I wonder why?

To labor just for this, to hunger for a love like His… I give my heart and soul to live a life completely Yours, so Christ be formed in me, till I am nothing…

Let me be Your dwelling place till it’s You men see…
Christ be formed in me, till I am something...

I’ve been wrestling with the question, “Why?” all week long. Why did my computer crash and ONLY lose the Pictures folder? Why is yearbook gone? Why is all this happening? What’s the POINT?

I believe that in everything, there is purpose and a plan. Our God is sovereign. Whether it’s known to us at the time, or it takes us a few years down the road to figure out, there is a reason for all things – the hard times develop our perseverance and strength, the troubling times allow us to find peace and solace with our Creator, the good times encourage us with joy and let us give the Lord salvation and praise!

...so what’s the point of a yearbook being destroyed?

Is it that Satan wants to test me some more? As if teaching in Uganda and having sketchy electricity, limited resources, slow/not working Internet, and stolen laptops in the last few weeks isn’t enough?

As I listened to those lyrics (above) from a song on the SLO Crusade cd this afternoon, I wondered, “Maybe the yearbook was a little bit too much of me and a little bit too little of God… Maybe it had become so much of MY project that I forgot Who I was really doing it for… Maybe I was so excited about creating this ‘perfect’ book and show off what I could create, that He decided to remind me, “It’s not about you.” ”

How often do we do this? We want something because of the acclaim and prestige we’ll get. I love love love volunteering for different activities I’m good at. But every once in a while (and probably should more often!), I have to step back, check in, and ask, “I’m not doing this for the fame, right? For the recognition? For the commendations and the awards? I really want to help out here, right?” Because for me, there is such a fine line between wanting to serve where there is a need and wanting to receive the credit for that work.

Your prayers are such a blessing right now. Even as I type this, it's 6:30 pm and I'm still at school trying to get some picture files. (and again, thanks Randy!) I'm going to work hard and see how far we can get by the deadline next week. Please pray that this would be one to glorify the Lord and not me!!! ... and that it'll be done in time :)

Lord, you know the things I do. Lord, I know what You went through to pay a price I was due. So many times I have failed and every time Your mercy has not. Lord, I owe it all to you. I will praise You till my lips can sing no more, and I will worship for it’s what you made for! I will bow down, Lord, accept this offering: my life before you, for it’s all that I can bring.
~ “This Offering” ~ PLB

Rafting the Nile

our fearless rafting group!

As of a few weeks ago, I had kind of resolved myself to the idea that I would not get to raft the Nile while I was here. Most of the people here have (a) already done it and don’t want to pay the money to go again, or (b) didn’t want to do it in the first place and STILL don’t want to. So, I had, begrudgingly, become ok with the fact I wouldn’t get to go…

Until a week ago Tuesday, that is! We met for Bible study on Tuesday night and in lieu of our conversation, Rachel (an eMi intern from New Mexico/Colorado) mentioned that she needed to get cracking on making plans for all the interns to go. My heart leaped and I asked (you know, incredibly nonchalantly), “Um, how would you feel if I tagged along with you guys?” Yes! I was in. I haven’t looked forward to something so much in a very long time. Goodness – RAFTING THE NILE!!!

And yesterday, the day finally came. Kidding aside, I was truly chomping at the bit to go. I woke up at 6 to meet up with everybody at 7:15 just down the road. We hopped onto a matatu and headed out to Jinja. When we arrived at the Nile River Explorers place, we had a quick breakfast, a “really informative” safety speech, and off we went.

With helmet, life vest, and oar in tow, we divided up into our raft groups and set out. Our “Shoot the Shoot” team was made up of me, Megan, Travis, Ryan, Josh, Matt, and Danny. (Not that the names mean anything, but since I’m referencing them, I figured I’d “introduce everybody” J) Rachel and Brittany combined with a couple of guys to form the “All is Well” boat.
We all climbed into our raft and let our guide know that our goal for the day was not to stay in the boat. And man, oh man, did we do just that. We flipped over almost every single rapid that we came to – even the little Class 3 one! In this pic, I’m sure that the three guys (who had pulled the rope down with them as they fell out) had no impact on its capsizing whatsoever…


Granted it was really fun to capsize, especially on the small waterfall. All the other groups probably thought, “They are soooo bad. They flip on every single rapid!” It was also especially fun to have to get back IN to the raft. You see, all the guys had enough upper-body strength to hoist themselves in. Megan and I, however, no matter how many times we attempted it, could not, and every time, one of the boys had to grab us and pull us in. = Motivation to work up more arm strength.

