get a lot of bites, I just didn't sleep almost at all. (I can't function very well without enough sleep)

We got up at 6:40. The schedule of the conference was such that we had morning prayer all together at 7 am. It was a lovely time of praise, a nice meditation and then some quiet time. At 8 am we had our first all team breakfast. We tried to work on the schedule and get some practicals sorted as we learned to work together.
At 9 we started our sessions with a scripture talk by Mark. Then we got into our small groups to get to know each other better. I was leading a small group with David, which was a fun group of people. At the tea break I purposely sought out Fr. Herold, an American Franciscan who had come with a group from the South of Sudan. You don't run into random Americans in Africa ALL that often, so I wanted his story and to get to know him a bit. We had a good chat.

This tea we had the little mini bananas which are PACKED with flavor. Other than the fresh pineapple... they were my favorite snack. The second session of the morning began at 11:30. Alfred, a Ugandan man who works with a group called Cornerstone, gave a series on the 7 habits of highly effective people. He basically took the 7 habits and infused Christ into them and presented an effective way to live your life as a motivated and driven person, for God! It was a wonderful series, and a great testimony of Unity as Alfred is part of the pentecostal movement in Uganda.



Alfred and the Euro/American team

We had lunched and I helped with the dishes, which is always a joy. At 2:15 we were back for another talk from Alfred. Thankfully he is a very engaging speaker, so we stayed awake despite our lunch filled stomachs. The talk ended at 4 and I went directly to meet with Mark to review some of the material for my talk. I wanted a nap more than words at this point. I was exhausted. The meeting with Mark went fine, and we decided to get a guy on board to help me give the talk. I met with one of our Ugandan team mates then to work on the talks... and gave up all hope of a nap...

I tired my best to explain the material and come up with a way for us to give the talk together. It was challenging to communicate it. Finally we left after a little less than an hour, saying we'd have to work more on it the next day. I went to mass exhausted and rather drained. At dinner, I spoke with Martin briefly and he expressed concern about the set up for the series. We said we'd meet after dinner. Another long team meeting followed dinner, and then Mark, Martin and I put our heads together. At this point I was exhausted beyond words, had worked hard all day and was emotionally and physically drained. The meeting went alright, but everything was changed for the series.

We decided that Martin and I would give the first talk together, and we would ask a married couple from the community to join us in giving it. We also decided that we would do split mens and womens sessions. That was fine... I was just done. So after wash up I asked Mark if I could skip out on the prayer meeting that night... as I was pretty much useless at that point. He said of course, and ordered me to rest.

I went to my room and collapsed on my bed... Leah came in and we talked for a bit. Then she ordered me into bed and left for the prayer meeting. I stayed in bed for a bit, but the music from the church was too loud to actually sleep. I showered and prayed.

It was helpful to sit down at that point and take a minute to consider where I was at. When I sat and thought about it, I realized that I was actually not physically feeling very well. I'd just been ignoring it. I was also exhausted and under spiritual attack. It really helped to realize that all of these factors were at play and that it wasn't just that I am a weakling.

So that night we had team time and I heard that the prayer meeting was fantastic, that Dallas had done a great job leading it. I also had come back round and was able to share my challenges but that I'd really experienced peace during my prayer time while everyone was at the prayer meeting. During that team time I managed to dump pretty much my entire bottle of water onto my self. I found this hilarious...

That night, in our room, Leah and I had a good long chat and most of it was laughter. It was great to be able to rehash the funniest bits of the day and just laugh at them.

I survived my rough day, and was grateful to the team for the prayers which helped me rest 100 times better that night.

Day Three...finally

I am now settled in Dublin for the next 3 weeks or so. I will hopefully be able to get the rest of these posts done!

Monday: Day Three.... Start of the conference.

We were told by the community members to expect between 30-100 people to participate in our conference. There was no pre registration... no paying before you came... you just got on a Matatu (they are taxi like mini buses) and prayed you made it. (Or got into your land rover and drove 14 hours on dirt tracks like the Sudanese) In other words we didn't know what to expect on Monday morning as people started trickeling into the compound.

I got up at 7 to make sure I got my prayer time in before the day started. Then took a shower... which faced east, the sunrises in Africa are really beautiful! (It's a land of sunrises not sets). At 8 am we gathered for a time of team prayer and I think we talked about how the day would go as well. We breakfasted after that. Breakfast was generally bread with either a sort of peanut butter, or marmalade or butter..there were about 6 options for the bread... and then tea or instant coffee. Coffee is actually really expensive in Uganda(across Africa actually) ... which is ironic because the best coffee in the world is African.

At 9:30 we met with our African team members to start getting to know one another nad get things set for the week. We created a schedule where there really hadn't been one. (We actually stuck fairly well with it too!) After the first section of meeting together, we had tea break and then I worked with David, Clemintina, and Dallas on the Christian sexuality talk materials to see if this was something that should be dealt with. The African felt that it was something that we should cover.

One thing that led to eventual frustration for me was to work on something... for a long time... and then not do it, or the plan being totally changed. I learned a lot through my experience of this in Africa. I was the one who was in charge of getting the Christian sexuality materials together and presented. The end result (was very good) was very different from what it was going to be at first. But it was good for me, I am glad that I got to learn a lot of those lessons through this experience.

They say in Africa... "Blessed at the flexible, they will not break"... I think I grew a lot in flexibility.

Clemintina and I worked on the session some more... but what we came up with never took place. I like that Africans don't get (visibly) frustrated with these things. I think that Africa is really good for me.

At one pm we had lunch with the team. I noted in my journal that is was really good. I think it was pasta and rice with the meat over it.

After lunch we had free time until the conference started at dinner time. I got to know several of the community's children... Micheal, John Paul and Clare. All of them were afraid of white people, except John Paul... who seems to have a thing for white women. He is 3 years old.

I met and greeted a lot of the students as they came into the compound, as well as meeting more community members. After a bit I went for a walk and followed my friend Angela to her house. We sat in their bed room for a long time and she told me her heart breaking story. We prayed together, and talked. It was really life giving for both of us to share in suffering together.

I then spent some time talking to some Kenyan men, Ben and Denise. They were two of the people I got to be good friends with. (Later on Ben ended up in hospital for 2 days with Malaria and Thyphoid) While talking to them I had several children gathering shyly around my legs. They refused to be introduced to the Kenyans, but just held onto my skirt.

I got some tea with the team and then at 6 we all went for our opening mass at the church. Everyone had gathered... though we did get a good number of people who came late. The mass was excellent, very lively and full of beauty and life. Dinner came next, and I spilled David's water everywhere. I can be rather clumsy at times...

At some point in the day we met Charles who arrived to help facilitate the conference. He is Ugandan. We washed up and then went to the conference opening. The chairs were all full! I sat next to a woman named Angela... a different Angela... who was very fun and dynamic. Everyone was introduced and we had a great time of praise and worship. I loved how we danced in worship! I was right at home...

After the session I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed. But Mark stopped me and said we had team time. I didn't want to have team time, I wanted my bed. But we went... we all piled into Martin's room so we could have some peace and quiet. Martin busted out Haribo Star Mix ... that was great. I was able to articulate the things I was finding challenging, as were the rest of the team (I think). It was a good time to check in with everyone and make sure we were all ok. It became a tradition... no matter how late it was. The late night team time provided some truly hilarious moments!

After team time I laid out under the stars for a while. Leah came over for a bit and I gushed about how incredibly happy I was to be laying on African soil. :D

It was a good start.