"do you believe this?"

If you tell me Christian commitment is a kind of thing that has happened to you once and for all like some kind of spiritual plastic surgery, I say go to, go to, you're either pulling the wool over your own eyes or trying to pull it over mine. Every morning you should wake up in your bed and ask yourself: "Can I believe it all again today?" No, better still, don't ask it till after you've read The New York Times, till after you've studied that daily record of the world's brokenness and corruption, which should always stand side by side with your Bible. Then ask yourself if you can believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ again for that particular day. If your answer's always Yes, then you probably don't know what believing means. At least five times out of ten the answer should be No because the No is as important as the Yes, maybe more so. The No is what proves you're human in case you should ever doubt it. And then if some morning the answer happens to be really Yes, it should be a Yes that's choked with confession and tears and. . . great laughter.  -Frederick Buechner


Many of the things I've seen in Uganda over the past 4 months have led me to question the presence of a tender and merciful God in the world... how can they not? The disease, the poverty, the witchcraft, the corruption, the darkness; the list goes on, and it's overwhelming. Other days, hope and redemption among those same things lead me all the more to cry out with belief--the Gospel of this God-man, Jesus, who showed us that life is more powerful than death is so unbelievable and so good.


Martha knows. This morning I read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11, and after the miracle Jesus says to her,


"I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?" 


Martha replies, "I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is come into the world."


A resounding Yes. I hope that your Easter is a day of Yes, like Martha, and that it's choked with confession and tears and great laughter. 

hit the mat

dear yoga instructor jamie, 

i'm not sure you ever knew that you would be teaching a yoga class in africa, but here you are in the sub-saharan opening our hips and strengthening our spines. 

thank you for your encouraging words and pushing us to "open up our wings and fly." I can't do that yet, but you've really helped me improve my triangle poses. 

somehow im sweating bullets after only 10 minutes every time -- how do you do that?!? it's fortunate for you that we aren't together because im beginning to think there is something in the african water that creates the "african body odor" scent. it's aroma is unparalleled...in the worst way possible. 

although i'd like to keep you all to myself,  i must share you with all my friends! it would only be fair. 

i hope they like you as much as I do. 

a very african barbecue

Last weekend we had the Ugandan CoG staff over for some traditional American dinner: Barbecue, the obvious choice. And slaw, homemade sweet rolls and fries--the obvious sides. Delish.

Even the Ugandans thought so! And where there are Ugandans, there will inevitably be a dance party. And where there is Holly and Meagan there will inevitably be the Dixie Chicks.

So we all got down, and it was perfect on so many levels. After dinner we played a combination of catch phrase and charades (fish bowl, for those of you who know the game), which resulted in some seriously heated competitiveness and a couple inappropriate references to sausage. Also perfect on so many levels.

Americans really have a lot to learn about parties.

The Nsimiire Family: part 2

Remember Gift and her awesome story? Well this is her family and her mom, Vennie. Our afternoon together ended with a family Ugandan rendition of high school musical's we're all in this together -- priceless.

The Nsimiire Family

I read somewhere that joy runs deeper than despair. Over and over again, families like the Nsimiires keep reminding me of that here. The suffering that they experience is deep -- you can see that in their eyes. But behind that there hope --twinkling and shining in the darkness.

 

rookie mistake

I just added pictures to Facebook and the nifty, new tagging feature confused this dear adolescent Ugandan girl with my dear American friend, Anna Benson. I make the same mistake all the time...

jesus is a wiener, man

more properly translated, "jesus is a winner man." a ugandan favorite.

Eryn Hannah Roberts MANNING

Fall of our junior year of college, our best friend Hannah starting hanging out with a boy named Marc. Every day.

"We're just friends," she would say.

Please.

Soon, Hannah figured out what we knew was happening all along. Between classes we would often sit on campus at the benches outside Spidle Hall and each lunch, and I remember every detail of the day Hannah told me she thought she loved this boy. I put down my sandwich, took Hannah's hand and thought to myself, you need to remember this moment so that you can retell it in a toast at Hannah's rehearsal dinner one day. We hugged. I cried. It was a tender moment.

