You are calling me from where?!

We made it! Last weekend, after a long 24 hours of travel we landed in Uganda. We stepped off the plane into the humid, African air and I'm sure I was grinning ear to ear as I hopped impatiently through the visa line. We arrived!

This first week was both busy and slow...just like life. Bursts of things to do and people to see, followed by long stretches of jet-lagged quiet when Brian and I looked at each other and said: now what?

But we are here! In Uganda!

We found our way to the grocery stores, set up our internet, attended an orientation, started to connect with friends, rode boda bodas, and even took an overnight trip to the nearby town of Jinja and saw the source of the Nile. It's not what we were expecting, to be honest. We thought we might start at the library. But, instead, we started to figure out how to explore a different culture together. It's different coming back as part of a married couple and I'm thankful for this week to spend some time figuring it out.

The Nile behind us!

My highlight this week: seeing my old boda boda driver, Sunday. Sunday is a good driver and a hard worker. I called him and when I said, "Hello, Sunday, this is Rachel." He said, "Rachel! But you are calling me from where?!" And he was so surprised when I said I was calling from my old flat. [Honestly, I was so excited to say that I'm here, in Uganda!] He was happy to come pick me and Brian up. And I was delighted to see an old friend.

Which reminded me why we are here: we are here to build relationships. We will go to the library tomorrow. And we will meet our new colleagues. And we will help somehow in the library over the next few weeks and months.

But more importantly we will build relationships and grow friendships. We will listen and learn. We will remember that our story is not about us, it is about loving others well.

And the world will grow smaller.