Go Tell It On The Mountain

Recently, my teammate, Emily, and I went to visit one of our friends outside of Mbarara. Rebecca is a Peace Corps volunteer I met at church, and she's been working with a primary school ten miles outside of town. It took Emily and I thirty minutes by boda to reach her location, but it was a beautiful day, and the sights never get old.

We toured Rebecca's school and sampled from her strawberry patch. Can you imagine my sheer delight in eating a fresh strawberry after 17 months without? But who's counting, right? Because it was such a beautiful day, we decided to hike up some hills near Rebecca's school. Hills... Yes, they are considered hills, but when I told my boda driver what we did, he said incredulously, "What? Those mountains there??" And compared to what we typically have in Iowa, they were kind of big hills.

In the aerial photo below, those little green buildings in the top right corner are on the campus where Rebecca is living. The big empty space curving across the middle is the set of hills we hiked. We started on the far left and made our way across the ridge back toward the campus.

The first hill was a doozy. It's affectionately been named Puke Hill (by us) because when Rebecca took her mom and sister up this hill, her mom thought she was going to vomit from the altitude and exertion. Fortunately, there was a perfect outcrop of rocks halfway up, so we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view (and catch our breath). 

The second half was so steep it required climbing with both hands. Once we reached the top and looked back.... Wow! There's no question as to why Uganda is nicknamed "The Pearl of Africa." 

Emily almost to the top

taking this photo required wedging my camera
between the split trunk of a tree

We continued climbing a little higher to reach the ridge, and on our way we discovered we weren't alone up there. 

We stopped about halfway across to enjoy a little picnic of M&Ms and water (Thanks for sharing your care package treats, Rebecca!) and admire the view some more. Because this view necessitates lingering a little longer.

Maybe because it's Christmastime, and maybe because this time of year causes me to reflect on all that's happened over the past 12 months... I find myself marveling at the fact that I live here. In Uganda. To be perfectly honest, I'm still not sure how that happened. All I can say is that God's ways are higher and better than my own. I make plans in my heart, but it's always God's purposes that prevail.

While I still have days when I wonder what exactly I'm doing here and why God thought I was the best person to do it, I also have moments of clarity. Sometimes the moments come when I'm chatting with a friend in her home. Sometimes they come when I'm buying produce from my favorite person in the market. And sometimes they come when I'm standing on top of a hill taking in sweeping panoramas.

My mission is quite simple really.
My mission is also your mission.

Go, and tell it. Over the hills and everywhere. 

"Jesus Christ is born" and "God sent us salvation."

And make disciples.

This looks different for each  person based on their giftings and areas of influence, but the task itself is quite simple:

Go, tell it.

How beautiful on the mountains 

are the feet of those who bring good news, 

who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, 

who proclaim salvation, 

who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

Isaiah 52:7