Blessed Indeed

I'm writing this from my family home in the UK on a beautiful summer's day with the radio playing and the windows wide open. This time last week I was somewhere in the sky over northern Africa.
 We had a party on Sunday which lots of people came to and it was a blessing that they came and shared our last evening in Uganda with us. Early on Monday morning we left the Smile house and drove to Entebbe airport. Saying goodbye to everyone was really difficult and plenty of tears were shed. I will be forever grateful to God for the blessing that it is to have met all the people that I'm close to in Uganda, and my prayer is that we will stay close and that one day God will bring me back.
By some miracle all of our bags were under the weight limit and the flight was uneventful (apart from the scones with clotted cream and jam!!) I think that we must have gotten a few strange looks from the people around us when all four of us girls were practically sobbing as the plane took off.
We had a brilliant surprise at the airport as Simone ran over to greet us. She had been with us for our training and had come out to Uganda for our first two weeks and it was lovely to see her again.
We spent a couple of days in Kent being debriefed by Clive and Ruth and Simone before we all went to Hitchin which is just North of London. We stayed for a few days visiting different clubs run by the church and sharing our experience of Uganda with the people. Everyone there was so welcoming and hospitable. It was strange to be back in English culture which is so familiar but also felt oddly alien, and we felt a bit like we don't really fit into our own culture anymore. It was great to all be together for the first week back and to be able to support each other.

So on Sunday, my brother John and his girlfriend Catherine came to pick me up. We stayed around for a while whilst we waited for the other's parents to arrive and we tried to delay the moment that we had to leave each other but eventually it had to come.
John and Catherine grilled me in the car with 101 questions "what was the weirdest thing you ate?" and then they took me to surprise my grandparents which was lovely.

We drove into Chineham just at the moment that Andy Murray hit the winning ball of the Wimbledon final! My parent's had decorated the house with British flags (apparently they'd been looking for the Ugandan flag but I had it with me!). My Dad, predictably, had seized the opportunity to wear his African shirt, and he and Mum both gave me that big hug that they had been waiting so long for.

We went round to John and Catherine's home for a BBQ and it was great to see their new house which they moved into about a week after I moved to Uganda back in October. I also got to meet their cat 'Bertie' who is quite a character!

Bertie enjoying the BBQ!

BBQ hosted by John & Cat

I'm so excited to come back to Christ Church next week and to get to spend all my time talking about Uganda. I've had such a huge amount of support from so many people during my time in Uganda and I'm now really looking forward to being able to meet up with people and share my stories with you all.

To everyone who's reading this from KC, UG I love you all SO much and I seriously really, really miss you. Thank you always for everything. Mukama abwawe omukisa ne nkwagala nyo!

As I think I've already said, my time in Uganda was easily the best 9 months of my life and I will cherish my memories and miss my friends and family there for the rest of my life. I knew from the start that God would bless me, but he truly has in ways that I never expected him to and he has done so much more than I ever thought he would. There's a reason I called this blog 'Blessed Indeed', as cheesy as it is, and the reason still stands because God has, and I know that he will continue to use me and to bless me through the life he calls me to live. I can't wait!

So that's it. I'm back in Chineham (for the next couple of months at least!) On Sunday the 21st July I'm going to be attempting to cook for anyone who wants to come and hear all my stories about Uganda at Christ Church Chineham, so all are welcome to church (10.30 am) and to the meal straight afterwards. Please give us a heads up at the church office so we know how many people to cook for (01256 474280 admin@christchurchchineham.org.uk)

Please continue to pray for me, the other gappers and our families and also for everyone that we love in Uganda.