Wesaayo (good afternoon)

It feels like forever since I have gotten to write an update. Things have been so crazy. I want to start out by saying that I finally got my bags. My trunk came to where we were staying in Kampala on Monday. It was pretty much destroyed but everything was in it. I ended up getting money from the airline to make up for the damages and for losing my bags. My clothes bag ended up getting delivered to Bundibugyo on Wednesday night which is pretty amazing in itself because no one in there right mind really delivers things to Bundibugyo, especially when we gave them the option of leaving it in Fort Portal which is an easier town to get to. I am very happy to have my bags though; it definitely has helped me feel more settled now.
We left Kampala on Tuesday morning. You may remember me saying that I thought it only took a few hours to drive to Bundibugyo, well I was so wrong. We left Kampala at about 9am and got to Bundibugyo around 6pm. The drive was so beautiful. I will admit that I did fall asleep a little at the beginning because I had not been sleeping well the couple of nights before but I did see most of the ride. I said in one of my previous blogs that it is extremely green here. It is a green that I have never seen before. It is nothing like Washington. Everything is so luscious here, it is hard to describe. When we left Kampala we got to drive on a paved road until Fort Portal, which is the last descent sized town closest to Bundibugyo. From Fort Portal to Bundibugyo it is all dirt. This drive was about 3 hours because of the road. The road did not start off to bad but it got worse and worse as we went. I would say that it is definitely worse than even Mexico roads and many of you know how those are. In order to get to Bundibugyo you have to go around the mountains so we went around some crazy corners and a couple of times I feared for my life, well not really but we did get close to the edge a couple of times.
I was so excited to finally get to Bundibugyo and to see where I would be living. I am not going to go into a lot of details of what my house looks like because I hope to put some pictures on my next entry. I can’t wait to show you. I have been trying to think of ways that I can describe to you what it is like here. What it is like to walk down the road, to go to the market, to visit people at their homes but there really are not any words that can fully describe the experiences I have been having. The missionary houses are not really on a compound where it is just missionary houses. We are kind of spread out and we have Ugandan families living all around us. For the most part, everything is within walking distance. I walk to school, to the market, and to the health clinic. I will definitely be getting my exercise, especially since it is really hot here. I already have tons of bug bites all over my arms and other parts of my body but nothing I should be worried about.
Not as many people speak English here as I thought they would. The only phase the little children know is “How are you?” which they repeat all the time and then if you ask them how are you they know how to say I am fine. It is so cute and the children are so beautiful. I had my first language lesson today. I learned how to say good morning, good afternoon, what is the news, how are you, I am fine, goodbye, welcome, thank you, and what is you name and my name is. I will share some of these with you but I do not have my paper with me right this minute and I do not want to spell them wrong. I also was taken to the market to practice. It was a lot of fun.
I have started setting up my classroom; school starts next Tuesday which seems so soon. My schedule is pretty crazy because I am teaching young kids and older ones. I will describe more to you about my teaching schedule and the MKs when school starts and I get going. Every Thursday evening we have a team meeting where we study the word and pray for one another. We also make pizza and have fellowship till pretty late in the evening. I really enjoyed getting to know all the missionaries more. Well, I could definitely continue writing but I feel like I have already written a novel. Ask me any questions that you think of or let me know what you are curious about. Again, I hope to have some pictures next time so that you can see where I am living and what I see on a day to day basis. It is still unbelievable that the Lord has brought me here but I am so thankful. I hope you are all doing well, let me know how you are doing and what has been going on in your life. I love you all and you are always in my thoughts.

Christ’s Humble Servant,
Kim