Engagement story

You've already heard it, so you don't have to read this, but here's the full engagement story. Enjoy!

(if you have any questions about why Paul did something, or if anything seems strange, its probably because it was something that we did in Uganda)

Alright, here we go.

Paul: So I had been planning the proposal for a few weeks by this time (Monday, October 10^th), but was still working out a few details. I wanted it to be Uganda-themed and I needed to figure out how to keep it all a secret till it happened. I had ordered the ring (white gold with a pearl and two green stones) a week before and was expecting it this week. However, I got a call on Monday informing me that it wouldn’t be coming until October 24^th. Not wanting to wait that long, I decided to ask Sarah to marry me the next day. I got quite excited and slightly nervous at the thought. Tuesday morning, after dropping Sarah off at work, I got straight to work myself. Going to class was out of the question. First, I tried calling her dad a couple of times- we ended up playing phone tag for a bit. In the meantime, I went and picked up a holder ring that looks quite a bit like the real one, some food for our dinner, and two “t-shirt designs”. My mind was going about a million miles per hour at this point wondering how I was going to be able to pull it off, so I decided to stop by In-N-Out to grab an animal style hamburger and a strawberry shake to calm me down. On Monday, I had had the idea to borrow a motorcycle (like a boda-boda from Uganda) of some sort to pick up Sarah at the beginning of the “Uganda date”. Thankfully, some guy I didn’t even know was willing to let me borrow his very African-esque scooter for the evening.

At 1:15, I started getting nervous because I had not yet been able to ask Sarah’s dad for permission, so I tried calling him one more time, got the ok, and took a deep breath. I picked up Sarah from work at 3 and we talked for a while before she headed back to her house so that I could take a nap.

Sarah: Tuesday afternoon (October 11) Paul and I were at Paul’s house. After talking about our plans for the evening (making salsa, doing homework), I conceded that I should probably leave so that Paul could take a nap before our evening began and so that I could go running. Paul immediately jumped up and practically rushed me out the door. I was confused at Paul’s urgency as he practically pushed me out. I knew that he was going to propose sometime soon, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up that something would happen if it didn’t. So I shrugged it off, went back to my house, ran, and got ready to go back to make salsa.

Paul: My nap was very short-lived (surpise, eh?), after which I headed across town to pick up the scooter. I had never driven one on the street before, so it was quite a thrill to be zoomingdown Freedom Boulevard with no muffler and the wind blowing in my face. Sarah was planning on coming back at 5:15, but I needed to find some way to hold her there until 7:00 so that it would be dark outside. I had a final the next day I hadn’t started studying for—perfect. After studying for the final for about 5 minutes, I got crankin’.

Sarah:While I was getting ready, I wondered if tonight might be the night. I took a little extra care when straightening my hair and doing my make-up, but determined to not be disappointed if it didn’t happen tonight. Right before I headed out to go back to Paul’s house, I got a text from him saying that he was studying for a final and that he would pick me up at seven, in an hour or so. A final? In the middle of the semester? Really? Well, I actually knew that he had a block class, so it was perfectly possible for him to have a final, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about it earlier, so I was a little suspicious. Oh well. That gave me more time to write my paper for LDS marriage and family (irony?).

Paul: My roommate and I took out the couch in our front room and replaced it with a mattress. Then I cut some random rope I found outside and tied it between two poles on my front porch, and draped some clothes over it. Dinner was made, crossword puzzles were printed, headlamps were placed, a Ugandan flag was draped above the kitchen door, and I got into the usual garb I wore in Uganda before heading out. Oh, and I made sure to turn off all the lights.

Sarah: After my paper I started getting the tomatoes ready for our salsa and was almost finished when Paul walked in. He was wearing clothes that he wore in Uganda (khaki pants, blue button-up shirt, dirty sneakers, and a visor), but I didn’t connect that it was Uganda. I associated it with being outside and working, so I thought we were going on a hike. I even thought about changing my shoes because I was wearing ballet flats, but all Paul said was that we would have to make the salsa another time because the bowl of tomatoes “might be hard to transport.”

Paul: After driving over to Sarah’s place on the boda, I walked in to find her washing some tomatoes. Sarah looked beautiful, and she gave me a slightly inquiring look when I walked in with my visor and tennis shoes on at 7 pm. However, she didn’t say anything about it. I smiled and wondered if she knew something was up. Then I realized that carrying a huge bowl of tomatoes might make riding on a boda slightly difficult, so I told her we’d have to make salsa another time.

