Monday morning marked the take-off day of our absolutely ridiculous, adventerous, CRAZY trip to the Islands. Stacie, AmyRose Ivan first met up with Devon (American about our age who is here for 5 months working on Mercy Home), Mukesa, and Kato Vicent for lunch and to hop a few boda-boda's to the port where our wonderful boat awaited our arrival.
We were informed byMukesa that this would be a 7hr. journey. Not because it should take that long, but because as Ivan said, "The boat--it is like a taxi. Except on water. It will stop many places. Like a tour!" Joy. Not incredibly thrilled about this supposed 7 hr. boat ride, we were still quite excited about the opportunity to go to the Islands and see where Kato and his family are from. Not to mention, we were going somewhere new, having no idea what awaited us, and we are both always excited for a new place.
The first suprise came as we stood on the beach, wondering how exactly we were supposed to get from where we stood, to our boat, which was about 25 yds. out into the water. AmyRose turned her head for less than a millisecond, and upon turning back around, her beloved Nakabuye was being CARRIED by a Ugandan man, who was literally half her size, out to the boat. Yes, we got a picture :) The rest of the crew got to the boat in the same manner. And I must say, watching Devon be carried cradle-style to the boat might have been the funniest thing we've seen yet.
For some reason they loaded the Muzungu crew first. So thrilled about our journey, we made our way to the front of the over-sized row-boat w/ fishing-boat-sized-motor. We made ourselves comfortable and sat for a few minutes....then several minutes....then several more. And as we sat, they loaded. They loaded people. Then cargo. Then more people. Then more cargo. Then more people. Then....... well about 39 people and a whole lot of luggage, beer, boxes of polio vaccine, and a bycycle later--it was time for take-off.
Within the first 25 minutes of our journey, our engine died. The waves got a bit bigger. And our crew soon realizeda few things:
#1 They loaded the Muzungus first b/c we were too stupid to know NOT to sit up front, where the boat rocks the most, and those prone to sea sickness might, in fact, die.
#2 Apparently in Uganda, it is an everyday occurrence to load 39 people + cargo into a very clearly TEN -passenger boat, with a motor the size of a toaster, and on a windy, wavy day, think you are not, in fact, going to capsize.
#3 AmyRose has a motion sickness issue. ...a VERY VERY BAD motion sickness issue.
The stopping and starting of the engine went on for the entire duration of our trip. Numerous other boats full of passengers passed us by, and the Americans slowly came up with a plan for when we capsize.....we would use the polio vaccine boxes at our feet and towering above our faces as floatation devices.
We made 3 stops on our way to our island, and the last stop before our destination was by far the best. We were on the Island where the Buganda tribe lived--the original tribe of Uganda. And as we approached the usual "MUZUNGU!!!" screaming began. A quite intoxicated waded into the water to speak to the Muzungus from the boatside..... Here is how the conversation between he and AmyRose went:
Crazy Man: "Hello!! Hello, Muzungu. Kiss me some!! Kiss me some 500! Kiss me some one thousand?? Kiss me some!"
AmyRose: "Kiss you some??!! You want me to kiss you?? For five hundred?? I have to pay you AND kiss you? I feel like this may be a lose-lose for me. I seem to be getting the bad end of the deal."
Crazy Man: "KISS ME SOME!!!"
Apparently, what he actually meant was not, in fact, "kiss me," but "give me." He wanted money. Not a kiss and a payment for doing so....
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Cut a the Knots
So if you've read our most recent entry you know our weekend trip to Jinja ended up only lasting one ridiculously long, rainy, confusing, but all-around blessed day. Because we made it back to Entebbe early, we enjoyed an empty house all weekend. We LOVE JjaJja Alma and do miss her....BUT we both thoroughly enjoyed our Saturday night "Slumber Party" complete with endless American junk food such a oreos (found during gas-station stopover while riding taxi fom kampala), homemade salsa, tootsie roll pops, pineapple....you get the point. Lots of eating. Not because we were hungry, necessarily, but b/c it was a slumber party, and that's what you do.
