Learning to Love

DSC_0381, originally uploaded by jenniferpinkerton.

[Melanie is a friend of mine, 9 years old. When she heard I was going to be in Uganda on Valentine's Day, she made a valentine and asked me to give it to someone I met in Uganda. This is my friend Sarah with her valentine from Melanie.]

Since arriving home one week ago, everyone has asked me one question: "Are you glad to be home?"

How am I supposed to answer that question? How do you encapsulate (in a conversation short enough to avoid the inevitable glazed eyes appearing on the bored listener) what it means to live in the wilderness for two months and then come home to luxury?

How do I express it? I barely survived the first two weeks of complete isolation from the outside world. At first, I had no contact to home and friends. I lived from 6:30am until 9:30pm on high speed in African sun with none of the normal conveniences of civilization. But it became home. I invested in the camp. I sweat buckets for the camp. I washed dish after dish for the camp. I woke up every morning to the sun rising over Lake Victoria. I took runs on the African hillside overlooking the Lake. I did all this -- and then you ask if its good to be home?

Of course its good to be home. I'm so thankful to be back with the Americans I love. But I left a piece of my heart in Uganda. I didn't want to leave. I hated to have to say good bye to Syd and Andrea and Nala. Getting on the airplane was one of the hardest things I've ever done, realizing that Andrea and Syd were headed back into the life we'd lived together -- yet they'd do it without me, while I came home to my electricity and high speed internet and fast food and easy transportation and hot showers and hair straightener.

God used that place in my life. Musana means light, it means truth. Musana Camps is being established to draw many children into the light and to the truth. But even before its first week of camp, even before the first building is completed, God has already used Musana Camps to draw me closer to Him and to show me His truth.

The beautiful fact, too, is that my time in Uganda will continue to impact me. I'm still gleaning lessons from my time abroad. And I will continue to do so, I'm sure, as I embark on the next phase of my life.

But the point? Its good to be home, but I'm definitely going back. Uganda has captured my heart, God has used it hugely, and I am looking forward to seeing how Musana Camps will be used in the lives of others, too.