Sarah: Okay, I’m not stupid, so I knew by now that something was going on. I just wasn’t sure if this was the real deal, or just Paul planning something fun. Anyway, we walked outside and there was a scooter (much like a boda-boda) that didn’t have a muffler and the lights got brighter as you revved the engine. You know, really African. The whole time Paul is talking like a boda-boda driver, asking me for money and where I want to go and trying to get to know me. When we got to his house I saw that he had strung up clothes on a line, making it look like they were drying. We walked under the clothes and over the threshold into the dark house (the lights were off) with Paul saying, “Oh shoot. It looks like the power is out again.” Good thing he had headlamps ready.

Paul: I was relieved I had been able to keep it a secret, and hoped it would be a really special night for Sarah. I tried my best to work up a Ugandan accent on the boda ride, and couldn’t help getting a huge grin on my face with Sarah laughing so hard behind me. I was glad to find the lights were still off at the house.

Sarah: We walked into the kitchen where he had a meal of French toast and eggs prepared. We ate with our headlamps shining on our food and reminisced about Uganda, retelling our favorite stories and talking about the people we missed and the projects we enjoyed doing. After dinner we went into his living room where he had set up a mattress on the floor (which had necessitated him taking a couch out and putting it on the front porch). We sat on the mattress and just like old times we did crossword puzzles and listened to music on my i-pod.

Paul: By this time, I was getting really antsy and I don’t think my brain was working properly. After listening to one of our favorite OneRepublic songs, I went into my room to grab the first “design”. It said “Nice Time” at the top and had a picture of a bunch of kids smiling and waving, all jammed on a boda boda with the driver. She liked it.

Sarah: After a while Paul asked me if I wanted to see a design he had made for the t-shirts. Of course I wanted to see it, so he went into his room and came back with a piece of paper. The design was perfect and I told him so. We continued to listen to music for another five minutes or so, then Paul asked if I wanted to see another design he had. Without really thinking I said yes, but as he got up to go into his room to get the paper, I started putting two and three together. Why hadn’t he brought the second design out with the first?

Paul: So, by now, my heart was racing like crazy and I knew that the moment for me to be a man and ask was here. I went back into my room to grab what I had told her was a “second design”. Instead of saying “Nice Time”, it read “Nice Eternity” on top and had a picture of the Bountiful Temple (where we are getting married) below.

Sarah: At this point the thought crossed my mind, “either this is a really good fake-out, or its going to happen right now.” However, for some reason I didn’t get up, so when he came back out with the song from Tangled (“I see the light”) playing and a piece of paper that had the word “eternity” on it, I was still sitting on the mattress with an i-pod earbud in my ear. Paul got down on one knee and grabbed my hand as I ripped the earbud out of my ear and got up on my knees. He looked at me, set, yet shaking a little, and said, “Sarah, will you marry me?”

Paul: I brought out the design, knelt down, and took her hand. I planned to say her full name and something romantic, but all that came out was, “Sarah… will you marry me?”

Sarah: Now, I was expecting this, so I was going to have some witty response that would cause his heart to skip a few beats, like, “No…. way could I say no to that.” (Paul: I most likely would have died) But instead all that came out was an emphatic, “Yes!” Afterwards we headed downstairs to tell his roommates the good news and we were toasted with Martinellis, the toast including the hope that we would have: many children, long life, many acres of land, servants, a riding mower, a servant to drive the riding mower, and a George Foreman grill. The rest of the night was spent in spreading the good news to our families and friends.

Paul: J

Pius

Pius is the man for several reasons:
1. He just graduated from university (hoorah!) and is already a full-time social worker for Child of Hope (the NGO I’ve been doing the most work with)
2. He’s friends with everyone and he knows everyone
3. Everyone loves him, even though he’s quiet and doesn’t say much (like when he neglected to tell us that he was graduating on Friday—as in yesterday Friday)
4. He’s really funny and good with kids
5. He’s super responsible and gets things done
6. He’s humble
7. Oh yeah and at 22 years old he lives in a two-bedroom addition to another house with four little boys between the ages of 11 and 13. He gives the boys the bedroom that barely fits two bunk beds while he sleeps on a mat on the floor. Nope, he didn’t tell us that either.

The only reason we know this is because we got caught in the rain once in Namatala and it was pouring rain, so he ran us to his house. And that’s how we found out. This is a man who walks the walk. He’s here to help the people and he’s taking care of four orphan boys who go to the Child of Hope school while being a social worker for that school. He goes out every day and tries to improve people’s living conditions while he himself sleeps on a mat on a concrete floor.

This is Pius, the man. I look up to him and he has my utmost respect and admiration, even though he is younger than me. I can’t imagine an American 22 year-old being willing to take care of four orphans that weren’t related to them, let alone let them have the good room while you sleep out in the front room that gets dirty when people walk in. He is super legit and I’m grateful to know him.