The journey down started with a Class 1 rapid, then a Class 2. (I’m pretty sure I’m keeping these numbers right, but forgive me if I switch them up.) Then we came to a Class 3 – where we flipped – followed by a short relaxation break. Err, more like a cigarette break for many of the rafters. Then, came the first Class 5. It was so legit. The rapids pummel each other left and right, the current and the waves look like they’ll eat you alive! And yet… you survive!


I just have to say, that people keep asking how it was, and the only words I am able to come up with – ME and my extensive vocabulary who can spell and bore my students for hours with words that they don’t think they’ll ever use in their lives – are “sweet,” “awesome,” “wicked,” and “legit.” Hello, my name is Kristi and I am from California.


After the first Class 5, there was another break time, during which we had to paddle for a short ways in order to get our snack. Glucose biscuits and pineapples – yum! It was really interesting watching the guy cut up all the pineapples; I feel like it takes me so much longer to simply do one, let alone 15 or so! And while on a raft none the less!


Once we had sufficiently littered and thrown all of our pineapple rinds into the river, we kept paddling for a very. long. time. But, in the end, it was worth it. We had another Class 3, Class 4, and Class 5 (Now that I think about it, I really don’t remember the order, all I know is that we finished on a Class 5. We’ll skip ahead to that.)


The last rapid of the day was monstrous. Definitely the scariest one of the day, which was a fantastic way to end it! I am going to preface the next part by saying that I don’t know how many of you have been sucked underwater by a raging current and forceful pressure, but WHEN that happens, it feels like it lasts forever! Needless to say, WHEN our boat capsized again on this final rapid, I was knocked out of the boat and went under. I was probably only under for, you know, 6 seconds, but it felt so much longer. All the thoughts flash through your head, “Augh! I can’t breathe! I don’t have any air!” and “Mom is not going to be happy that I died this way.” and “All I can see is green, where’s the surface?”

Obviously, since I have written this blog from you, I am still alive and well. I made it to the top and one of the safety guys came and helped me back to my raft. A little shaky, but definitely better for it! :) For more pics, check out my Facebook album!

Well, here I am. 3 days back into school and already I have stories to share.

I have to say that my 6th graders are phenomenal. They have been a little stir-crazy being back in the classroom, but overall, they have been great. EVERY single one of them has done their homework this week, they all remember what we had learned about polygons from before break, and I couldn't be happier as their teacher! :)

On Monday, I had received a package slip from Mr. Godfrey, our maintenance guy at school who pretty much does everything. (Where would schools be without the support staff who help out behind the scenes? They are truly the crew that makes schools run.) I was ecstatic. I have been waiting for this package from the Wallaces (a couple who lives up the street from us in Simi). My mom had asked Judy to put my bathing suit into it for Cairo (who would have thought it would take 3 months to get here??) Alas, even though it didn't come in time for Egypt, I was still incredibly excited when I got that note! Unfortunately, I have soccer on Mondays and didn't get finished till around 4:30 and Posta Uganda closes at 5... sometimes earlier depending on how they're feeling. And since you never know how long it'll take to find the package you've come for, (once, Jill and I waited for 2 hours for a package, but they found it!!) so I decided to go down on Tuesday after school.

Also unfortunately, this story has actually turned into one of the scariest ones I've had so far in Uganda. Now, I'm tempted to not blog about it at all, except for the fact that I came out of it unscathed, and what a testament to God's protection that is. He was truly watching over me, sending His angels around me. Because this could've had a very different ending.

I hopped on a boda to go into town. Traffic is really bad in the afternoons everywhere, so driving would have taken forever! We got into the city without too many close calls :) As we got over the train tracks, there were a ton of cars at a dead stop. It all happened really quickly. My boda driver looked over his shoulder and looked a little concerned. He scooted the boda up really close to the car in front of us, and kept looking back.

