**The internet has been down, so I'm attempting to get caught up on my blog posts**

Monday: Lugbara Lesson #1 & Lunch with new friends

God is so good. He works out His plans. Today I spent the morning reading and practicing some stories. Meg, the boys and I went and had lunch with some friends down the road. They were so sweet. Joanna is one of the MK kids that I had been teaching the last few weeks. As we were finishing there, Simon and Jane showed up. It was fun to see familiar faces from the Coppedge’s home—especially since familiar faces were a bit fewer at that point.

Jane came over to the Rambos and gave me my first lesson in Lugbara. We did basic greetings and numbers 1-10. It’s been very fun so far and hope I continue to do ok. Its somewhat tonal similar to mandarin (though not that extreme). Jane is very patient with me. We laugh together a lot.

Meg made calls and set up a boda driver named Mawa for Jane and I.  We also confirmed going over to Stella and Florence’s home on Tuesday. That was so exciting! God has continued to be providing opportunities.

Sunday: Splitting Up and Eating at White Castle

Traveling back to Arua—We split off from the team this morning. Scott took the girls to Entebbe, while Meg, Timbo, Benja, and I headed back to Arua. It was hard to say goodbye to the girls, because they have all been such blessings in Arua and I wish we could all stay together for the next 4 weeks; however, I was happy too because I knew they were getting anxious to be heading home to their family and friends.

We had a good drive back and stopped for dinner at White Castle, which is a hotel/restaurant. It is so nice! It’s not like a White Castle in the states. Tim was able to swim and I had a burger and chips—which were very tasty albeit not quite like America. We made it back to Arua and I busied myself with moving my luggage into the “Princess Room” (as Julia has rightly named it). It felt good to not be living out of a suitcase. It is the little blessings that seem to mean so much sometimes.

**Today was my lovely friend, Cindy’s birthday—Cindy, I miss you and hope that you had a lovely birthday—You are so inspiring to me, and you possess much wisdom beyond your years--wishing you much more love, laughter and blessings in the year to come!

Saturday: The African Queene and the Falls

Sickness hit Jeri and I Friday night/Saturday morning. I think mine might have been just due to a mild case of sun-poisoning and a little dehydration, but both of us woke up pretty weak and really debating whether we should try another day-long excursion. I drank a lot of water and was starting to rally. Poor Jeri was a trooper throughout the day, even though we know she didn’t start feeling somewhat back to normal until that night. I think it’s a bit ironic that we both didn’t start getting sick until we started eating at the nice (“western”) hotel restaurant on Friday night.

On the trip down the Nile River we boarded a boat called The African Queene (Julia decided this was very fitting since she is a Princess)—we saw lots of hippos, some buffalo, birds, elephants, and probably around 10 crocodiles throughout the excursion. We stopped at some rocks near the Falls, but had to stay a good distance away from them because they are so powerful.

We met some people who are connected with IHOP University (Matt, I thought of you) and a woman who is working with some Congolese Refugees in Gulu. Jeri struck up a conversation with a family from Norway. The dad gets stationed every few years in a different country since he works for the Norwegian Embassy. I thought it was neat to see the team in conversation with anyone who was around us, even though we were a bit tired and/or not feeling the greatest.