Yes, I’m sitting in a hotel room at the moment, and yes, it’s breaking my heart. (But it’s because I have WIFI and HOT SHOWERS!! AHH)
Donna and I are staying in Gulu for a night or two, and so now I’m sitting here and listening to Patsy Cline and Elvis Presley (thus the inspiration for today’s post title). We took this little excursion to do some business in town, as well as to just explore Gulu and possibly get souvenirs or things for the villages or whatever we find! So today, I’ve had veggie pizza and ice cream, and I took a boda ride through town, which was so awesome and reminded me of how cool getting my motorcycle license would be! (Btw boda’s are basically like taxi motorcycles and they’re very common throughout Uganda)
But even without all the fun things today held, things have been going really great since my last post! Thank you for your prayers and your support 🙂 My homesickness is much less than it was before, and I’m feeling much more comfortable in Bobi village. It’s too bad I leave on Tuesday, because I’ve loved getting to know these kids. Each one is so unique and fun in their own way. They even put up with my weird mzungu behavior and actually seem to like to listen to me “play” the guitar. I say “play” because I have no idea what I’m doing; I’m just teaching myself by ear. Anyway, they’re pretty awesome kids, and all you sponsors out there are so lucky to be connected with them! Even though I miss home so much and am ready to see my family again, I know that leaving these kids will be very hard for me. So many of them are not just “the VOH kids” to me – they’re my friends. And I love them, and will miss them like crazy when I go.
I’m going to miss so much. I’m going to miss the insane rainstorms, the starry nights, the little nursery kids that can’t wait to offer their hand to be held, the free-spirited worship, the attempts to teach me the Acholi language, the stubbornness of Ugandan teenagers who insist that you help them dance or cook or play sports, the Saturday night movies with the kids, the times we try to speak Spanish to each other, playing netball in the field, holding the guitar just right so 4 other kids can strum along with me, and SO much more. I’m so glad that I got to spend my summer doing those things, rather than sitting on the couch and being bored. The lessons I’ve learned (and am still learning) will be tremendously helpful to me when I enter college next month, and probably will helpful to me for the rest of my life. Woo yea! Praise God for His perfect plan and His amazing creation!
{Haley}