I'm going to interrupt myself right here and say that I've drawn these Paint sketches to illustrate what happened, since I really don't think I can explain it succinctly in words. However, these drawings are so childish. Drawing them kind of made me laugh about the whole situation, because now it's kind of 'cartoonized' in a way.

So, Drawing #1: Me and my boda driver next the cars and just past the railroad tracks.

I honestly didn't even realize that a train was coming. They don't usually honk to warn anyone to get out of the way, since so many people are always on the tracks. As I turned around to see why my boda driver kept turning around, I realized that the big produce truck next to us was about 2 feet on the train tracks. And truly, before I could put two and two together, the train horn sounded and there was a huge crash, in fact, several crashes. The white truck had been hit. It swiveled and bumped into us, then continued with the motion of the train and plowed into the two cars on its right.

Drawing #2: The train came and hit the truck next to us.

I know that when car accidents happen, they happen in both a blur and in slow-motion. (Believe me - I've been in the car in a lot of accidents and I remember every single one.) This one was the same way. I remember getting knocked over to my left, looking around, hearing the sounds of crunching metal and all... but I'll tell you, I was so confused as to what had hit me. I didn't realize that my boda was jammed together with the boda next to us, until we tried to move and were stuck.

Drawing #3: The three cars scrunched together.

Now, not that I am thankful that someone else's car was totaled, but I am so thankful that the Lord was watching over me. If that produce truck had spun at us instead of simply tilted our way, it would have absolutely smashed into my leg, at the very least. I am also thankful that trains here in Uganda don't travel at the high speeds that they do in the States... I wish for many, many reasons that trains didn't travel so fast (or have engineers who text message, etc.) in California, but I'll talk about my dad in the second story I'm going to share down below.

Thankfully, no one seemed to be severely hurt. The two people in the little black car, though stuck in there for quite some time, I'm sure, were moving and yelling (which I assumed meant they were ok :) ) We actually didn't hang around for long, one of the reasons being mob justice. When something bad happens, it is not at all uncommon for lots of people to crowd around and for justice to be served right then and there. It's also not very safe as a mzungu to be in mob justice kind of situation for a few reasons too... the mob mentality could simply to be looking to blame anyone, and a white person could be a target; also, if I were to be there and see something, I'd become a witness, which is never good to be in Uganda - you don't really know how the tables will turn... But regardless of all that, I am so thankful that I walked / boda-ed away from that accident with only a hurt arm. All I could say as we drove was, "Thank you Lord, thank you." I made it to the post office, got my package, and made it back home without incident :)

And while this is pretty long already, I am going to tell you another update about one of my students. A few months ago, I posted a picture of him and I from one of the youth group events. He's a fun kid and we have a good time bantering in computer class. His name is Kahan and he's in 12th grade. He just recently decided to become a Christian, maybe a little over a month ago now.

My heart has been breaking for him this week, and I ask you to keep him and his family in your prayers. On Wednesday of last week, his dad had a heart attack and died at their home. His dad wasn't a Christian, as far as we know, which makes me mourn his loss rather than rejoice over it. Oh, I wish I could just take away his pain. He and I had a long time to talk today during his study hall and my prep period. I love this kid. He and I have laughed and joked with each other so many times, but it was so good today to open up and let him know I'm there. I've been there. I am here.

We talked about how well-intentioned friends don't know what to say to comfort or be there for us since most haven't ever experienced something like it...

He brought up how the question, "How are you?" is a dumb one. I told him I knew exactly what he meant. All you want to respond with is, "Life sucks. My dad just died. I've been crying for a week and there's no end in sight," but instead, you say, "I'm fine." and get on with it.

We talked about how memories are such a wonderful gift. Talking with friends and family who knew your dad, looking through old pictures... it's good to remember, even when it hurts.

I thank my Father that I was able to go through the fires, that I've been refined through learning how to lose someone I love. I still weep over losing my dad. But in situations like this, I know that I went through it for a reason. I am also HERE for a reason.

And if you could please keep Kahan and his mom in your prayers, I know that they would appreciate it. Thanks all. Love you.

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flame will not set you ablaze; For I am the LORD your GOD the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!"

~ Isaiah 43:2-3