Eventually we moved to what is affectionately called 'the back room' where we usually go to be alone with God. Our mini-worship service led by starving-wanna-be-musician AmyRose was enjoyable but shortlived, as we decided to work on Stacie's hair.
In a fetal attempt to make our hair 'African' as well as more easily kept, as we would not be washing it--we had our hair braided/plaited. You know the story. There was an entire blog about it :) Well AmyRose's braids/twisties have been out for a week or so now, but Stacie's have been a work in progress. At one point the front of her head was tiny-crimped and bright blonde, some of her hair was straight and blonde from being washed, and the great majority of the rest was black/blonde and braided. Quite a sight.
AmyRose became quite frustrated during the unbraiding/heart2heart session, and quickly pulled out her pocket-knife to begin cutting off the knots, which CLEARLY did not have any of Stacie's "real" hair in them.
Stacie: "MuMu. Make sure you cut at the knots!! Actually, I think my real hair is in the knots. You better not be cuttin my real hair."
AmyRose: "I am not cutting your real hair. Girl please."
Upon further examination, it has been determined AmyRose did, in fact, cut off Stacie's very real and not weave HAIR. Not to mention, both Stacie and AmyRose have been losing literally handfuls of their real hair at a time, every time it is washed or touched or looked at---due to the strenuous conditions of the african braiding.
sigh* beauty is pain.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with a lawyer to discuss getting the paperwork for a couple Mercy Home children to be transferred to Abba House. We will also be traveling, via a 7hr. boat ride, to the Kwony Islands in order to visit aforementioned Mercy Home Children's home. We will be traveling with a recent Mercy Home boy, American-Devon, and Right-hand-man Ivan. Please pray for a profitable meeting with lawyer and safe journey to the Islands!!
Eventually we moved to what is affectionately called 'the back room' where we usually go to be alone with God. Our mini-worship service led by starving-wanna-be-musician AmyRose was enjoyable but shortlived, as we decided to work on Stacie's hair.
In a fetal attempt to make our hair 'African' as well as more easily kept, as we would not be washing it--we had our hair braided/plaited. You know the story. There was an entire blog about it :) Well AmyRose's braids/twisties have been out for a week or so now, but Stacie's have been a work in progress. At one point the front of her head was tiny-crimped and bright blonde, some of her hair was straight and blonde from being washed, and the great majority of the rest was black/blonde and braided. Quite a sight.
AmyRose became quite frustrated during the unbraiding/heart2heart session, and quickly pulled out her pocket-knife to begin cutting off the knots, which CLEARLY did not have any of Stacie's "real" hair in them.
Stacie: "MuMu. Make sure you cut at the knots!! Actually, I think my real hair is in the knots. You better not be cuttin my real hair."
AmyRose: "I am not cutting your real hair. Girl please."
Upon further examination, it has been determined AmyRose did, in fact, cut off Stacie's very real and not weave HAIR. Not to mention, both Stacie and AmyRose have been losing literally handfuls of their real hair at a time, every time it is washed or touched or looked at---due to the strenuous conditions of the african braiding.
sigh* beauty is pain.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with a lawyer to discuss getting the paperwork for a couple Mercy Home children to be transferred to Abba House. We will also be traveling, via a 7hr. boat ride, to the Kwony Islands in order to visit aforementioned Mercy Home Children's home. We will be traveling with a recent Mercy Home boy, American-Devon, and Right-hand-man Ivan. Please pray for a profitable meeting with lawyer and safe journey to the Islands!!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
ONE MONTH!!!!
We have officially made it one month today!! This month has been incredible and gone by soooo quickly, almost too quickly. As much as we cannot wait to come home and visit you all again, it will be very sad to say good-bye when the time comes!!
