Aaaand just like that my internship term is now complete! Where did time go?!
It's hard to imagine that 4 months ago, after a crazy hectic season of packing and goodbyes, I finally caught a breath in the SAT Airport long enough to have a clear thought of "What the heck did I just do?!"
Although that thought has been met with God's continual reassurance and peace, I still very much catch myself having that thought (albeit a slightly different context) on almost a daily basis as I still try to adjust to culture shock and navigate daily life here in Uganda.
We had a great trainee affirmation and debrief day earlier this week where we reflected on how God has used and changed us this term and how to move forward with everything we have learned instead of thinking about just "going back" to a home country. We ended the evening with reminiscing on funny stories from the term and encouraging words to each other as preparations were made to head out over the next week. Two interns are headed back to the US, one to Canada, one (staff member) back to South Africa, and three back to their respective homes in Uganda. I will be the only one remaining in the compound over Christmas break so it is going to be one quiet compound in a week!
Intern debrief day wasn't the last of the celebrations for the week though. Wednesday, we got to send off one of the fellows who is leaving for his second office (Cambodia) after a stop in the US for the holidays. David has been an integral part of the Research and Development team and Intern Coordination team. He was our first point of contact here, led us in orientation week, and hosted some epic dinner/movie nights throughout the term.
Wednesday night I also got to hop onto the First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio's prayer meeting with the rest of the church's Global Missions partners. Although I had to get creative with the logistics of logging onto the call thanks to power and cell outages, it was absolutely wonderful to see everyone and get to pray with them. I was inspired by partners around the world who are on the front lines of spreading the gospel. Hearing stories and prayer requests out of the teams in Mexico and the Middle East was fascinating and super encouraging.
Thursday we had a fun Christmas and birthday celebration. We sang carols, had a scavenger hunt for mini-Christmas trees around the office, and a ton of tasty snacks and cake (that left us all full for the rest of the day!) After work we had a friendly soccer game with the guys in the workshop.
It was a bit sad to see everyone off the past week as day by day the compound got emptier and emptier. But I'm so excited for everyone's next adventures whether they are continuing on with EMI or starting the job search back home. I know our path's will cross again someday and will cherish the memories of this term until then!
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