BEGINNING OF THE END

Ironically, this was the last  page in this notebook.

As I sat down on the taxi to head home from the school yesterday afternoon as usual, I popped my headphones into my ears to drown out the hustle and bustle of the taxi stage and mostly to relax. I put my iPod on shuffle and began thinking about my realization I had the previous day.

For some reason, the previous day I had felt the need to look at my passport. When I flipped through it I made a major realization - the realization that my special pass was expiring on November 25^th. I had never taken the time to really, really look at it after all of the issues of getting the special pass. I just assumed they gave it to me so it would last until my departure date. I was wrong. Three months from August 25^th it would expire. November 25^th. My flight back to California was scheduled for December 16^th. It was perfect. I would be able to finish the school year and even have two weeks to say all of my goodbyes.

Within the blink of an eye, everything changed. I emailed Peggy, the woman who handles LOBO flights, and told her my situation. We decided to take precautions and book for November 23^rd, to avoid issues at the airport. And it was done. Everything changed.

I am now leaving on November 23rth, technically the 22^nd is when I will leave for the airport since my flight is at 1am on the 23^rd. I will not be around for final exams and I will not have those two weeks to say my goodbyes. It was a hard thing to swallow, but as Betty wrote to me in a letter less than a week ago, “The God that we serve is never too early and never too late, but always in time.”

God’s timing is perfect.

And with that, I find myself content, but also sad in the fact that I am leaving Uganda in just 31 days.

The past ten months have been the most amazing of my entire life. There have been some majorly difficult times, but they have all made me into who I am right this very moment. I don’t think I could ever possibly put into words all that I have experienced and perhaps that’s the beauty of it all. That it’s mine and mine alone. I have everything here in my heart to hold onto for the rest of my life. I can share things with you, answer your questions, but in the end, it’s mine.

No one will ever know what it’s like to have a friendship like I have with Emmanuel. No one will ever know what it’s like to take an afternoon walk with Joseph. To hold your student down on the hospital bed while tears stream from her eyes as she looks at you in fear as they clean the burn wounds on her hand. To laugh with your students until it hurts over a story you wrote about them. To feel the warm sun hitting your skin, and wind in your hair as you ride to the hospital on a boda one October afternoon with Mercy.

It’s mine. I know how it feels. I know what it looks like. I know the sounds. The smells. I have it all. God gave this to me. It’s been such a blessing to be here. I have learned so much and I am thankful for all of it. The good and the bad times. The rain and the sunshine.

And although I am thrilled to be able to go home into the loving arms of my family, it’s going to be treacherous saying goodbye. But how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. And it’s not really a goodbye, but a see you later anyhow.

I know I will be back here to Uganda, I know it for a fact. I mean this is already my second round. I just don’t know when. And I’m content with that, because I know God has a perfect plan and he’s never let me down before, so why should I doubt him now? God is good all the time, and all the time God is good, and that’s his nature, wow!

I am going to miss everything about this place. Even the posho and beans rolex. I am genuinely excited to see what God has in store for me. And I am excited to continue serving him…in California.

And into my headphones sang the words, “Between what might be and what has been, it feels like the beginning of the end.”

So here is to the beginning of the end. I have some fun things planned for the kids over the next month that I know will rock their worlds. I am going to enjoy every last moment I have here until I get to embrace my family in the San Francisco airport and that evening watch the California sunset from my bedroom window.