stretched-

and its a good thing.  i needed it.  i need to be spiritually stretched. didnt eat much of the trip because my health was poor, my stomach a wreck.  basically fruit.  arrived at the airport and that was an experience, i was mildly tested, but by all means given grace, had all my luggage, yes all 98 lbs of it, and came to my new home for a month and no food because it was so late, i slept for 4 hours before i was up for devotions which is everyday at 8AM.  up to learn it was a day of fasting.  oh man that was intense to hear, and i was tired and there were already many things for me to do from orientation to going to the secondary school (amazing) and prayer and then i was finally able to nap for two hours, and then we broke fast for dinner.  my headache from all day from lack of our daily necessities, food and sleep were stretched, but God is so good, because He didnt have me suffer long and most of all my health.
im thankful my health is well.  i ate dinner and have felt fine. my stomach is not in the slightest upset by ugandan food (two words: homemade tortillas) but the very thought of airplane food made my stomach turn upside down.  so i basically had a lot of fruit. american fruit, amsterdam fruit, delta fruit, klm fancy fruit.  i almost took a picture of my fancy uneaten meals from my flight on KLM but the man next to me insisted on basically moving onto my seat so i couldn't reach my bag/camera.  He seemed like a nice french gentleman, we didn't exchange a word though, which was such an odd experience for me :)
but honestly even that was a blessing because i got to sleep for a bit.  like two hours, so grateful. and then here is the best part it was not a full flight so the man ended up sitting by his friend for the entire time i slept so i put up the arm separator and set all social norms and pride aside and slept in a ball. 
now for the good stuff:
Welcome to Amsterdam!
Welcome miracle #3: God put ANOTHER sister in Christ next to me.  her name is Tesfa from Ethipoia and she is living in Wisconsin with her family.  Wisconsin is close enough to the east coast for us to talk a decent 35 minutes about how badly I desire to see fall on the east coast.  She was so sweet, she spoke much about God's grace and the testimony's of many people from Ethiopia to Pakistan.  She was so beautiful and really had an accurate depiction of who Christ is (she calls Him, Isa).  So often I miss the boat of who Christ really is because His grace is so hard to comprehend, so i miss out from time to time.  But He is faithful and endures and thats obvious in our crazy awesome relationship, i love Him and i feel so blessed to be serving Him right now.  
She even offered her email address and told me to email her when it gets closer to me coming home and she would ask her brother who lives in amsterdam to show me around.  All Christians, so beautiful even though its unlikely because it will be 5AM.  but her heart was so pure, she was truly a blessing to me in the midst of being anxious about amsterdam and wearing a money belt to uganda and not being picked up.  Honestly though by flight three and into hour 20 on a plane, I was ready to just be in Uganda.  And it was most certainly worth the wait, I would fly another 20 hours to get her. 
and thankfully I say that because I know I dont have to :)
but really, africa is amazing.  i was actually giggling in the car ride back to the EAC house in kampala.  sitting in kampala traffic, it still had not dawned on me that i was in africa. 
it was not until this morning, when light struck, as I walked outside and took that picture, and stood on the wall where i can see over the barbed wire, that i looked down the alley and saw children playing with sticks and tires, singing, walking around in dirt, a woman holding a basket on her head (like, that really happens) with fruit and stuff in it, and the smell of almost a musk smokey, maybe from burning trash, i don't know, i liked it though... it reminds me of camping and all of the gross things like using a dirty toilet, not washing your hair, smelling like a fire just ignited on every piece of clothing you own, and you eat food called franks and beans... all these gross things began to seem neat, and acceptable, because you are camping and thats what you do when you camp. 
well im in africa, and although its nothing like camping (except in the respect of a squatty, which didn't seem all that bad, till i saw a cockroach the size of my fist, and im not exaggerating). by the way i just spell checked cockroach and never thought i would ever type that word, gross. 

but i'm here, i'm in africa, and it is remarkable, God is so good, so glorious, and is victorious here.  i promise you, God is worshipped in remarkable ways here, and i get to experience it.