525,600 minutes

...since I was on Ugandan soil. Or there about since I have no idea how to work out the time difference. Can it really have been a year already? The memories are still so fresh and vivid that it seems impossible to have been that long ago. The other week I had the opportunity to speak to my parents' small group about the trip and about the overall mission of PMI (www.palmettomedical.org). Having the chance to talk to anyone about the trip brings back a flood of memories and looking through the pictures and journal entries were a bittersweet journey. I felt overwhelmed with sadness seeing little Davis who is now looking down on us from heaven. Or the pictures of mothers whose desperation for their family seeps from their very being. Its the looks on the faces of children who didnt know to smile for a picture and sat hungrily on the sides of streets. It was the hundreds of sick people we saw, many suffering from diseases that could easily be treated or cured. But for every sad memory there were happy ones. I was reminded of the sweetness of our translator Isaac who laughed at the blatant difference of our skin tones. Or the kindness and indescirable friendships of Mr. Jimmy, Joel and Fred. Its the sweet faces of Danny and Precious at the orphange and the opportunity to simply shower them with love for a few hours. Its darling little Ivan and getting to "treat" him for 2 hours. It was seeing a lady walk upright after having a stroke or the joy of giving a woman the shoes off my feet.

In rememering that journey a year ago, I am reminded of a saying from the blog of the mother of one of the little girls I had the blessing to meet in Masindi. She calls her blog Every Bitter Thing Is Sweet and it is that saying that I think is sometimes the best way to describe the trip. Even in the bitterest moments, the sickness that just seems so unfair, the swollen, hungry bellies of children on the street, I am reminded still of the sweet memories I had there and the way that they still impact me even today. I am more aware even now how God uses these bitter moments to show us His sweet plan for our lives and how He is orchestrating it all for His glory. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to meet some of the people of Uganda who forever changed my life and my perspective on everything. Still my heart aches to be back, to ride in a 12 passenger van on dirt roads to different villages, to shower orphans with love and hugs, to give medical care to those desperately in need. And though I know it isnt right now, I can't wait until my feet touch Ugandan soil once again.