Han, two and a half years later, we are dying to not be giving toasts at your rehearsal dinner tonight and to not be standing beside you at the alter tomorrow. We are there in spirit! Quite literally. We haven't stopped thinking about it since the second we got out of bed this morning and don't plan on stopping until Sunday when it's all said and done.

For memory's sake, let's take a look at some of the good times.

remember when we found this turtle on the side of the road and picked it up with a towel?

your first kiss

your previous life as a middle school P.E. coach (and meagan's as.........)

snow days in Auburn!

I don't know what memory this is, but it's a cute picture.

getting stuck in traffic for 3 hours on the way to Knoxville and howling like wolves

Hannah, we are SO happy for you and love you and miss you and wish you the happiest of wedding days! 

And since we are missing your wedding day, we decided to make up for it by coming on your honeymoon. See you there! 

thai peanut wrap: wake the neighbors

this afternoon we accidentally created the best meal i've ever eaten. it takes a bit of prep--but holy cow--SO worth it. 

if you dont like flavor explosions, then don't make this. keep eating your cheerios and chicken nuggets--by all means. but, if you are among the refined eaters of this world, then you'll want to nosh on this thai peanut wrap every day for the rest of your life. 

here are the makings:

wheat tortilla, peanut sauce, brown rice, sliced cucumbers, sliced mango, grated carrot, chopped green onions, fresh basil leaves, fresh chopped cilantro.*

the scoop on the peanut sauce: use 1 part peanut butter, 1 part coconut milk and 1/2 part soy sauce. I'm exactly not sure about this though. play around. we started with half peanut butter, half soy sauce but it was gross so we added coconut milk and peanut butter until it got better. trader joes probably has some kind of tasty peanut sauce that would be even better and way less work--if you're among the fortunate few in its vicinity. 

time to get down to business. 

and one more thing. remember, THIS IS A FLAVOR EXPLOSION, people! don't skimp on the ingredients just because you "don't like cilantro" or something.* every flavor counts.

including srirachi, obviously. 

*if you're a boy--or a meat-loving girl--you could definitely beef it up with some chicken or shrimp...or beef. 

**which i have a hard time believing in the first place. don't get me started about people who "don't like red sauce/maple syrup/tomatoes/etc." it's mental--get over it and expand your palate.

sunday book club

it wouldn't be an african gathering if it didn't end in a dance party!

about a month ago we started a children of grace book club with this bunch and it has definitely become the highlight of our weekends. we're plowing through the boxcar children and it's so interesting to hear their responses to the issues that come up in a story about orphaned children. 

it has also been so encouraging to see their excitement for reading and learning. some of the things we've seen in uganda seem so irreversible, so confusing and so complicated, but sunday afternoons have become a reminder that there is hope here. something as simple as an afternoon under the trees with these five strong, intelligent, and high-spirited students is so meaningful--not for them (well, maybe for them), but for me. i'll never forget this time that i get to spend with the students who will one day change this country.

senses

it's been too long! since our last update we've been busy combating various intestinal parasites (yum), yelling obscenities at jillian michaels and taking sunset strolls along the river nile. here's the breakdown, sensory style. 

watching: parenthood. (almost) every night for the past two weeks has ended with our bootlegged dvds following the braverman family drama. we've laughed, we've cried, we've witnessed the ressurection of lorelai gilmore.  

listening: 'tis so sweet to listen to chelsea moon 

tasting: crack. we've consumed almost an entire large bottle in record breaking time. pizza, crepes, tacos, and of course asian stir fry which we make on average three times a week.  

touching: american boys. but not like that. but kind of like that. it's a big day in the life of this blog! we've never talked about boys before, but the words out. we both have boyfriends and they both came to visit. it was kind of like this, except they didn't come at the same time.

smelling: burning charcoal/plastic , african body odor and bonnie's homemade wheat bread. two steps backward, one step forward. 

and let us not forget the sixth sense! our intuition is telling us that this girl just might change the world--or at least rwanda, there's a 13.1 mile stretch on the pacific coast needs the love of our sneakers, and on may 9th we'll be eating chickfila for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

these are exciting times.