Our three day adventure to Jinja turned into a six hour extravaganza due to lack of communication...which seems to happen ALOT around here. We were headed out, somewhat panicky Friday morning just because we were about to journey 5 hours, hopping from taxi to taxi carrying three bags with clothes, cameras and other necessity itmes, and a heavy case of water and were not really sure what to expect. As we were headed out of the gate, Jaja Alma-the wonderful elderly woman that we are staying with-drove by the house and offered us a ride to Jinja for she was on her way herself to do ministry in a town that was about two hours past Jinja. It was a huge blessing because we were able to sit in a familar vehicle and not have to worry about the taxi-hopping. But because we were able to get a ride, we ended up getting to Jinja four hours ahead of schedule and as we have said before, everything runs behind schedule so really we were about 8hours ahead!! We get there and the hosts had not yet arrived so we sat in some chairs outside to wait for them. Then the doctor of the medical center of the Agatha Foundation greeted us and began to gather thirty widowed women from the area and bringing chairs out in from of us. We looked at each other in confusion because we were not sure whether we were supposed to give a speech or talk to them or preach to them or what the meeting was called for. We soon found out that out of the thrity women in front of us, only two could speak english so we couldn't talk to them. But good thing we brought our right hand man Ivan who could translate for us. As he began to translate for our introductions, we just got blank stares from over half of the women and realized that the women were from all over the country side and that there were over six different languages spoken amongst them. So we handed out "sweeties", (the women appreciated them just as much as the kids do!!) and waited for about five hours just staring at each other, smiling, occasionally making some small talk with the women that could actually speak a little english. It began raining outside so we all crammed into a tiny room where t made things even more akward because of the tightness of space. We felt awful just because we took the women away from cooking meals and tending to their children just to greet us and they felt like they had to stay until the hosts, Ronald and Agatha showed up.
Once they showed up, the rains had stopped and they took us out in the villages where the women showed us their homes. Most of the womens homes were the size of the average Americans bathroom living inside were the widows and their eight or more children. What Agatha Foundation does is they offer insight on how to run small buisnesses from their homes. They offer medical advice and other advice like how to save on little income. It was very humbling to meet these amazing widowed women and look forward to seeing what comes out of the foundation!!
They did not have a place to accomodate us for the entire weekend, so we made the journey back to our little house in Entebbe and are thankful for a nice bed to sleep in after a long exhausting day of traveling.
Really good news on meeting Devon...Appearantly he has been working with Mercy Home and is already in the process of getting it taken over!! Mercy Home is the orphanage that Stacie stayed at with three of her best friends on her first trip and they eventually discovered that the kids were being mistreated, by being abused both sexually and physically and are not getting the education or proper nutrition. The directors have abandoned the kids and left for the states supposedly to be raising funds. They have been away now for five months and the place is in complete shambles. Obviously they do not care at all for the children anymore because they are not sending money or telling them when they are coming home. Be praying that all goes well and that between us and Devon we will be able to get the orphanage into the right hands!!
Thank you again soooo much for all of your support!! We love you all and appreciate your comments and prayers!! Miss you!!!
Our three day adventure to Jinja turned into a six hour extravaganza due to lack of communication...which seems to happen ALOT around here. We were headed out, somewhat panicky Friday morning just because we were about to journey 5 hours, hopping from taxi to taxi carrying three bags with clothes, cameras and other necessity itmes, and a heavy case of water and were not really sure what to expect. As we were headed out of the gate, Jaja Alma-the wonderful elderly woman that we are staying with-drove by the house and offered us a ride to Jinja for she was on her way herself to do ministry in a town that was about two hours past Jinja. It was a huge blessing because we were able to sit in a familar vehicle and not have to worry about the taxi-hopping. But because we were able to get a ride, we ended up getting to Jinja four hours ahead of schedule and as we have said before, everything runs behind schedule so really we were about 8hours ahead!! We get there and the hosts had not yet arrived so we sat in some chairs outside to wait for them. Then the doctor of the medical center of the Agatha Foundation greeted us and began to gather thirty widowed women from the area and bringing chairs out in from of us. We looked at each other in confusion because we were not sure whether we were supposed to give a speech or talk to them or preach to them or what the meeting was called for. We soon found out that out of the thrity women in front of us, only two could speak english so we couldn't talk to them. But good thing we brought our right hand man Ivan who could translate for us. As he began to translate for our introductions, we just got blank stares from over half of the women and realized that the women were from all over the country side and that there were over six different languages spoken amongst them. So we handed out "sweeties", (the women appreciated them just as much as the kids do!!) and waited for about five hours just staring at each other, smiling, occasionally making some small talk with the women that could actually speak a little english. It began raining outside so we all crammed into a tiny room where t made things even more akward because of the tightness of space. We felt awful just because we took the women away from cooking meals and tending to their children just to greet us and they felt like they had to stay until the hosts, Ronald and Agatha showed up.
