make it happen

Home

Home was wonderful, but I was ready to come back to Uganda to be honest. I don’t really have a place at home now. My home, work and friends are in Uganda right now. Here are the highlights of my trip home:

-Running the Boston Marathon

-Running the Indianapolis Mini Marathon

-Visiting a friend who has recently started a new ministry in Tennessee. Sharing the excitement of this growing, living, moving ‘new thing’ and seeing so much volunteership from the congregation to make the whole production work. (which by the way is being done in a functioning movie theater, so they have to set up and tear down their church every week!)

- Watching an old college roommate lead worship at his new church, a campus ministry, like I’d seen him lead worship so many times on the camp team we’d traveled on for years during the hot Indiana summers.

- A marriage proposal that took place after ‘senior night’ at the same campus ministry of people I’d never met before, but he wanted to propose there because of what that place had meant to both of their personal and Christian lives.

-Laughing so hard I cried at some of the same old things we laughed at when we were college roommates.

- Visiting a long time friend whom I only knew for a week but hit it off with like we’d always been friends. Seeing him teach his college freshman English class as he takes masters classes in creative writing, watching him interact with his students as they came in for conferences and having a piece of a book “White Noise” (not like the movie) read to me (which sounds corny, but it was cool, trust me).

- Attending a poetry reading with some friends of his (again, sounds corny and maybe gay, but you had to be there)

- Visiting my brother’s high school business class. (He actually teaches out of a trailer classroom because they have run out of class rooms. The kids call it the trailer park.).

- Collecting 40 pairs of running shoes that had been gathered by some teachers I know.

-Going back to the school I used to teach at and sharing with the geography class about my experiences in Uganda.

-Speaking EVERYWHERE! Rotary Club, Lions Club, Optimist Club, Kiwanis Club, high schools, junior high schools, elementary schools, churches, amongst friends, relatives and strangers. I talked to groups as large as 100+ and to as few as 7. Everywere from an hour to 15 minutes.

-Hardly ever buying a meal! Most times whoever I was with offered to pick up the tab! I didn’t object! I even got a free haircut!

-Eating Pizza King Pizza, cherry pop-tarts, McDonalds, chicken Quesadillas, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, pancakes and sausage, zingers, waffles, ice cream sandwiches…

- Visiting with soooo many friends and family.

- Spending time with nieces and nephews. Everything from wading in the creek to seeing Spider Man III on opening night.

- Attending rehearsals and then performing (in a tux) with the Rushville Community Choir directed by David Doyle, one of my favorite people of all time! Can’t describe how cool this was.

- Morning jogs through my home town, down my old paper routes and past where my grandparents used to live.

-Being able to talk for hours on the phone with a close friend.

- The smells of home.

- Starbucks

- Visiting with the group of 14 students and leaders from Purdue who were preparing to travel to Uganda to do some work with Compassion in my village on a mission trip. Answering dozens of questions and inquiries to prepare them for the trip.

-Watching the NFL Draft and throwing a football around.

- Receiving money from generous and caring individuals who just wanted to help the poor children of Compassion where I work.

I’ll save what the experience was like to be back home for when I go home for good. I could talk about it, but I’d rather wait and tackle it all at once.

posted by Brian R Dunn @ 9:04 AM