It was my last night in
Uganda. I was aimlessly putting things together in a panicked state when my
friend Hannah entered the room. I was paralyzed by this overwhelming fear and
stress of leaving and packing up my life. Seeing my paralyzed state of panic, she
took action and started helping me pack.
I’m at that stage again.
I ship my entire life’s belongings to Uganda on Tuesday when a shipping
container will pull into my driveway. Yesterday, some friends came over to help
me pack. When my friend Melissa arrived, I was at That Stage. I was so
overwhelmed that I didn’t know where to even tell her to start helping. When
she and a few others left that night, we were at a far better place in packing.
Since we only have two hours to load the container (you read that right), my
mom and I have been working at arranging everything how we want it to go. It’s
like playing Jenga…only working the opposite way.
In church today, I
caught myself doodling the words “stress”, “exhausted” and overwhelmed”. The enormity of the details of packing
all of my earthly possessions and shipping them to Uganda is insane. I’m
looking forward to when the container is loaded and drives away, hopefully
driving away some stress with it. However, it’s not finished then. It still has
to have safe travel in a truck to New York. It will then board a ship that will
go down around South Africa and into that pirate infested Indian Ocean until it
ports in Mombasa, Kenya. It will go through customs there and then get on a
truck to drive across Kenya. It goes through customs at the Kenya/Uganda border
and then ends up at my house in Kampala. Do I even need to mention that it
needs safe travel on those crazy African roads?
All this to say, I need
prayer. Big time.
Pray:
-
for the rest
of the packing and arranging of
everything
-
I have to
inventory and value everything still. Pray for wisdom and guidance with this.
-
Pray that I
fill out all the forms correctly and that I do everything right on my end so
that nothing gets messed up on that end due to some mistake.
-
Pray that
everything goes well for Tuesday. Pray that we have enough strong people show
up. Pray that we get everything to fit according to plan in the container. Pray
that it’s all done in the two hour allotted time.
-
Pray for the
safe travel of the container through America, oceans, customs, and African
roads.
-
Pray for my
customs agents. Pray that they are people of integrity. Pray that they will not
ask for bribes. Pray that there will be no hold up of the container in customs.
-
Pray that I
put my trust in the Lord, give Him control of the details of my life and rest
in Him.
I officially now have 22
days left in the States before I board that one way flight back home to Uganda.
I have a lot to do before that day comes. Though I’m bogged down and stressed
out with all of these details here, that’s my light at the end of this insane
tunnel. Thinking of reuniting with my dear friends and kids brings such joy in
my heart! I smile and tear up every time that I think of it. That’s my joy
right now. That’s what I’m holding onto. That’s what is keeping me going.
