Even Here -- in America

2013 

Three years ago I was an eager, young girl ready to take on Uganda. Today, I still feel like a young girl, but much has changed since I boarded that first plane in May 2013. I have learned so much over these years. I have grown in my relationship with God, I have learned much about myself, I've learned about the world and different cultures and peoples, and I've made some of the best friends a girl could dream of. One of those relationships was with my future husband -- whom I am elated to marry in July 2016!

How do I find words to describe what the last three years have contained? How do I articulate how I feel now, leaving the place I have grown to call home, to go to a place I've not known and start a new life as a wife there? Words are hard to place, and it's difficult to make sense of such extreme sadness and excitement at the same time. The word bittersweet is applicable.

Sweet Alika

Three years ago I arrived in Uganda with the thought that I'd be there for three months. My dear friend Carolyn Jacobsen (Jinja Pregnancy Care Center) told me of an African sickness -- one in which if you live in Africa for a time, you'll never be able to get it out of your blood. I had dreams of living in Africa since I was a young girl as my Grandma would tell stories of Madagascar, but I didn't think I would stay. After learning the little town I lived in, the people I ministered to, the languages I was surrounded by, the names of the boda men on my street, my church family who held me through so much, and my home on the Nile River, I never thought I would leave.

Took Sarah out for pizza -- not a fan!

And yet, I'm sitting in Kentucky. America. Thousands of miles away from Sarah who is happily in Karamoja, the best bananas you could imagine, and a chapter of my life that I've now turned the page on.

Reverse culture shock is real. It's intense. It's hard to give up so much and step in to a different world that shouldn't be new, but it is. I've known America before, but I don't feel like I know it now. What I know is Oboja Road and Hamida's flowers and Ruth calling out hello as I pass on a boda down Main Street. Life is different here. It's good and sweet and exciting, but not familiar. Sometimes I imagine myself riding a boda down Gabala Road or walking through Central Market, and those memories are so vivid and real to me. They're familiar.

I've struggled with frustrations, fears, and doubts as I've left that part of my life. Then I wonder if Abram felt those emotions as God told him to go to a land he did not know. I wonder what God has before me here, in America.

Sipi Falls -- one of my favorite places ever

I'm getting married to the most incredible man I've ever met -- William Menkhaus. He's patient and kind and hilarious and so good to me. He leads me in repentance and points me to grace daily. I cannot believe I get to spend the rest of my life with this man. We do hope to be back in Uganda down the road, but today we're in America. Today I can love and pray for my friends back "home" in Uganda, and I can be here. I can be here with eyes open to what God has for us in this time, to see the people who are hurt and broken and in need of salvation here. I can learn and grown and change into the woman God desires me to be here, in America.

So that's the story, folks. I've mourned over a life that won't ever be the same, but I'm thankful to know the plot line hasn't changed, the location just has. The story isn't over. God is still working in me and He is going to work through me, even here.

We made a detour to Germany

Would you pray?

• That God continues to open my eyes to where He has me, and use me for His Kingdom and His glory
• That I would be able to mourn the loss of Uganda in this time as well as look forward with hope and excitement to this new future as a Menkhaus
• That God would work understanding and patience in me as He guides us forward
• That God would protect and lead those I've left behind in Uganda
• That God would minister to Masese -- they are HIS people. 

Walking with him wherever God leads us