Once they showed up, the rains had stopped and they took us out in the villages where the women showed us their homes. Most of the womens homes were the size of the average Americans bathroom living inside were the widows and their eight or more children. What Agatha Foundation does is they offer insight on how to run small buisnesses from their homes. They offer medical advice and other advice like how to save on little income. It was very humbling to meet these amazing widowed women and look forward to seeing what comes out of the foundation!!
They did not have a place to accomodate us for the entire weekend, so we made the journey back to our little house in Entebbe and are thankful for a nice bed to sleep in after a long exhausting day of traveling.
Really good news on meeting Devon...Appearantly he has been working with Mercy Home and is already in the process of getting it taken over!! Mercy Home is the orphanage that Stacie stayed at with three of her best friends on her first trip and they eventually discovered that the kids were being mistreated, by being abused both sexually and physically and are not getting the education or proper nutrition. The directors have abandoned the kids and left for the states supposedly to be raising funds. They have been away now for five months and the place is in complete shambles. Obviously they do not care at all for the children anymore because they are not sending money or telling them when they are coming home. Be praying that all goes well and that between us and Devon we will be able to get the orphanage into the right hands!!
Thank you again soooo much for all of your support!! We love you all and appreciate your comments and prayers!! Miss you!!!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Off to Jinja!!!
We have had quite the profitable week here in Uganda. Sunday late afternoon was spent on the beach with Mercy Home children, wading in the waters of Lake Victoria... this was before we received a phone call from Stacie's mother informing us of the deadly parasite, BILARZIA (sp?), which we would most definitely contract from any contact whatsoever with the waters of Uganda. Thank-you for the warning, Mama :)
Monday was spent mostly in Kampala, running errands and ordering Domino's pizza for the children at Abba House. When we finally arrived at Abba they were not yet ready to partake of the once-in-a-lifetime Domino's pizza, as they were lined up across the property passing piles of clay bricks up the hill. It is rain season in Uganda, let's not forget. So the ground was too muddy for the dump-truck to handle and the moving of bricks was left up to the kids-and Naka and MuMu (Stacie and AmyRose) who both have some very nice blisters from the hard work :) Eventually, the kids did get their pizza, and it was quite thoroughly enjoyed.
We were also able to take measurements of the Abba kids' feet this week, as they are in desperate need of school shoes and have none. Deborah (pastor kaaya's wife) informed us that Uganda's school system is heavily influenced by the British, and the teachers are very strict concerning proper school attire.
Today we are on our way to meet up with Samuel from Mercy Home, and ......an AMERICAN!! His name is Devon and so far we do not know much about him, except that he happens to be living at Mercy Home, and will be in the country for 3 more months. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with the lawyer concerning NGO and Mercy Home and other things. And from there it is off to Jinja for the weekend!!
Ivan (our right -hand man/body guard/interpreter) will be traveling with us. Not sure when we will have internet access again so until then, God Bless and thanks for all the prayers and comments!!!
Monday was spent mostly in Kampala, running errands and ordering Domino's pizza for the children at Abba House. When we finally arrived at Abba they were not yet ready to partake of the once-in-a-lifetime Domino's pizza, as they were lined up across the property passing piles of clay bricks up the hill. It is rain season in Uganda, let's not forget. So the ground was too muddy for the dump-truck to handle and the moving of bricks was left up to the kids-and Naka and MuMu (Stacie and AmyRose) who both have some very nice blisters from the hard work :) Eventually, the kids did get their pizza, and it was quite thoroughly enjoyed.
