My first visitor!

I had a missionary milestone last week – my first visitor!  While several people have come to Uganda and UCU whom I have either known or come to know, this is the first time that someone has come expressly to visit me!!  

Several friends were in East Africa for a mission, and since they were nearby (geographically speaking; being on the same continent is “close,”) one decided to pop over and say hello.  It was a ridiculously quick trip, but it was such a tremendous joy to have someone come, stay with me, and get a glimpse of my life here on campus.

I picked her from the airport Saturday evening, and after supper on the shore of Lake Victoria, which I had chosen in hopes of viewing a gorgeous sunset, but was denied, we then experienced the joy of a Kampala Saturday evening traffic jam on the way to Mukono.  All in all, the journey wasn’t bad, but the jam will always be there.

After church on Sunday, we took a walking tour of campus, and ran into several theology students along the way.  I assured her that she would be the talk of evening tea.  In Africa, visitors and hospitality are everything.  Normal life stops when one has a visitor, and hosts make a wonderful fuss over them.

We attended our Sunday evening Eucharist, and during the notices [announcements], the student leader forgot to introduce me to introduce the visitor.  As she was returning to her seat, one student protested, “but we have a visitor!” which I found endearing.  Proper introductions were made at the end of the service, so all was well on that front.

Monday we went to Jinja to visit the Source of the Nile, though one can no longer stand for a photo op at the marker for the actual source, the separation of the River Nile from Lake Victoria, because construction from a new bridge has raised the water level by about a foot.  However, our boat guide maneuvered the boat that we got the photo while she was safely seated in the boat.  After a quick lunch in Jinja town, we then headed back to Mukono to get her bags and return to Entebbe for dinner and then her flight home.

As we say here in Uganda, “you come!”  Though the “my first visitor” title has been awarded, the titles for sequential visitors await you.  🙂