Well here we are...reporting to you from the internet cafe!! Tomorrow will be our two-month and we can hardly believe that two months has already passed us by!! Even though we miss you all very much, we are still dreading the day we have to leave Uganda...
Over the last few days, we have experienced quite a few "mishaps" which when you are in Uganda, you just have to learn to suck it up and realize you are bound to come across the unexpected. Among the MANY mishaps we have encountered, we will elaborate on just a few (We don't want to worry anyone by telling all, we will just wait until we return safely to the states safely to share the rest :-) )
Mishap #1 If you swallow water in Uganda, you are bound to get a parasite. Who would have guessed??
Okay so far, health concerned, we have remained fairly well for the most part besides the massive ring-worm outbreaks and salmonilla poisoning. Over the last week or two Naka (Stacie) has been experiencing a major depletion of hunger. She has been feeling completely stuffed, going days without eating. Mumu (AmyRose) on the other hand has been eating her helping, Naka's helping, and the childrens food. She is still feeling hungry after eating multiple plates of food. We have come to the conclusion that we both have different types of a worm and will soon be getting it fixed. Someone should seriously look into what types of worms they have so they can get it taken care of STAT!!!
Mishap #2 The Warden did What??
We are really excited about ministering at the Naguru Children's Remand home. The last time we were there we were told to come back in the morning someday during the week to try and get put on there weekly program because the warden is only there Mon-Fri. We are living in Entebbe and the Remand home is in Kampala...It is only about a 45 mile distance, but when you are traveling by taxi----- which we have elaborated what a taxi is like in earlier blogs but to give you an idea it is an average sized mini-van that CLEARLY says on the outside of the van "liscenced to carry 14 passengers" but we never have less than 19...It stops every few feet to let people on and off...people in Uganda don't like to walk anywhere so even if they are just going down the street, they will hop on the taxi to catch a ride :-) ---- which is the public way we have to get around, you have to estimate four hours of traveling time and then be prepared for the taxi to break down at some point, or stop to get new tires put on, or run out of gas and stall on the side of the road for two hours while the "Taxi Conductor" leaves the taxi unattended to find gas... So once we made our venture to Kampala and found the Remand Home by early morning, we were told that the warden had just left for the day ten minutes before we got there. It was only ten in the morning and we could not believe our ears that after coming all that way, he was not even around...Then we remembered, "Suck it up." We made sure that we got his contact this time and will be updating on how that goes.
Mishap #3 Almost Getting The Boot into Homelessness...
So I don't think we have really shared what has been going on with the house we are living in. For those of you that don't know, we have had some pretty awful experiences with the woman we have been living with. She is an elderly woman and is used to living alone. Completely understandable. But it is getting to the point that she attempts to kick us out of her house on a daily basis and we have seen that it is hurting both our ministry and hers as well. So a couple mornings ago, she told us that she is for sure going to need us to leave as soon as possible and that she is sure God will provide. We didnt at all see that this was safe considering we are two young white girls roaming the streets of Uganda and now not having a place to live, we knew we were in trouble. That morning we were both just like, "Look, God, if you want us to move we have got to be provided soon with somewhere that is going to accomodate us safely and allow a smooth and easy transition into a new home." He silently replied, "Be Patient." That night, we were invited to a missionary family who are here under IMB-International Mission Board- for American style tacos!! Upon our arrival they told us they might have a proposition for us and to not be pressured to say yes. They told us they were going out of the country for a month and needed someone to stay at the house to keep an eye on things. Both Naka and Mumu started crying and thanking God for the wonderful way God always takes care of His children!! We told them about the situation we were having and they said,"Why wait until we leave??!! You should move in tomorrow!!" We are going to try and tough it out as long as April 7th and then be moving into our lovely new home and family, The Peases!!
We have seen God doing incredible things here in Uganda in spite of what the enemy tries, daily, to throw at us. We are comforted knowing that satan wouldn't be trying so hard if we weren't doing what we are supposed to be doing for God. We are making him tremble and working extra hard at getting us sidetracked, attempting to get us discouraged, hoping we will fail. But God is sooooo faithful and is always protecting and covering his daughters in hope and love and we cannot wait to see what God is about to do through is!! We miss everyone of you so very much and love the prayers, comments, and support!!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Taxi Ate Our Day
Yesterday in Kampala, upon realizing that it was already almost 4PM (we had left our house at 10AM) we wondered where our day had gone. . .
