If I had blogged in July...

...I would have blogged about being stolen from. Our security guard entered our house one night while no one was home and stole $500 from my room. John wasn't just our security guard...I thought he was also my friend. I've been stolen from before, but by a stranger. It's a completely different feeling when someone you trust totally betrays the relationship. In addition, this is not a good place to have a crime committed against yourself, as many of the police are rather corrupt. We had to bribe them to even come and take fingerprints. If you want them to try to find the thief, you have to pay them some “appreciation” each time they do something. As bad as the betrayal felt, and as inconvenient as it was to lose $500, and as frustrating as it was to try to get the police to do something (they still haven't caught him), I still have so much to be thankful for. When the money was taken from my desk, it was right next to my laptop. My external disk drive was also there. My camera was also there. My ipod was also there. None of it was taken. I could have lost a lot more “material” things which are special to me, and a lot of work, photos, and files on my laptop. Yes, they are just things, but they have more value to me than dollars. I thank God that He spared me from losing any of those things. If you think of John, please pray for him. He had professed faith in Jesus and was being discipled by another missionary. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would minister in his life. Thank you!

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On a happier note...

4^th of July was fun. A local cafe which is owned by an American had a 4^th of July celebration, complete with hotdogs, sweet corn, onion rings, potato salad, and watermelon. Over 50 Americans gathered to enjoy American food and watch Independence Day, which I had never seen before. Thank you Sankofa!

I was there with some friends from the house church I attend (Pancakes & Podcasts). Here I am with my great friend Kristin! We were so excited for the meal!

In the month of July we had two short term volunteers. As the resident “long-term” volunteer in the Zion guesthouse, I get to welcome the short term volunteers and help them learn their way around Zion and Gulu Town. I really enjoy it. Bailey was here for a whole month, and we had a blast! She taught the girls tons of new songs and is still a daily topic of conversation at the girls' house. Martha was here for 2 weeks and I really enjoyed having her here as well. She is a teacher, so the girls really benefited from time with her, especially Anita who is in her first year of school at age 11. While Bailey & Martha were here, a couple of highlights included doing a 3 day VBS with the girls on Esther, Hannah, and Ruth & Naomi, as well as having the first annual Zion Girls Joint Birthday Party (complete with party hats thanks to Auntie Bailey!)

At the end of July it was time for Bailey to go home, so I went with her halfway to Kampala to a place called Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, where you can track wild rhinos on foot! Rhino footprint:

Of course I have seen rhinos before in the zoo, but a rhino with no fence between you is a totally different animal. The first thing the guide tells you before you head out is that if a rhino decides to charge, you should immediately climb the nearest tree. Now, I'm not known for my tree-climbing ability so this was a bit concerning. The second option, if you can't get to a tree, is to “get behind a shrubbery that the rhino can't pass through.” This was also concerning, as rhinos are rather large and very strong and through the whole treck I never saw a shrubbery that looked like it would be able to withstand the force of a charging rhino (and believe me, I was looking for them). Thankfully we didn't have to worry, as rhinos like to sleep during the day and even the ones that were standing up were kind of drowsy and not too inclined to charge. I learned a lot about rhinos that day but one interesting fact is that they have terrible vision, but excellent hearing. We could see this clearly as the momma rhino kept close tabs on our where-abouts, not by turning her head to watch us, but by constantly moving her ears to catch every sound we made. As a results of this, though, we were instructed to be very very quiet, as a rhino will charge after a threatening sound without waiting to “see” what caused it.

One ear to the front, one to the back:

Our guide pointed out some ants that were behind us as we were rhino-watching. They were big ants, and I can't remember what they were called but they eat termites. They had carried their eggs up out of the nest to “get fresh air,” which I didn't know ants did. The guide told us that soon they would smell us and start carrying the eggs back into the ground to protect them from us, and that's exactly what happened. The ants quickly changed from lazily wandering around near the pile of eggs to frantically carrying them back into the nest as fast as their little legs could move. It was so cool to see two of God's creatures, especially with the contrast in their size, and to learn about the things He has equipped them with for survival.