There is hope.

Well… we are back safe and sound in Florida! Praise God! Just so everyone knows, the planes were all wonderful, the people that we met while traveling were all wonderful… everything worked out swimmingly.
Trying to figure out what to write as the first blog back from Uganda was super difficult to think through. I thought I wanted to write about all that had occurred since the last time we wrote, but I didn’t feel like that was necessary. And to try and type out the endless amount of things that the two of us have learned would be utterly impossible. Two things are for sure: Lots happened, and we learned more than we thought we ever would.
One of the main things that remains on the forefront of my thoughts is how the people that we interacted with Uganda worshipped. Yes, it was definitely through music (you could tell by how loud and passionately they would sing), but it was about so much more than that for them. They were the first people I have seen on a regular basis worship through SERVING OTHERS. In talking with Seggy one day, he mentioned that the people at Nkumba live on an “emergency needs” basis, meaning that whenever an emergency pops up, that’s when it is dealt with… not a week later in a meeting or a lunch date. On the spot. Pronto. What a beautiful thought. I am always intrigued by how I witness a human worshipping, and this to me was absolutely mind-blowing, not because I have never seen acts of service, but because the selflessness in those acts of service was overwhelming. It was just as it says in the Acts church, they literally “gave to anyone who had need”. It is very rare for a person in Uganda to have a savings account, and not because they don’t have the money (don’t get me wrong, that is sometimes the case), but merely because they give to whatever cause has come up. I cannot wrap my mind around this one point. These people are a constant support system for one another, and it truly inspires me.
Another thing that has my mind spinning is a question one of my mom’s friends asked me yesterday while I was showing her pictures and videos of the amazing children that I get to call my friends. She asked, “Melissa, what is their hope?” I was left speechless, because the answer is still a mystery to me. They are going to school, they are living with a roof over their head, and they are getting three full meals a day. But what is their hope? The only answer that I could think of is “God. Their hope is in God”. I know, pretty typical answer, but it would have been foolish of me at this point to respond any differently. The amount of love these children have for one another as well as for their Savior is SO evident and undeniable, and it truly leaves me the most inspired I have ever felt. Even though the question of where there hope comes from is boggling to me, one thing is for sure. You see their hope through their smiles, their hugs, their laughter, and their singing, and their dancing.
The kids love to dance, and we loved watching them dance. They do a dance called the Calypso that was literally the focus of a lot of the laughter throughout the trip. It looks like this:

I cannot even begin to explain how often they did this, and how much Natalia and I STUNK at doing it…. Which was the cause of even more laughter. The children simply JOINED IN, which was AMAZING!!!!!! When one child started it (which was more often than not Peanut, a child to be talked about later… one of the most inspiring children I’ve ever met), they all just hopped up and danced along with him. Truly incredible.

One thing that has not been able to escape my mind is that I can now call these people my friends. The idea of hierarchy is slowly diminishing from my mindset (only by the grace of God… literally), and these children are constantly on my mind. I remember certain moments and smile, giggle, sometimes cry, and just reminisce how beautiful it was. And the hope that I gain from this is that it is not over. Our stories converging with the people and children of Nkumba are not finished. The fact that I am attempting to worship others through serving is still just that… a meager attempt. But I know that those children taught me about the hope that can be squeezed out of life. Through laughter, tears, dances, uncontrollable joy, hugs, smiles… one thing remained constant through these children. Hope.

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