"The taxi ate it," our dear friend Kelsie explained.
Apparently leaving Entebbe any later than around 8AM is not a good idea. It happened to be the hottest day in Uganda we had experienced to date, and we spent half of it in an over-crowded (about 17 people in a vehicle the size of a mini-van), non-airconditioned taxi-van. At least 20 minutes of the travel time was spent at a dead stop, engine off, bumper-to-bumper, only a few miles from our destination--but in all reality about 30 more minutes of travel time.
We spent our day at the Naguru Children's Remand Home, which is basically a children's prison. It is a sort of holding place for kids who have committed crimes, such as beating up someone for no reason or setting arson to a building to murder or something as worse as that, and are awaiting their court date. While some of them are actually guilty, others have been sent there by parents or relatives who no longer had a place for them or wanted them. One sad aspect about the Ugandan culture is that they have little to no respect for the children. Especially when a widowed man or a divorced man remarries a woman, the woman will have no compassion for her husbands kids. Most of the time the step-children will get beaten until bloody without reason, starved and often times thrown out on the streets. What we have seen and heard about the cases at the Remand Home is that many of the children are in there as a result of being a step-child. The step-mother would despise her husbands kids so much that she would make up a false accusation about the children so that they can be sent away and not have the guilt of throwing them out on the streets.
There are 118 kids currently residing in the Remand Home, only 11 of which are girls. We were able to purchase 4 board games (Ludo--a treasured African game that is very similar to our game of 'Sorry'), 4 decks of cards, and 2 bright red soccer balls to bring to the kids. We spent all afternoon hanging out with the kids, forming relationships and getting to know them. It was quite a wonderful experience, and we were sure by the time we left that we would be back perhaps twice a month, but maybe more, to continue to minister to these broken children.
We were also able to visit 3 babies' homes this week, one of which we learned facilitates international adoptions...get excited Bethany!!! This is the Ssanyo Babies' Home, in Kampala. We were able to meet several of the workers and the head administrator at the home, as well as a few Mzungus from Southern California! We met a wonderful young Christian woman named Jenny, who came to Uganda on her own and has said she has had no real 'comradery' since she's been here, as she knows no fellow-American believing friends. We became quite attached to the children there--Stacie befriended the ornery child, as usual :) Sharon was her name. She screamed loudly and violently while leaning over the short wall separating us from the napping room, and did so until Stacie finally pulled her over the wall and into her arms. Emmanuel was the next child to try this routine--which worked, on AmyRose. And now she is permanently attached to the most beautiful little boy she has ever seen, who, by the way, she would like to see adopted into the States some day (hint, hint). We also arrived there just in time for "poty time" where all the kids who were being poty trained, a total of about 14 kids, lined up in a row and sat on their poty chairs...probably one of the most precious things we had seen all day!! We also were able to hold all the newly born babies and feed them warm-bottled milk. This was very touching and difficult because the babies only get touched four times a day-the times for feeding. Many of the babies eyes were crusted shut, probably just from crying and not being attended to.
We were able to visit Abba Home and New Life School this week as well, and got to love on our sponsor kids, Kato, Wasswa, and Zion, as well as give our American friend Devin a tour of the facility. He has mentioned possibly wanting to raise funds for another home on the campus. (Praise God!)
This morning we are sitting in possibly one of our favorite places EVER--Kelsie and Travis' :) Nak is writing a special someone a letter, and we are sipping on coffee w/ the best 'aero-frothed' creamer you've ever had in your life, topped with ground cinnamon. This is accompanied with baked oatmeal, and Jars of Clay's hidden track on their self-titled album playing in the background. We are getting ready to go to House Church where we will have fellowship and a pot-luck lunch afterwards, and are pretty sure that life does not get much better than this. . . :)
"The taxi ate it," our dear friend Kelsie explained.
Apparently leaving Entebbe any later than around 8AM is not a good idea. It happened to be the hottest day in Uganda we had experienced to date, and we spent half of it in an over-crowded (about 17 people in a vehicle the size of a mini-van), non-airconditioned taxi-van. At least 20 minutes of the travel time was spent at a dead stop, engine off, bumper-to-bumper, only a few miles from our destination--but in all reality about 30 more minutes of travel time.
