This is so Americanized.

Yo, Jen and Kris here.

So Will and John came to visit us, too! And we are happy to say that they have adapted.

Exhibit #1: They assume the appropriate position in the presence of extremely powerful forces of nature. 

Exhibit #2: They respond appropriately when tickled in the jugular by various Rwandans, as demonstrated below.

But seriously, our mini family reunion was ridiculously awesome and served as a great reminder of how wonderful our friends are.  Jen and I are coming away from the past few weeks so refreshed and encouraged and just feeling really blessed to have such great people in our lives.  Neither of us have laughed so much or so hard (see above) in a long time... well, you know, since New Year's.

Watching the guys meet my Ethiopian family and friends was my favorite part of having them in the land that boasts of 13 months of sunshine.  They literally met all of Finote Selam and were champs about it. John and Will were able to have great conversations with two of my closest friends, Mame and Teshager. I'm excited to go back and see what comes of that! Also, the family I lived with loved them and commented on their "good behavior." I'm pretty sure that just means they were good at eating injera and drinking coffee, but this is quite the compliment.

All three of us were quite ready to head for Uganda when the time came, however! Jen put us right to work, taking us east towards the Kenyan border to pass out mosquito nets and check out a community center her organization is funding. It was such a neat opportunity to see the great projects Jen is working on and to see how appreciative the rural communities are to receive supplies that will protect the health of their families. We also took a short hike to a great waterfall (again, see above photo).  On our last night in Uganda we went to a birthday party for Lino, a Sudanese teenager that is being adopted by the people Jen is working with. Jen, John, and Will were schooled in volleyball, we got to meet Jen's people, and there was birthday cake... Uganda is awesome.

But Rwanda is even better! When you flush the toilets, water swirls in the opposite direction. Clearly good things are happening there... we spent a few days visiting with the sister church of Will's church in DC and their awesome pastor, Deo, who coined the phrase that is the subject of this post when we introduced him to the concept of group hugs.  We had good conversation with him, met others in the church and just had a really great time there.  Then we went down to Kigali, toured some of the genocide memorials there and soaked up our last bit of time with the guys before they headed out on Tuesday night.  

So here we are, back in Kampala, trying to regroup for the months ahead. We find ourselves excited about what the next four months have in store, feeling supported and encouraged, and yet ready to come home at the same time. Having that taste of community leaves us ready to be with you all! Jen and I will both be heading home the last week of November and will be showing up on doorsteps looking for somewhere to live, so get ready!