We were also able to take measurements of the Abba kids' feet this week, as they are in desperate need of school shoes and have none. Deborah (pastor kaaya's wife) informed us that Uganda's school system is heavily influenced by the British, and the teachers are very strict concerning proper school attire.
Today we are on our way to meet up with Samuel from Mercy Home, and ......an AMERICAN!! His name is Devon and so far we do not know much about him, except that he happens to be living at Mercy Home, and will be in the country for 3 more months. Tomorrow morning we will be meeting with the lawyer concerning NGO and Mercy Home and other things. And from there it is off to Jinja for the weekend!!
Ivan (our right -hand man/body guard/interpreter) will be traveling with us. Not sure when we will have internet access again so until then, God Bless and thanks for all the prayers and comments!!!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
NGO and Grad. Party
The past several days have been full of rain, which has been nice in the evening b/c it means cooler temperatures and better sleep... but it can get quite frustrated when the rain does not stop during the day resulting in trips to the market leaving us covered from head to toe in thick, red, african mud :(
We were able to have a very informative meeting with Pastor Kaaya and his wife Deborah the other day, during which we learned a great deal about to get get our NGO registered. Kaaya also allowed us to borrow and copy the objectives that he used in order to register the New Life Center. So now that we have a copy and more of an idea of what our objectives need to look like, as well as a copy of the Children's Act, we will have an easier time coming up with offical objectives of our own.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Kampala in order to meet up with Agatha, and fellow missionary and Jesus-lover. SShe lives just outside of Kampala and has invited us to stay with her for the weekend and tour her facilites to get an idea of what ours may look like.
We met a very friendly 23yr. old Ugandan girl named Natasha, who we are supposed to be meeting with on Tuesday, in order to form a relationship with her and hopefully be a source of ministry in her life.
We were able to have a very informative meeting with Pastor Kaaya and his wife Deborah the other day, during which we learned a great deal about to get get our NGO registered. Kaaya also allowed us to borrow and copy the objectives that he used in order to register the New Life Center. So now that we have a copy and more of an idea of what our objectives need to look like, as well as a copy of the Children's Act, we will have an easier time coming up with offical objectives of our own.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to Kampala in order to meet up with Agatha, and fellow missionary and Jesus-lover. SShe lives just outside of Kampala and has invited us to stay with her for the weekend and tour her facilites to get an idea of what ours may look like.
We met a very friendly 23yr. old Ugandan girl named Natasha, who we are supposed to be meeting with on Tuesday, in order to form a relationship with her and hopefully be a source of ministry in her life.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Cookies
We have decided to start a cookie-ministry. That's right. Stacie is ridiculously passionate about baking cookies, and upon realizing we have all ingredients available at our disposal, the madness has begun. . . And, AmyRose is also quite fond of baking now as well :) Our first batch was made yesterday, and was a big hit among our Ugandan friends, so we decided to take a few to our dear friend Baka, who owns the small shop in town where we go for soda and chat about the day and our 'program' and whatever God happens to be revealing to us at that time.
After delivering our cookies to Baka and seeing the enormous and gracious grin that resulted, we have decided to bake often, and for many. We plan to bring cookies to the orphans of Abba House, as well as our internet cafe women-friends, as well as anyone else that comes to mind. Also, we will put the verse from Psalms that reads, "Taste and See that the Lord is Good," on the bag in which the cookies are delivered. Hahaha. TASTE--get it ?? :)
In other news, God has been gracious to answer our prayers concerning unity/dissension within the house, and has brought about difficult but rewarding conversation with the 'mother' of the house that has brought a great deal of understanding and unity.
Today we have a meeting with Pastor Kaya and Deborah concerning Abba House, which we trust will go well and we will learn what we need to know and get much accomplished.
WE COOKED OUR FIRST UGANDAN FOOD!!! That's right. Last night we had a cooking lesson with our dear Ivan (our right hand man/body guard), during which we learned how to make Chipotie (sp?). Absolutely amazingly delicious. Upon our return to the States, we plan to make chipotie for each and every one of you faithful 'blog followers.'