We spent our day at the Naguru Children's Remand Home, which is basically a children's prison. It is a sort of holding place for kids who have committed crimes, such as beating up someone for no reason or setting arson to a building to murder or something as worse as that, and are awaiting their court date. While some of them are actually guilty, others have been sent there by parents or relatives who no longer had a place for them or wanted them. One sad aspect about the Ugandan culture is that they have little to no respect for the children. Especially when a widowed man or a divorced man remarries a woman, the woman will have no compassion for her husbands kids. Most of the time the step-children will get beaten until bloody without reason, starved and often times thrown out on the streets. What we have seen and heard about the cases at the Remand Home is that many of the children are in there as a result of being a step-child. The step-mother would despise her husbands kids so much that she would make up a false accusation about the children so that they can be sent away and not have the guilt of throwing them out on the streets.
There are 118 kids currently residing in the Remand Home, only 11 of which are girls. We were able to purchase 4 board games (Ludo--a treasured African game that is very similar to our game of 'Sorry'), 4 decks of cards, and 2 bright red soccer balls to bring to the kids. We spent all afternoon hanging out with the kids, forming relationships and getting to know them. It was quite a wonderful experience, and we were sure by the time we left that we would be back perhaps twice a month, but maybe more, to continue to minister to these broken children.
We were also able to visit 3 babies' homes this week, one of which we learned facilitates international adoptions...get excited Bethany!!! This is the Ssanyo Babies' Home, in Kampala. We were able to meet several of the workers and the head administrator at the home, as well as a few Mzungus from Southern California! We met a wonderful young Christian woman named Jenny, who came to Uganda on her own and has said she has had no real 'comradery' since she's been here, as she knows no fellow-American believing friends. We became quite attached to the children there--Stacie befriended the ornery child, as usual :) Sharon was her name. She screamed loudly and violently while leaning over the short wall separating us from the napping room, and did so until Stacie finally pulled her over the wall and into her arms. Emmanuel was the next child to try this routine--which worked, on AmyRose. And now she is permanently attached to the most beautiful little boy she has ever seen, who, by the way, she would like to see adopted into the States some day (hint, hint). We also arrived there just in time for "poty time" where all the kids who were being poty trained, a total of about 14 kids, lined up in a row and sat on their poty chairs...probably one of the most precious things we had seen all day!! We also were able to hold all the newly born babies and feed them warm-bottled milk. This was very touching and difficult because the babies only get touched four times a day-the times for feeding. Many of the babies eyes were crusted shut, probably just from crying and not being attended to.
We were able to visit Abba Home and New Life School this week as well, and got to love on our sponsor kids, Kato, Wasswa, and Zion, as well as give our American friend Devin a tour of the facility. He has mentioned possibly wanting to raise funds for another home on the campus. (Praise God!)
This morning we are sitting in possibly one of our favorite places EVER--Kelsie and Travis' :) Nak is writing a special someone a letter, and we are sipping on coffee w/ the best 'aero-frothed' creamer you've ever had in your life, topped with ground cinnamon. This is accompanied with baked oatmeal, and Jars of Clay's hidden track on their self-titled album playing in the background. We are getting ready to go to House Church where we will have fellowship and a pot-luck lunch afterwards, and are pretty sure that life does not get much better than this. . . :)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Jesus in the Villages and ...STARBUCKS
Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben are officially enrolled at New Life Boarding school! And night guard Lawrence's youngest son Zion will God-willing be enrolled as of this coming Monday. Praise God for provision and hearts for Uganda :)
We met a young Ugandan man named Geoffrey a couple weeks ago, who approached us on Hill Rd. while on our walk home, and began speaking to us quite passionately about Jesus. Throughout this short intro-conversation Naka (Stacie) and MuMu(AmyRose) learned that Geoffrey is a Mormon. As it was becoming dark and JjaJja begins to worry if we are out past dark, we explained to Geoffrey that we must be getting home, but would love to meet up some time within the next week to discuss Scriptures. Naka and MuMu were able to meet with Geoff in the Entebbe Children's park this past Thursday and had quite the interesting, two-hour conversation about the Bible compared to the book of Mormon. Geoffrey was actually incredibly knowledgable about the Bible--probably more so than any Christian we have met. However, many of the things he said did NOT in fact, line up with Scripture as he claimed, but were actually misinterpretations of the Scripture. All in all it was quite an enlightening experience--overwhelming, because we felt a bit unlearned in the ways of the Bible--but enlightening all the same. We have scheduled to meet with Geoff on Mondays at 3pm, so please be praying that conversations will continue to be blessed and the Truth will be made known to all who are present.
