January 2014 Update 6
Wasuze otya!! It’s friday!! Crazy! We’re starting out rough today. The government water supply has stopped for some unknown reason. 3rd world probs!! The girls were all frustrated because they couldn’t wash. We were able to find a tank with water to bring for food preparation at least. We are praying that the water will return soon. It is getting warmer and warmer everyday, and I definitely don’t have enough bottled water for all of camp.
This morning I was greeted as I came down for breakfast by Emma, my driver. He is here to check on the status of the missing bin. So sweet!! He has been an all-star this trip. An extra airport run for Madi, the 4 trips out to camp, he has picked up miscellaneous items we’ve needed out here and he literally is always available. Thank you Lord for this good friend!!! We all enjoyed breakfast and then I called the airport. Woohoo!! Good news, the bag arrived last night, the bad news is they can deliver it, but not until after 6pm. Emma happily agrees to go and fetch the bag. The airline is willing to deliver it to their office in Kampala by 11, so at least it is half the trip.
This morning after we spend some time in worship, Jingo comes to share out of the Word for us. Jingo is one of the baseball boys that joined our team in September. I’m sure what he shared was wonderful, as the kids were very engaged, but I unfortunately couldn’t hear him. His accent is very difficult to understand plus he speaks quietly anyways, so to hear him from the back was tough.
The kids headed out to their small groups. I am watching them all and it looks like the kids are talking more. I encouraged the staff to share more of their own stories to start conversation, so the kids would feel more comfortable sharing.
We have moved our futbol tournament to the morning in hopes that our tie dye will arrive in the bin with Emma before the afternoon. We also need to water to return!! We are praying a lot today!
After lunch we have an extended free time. I called Emma and he says he will be arriving in the afternoon, so we prepare for tie dye. Yay!! We had each team come and get their shirts and put their names on them. Then we had them come in groups to learn the designs and do the rubber bands on their shirts. Emma arrives as we are working. Woo hoo, NOW we are fully prepared! The girls have been waiting for some of their toiletries, the tie dye and the projector are all there. I think that was the most important bin, of course!! But our God is victorious and Satan hasn’t been able to throw us from our objectives to love these kids and share Christ with them. That is what it is about, not the programming and games. All of the the shirts are tied and the kids start CPR with Raph, Pauline and Steven while the rest of the staff works on the dying of the shirts.
CPR is about love vs infatuation. This seems obvious to some, but it is a real struggle here. One of the many issues related to poverty is young ones can easily be abused physically with the enticement of money or gifts, so this is something they really spend a lot of time talking about. Love isn’t someone who can give you a phone or candy, but love is someone who sacrifices, is there for you no matter what and doesn’t pressure you into anything you aren’t comfortable with.
The kids are eager to see their shirts, but we send them on to dinner while we finish. The shirts look really amazing!! The colors came out so vibrant!! Wait till you see pictures!!
After dinner we continued our story of God during the evening worship time. We got to dive into that hope we ended with yesterday. We talked about the sacrifice necessary to bridge the gap between man and God and how Christ fulfilled that because He loves us so much!! (1 Peter 3:18) We also looked at how Christ doesn’t just take away our sins, but He imparts His righteousness on us so that we can stand before a holy God. Yes!!! Perfection!!!
To end the evening, we finished watching Happy Feet. So great!! The kids enjoyed it, but were falling asleep again toward the end. Time for bed!!!
This evening as we were packing away our things for the night, I asked my friend Shallom about his plans. He has been accepted by a school in Kansas, but is still working out his visa stuff. He had booked a plane ticket a while ago thinking everything would move along quicker. Turns out he was supposed to be on a flight an hour from when I asked him and he had no idea. He is a little immature and I worry that he isn’t ready to move to the US all by himself. Pray for his process that God would make His will clear. Thank you!!
We are at the halfway point. I am definitely tired, but so are the kids and staff. Please pray for God’s strength and energy to fill us all. Pray for the staff’s responses, that we wouldn’t react in frustration because we are tired. Thanks be to God for the relationships He is building between the american andugandan staff. I thaw been really fun watching them interact and how it is impacting my girls. Please pray for continued health and safety and protection from the Evil one. Thank you!!