After 26 hours and 30 minutes of flying, 10 hours spent waiting on layovers, 2 hours driving, and 11 time zones later... I am only five feet from my bed. I have finally made it back to Uganda. I left Uganda over a year-and-a-half ago, after my semester as a student with the Uganda Studies Program (USP). For so long I have desired to get back - and now I have arrived!
Whenever I describe this internship I always mention that it is my dream job. And it truly is (as far as my short-term plans are concerned). I have the honor of being one of two interns for the 2009-2010 school year for the USP. Not only does this internship allow me to explore a region of the world that I fell in love with, but, yes, it is a paid internship. Not very much, but at least I do not have to pay to come and spend ten months here (which I would do anyway!) And all of this as just a wonderful bonus to the fact that this program is honorable and inspiring. After I had my experience as a student I knew that this was something special, and more people needed to experience it! What this program offers students is truly remarkable, and now I have the privilege and honor to be apart of such a wonderful experience in the lives of other students. I couldn't be more proud.
For ten months I will act as a mentor and counselor for 44 North American students that have come, entrusting their education and their lives in the directors and staff of the USP. And they could not be in better hands. The staff here is absolutely phenomenal. Everybody, from Mark (the USP director) to Brook and Gwyn (the associate directors), as well as Adeline, Philo, and Margaret (the USP student life coordinators, and every other job) are perfect. The program that has grown here is truly a one-of-a-kind program, and I am excited to be a part of something so wonderful.
However, coming here is not without its share of disadvantages. During the last year-and-a-half, God really has helped me find direction for my future, helping me to put words to the passion that I feel in my heart. When I graduated from NNU in the spring, I already knew then that I wanted to continue my education with a master's program. Unless God decides to completely shuffle around my life (again), I know that I want to either teach theology at the university level or begin working in a church in a pastoral position (most specifically planting a church). But being here in Uganda has both its pros and cons. On the one hand, I know that my experience here will affect and influence everything that I do in my future. It will completely reshape my worldview; it will mature me in a way I would never experience anywhere else in the world; and it will teach me invaluable lessons about Jesus and his beautiful revolution that I have been invited to join. And yet, on the other hand, I do not know how these ten months will practically guide my future. Believe me, I am completely open to God directing me wherever God so chooses. But with all of the specific ways God has been leading me, I am not very sure that I will be working internationally, or that I will need these exact experiences. Anyway, I am getting way too far ahead of myself, and I think it best that I just stop rambling now.
But, I resign all of these thoughts over to the will of God, and I recognize that no matter how much I may plan or look into the future, there is no telling what God would have me do or what opportunities may come my way. Who knows, perhaps all those things I've just mentioned will happen.
Anyway, no matter what happens, I think it is all very exciting. And I am just happy to be apart of it all.