Friday was a fun-filled day...we were able to have lunch at an Indian restaraunt in town with our new b.f.f.'s--Kelsey and Travis Harris (whom we met at John's shop at Upland) and from there we met up with Irish James. James is a professional golfer from Ireland, who has come to Uganda for four months and has been ministering to Ugandan golfers as well as doing some street evangelism. Nak, Mu, Ivan, James and Tom (Ugandan preacher/soldier) went throughout the villages of Chitoro speaking to various villagers--boda drivers, street vendors, and random women and children. The experience was quite unique as neither one of us had ever done such ministry, but it was neat to especially watch James witness to the villagers, as he has such knowledge and understanding of the Bible. He was able to share the gospel with a Muslim Boda driver, who was actually quite receptive, and said to us that although he could not 'change [his] religion' right away b/c he didn't know much about Christianity, he promised to study the Bible if we get him one that is Lugandan. Nak was able to lead a villager woman to Christ through the gospel and prayer.
Today was a day spent with the German girls we met a few weeks ago, and a night spent with AMAZING company.....We have become good friends with Kelsie and Travis Harris, who are missionaries from Georgia; Travis is a pilot and Kelsie teaches ballet to young girls in the area. We made homemade pizza and met some other missionary pilots who also came over for pizza night. And, Kelsie was gracious enough to let us use their computer (which i am currently typing on) to upload.......... pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have felt beyond blessed getting to know this wonderful couple.
Tomorrow is church at KPC which we are quite looking forward to, as well as running several errands while in Kampala. Keep following and commenting, we love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and support!!!!
We met a young Ugandan man named Geoffrey a couple weeks ago, who approached us on Hill Rd. while on our walk home, and began speaking to us quite passionately about Jesus. Throughout this short intro-conversation Naka (Stacie) and MuMu(AmyRose) learned that Geoffrey is a Mormon. As it was becoming dark and JjaJja begins to worry if we are out past dark, we explained to Geoffrey that we must be getting home, but would love to meet up some time within the next week to discuss Scriptures. Naka and MuMu were able to meet with Geoff in the Entebbe Children's park this past Thursday and had quite the interesting, two-hour conversation about the Bible compared to the book of Mormon. Geoffrey was actually incredibly knowledgable about the Bible--probably more so than any Christian we have met. However, many of the things he said did NOT in fact, line up with Scripture as he claimed, but were actually misinterpretations of the Scripture. All in all it was quite an enlightening experience--overwhelming, because we felt a bit unlearned in the ways of the Bible--but enlightening all the same. We have scheduled to meet with Geoff on Mondays at 3pm, so please be praying that conversations will continue to be blessed and the Truth will be made known to all who are present.
Friday was a fun-filled day...we were able to have lunch at an Indian restaraunt in town with our new b.f.f.'s--Kelsey and Travis Harris (whom we met at John's shop at Upland) and from there we met up with Irish James. James is a professional golfer from Ireland, who has come to Uganda for four months and has been ministering to Ugandan golfers as well as doing some street evangelism. Nak, Mu, Ivan, James and Tom (Ugandan preacher/soldier) went throughout the villages of Chitoro speaking to various villagers--boda drivers, street vendors, and random women and children. The experience was quite unique as neither one of us had ever done such ministry, but it was neat to especially watch James witness to the villagers, as he has such knowledge and understanding of the Bible. He was able to share the gospel with a Muslim Boda driver, who was actually quite receptive, and said to us that although he could not 'change [his] religion' right away b/c he didn't know much about Christianity, he promised to study the Bible if we get him one that is Lugandan. Nak was able to lead a villager woman to Christ through the gospel and prayer.
