May 2014 Update 5

Wasuze otia, Good morning.  Lwakuna, Thursday morning and we have
woken to a major rainstorm.  We have been fortunate the last couple
days to have rain overnight and then it clears before we start our
day.  Today is a different story.  We may have to adjust our schedule
a bit.  I struggled getting out of bed today.  The rain makes me want
to stay and enjoy my bed, but I got up and moving.  Erin was a bit
slow too.  Stacey was up early.  I went to wake her and she was
already out.  When I headed over to breakfast there were very few kids
out and Stacey was talking with her family at home.  All the staff are
missing too.  Everyone is moving slow today.  I’m not sure if it is
the rain or just tired, but the staff didn’t come out until we are
finishing breakfast.

We slowly make our way to worship this morning and Cathy gets the kids
moving to wake them up.  She does a pretty good job before I come up
to teach.  Today we are looking at the feeding of the 5000.  God has
been using this story so much in my life lately.  He has shown me that
He will provide abundantly all I need to do ministry.  As we have been
speaking to these kids about how God chose them to be here, we are
also placing a call on them to take what they learn and share it at
home, in school, with their friends or wherever they find themselves.
I want them to know that God has given them all something, even if it
seems small (5 loaves and 2 fish) and He wants to do amazing things
thru them with what He has given them.  I can only imagine the
disciples, tired and probably thinking Jesus is a little crazy,
stubbornly taking their baskets and going around feeding the people.
How amazing would it have been as they fed their first 200 people and
realized that their baskets were still full, then another 500 people
and still it is full.  How crazy?!?!  God gives us all we need and He
invites us into partnership just as He asked the disciples.  Will you
allow Him to use you to work miracles??   The teams all went for small
groups after to talk about all they are learning.

It is still raining a bit, so we are going to do crafts this morning
instead of games.  I madly start printing the pictures that Erin took
yesterday and set up for the kids to make picture frames.  We have
also decided that the kids are getting a bit stinky, so we will use
this time to have the kids bathe.  2 teams come for crafts and the
other 3 are to do wash and bathe.  I told them that I want it to smell
so sweet at lunch!!  It is fun watching the kids as they get their
pictures.  Here they don’t have many mirrors and very rarely get
pictures, so this is a treat.  They all take their time decorating
their frames with stickers and letters and glitter.

By lunch time the rain has finally let way for the sun to come out.
All ate and had their fill before we headed out to the field for the
rest of the round robin for our netball tournament.  The sun is surely
out now.  I think my neck is getting burnt.  Erin has gotten some good
sun the last 2 days too.  We have 6 games of netball and everyone is
having a good time.  I have given my phone to one of our little
bitties to take pictures while everyone is out in the field.  She does
a great job!!  They’ll be great for our slideshow the last night.

This evening we have CPR and we are talking about pregnancy and fetal
growth.  The only birth control that is 100% is self-control.  Stacey,
Erin and I are sitting together in the back of the room.  I obviously
am very well informed with all of these issues.  Stacey has had 3
babies, so she’s pretty well aware.  Erin looks like she is hearing
all of this for the first time.  It is hilarious.  She goes from
amazed to a little grossed out back to amazement.  Her facial
expressions are amazing.  I wish I had a video running of her.  At the
end, she gave a round of applause.   I think she learned more than the
kids today ☺

Dinnertime and I get to have a date with my little bro Alan.  He will
be teaching tonight on the work of the Holy Spirit.  We have a great
time just catching up because he just arrived last night.  He was at
school doing extra lectures and tutoring.  I asked what he was
planning on sharing and if he had any questions.  He just gave me this
little smirk.  ‘Kindri I’ve heard this so many times.’  I knew that he
had and would do a wonderful job.  And of course we head to worship.
Cathy and Michael get everyone singing and dancing to get the blood
pumping before Alan comes up.  I had asked him to do a brief review of
the previous nights.  He did awesome!!!  He actually used several of
the demonstrations and examples I have used over the years.  Love it!!

Our night activity tonight is the balloon game.  Each camper ties a
string with a balloon around their ankle.  The object is to keep your
balloon from being popped while popping others’.  It is very
entertaining!!  It is pretty amazing to see how people can move their
bodies.  In the end yellow and blue had a draw, mostly because it was
about 200 degrees in the room and the last 2 boys were battling for a
while with no result.  Now the kids are headed off to bed and a crew
of my Ugandan staff are having a dance party to my Big Chill
soundtrack…great oldies music.  It is awesome!! I need to go to bed,
so I’m checking out of this dance party early.  Oh and they just found
Footloose.