This is my favorite place in Beni - my tree at the park!
Grant, Meredith and I left the Congo bright and early at 5am on Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Noe' Kasali came with a car to take us to the Ugandan Border. After giving away 3 suitcases of clothes, electronics, personal hygiene items, books, etc. - I still had four bags worth of stuff to take with me on the plane to Europe. On our way out of Beni, I gave my "I LOVE YOU" sign language symbol to the town I still call home and the place that I left my heart with all the people I love. Then, I broke into songs from the Ebeneezer Choir that Noe' had wrote. It was comforting to sing his songs with him in French. Noe' said that he would truly miss my talent and that I now know his songs better than him. We continued singing in Lingala, Swahili and English until our driver started asking questions about the fact that I could sing in four different languages and I was a mzungu. Grant proceeded to tell our story of how we came to the Congo.
Once we got to the border, Grant had an extensive conversation with a man in Swahili and I was really proud of him at how far he had progressed in the past 3 months. He was just excited that he understood him. We said goodbye to Noe' and switched cars and drivers and headed into Uganda. The first noticeable thing was that the roads were now paved!!! YEA - I will never take that for granted again! The second noticeable thing was the amount of people speaking English. When we went into the immigration office to get our visas we had an extensive conversation about our President Obama - which always happens in EVERY African country - but also the immigration officers asked Grant to pray over them. So he did - right there in the middle of the office - it was AWESOME! The drive was quiet because all of us were so tired - so we all took turns sleeping or listening to ipods or just watching the beautiful scenery pass us by.
We arrived in Entebbe mid-afternoon and after checking into our hotel, we decided to go check out Lake Victoria. We found our way down to the beach and then just spent some time wading in the water, taking pictures, and enjoying the sun, sounds, and smells of the beach! We had a lovely dinner at the hotel and then settled in for the night. The next day, we decided to go exploring and we went to the Botanical Gardens and then back to the beach. All in all it was a great day of hiking through town and then resting at the beach.
We flew out that night at 10:30pm to Amsterdam. It was hard getting on the plane to go to Hungary, knowing that I was leaving my beloved continent of Africa behind. I looked at Meredith as we boarded the plane and said, "I'm not going to cry because I am coming back, it's just a matter of when!" However, as we loaded on the plane, the tears couldn't help but come. I've left people behind me before in all my adventures, but I have never left my heart behind me. I just kept praying, "Daddy, You know my heart's desire - I trust You love me enough to give it back to me one day!" I still believe that to this very second!
To be continued. . .
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