I knew it!!!!!

So, I'm going to preface this blog with a warning that this may sound somewhat cynical and rather un-P.C., but please don't judge...

So about two weeks ago a certain man came onto our compound and asked to speak to me. This was in the midst of me not wanting to do a whole lot as I was still acclimating to crutch life, and therefore I tried to get him to either: a) go away or b) tell one of my guys what he wanted - neither of which worked. So I went out there and little did I know what sort of door I was opening and what I was getting myself into. Now, being a missionary, one of the things that comes with the territory is the menagerie of people coming seeking your "assistance" with their "problems", and so you get to have a rather nice time trying to figure out not only which "problems" you can help with, but you also have to make a snap judgement on whether or not these people are legit or just really good con-men. That being said...I come out prepared to hear what this guy has to say. He begins to tell me that his name is Musana John and he goes on with a rather lengthy story about the sort of "problem" he is having and about how we have assisted him before and so on and so forth. Then he makes the pitch of how much money he would like for me to "assist" him with. Now, being that I'm a rookie at making these kinds of decisions, I told him we could help him with half of what he was asking for and that I would ask Jess and Bev and if they said yes, I'd help him with the other half the next day. Now, you know those times when you have those little bells going off in your head, but you just try to ignore them thinking that you're just too calloused and cynical and "what if this guy really does need help?", well...that was me at this point. After he left, I wrote Bev who responded to the e-mail urgently saying "DON'T GIVE HIM ANYTHING!" I then learned in a whirlwind that he's been conning missionaries for years and he was just now coming back onto the scene. Looking back, I really should have seen the signs: 1) the legitimacy of a story is directly proportionate to its length of delivery (the longer the story, the leass likely it's true), 2) How many times he repeated himself, 3) how unsettled he got when I said I couldn't give him all the money, but would have to check. Needless to say...I KNEW IT!

Now, if I hadn't learned that lesson enough. Today while I was teaching the kids, this guy came up and said he had something he wanted to discuss with me and made sure to emphasize how urgent it was. After I finished that Bible study, I talked to him and again, he gave me this big long story about his "problem" and how Uganda has not been good to him. He was also asking for transport back to his village. I again had that same little bell going off, but decided to check with JB about it. JB said we had experience with him in the past and that he wasn't necessarily honest but had apparently changed, so we gave him just enough to get some food. The signs for this guy were: 1) the length of the story, 2) the stress of urgency, and 3) the fact that he never removed his sunglasses. Tonight as I was talking to some friends, I heard about how he had been to their house too and is a well-known con-man in Jinja. I just couldn't believe that I kind of got played again! Again...I KNEW IT!!!!

Anyways, the purpose of this blog (at least in my mind) is to let you know about the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of life here, and well... this is something we have to deal with on a fairly regular basis. I just ask that you pray for me specifically to have wisdom during the remaining two months that I'm getting to make these decisions and that I would have mercy, grace, and compassion with the right people but also be able to discern which people are "bad ju ju".