Rolling is my new favorite thing to do in life.

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I have been in Uganda. It seems like only yesterday I arrived off the airplane in Africa. I am finally just staring to feel like a college student. Just finished an 8 page paper for my East African History class and I used no internet! Can you believe it!
I love how open they are here. Every time you have a bible study or a church service they always have a time for testimony, to share what the Lord is doing in their life and there is always people willing to share. They are always so passionate about the word, especially the preaching, it reminds me of my daddy.
Many of you know the saying, T.I.A. from Blood Diamond, but it has become the saying of studying abroad; it means This Is Africa. We say that to a lot of things here, for example let’s see how many people we can fit in a taxi, T.I.A., hard wood seats; T.I.A., no one wears seat belts, T.I.A., oh there is a rock in my rice. T.I.A., every morning cold showers, T.I.A. Good times! Tea time is my favorite time of the day. I always seem to meet someone different everyday at tea. UCU is a very big university, so it is fun to be able to meet different people everyday. Even though UCU is such a big university they have their education system set up in a very communal way. For example my ethics class has 200 students, but then we meet in tutorial groups which consist of 30 students, and then we also have the option of meeting in smaller study group consisting of about 5 students. I have come to love this way of learning and I love my study group, we help each other understand the lecture and they help me understand the similarities and differences of African ethics and my own. Soccer has also become my family. I can only go twice a week, because of my volunteer work, but every practice is so much fun.
I take afternoon naps with my Ugandan neighbor, Agatha almost everyday. It gets so hot in the afternoon here, so naps are required. For my practicum class I am required to work within the local community. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work at an orphanage and a school for the Blind. The School for the Blind is called, Salama, and I am actually learning Brail. My guitar 101 from last semester is paying off too, because I am teaching a blind boy, Nathan, some chords on the guitar and he loves it. God is so good! Being an Ed major, it has been a blessing to be able to be placed in a school and see how education is over seas. The other place I volunteer at is an orphanage known as, Chain, and I am just loving those kids and spending time with them. I love the simplicity of life in Africa. I don’t have a car, so I walk everywhere. I only have 5 outfits, so it doesn’t take long to choose an outfit. Life is SIMPLE.
I love Honors College. It is where I am housed on campus. As I was writing this blog, I had to stop because my girls and I had to chase a bat out of our common room because it had flown in. Good times! We usually have movie nights on Fridays. We get a projector and play it on the side of our dorm and have movie nights under the African stars. It’s my favorite thing to do besides rolling. Like I said in the beginning rolling is my new favorite thing to do. So at Corban we go for late night taco bell runs, well in Uganda we do late night rolling runs. We walk into town and get an omelet that is wrapped in a chapatti; it is called a Rolex; so we call it “rolling”. It is so much fun and not to mention the yummiest thing ever. Its only 800 shilling, which is like 40 cents in America; even cheaper than TB! I love Africa. I love college.
My sister surprised me and visited me at college Monday night. It was great to see her. I miss my host family, but am glad to be back on campus as well. I spent all of yesterday (Friday) in Kampala and went to some Ugandan markets and than went to an all night youth praise and worship at Watoto Church. I went to Watoto Church on Sunday and they said to come on Friday and I and 5 others went. IT WAS AMAZING. It was from 9pm until dawn (6am). It was wonderful to see youth in Africa so passionate about their love of Christ. It was a great night to return to my first love; which is Jesus. I am starting to feel like a true Ugandan…
There is so much more to say, but that is all for now.

Praise: The Lord’s protection through travel.
Prayer Request: I am getting a cold. I think it’s because I have been to too many all night praise and worship services and movie nights in Uganda:) But have been blessed that I have had no serious health problems so far.

Ps. Happy Valentines Day and I love you all so much! I can’t wait to tell you all about Valentines Day in Uganda. My roommate and I are going out to dinner with some friends and then having a later dinner, movie night and dance party with Honors College. The guys in Honors are cooking dinner for the girls. It will be fun!

Also This Friday I am going on a two week rural home stay. So I will be out of communication for two weeks. I love you all so much and thank you for your prayers.