Here and Back Again

Right now, I am sitting in the Entebbe Flight Motel in Entebbe, Uganda, trying not to give in to the temptation to take a nap. Yesterday, I was counting down the hours until my flights would depart or arrive; today, I am counting down the hours until acceptable bedtime. Six hours to go.

Four months and a week or so ago, I arrived in Uganda for the first time. My flights--though long--were uneventful, with smooth connections and successful retrieval of luggage at the end. Arriving in Uganda roughly 23 hours later, I spent that first night in the Entebbe Flight Motel, which is where I am now. The next day, I and my two KEO colleagues were driven to Mbale. Everything was new to me. Everything was worth staring at: the droves of motorcycle taxis, the staggeringly large loads people carried or wheeled around on bicycles, the sometimes terrifying traffic "patterns," the houses and buildings, the roadside markets, the fields of sugar cane and ubiquitous banana trees. I don't remember feeling particularly jet-lagged in the midst of the thrill of finally being here..

There are some notable differences this time around, starting with my flying experiences. My friend, Jill, dropped me off at Dulles International Airport, and I joined the queue of--no exaggeration--50-70 people in front of the Ethiopian Airlines check in. Perhaps that should have been my warning that things were not going to go as smoothly as I'd hoped. However, despite the length of the line, I got to my gate just as the plane started boarding. My seat was at the very back of the plane, I had a window seat, and the seat next to me was unoccupied. Pretty ideal sleeping conditions. (To my extroverted friends who would be horrified by such a situation, I had a few long-ish and pleasant conversations with a woman from Nigeria, which is far more talking that I usually do on planes, regardless of who is sitting next to me.) Dulles to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: on schedule.

Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya: about half an hour late. My layover time in Nairobi was only an hour and 40 minutes, so I was a little worried, but not too much. I figured my layover in Nairobi was long enough for a slightly late arrival, or long enough for me to get confused in the airport and find myself at immigration instead of the terminal. Unfortunately, there was not enough tie for both to happen, which they did. When I arrived at the correct gate at 2:20, 30 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave, I was told that the gate was already closed. The next flight for Entebbe through Rwandair was to leave at 10:10 pm. My average layover time in Nairobi to date is eight hours. I've been there twice.

Despite having nearly eight hours to figure out ticketing, through some quirk of it being a Rwandair flight ordered through Ethiopian Air, the Transfer Services agent was unable to rebook my ticket, although I was able to buy a new one. After waiting for roughly seven hours by the Transfer Services desk and hourly inquiring the status of my ticket, I finally had my boarding pass in hand...approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled take-off. As I hurried toward the gate, I was afraid that it would again be closed. Happily, it was not. At that point, I realized that my checked baggage retrieval stub was still with one of the ladies at the Transfer Services desk. Rather than risk being turned away from another flight, I checked with a boarding official, who assured me my luggage was good to go. Nairobi to Entebbe, Uganda: more or less on schedule.

It was a little after 11:00 pm when I arrived at Entebbe airport. My luggage, on the other hand, did not arrive until 12:30 am. Not having the baggage stubs, thankfully, did not prevent me from collecting them, although I would recommend keeping track of all baggage and boarding pass stubs until one reaches one's final destination and can account for one's luggage. Preparation is the best preventative for emergencies. 

That is my series of airline-related unfortunate events. Looking back at it now, it doesn't seem like that big a deal. I got here. My stuff got here. It just took longer and cost more than I originally thought it would. In Dulles, I began reading a book titled, Openness Unhindered  by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. One line in particular stood out to me: "Lower your expectations; increase your joy." That was a hard quote to think about during those hours in Nairobi airport, while I still was not sure I would make it onto the next flight. I was not "in the mood" to do any such thing. I was frustrated. And I was sad. 

As you probably gathered if you weren't already aware, I recently just spent three weeks back in the States. The main reason for returning to the States was my sister's wedding, which was January 2. (As my mother says, the wedding went off without a hitch except for one). While back in the States, I also got to spend Christmas with my some of my family, meet my newest niece, see the rest of my family at my sister's wedding (which felt to me like a family reunion with a wedding thrown in), go rock climbing twice, visit good friends, play several dozen games with different groups of friends/family, and attend Ligonier Camp's staff reunion. In other words, I got to spend time with almost all of my favorite people. It was so good! So good, in fact, that well before it was time to return to Uganda, I was already dreading leaving and saying goodbye. 

That's another difference between this time coming to Uganda and last time. Last time, not that I wasn't sorry to say goodbye, but I was also excited by the unknown adventure of going to Uganda. Now, I have a better idea of what living and working in Karamoja is like. In short, it is a mixed bag of good things and hard things. And, after a month, it feels extraordinary like ordinary life. After three weeks of an extraordinarily sweet Christmas vacation with friends and family, it can be hard to return to ordinary life. 

One important thing, though, is the same on this return trip as it was on my first arrival: God's promises are true, and His Word brings comfort and encouragement. If I were to detail every passage God has brought to my attention, that would have to be a separate blog entry, so I will just mention a few. Psalms 23, 30, 130, and 131 for starters. John 14 and 15. Mark 10:28-30:

"Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.' Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother of father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life."  Currently, this passage sounds almost more like a description than a promise.

John 14:1-2: "Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also."When I was back in the States, I was asked several times, "Where are you from?" I've lived just over half of my life in Syracuse, NY, but for the past 12 years I've been in Western Pennsylvania, but my parents are now in Texas, my permanent mailing address is my uncle's house in Pittsburgh, and I am have most recently been living in Uganda. Typically, that's more information than the average inquirer was looking for. I eventually started answering by saying, "Well, my bed is in Uganda." Technically, though, it's not my bed, but I don't feel like a guest when I sleep there. I am certainly not homeless, but home is...complicated. Ultimately, though, Jesus is preparing a place for me.