For the past five weeks, on all but a few days, our family has had a short daily Zoom call to stay in touch. This was intentional so that Nova could continue to see her dad in her life -- and so she (hopefully) wouldn't be hostile towards him when he returned! On Monday morning, when I messaged Brandon to see when he would be free for a chat, his reply was: "Hello! I may be leaving soon." Since I had a visitor arriving in just over an hour, I told him I'd be busy at 10am BC time so we could plan around that and Nova's nap time. His response then: "No, for real." My brain starts whirring, wondering if this relatively obscure message means what I think it does, so I ask the obvious: "What do you mean?" And his answer, much less obscure this time, is "I may have less than an hour to pack." After a short exchange about this, he asks if it would work for me to pick him up at 3pm tomorrow (Tuesday). Since I wasn't up for driving to the airport with a screaming kiddo in the back seat, I said I'd have to find a babysitter first, since I knew Nova's regular babysitters were busy with other things on Tuesday afternoon. "I've changed it already," he says. Well, I guess there's no option but to find a babysitter then. "Time to pack." And that was that. 15 minutes of messaging, obviously no daily Zoom call, and our family about to be reunited two days earlier than anticipated!
I've heard a lot of snippets about what life and training in Uganda was like, and even more so when driving home. "The road is so smooth!" "If we were in Uganda, you'd have to watch out for people driving in the wrong direction on the highway here." "Oh, the stop lights don't count down here! In Uganda, you can see them counting down... but from 60. Sometimes you have to sit there and wait A WHOLE MINUTE." "In Uganda, there's so many boda-bodas, and it's amazing what they can load on them. I saw one with a guy and 4 kids on a small motorcycle, and another one with a whole load of lumber with the driver precariously perched on the gas tank trying to drive." But aside from these comments about some of the most noticeable differences in daily life, I thought I would share his story about just one day of training:
"I woke up at just after 5 in the morning, ready to go along on an operational flight. This was a chance to see what the operational side of flying looks like with MAF; ie. working with and briefing passengers, loading cargo, seeing the communities that are being served, etc. I was excited because seeing this first-hand has so much more impact than reading policies and procedures on paper. At 5:30am, I get a message from the pilot that day saying that he is not feeling well and doesn't feel fit to fly. They are working on finding another pilot to take over the flight, but I am put on standby for the moment. About half an hour later, I receive another message saying that they have found another pilot. If I walk to his house, I can catch a ride with him in time for the flight. Heading out the door, I see that there is some light rain so go back inside to get an umbrella. I don't usually take one along, but I felt that I might need it today. After five minutes of walking, a thunderstorm moves in -- I am very thankful for my umbrella! Water poured across the street and my feet got soaked quickly. The rest of me stayed dry thanks to my umbrella. I arrived at the pilot's house about 10 minutes later and we left to the airport; about a 40 minute drive. At the airport, we first got the airplane ready. Even though we were a bit later than expected, we couldn't have left earlier anyways with the weather being how it was. Our first stop was at a village in northern Uganda, close to the border of South Sudan, to drop off a missionary. The village was in a remote area, so we were greeted by lots of kids who were waiting at the side of the airstrip. On the rest of the flight, we stopped at various locations to pick up and drop off people serving with other mission organizations or NGOs, including one group that served with an organization that drills wells in remote villages. We arrived back at the airport around 2:30 in the afternoon. Flights like this are really great to see, and were a highlight of my time in Uganda. I went on several operational flights, and got practice being "in command" of the passengers, loading the airplane, and even got to fly a few legs of the flights!"
It's hard to say whether the five weeks apart went slowly or quickly (is it possible for something to be slo-mo and fast-forward at the same time?), but it definitely is a great feeling to be back together. In all of our training, our instructors and mentors have repeated that in any difficult situation, going back to our calling will be a source of strength. That piece of wisdom is something that has stuck with me -- this part of the journey, no matter how difficult it was to be apart for an extended period of time, was also an important part of our calling. God has shown us through these times that He is the one leading us, guiding us, and calling us to continue on this path. And when we feel God calling us, it is our responsibility to follow, wherever that may lead. We know that we will face difficult moments in the next years, but it is our prayer that the preparations have been enough and that we will always return to our only source of strength whenever things get tough.
