the week

So much to write, so little time…

Today is Sunday, just returned to my house from church. The shutters on the front of my house were closed…I had left them open when I left for church as I do every other day when I leave the house. Must have been the day watchmen…the theft I mentioned that has been rampant around the mission in recent weeks moved to my house this past week.

Sunday, one week ago, Sarah and Nathan and I locked up our houses, closed the shutters, and drove off for a week of R&R. It was a wonder-ful week literally…we traveled south to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and went gorilla trekking in celebration of my 30th birthday (Sarah and Nathan sacrificially laying down their lives on my behalf in agreeing to join me :), after camping for 2 nights we drove North through Ishasha and saw the tree climbing lions that inhabit the southern tip of Queen Elizabeth National Park…both are once in a lifetime sights…the only places in the world you can find these animals in their natural habitat. Absolutely magnificent! BUT as everything else in life, nothing is without complication…

Monday morning, before we left our stopover at Kingfisher Kichwamba before our last leg of travel south to Bwindi, our cell phones each rang in succession, initially none of us able to get reception, but then finally Nathan’s phone rang again and he ran to find a place with a decent signal, as he ran off, I checked my phone, “1 missed call” from Scott….my heart sunk…”I bet my house was broken into” I thought to myself. “Heidi! Scott wants to talk to you” Nathan hollered. I was right. “So, your house was broken into last night…” I heard from the other end, followed by a report of a ransacked house, things missing including some things from Pat’s side of the duplex, a bike and Croc’s “borrowed”, muddied, and returned after the loot was safely carried away to it’s new home, a Guinness drank/drunk/drunken, Swiss chocolate eaten, and last but not least – a gift left for me – a pile of sh*t on the front lawn…

It was frustrating from afar, after several weeks of going through this with teammates, finally it literally hit home…my home…Sarah and Nathan were frustrated and angry with me, we piled our things into the vechicle (now nicknamed “the zoolander” for it’s brief period of not being able to turn left – post a trip through a very high river and unfortunately over a very large rock – not pretty but worth a few laughs for sure!), and drove south…Beastie Boys blaring from the car speakers, my feet propped up on the dashboard (don’t worry, I wasn’t the one driving – Nathan was at the wheel), and many “grrr!”s muttered along the way.

I will post re. the magnificence we saw in the next 48 hours, but words won’t be sufficient…neither will the photos, really, but I’ll give it a shot…such a wonderful gift from our Father.

As we drove North after Ishasha, my heart began to sink again…it is so very hard to reconcile the realities of this life…to see such vastly different parts of this world God has created, and not just to see them but to experience them, feel them, smell them, hear them…and all of the realities that go along with them…To hear a report of your house joining the ranks of several others in your community vandalized, and then 24 hours later be face to face with an endangered 500lb gorilla in the Impenetrable Forest…it’s enough to drive a person absolutely mad…there’s only so much my mind and heart can handle and both are being put to the test.

I could go on and on about this, but I won’t. I could write of the questions that run through my head, the tears of being downright sad, the screams of frustration, the doubts, the amazement, the awe, the songs of thanksgiving, the smiles of joy and the mouth gaping open in wonder…rotating between all of them as the minutes pass by.

I will write more later, but that’s enough for now.