London, England
Atlanta, GA
Travel is by far the worst day when you spend 18 hours on planes and five hours in the car. To say that seems, once again, like something only an American would say. As I sit in the airport waiting to board our plane (November 10 in Uganda, November 9 in the U.S.), I cannot help but think of how lucky we are to have what we think of as the most basic necessity…a car for example.
As we prepared for departure from Royal, we made stops in each of the classrooms to see the children. (Some of the classes have over 90 students – and they are ALL better behaved than American children.) The children at Royal are so talented, so beautiful and so loving. Once again I want to bring each and every one of them home with me. Some drew us pictures, others asked us questions about America and some just wanted to hold our hands. The pure love they show and their need for love to be shown in return is heart wrenching. The tears that were shed as we hugged goodbye could have turned lakes into rivers if they had flowed into them.
We had a wonderful dinner at 4-Points before boarding the plane for our eight hour flight. I have been blessed with the most amazing Indian food while in Africa. It is funny to see all the Americans that are terrified to try new things continue to eat hamburgers and pasta. I think people are taking this a little too seriously. We are not going to get some weird disease from the food…nor are we going to contract jiggers by walking barefoot in the hotel. I want to say, please step out of your bubble! I do not understand why people embark on such journeys if they are not open to experiencing them fully. But I am only myself and cannot control anyone but myself. When we were unloading the bus at the Entebbe Airport we gifted our driver for the week, Nathan – you may remember the photo of us sharing my iPod from a few days ago – with 247,000 shillings. Considering he makes 5,000 shillings per day, I think we made his month, and maybe even his year. I hope that he is able to take his family out to dinner or buy a chicken or a goat. When we visited his home a few days ago I could tell that his family is not poor, but they definitely do not have money to make fun loving impulse purchases like we do. Maybe he will save the money and bless his family with a Christmas they have not had. I just hope that small token of appreciation for his work shows him that his friendship and the time we spent together during our journey was worth more to everyone on our bus than he could have imagined.
To London!
Our arrival in London put a time cap on what we were able to discover. Luckily, I have lived in a city and the other Mississippi three (Renea decided to stay at the airport) trusted me to guide them through train tunnels and parks so we could experience as much as possible. We arrived in Central London and walked through Hyde Park all the way to Buckingham Palace and then to Big Ben, followed by Westminster Abby and then back to Paddington Station for our express train to Heathrow. The three-hour frolic still showed us the highlights, even if we didn’t have time for everything. I have to say, in Trey’s words: “We spanked everyone on experience this on this trip.” Meaning, we put our minds to exploring and catching everything the towns/villages we visited had to offer in the time allotted and we did it! Team Mississippi is awesome to say the least. I love each of them differently – I am surprised none of us wanted to kill each other by the end of the trip.
It’s a wrap.
There are not words to explain how this changed my life. There are so many things we can all do to help those less fortunate than we are. You don’t have to travel 10,000 miles to make a difference in someone’s life – these people, young and old, are in your community, state and country. Whether you live in Jackson, MS or Chicago, IL or some remote fishing village in Africa – they are all around us. All we, as a society, have to do is open our eyes to the reality of existence and open our hearts to helping those that do not have the means (or do not know how to) help themselves. Together, we can change the world. With your own two hands, you can change the world. All you have to do is believe change can happen and have the desire to make the world better – even if just for one person. Small miracles are better than no miracles. Take the time to give back. Take the time to seek the truth in your heart. We can all talk the talk. But will you walk the walk? The answer lies within you. Open your heart and you will hear find your truth within yourself.
Emily:
ReplyDeleteScotty Rogers here (Casey's dad) - I wanted to thank you for your daily journals. It allowed us to catch a very small glimpse into your life over the last 10 days in Uganda. It was neat being able to watch the metamorphosis that transpired in you, and we fell in love with the children that you were able to share with us.
I also want to say "THANK YOU" for doing the unenviable task of passing along the bad news. Were it not for your journal, it would not have been possible for us to get word to Casey that Judy had graduated on to God's "Great Orphanage".
I really wish you'd have had the opportunity to have gotten to know Judy in this life. She was really a tremendous person who believed wholeheartedly in Missions. So much that her oldest son is being commissioned tomorrow in the Southern Baptist Missions Program - he and his new bride will be in the Ukraine this time next year for a 3 year stint as missionaries.
She had tried so hard to hang on until the commission service. When she realized that it wasn't to be, she made sure that Tony (her husband) would go. He buried his wife on Monday, and is seeing his son enter the ministry on Wednesday. (Talked about mixed emotions!)
Take what you've learned on your journey and allow it to totally change the person you are and the way that you think about things. It may have been a "short term" missions project, but the transformation within you can be life-long.
May God continue to bless and use you,
Scotty Rogers
Tes2fy@gmail.com