Grace

Grace is in her late 30s, early 40s, has two daughters, and is the director over health for Child of Hope. She is super skinny, has a big smile, and is super funny. Her husband also works at Child of Hope as a teacher. Grace is one of those people that gets along with everyone, can scold while still being funny, and you can tell she gets really attached to people. She has worked with other NGOs but has worked at Child of Hope for four years. Whenever she sees us she comes out to greet us and asks us why we have not been by to visit more. Grace is one of those people who makes me sad when I think of leaving Mbale. I know that when I leave I’m going to miss her, her passion for helping the people in the slum, her humor, her cheekiness, and her example of hard work.

Phillip

This is Phillip (telling Dane something). Phillip is the bomb. He's the nicest man I have possibly ever met and he gets things done. He's the acting director of Child of Hope, the NGO that we've been doing a lot of work with these past few weeks and he's been so great to show us around, invite us in, and respect us and our opinions, even though we're just college kids. He knows everyone in the slum where he works, he's a pastor for his church, and he's the director of welfare for Child of Hope when the directors are not in England fundraising. Even though he has a million things to do, he always makes time to talk to people. One time when he was showing us around Dane (the other volunteer I'm working with) expressed interest in an instrument this guy was holding. So Phillip stopped the kid and asked him if he'd made it, how much it cost, and how he could get them. Basically he's legit and I'm glad to be working with him.

I'm sad because I had a better picture of him (one where you can actually see his face) but this computer isn't recognizing it. Oh well.

P.S. I love how many things are going on in this picture. Phillip is telling Dane something that Dane's writing down. You can see the little kid peeking out from under Dane's notebook, and there's Devin in the background playing with all of those kids. I'm such a good photographer. ;)

Mercy

This is Mercy. She's our cook. And when I say our cook, I mean she's our saving grace. I know that no matter what kind of weird thing I've eaten that day, I will have a fantastic dinner that night. She made us French toast once. French toast! Oh, and did I mention that she makes dinner for 16 people every night? On a charcoal stove? She went to culinary school and is therefore legit. She even killed a chicken that we all watched. I have video. She's also made us some traditional African stuff, like rice and beans and greens, but even that was delicious. She's from Kenya, she has two daughters and a husband (all in Kenya) and she dreams of having her own restaurant one day. Bascially she's a magician and we're all so glad that she's with us.

P.S. more about David: apparently last year the other Uganda team was having troubles with kids launching rocks over the wall and breaking up the tiles on the roof. One of the directors called David and had him switch places with that house's guard. Within two days the problem was solved. Apparently he spent a day scouting out all of the possible ways to exit the house and then when the kids came he cut through the jungle and tied up some twine or rope between some trees and close-lined the kids when they came running. Then he took them to their mothers. Their mothers put them in the public square to be publicly humiliated. David gets the job done.

David

This is David. He’s our guard. He’s super funny, he likes to tease, he’s fun to tease, he puts banana on his face to take care of his scars or something, and he’s afraid of dogs. We got him a bow and arrow so that he can shoot people who trespass onto our property without giving away his position (in his words, "the fire from the gun will give away my position, and I can kill only one man). I don't really think that he has killed anyone. However, when he was talking to one of our country directors, he said that there was a kind of bow and arrow that is laced with witchcraft so that you cannot miss if you shoot it. "But we will not get that one. It is too expensive." TIA (This Is Africa)

Just now he walked by singing “it’s too late to apologize. It’s too late.” I would say that we are a bad influence on him, but western music is everywhere here, and I actually think that we're a good influence for him. He’s already really nice to everyone but we also have the missionaries coming over to teach him once a week. Pretty much, he’s awesome and we are extremely lucky to have him.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane

I have some time here in the airport (read: I have been here for almost two hours and have one more hour), so I thought I would update all of my voracious readers. "Wait," you say, "the airport? Why? Where are you going?" Okay, so you're probably not asking yourself that, because chances are if you have had any contact with me in the last four months I have told you that I am going to MBALE, UGANDA! For those of you who don't know where what that is, here's a little map:

Yes, that would be Africa you are looking at. I will be spending 3 and a half months in this small country's (it is about the size of Oregon) third-largest city:

I'm going with HELP International and will be doing cool things like making square-foot gardens, building adobe stoves, teaching business classes, community health, etc. Basically, it's going to be an awesome summer. I'm going with a team of people who are pretty awesome and I am super excited to start making friends and getting to know about the culture of Uganda!

P.S. Thanks T-rev for this blog's picture header.