Please Pray.

My thoughts on the beauty of this place remain unchanged, however, poverty and tragedy are everywhere. I told Peter earlier today that it truly was all I had imagined it would be. Poverty is everywhere. Cars are few, motorbikes are plentiful, and bikes are everywhere. I mean everywhere…and they are used for everything! Bikes carry people and more than one person is a common sight, and sometimes the bike passenger has a baby wrapped to their back. They carry bananas, chickens, furniture, lumber, water, diesel, and the list goes on. Think of something you could carry on a bike and they carry it. The people here are resourceful and so creative, but they are poor. You can see the poverty in their eyes. You can tell they are poor simply by the clothes on their back and the lack of shoes on their feet.

However, I can’t help but wonder what it means to be poor. Does that definition vary from country to country, from culture to culture, from people to people? Does my definition of poverty change when I am examining poverty in the U.S than when I am examining poverty in Uganda? I would have to say the answer to my questions are Yes and Yes. They are poor, but their love, their grace, their hospitality, their faith, and their joy is simply contagious.

When driving through Lira, the children would wave and shout muzungu, muzungu. At first I was slightly embarrassed and didn’t want to wave back, but I must say it didn’t take me long to come around, and before I knew it both Peter and I were waving to the kids before they even had their chance to wave first. And a HUGE smile would spread across their face even before they lifted their hands to wave. Uganda truly is SUCH a beautiful country. I cannot say it enough.

When I think of all that my eyes have already seen my heart aches, and my heart aches even more when I think about all that I will see in the next few weeks. Please pray for my heart. Please pray that the Lord makes me strong and that I can see His glory and His grace within the faces of His people and within the land of His country.