Story: Hello, my name is Lindsey Longoria and I am a student at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. I grew up in a military family (my dad served in the Air Force for 24 years) and was blessed with the opportunity to live in beautiful places and meet wonderful people throughout my lifetime. Before the age of 10, I had lived in Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Guam, and Virginia. My dad sacrificed a lot, including switching fields in the service to allow my family to stay in Virginia for an extended period of time and give my brother and I the opportunity to form deep relationships and finish school. As much as I appreciate that, I have learned that I have a restless, wandering spirit, and I constantly need to be moving around, meeting new people, and learning their stories to fulfill the calling I feel God has placed on my heart. That is one of the reasons I went to an out of state college, but after a year in rural Pennsylvania, I felt as though it was time for me to do some exploration far from the East Coast. I received the opportunity to study abroad in Uganda for the entire Fall Semester of 2013. Through attending classes at Uganda Christian University with both African and North American students/professors, to living with host families in both the city and the village, working with a ministry that rehabilitates street children, and white water rafting on and bungee jumping into the Nile River, my time in Uganda was by far one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. While I do believe I have an adventurous spirit, I never thought I would go anywhere near Africa. I thought I would study abroad somewhere in Europe like "normal" college students do, but I would not trade my experience in East Africa for the world. Uganda, specifically Ugandans, taught me what it means to truly live in community, to love those around you and open your heart and life to strangers, and to truly be present with people, even in silence and miscommunication. This photograph was taken at Sipi Falls in Kapchorwa, Uganda. During a long, muddy, slippery, barefoot hike up a mountainous loop of six waterfalls, we received the opportunity to meet many of the farmers and children who live off the land of Kapchorwa and marvel in the beauty of these majestic creations. In this photo, I am standing underneath the "spray" of one of the falls. If I was to go all the way in, I probably would have gotten swept in by the powerful, rainy season tides. Feeling the power of the falls paired with the joy in my heart from being surrounded by those I had come to love as family is still one of my favorite memories from the trip. If possible, I hope to return to East Africa one day with my dad to accomplish our collective aspiration of hiking Mount Kilimanjaro. That's my story! :)
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