This week we welcomed six new members into the eMiEA family: five new interns and one new Long Term Volunteer. On Wednesday, they arrived weary but excited for the adventure that lay ahead. Incredibly, they arrived with their luggage intact. Landing in Uganda on a morning flight, most of the office was there to welcome their entrance in a very packed matatu.
In the days after their arrival, the office has been a flurry of training and orientation activities. Since we arrived a week after the interns last term, we missed all this excitement, so we are taking advantage of some of it this time around including cultural discussions and a Lugandan language lesson. My favorite part, though, about these first few days with the new interns has been hearing their testimonies and how God has worked in their lives.
As part of the resident eMiEA family (strange to think of ourselves that way, but we have been here six months now), we were asked to host the interns for a meal and take some time to share our testimonies with them. We had no problem accepting this assignment as we love to open our home and provide hospitality to others. Robert has often said this is one of my gifts, and I like to at least try to live up to his praises.
So, Thursday evening, we had twelve people packed into our little Living Room. Literally every chair type surface we have in the house had a butt in it, including two stools that also double as night stands. There were the three of us, of course, as well as our co-hostess, Brittany, a full-time staff member and adopted aunt to Caleb. Then there were the 5 interns: Aaron, Jake, Erland, Kevin and Katie, our lone female intern. And Rose, our new structural long term volunteer, who has been taking advantage of the intern orientation. We had also invited Gary and Erin Hightower, the long term volunteer and his wife who arrived a couple of weeks ago as we had not ever specifically shared our testimonies with them.
Needless to say, we had a very full house. But it isn’t just our house that is full. The eMiEA office has gotten quite full as well. The interns will all pack into one room as their office space. The long term volunteers are in another room, with the rest of the staff scattered throughout the rest of the offices. We even have another full-time staff member coming in another couple of weeks. We are literally bursting at the seams, and we are anticipating additional staff and long term volunteers coming in January in addition to the six new interns that will replace the current five. I really don’t know where we are going to put everyone.
But it is a good problem to have. The more hands available, the greater the need that can be served. I love being part of the eMiEA family.
Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.’ Luke 14:23