Sorry that it takes us a few days in between each blog that we put up. We do appreciate all of you who are patiently awaiting the blogs and the faithful followers who read and respond!! We thank you for your prayers and comments!!
We purchased the Childrens Act which is a book of law that explains all the rights of a child here in Uganda. It has been in law since 1997 but has not been enforced until more recently. With this book, we are going to be able to be well-informed in our meetings when beginning the NGO. Continue to be praying for the process getting the NGO started and what we are supposed to do after this!! We are sooooo excited to be here in Uganda and all that God has already been showing us...
Also be praying that we will actually get some rest at night because here lately we have been waking up every hour and having the craziest dreams ever!! Maybe on our next blog we will expain some of these dreams as they may be quite humorous to the majority of you!!
After delivering our cookies to Baka and seeing the enormous and gracious grin that resulted, we have decided to bake often, and for many. We plan to bring cookies to the orphans of Abba House, as well as our internet cafe women-friends, as well as anyone else that comes to mind. Also, we will put the verse from Psalms that reads, "Taste and See that the Lord is Good," on the bag in which the cookies are delivered. Hahaha. TASTE--get it ?? :)
In other news, God has been gracious to answer our prayers concerning unity/dissension within the house, and has brought about difficult but rewarding conversation with the 'mother' of the house that has brought a great deal of understanding and unity.
Today we have a meeting with Pastor Kaya and Deborah concerning Abba House, which we trust will go well and we will learn what we need to know and get much accomplished.
WE COOKED OUR FIRST UGANDAN FOOD!!! That's right. Last night we had a cooking lesson with our dear Ivan (our right hand man/body guard), during which we learned how to make Chipotie (sp?). Absolutely amazingly delicious. Upon our return to the States, we plan to make chipotie for each and every one of you faithful 'blog followers.'
Sorry that it takes us a few days in between each blog that we put up. We do appreciate all of you who are patiently awaiting the blogs and the faithful followers who read and respond!! We thank you for your prayers and comments!!
We purchased the Childrens Act which is a book of law that explains all the rights of a child here in Uganda. It has been in law since 1997 but has not been enforced until more recently. With this book, we are going to be able to be well-informed in our meetings when beginning the NGO. Continue to be praying for the process getting the NGO started and what we are supposed to do after this!! We are sooooo excited to be here in Uganda and all that God has already been showing us...
Also be praying that we will actually get some rest at night because here lately we have been waking up every hour and having the craziest dreams ever!! Maybe on our next blog we will expain some of these dreams as they may be quite humorous to the majority of you!!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Diseases, Rain & Beach Bums
Stacie woke up with ridiculous stomach cramps yesterday morning. We think it may have been salminella poisoning from the still-bleeding chicken we ate the night before. We were quite thriled about our very American meal of fried chicken and mashed potatos. But not so thrilled upon realizing that our much-awaited and pined over chicken was in fact, still partially raw, with a texture a bit like that of rubberry leather. YUM.
So Stacie woke up with ridiculously painful stomach cramping and to her dismay, slept until about noon, which apparently was the latest she has slept in, in several years. AmyRose assured her that this was perfectly acceptable since she was, afterall, getting over being poisoned. Later that day AmyRose noticed a rather itchy, irritated spot on her right arm which apparently is none other than Ringworm. Awesome. Most likely this was contracted from her nearest and dearest orphan Dafeen, from Abba House orphanage.
It rained this morning in Uganda. All morning. We love rain. We just don't love rain that lasts for several hours and seems to put all of life on hold. In Uganda when it rains, life as we know it ceases to exist. Appointments are cancelled, outings are assumed to be put on held; everything and everyone stops, until the return of the sun.