Today was a day spent with the German girls we met a few weeks ago, and a night spent with AMAZING company.....We have become good friends with Kelsie and Travis Harris, who are missionaries from Georgia; Travis is a pilot and Kelsie teaches ballet to young girls in the area. We made homemade pizza and met some other missionary pilots who also came over for pizza night. And, Kelsie was gracious enough to let us use their computer (which i am currently typing on) to upload.......... pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have felt beyond blessed getting to know this wonderful couple.
Tomorrow is church at KPC which we are quite looking forward to, as well as running several errands while in Kampala. Keep following and commenting, we love to hear from you and appreciate your prayers and support!!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Mzungus and New Life
Since our return from the Islands we have run into several fellow Mzungus. We were able to attend KPC this past Sunday morning--Kampala Pentecostal Church--which also happens to be the home base for Watodo. Attending church there was INCREDIBLE. The worship was energetic and the choir/band sang many songs from Hillsong; and the pastor was sooo Spirit-led!!! He spoke on the passage in Genesis about Abraham offering up Isaac as a sacrifice and said to us as a church,
"God will always ask for what you love! So be careful what you fall in love with--because God will always want you to love Him more..."
It was a phenomonal sermon and Stacie and AmyRose both felt they had not been spiritually 'fed' in such a way in a very long time. We were also able to meet up with Matt and Brecka Arnett while at KPC. Brecka is an SBU graduate and old friend of AmyRose. They are missionaries just outside of Kampala and will be here for two years. We were quite excited to have an afternoon with not only a few fellow Americans, but born-again believers AND people who were even familiar to our part of the States!
We also ran into a young girl named Kelsie at our grocery story at Upland. She and her husband moved to Uganda just two weeks after being married! He is a pilot who works flying missionaries to various places. Kelsie was very pleased to meet us, as she apparently does not really have any female interaction. So God is continuing to bless us with meeting many new people!!
Also we have had the opportunity to get to know a couple German girls whom are both our age and will be here in Uganda until July just as we will be. We took them to New Life/Abba Home and one of them has now partnered with the Boarding School and will be volunteer preaching there.
Saturday we were able to go shopping for Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben's school supplies, and yesterday we finally had Kato enrolled at New Life boarding school! He is excited to be there and we think he will do very well. His brother, however, is apparently still on the islands, and we have yet to see him--they say he should be back today... we'll see.
Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with a young man who claims to be part-Mormon part-born again....haha we are not entirely sure what he believes, but we are meeting up with him to discuss it. So pray for wisdom and leading in the words we use!
And Friday we are accompanying James, a golfer missionary from Ireland, to do some street/village preaching. So we have a full week!! Praise God for all of the divine appointments we have had.
"God will always ask for what you love! So be careful what you fall in love with--because God will always want you to love Him more..."
It was a phenomonal sermon and Stacie and AmyRose both felt they had not been spiritually 'fed' in such a way in a very long time. We were also able to meet up with Matt and Brecka Arnett while at KPC. Brecka is an SBU graduate and old friend of AmyRose. They are missionaries just outside of Kampala and will be here for two years. We were quite excited to have an afternoon with not only a few fellow Americans, but born-again believers AND people who were even familiar to our part of the States!
We also ran into a young girl named Kelsie at our grocery story at Upland. She and her husband moved to Uganda just two weeks after being married! He is a pilot who works flying missionaries to various places. Kelsie was very pleased to meet us, as she apparently does not really have any female interaction. So God is continuing to bless us with meeting many new people!!
Also we have had the opportunity to get to know a couple German girls whom are both our age and will be here in Uganda until July just as we will be. We took them to New Life/Abba Home and one of them has now partnered with the Boarding School and will be volunteer preaching there.
Saturday we were able to go shopping for Kato Vicent and Wasswa Ben's school supplies, and yesterday we finally had Kato enrolled at New Life boarding school! He is excited to be there and we think he will do very well. His brother, however, is apparently still on the islands, and we have yet to see him--they say he should be back today... we'll see.
Tomorrow afternoon we are meeting with a young man who claims to be part-Mormon part-born again....haha we are not entirely sure what he believes, but we are meeting up with him to discuss it. So pray for wisdom and leading in the words we use!
And Friday we are accompanying James, a golfer missionary from Ireland, to do some street/village preaching. So we have a full week!! Praise God for all of the divine appointments we have had.
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