Change of Pace
One thing that I’ve noticed about life in Uganda is that there is a different pace of life than what I’m used to at home. Back in the U.S., I’m used to going, going, going and doing, doing, doing. Here things move much slower and there is a whole lot of waiting. For instance, our plans got dramatically changed on Thursday. We had plans for the day, but started off with Vanessa meeting us for breakfast at Surjio’s. As soon as we sat down for breakfast, it started to pour. Back home, this would not have been a big deal, I would have just grabbed an umbrella and made a run for my truck so that I could continue on with my day. The problem here is that we are reliant on either walking or riding a boda boda (motorcycle taxi). Neither of these is an option. Even if we had wanted to brave riding the boda boda, they wouldn’t be running if it was raining. The only alternative we had was to just sit, drink coffee and visit.
This wasn’t just a short little rainfall, this was a downpour that lasted until noon, and many areas were flooded.
I was reminded of Psalm 46:10a “Be still, and know that I am God”. The problem that I had with my frantic life is that I didn’t know how to be still so that I could take the time to reflect and think. I had a hard time even taking time to slow down on vacation and stressed if I didn’t have every minute of the day planned out so we could maximize the time that we had off. I’ve had so much time to think through this move, my ministry and life in general in the week that we’ve been here. I told Vanessa that being here is good for my soul. She commented that we were designed to be human beings instead of human doings.
The main idea of just “being” is to take the time to develop relationships and let God work instead of just trying to do different things until something works. Without slowing down the pace and just “being”, I think we miss so many opportunities. For example, just yesterday, we waited in the Source Cafe for someone that Vanessa was meeting with and had a couple of things happen that we would have missed if we were moving. The first was a woman that stopped by named Sarah that sat down with Vicki and Vanessa and shared how Fount of Mercy’s work has impacted her and the women in her village. She is the leader of a local community based organization that supports and trains women who otherwise have very little education or skills. Through her leadership and partnership with Fount of Mercy, these women have been given the opportunity to contribute to their families and to society. They’ve been given a voice and the ability to provide for their families.
The second thing that happened while we waited was meeting a group of missionaries from Mississippi. As we visited and established relationship, Vanessa shared her vision for a maternity center and her plans to visit Haiti to look at a successful model of a maternity center. They shared how they knew a pastor in Mississippi that has helped to establish a maternity center in Haiti that has also been successful. He was able to pass on contact information to Vanessa so she could visit them while she was there. It’s amazing to watch how God orchestrates things when we take the time to let Him work.
I realize that the slow pace of life here and things taking 10 times longer than they should will wear on me at times when we live here, but it is refreshing at this stage.
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