Lost in Lira!!

     Oh mylanta!! I have been in Africa for a week now and I feel like I could write 100 blogs and still have not said everything that has happened! Alas, I have only paid for 30-60 minutes of internet at this lovely internet cafe here in Lira, Uganda, so 100 blogs will just have to wait.
     Today I have chosen to tell you all about this one time when I got lost in Lira…(insert clearing of the throat noise hear)…Once Upon A Time, my lovely group leaders, Logan and Brittany, put us into groups of 4 to go walking around Lira, Uganda. Before leaving, they instructed each team to pray about where the Lord was wanting them to go and what he was wanting them to do with their time that day.  I was placed in a group with Aly R., Darby, and Carrie-Anne. We are all very musical people, so we decided that we would use singing to tell people about Jesus that day.
     Our walk started out wonderfully! We sang praise and worship songs and a huge group of kids from the village came out to sing with us. We talked to them about the savior and taught them the Macarena and other random American dances. We then made friends with a woman named Nora who was a believer, but needed a Bible, so we are getting it worked out with the church for her to get one this Sunday. We made a lot of other nice friends and before we knew it, it was time for us to head back to our home here in Lira. We had been walking since 9 in the morning and we were supposed to be back at 1, so we left to go back at 11:30, since it is quite a walk from the town.
     An hour and half later, we were lost. Not only were we lost, but we had no sunscreen on (well I didn't, shocking, I know), we were out of water, and we had no phone to call and tell our leaders that we were lost. We tried asking people we passed on the street, but most of the older village people only speak Luo and the children that speak English had no idea where the Alpha Hotel was. Finally, we found a woman who knew where were trying to go, but she cracked up laughing at us, because we were so far away from our intended destination.
     She tried explaining to us how to get there, but directions here are rather ambiguous. Something along the lines of, "At the end of this dirt road, there is a mud hut, you pass that hut and then there will be a tree, then turn at the tree…" So needless to say, she was not very helpful. Thankfully, a man who had been eavesdropping came up to us and said that he knew where we trying to go. He gave us somewhat better directions and off we went.
       About 10 minutes later, we were still lost and confused, and all of us are praying for someone to come save us, when a man's voice comes booming from behind us and he shouts, "You will be lost no more!!" It was the man that had helped us earlier. We were all still a bit confused and then he said, "You go to Alpha Hotel. I take you there. " He asked us our names and what we were doing in Lira. We told him that we were missionaries here from America and that we were working with Victory Outreach Church. He then excitedly exclaimed, " I work at Victory Outreach Church!" It turns out that George, that is his name, works with adolescents at the church that are HIV+. We talked to him for the hour long walk back to the hotel and thanked him immensely when we arrived…an hour late.
     So, moral of the story is that God is awesome! Not only did he send us someone to help us who knew the way to our hotel, and who walked us all the way there, but he also sent us a man from the very church that we are working at! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more adventures in Lira!

Peace and Blessins!
Sarah