Thoughts on Homesickness and Mount Wanale Hike

Last week I was really struggling with homesickness. I knew that the Lord had called us here, but I found myself missing family, friends, fall, and basically everything familiar :-). I asked for prayer - that the Lord would use those feelings of homesickness to draw me closer to Him, and He has been faithful.

At the Mbale church, Pastor Charles Magala has begun preaching through the book of 1 Peter, so I thought I'd spend some time reading and studying it. The apostle Peter addresses the letter to "refugees of the Dispersion". One of the commentaries I was reading pointed out that many of Peter's intended audience were probably living in their hometown, yet he addresses them as refugees. Why? Because as Christians, we are all refugees, strangers, pilgrims.

In the words of a song I enjoyed as a child...

"This world is not my home I'm just a passing through
If heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I just don't feel at home in this world anymore"

And it hit me - this homesickness is really a blessing. In a spiritual sense, we are all away from home. I just have the gift of really feeling it right now. So whenever I feel that ache for home deep in the pit of my stomach, I have been trying to remember to give thanks. What I'm really aching for can't be found here on earth :-).

And on a lighter note, yesterday, we hiked up Mt. Wanale with a group of about 20 friends. It was Ugandan Independence Day, so school was closed and many people had the day off. Mt. Wanale is one of the foothills of Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano that sits on the border between Uganda and Kenya. We enjoy a beautiful view of Mt. Wanale from our yard and we drove to the top once, but the boys have been itching to hike to the top. Sadly, Mark had to work at the hospital so he couldn't join us, but here are some pics of the rest of us having fun/feeling terrified :-). (Thanks to Dianna Tuininga for many of these pics!)

The kids like to play in the water at the top

View from the top...complete with random dog

Someone in our group bought a jack fruit from the locals who even cut it up for us.

Jack fruit tastes like super sweet Juicy fruit gum and the texture resembles gum too - chewy, but not juicy. I don't particularly care for it, but some others I know do...

Here's our group at the top, minus Dianna, who graciously took the pic :-).


One of the seminary students from Knox Theological College joined us. I found his shirt to be rather appropriate

This was the scariest part of the hike for me...a "stick" ladder.

It is always rather humbling to see the Ugandan women calmly carrying huge loads on their heads, when you are struggling just to walk!

Well, needless to say, we made it home safely! Today I'm sore in places I didn't know I had, but thankful for a sweet time enjoying the Lord's beautiful creation.