Silent Night, Holy Crap

Alec Burnter-Abt, my best friend from middle school, is treating me to dinner for my birthday. Only his parents are there, and his mom looks just like my grandmother. In the middle of the meal everyone starts quietly singing "Silent Night". Slowly the whole restaurant joins in, and we are all singing together. Our voices sound exactly like the kids from "Charlie Brown Christmas".

This week was long, and interesting. Here are the Highlights.

Monday - While riding with a cement truck out to the site, the lug nuts pop off of the front drivers side tire. Apparently our driver was trying to make it on 3 nuts. He knew he was trying to cheat the system though and was driving very slowly when it happened. So there wasnt any kind of accident. Thankfully we are in the middle of a village, so our driver hops onto a boda-boda (motorcylce taxi) and drives all the way back to Jinja to pick up more bolts. 3 hours later we are back on the road. A potentially frustrating experience but i did have a good time talking to the other transport guys and the village kids.

Tuesday - We start pouring a foundation for the nursery school. All concrete here is mixed by hand, and we were only 1/4 done by 5 PM. So We cut a deal with the laborers and worked until 2:30 AM, by moonlight and lamplight.

Wednesday - I killed a snake with a piece of reinforcing steel. Caught the sucker eating a toad. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Thursday - Had a great talk with one of our carpenters about the Kingdom of God manifesting itself here on earth. One of the singularly most encouraging moments of my life.

Friday - we are supposed to be pouring a beam in the afternoon, but the carpenters are running behind on the formwork. So John decides we are going to stay and pour on Saturday. I am not happy but decide not to complain. The masons and carpenters were pretty upset. We were in the middle of a meeting discussing the terms and conditions of a weekend pour (and facing a potential mutiny) when we get a call from the head carpenter. He has decided to go home, and we can't pour without him. So we went home early after all. Turns out God is in control, not us, and the pour is moved to Monday.

Next week is a short week. Our intern weekend is next weekend. We are travelling to Lake Bunyoni. A popular resort/camping spot to re-connect as interns and discuss our first 1/3 of the time here.

I appreciate your prayers and emails so much. This past week was a homesick week. I miss family, friends, cold milk, and beer. But not to equal degrees.