Maybe that is how God sees us. Not just Uganda, not just us, I mean Christians. I wonder if active and living faith and service seems to be put on hold until the Son returns. Like we as Christians are in some sort of rainy season, claiming that nothing can really be done now that Jesus isn't actually among us, in flesh. No great miracles are commonplace. No walking on water. No feeding of 5,000. I wonder if that is b/c God just really doesn't want those things to happen anymore, or because it is raining. Because He sees the complacency of our faith and knows our faith has dwindled to the point that these great things simply can no longer be done--bec/ the Son is not in flesh among our midst. Because we fail to recognize the Spirit, who is the same God, is present. . .
Last night we decided to hit up the beach of Entebbe. Our dear friend/3rd partner-in-action/interpreter Ivan had invited us along, and so after or daily trip to the internet cafe, we headed that way. The beach of Entebbe is quite a cultural experience, really. It is like the melting pot of Uganda. There was a ridiculous multitude of Indian men, the local Ugandans, the European business men, the European women, the random American couples with children--and us. While spending the late afternoon on the beach and conversing with Jerry, a catholic priest and missionary to Kenya for the past 40 yrs, and Corrie, a catholic nun in Entebbe, we realized the beach is quite the place to be. And it is not just the place to be b/c it is the beach--b/c after all, we can't get in the water anyway :( We realized that the opportunity to minister there was incredible. There are people of all ages and races and genders and nationalities, gathered together in one place, simply to relax. What better time and place to get to know and minister to people !!!! We ended up spending a few of our last minutes on the beach chasing around some random children, who belonged to a nice young couple, the mother whom Stacie prayed with before our departure.
So thankGod for diseases--as these 'tribulations' will only make us stronger. And thank Him for rain, that we may recognize the Son. And thank Him for beach-bums, as our newest friends and ministry.
So Stacie woke up with ridiculously painful stomach cramping and to her dismay, slept until about noon, which apparently was the latest she has slept in, in several years. AmyRose assured her that this was perfectly acceptable since she was, afterall, getting over being poisoned. Later that day AmyRose noticed a rather itchy, irritated spot on her right arm which apparently is none other than Ringworm. Awesome. Most likely this was contracted from her nearest and dearest orphan Dafeen, from Abba House orphanage.
It rained this morning in Uganda. All morning. We love rain. We just don't love rain that lasts for several hours and seems to put all of life on hold. In Uganda when it rains, life as we know it ceases to exist. Appointments are cancelled, outings are assumed to be put on held; everything and everyone stops, until the return of the sun.
Maybe that is how God sees us. Not just Uganda, not just us, I mean Christians. I wonder if active and living faith and service seems to be put on hold until the Son returns. Like we as Christians are in some sort of rainy season, claiming that nothing can really be done now that Jesus isn't actually among us, in flesh. No great miracles are commonplace. No walking on water. No feeding of 5,000. I wonder if that is b/c God just really doesn't want those things to happen anymore, or because it is raining. Because He sees the complacency of our faith and knows our faith has dwindled to the point that these great things simply can no longer be done--bec/ the Son is not in flesh among our midst. Because we fail to recognize the Spirit, who is the same God, is present. . .
Last night we decided to hit up the beach of Entebbe. Our dear friend/3rd partner-in-action/interpreter Ivan had invited us along, and so after or daily trip to the internet cafe, we headed that way. The beach of Entebbe is quite a cultural experience, really. It is like the melting pot of Uganda. There was a ridiculous multitude of Indian men, the local Ugandans, the European business men, the European women, the random American couples with children--and us. While spending the late afternoon on the beach and conversing with Jerry, a catholic priest and missionary to Kenya for the past 40 yrs, and Corrie, a catholic nun in Entebbe, we realized the beach is quite the place to be. And it is not just the place to be b/c it is the beach--b/c after all, we can't get in the water anyway :( We realized that the opportunity to minister there was incredible. There are people of all ages and races and genders and nationalities, gathered together in one place, simply to relax. What better time and place to get to know and minister to people !!!! We ended up spending a few of our last minutes on the beach chasing around some random children, who belonged to a nice young couple, the mother whom Stacie prayed with before our departure.
So thankGod for diseases--as these 'tribulations' will only make us stronger. And thank Him for rain, that we may recognize the Son. And thank Him for beach-bums, as our newest friends and ministry.
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