Since last Sunday, I've been lying in bed with body aches, a headache, a stomach ache, and a fever. Not exactly the most enjoyable week I've had since being in Africa, but I am so grateful for it and the time I've been able to spend with God. The first few weeks at Amani I haven't really enjoyed; I had the wrong attitude and was never truly grateful. I felt alone and out of place wanting so badly to be back in the states. I had no clue why God put me here and what my purpose was for this part of the trip. But God decided enough was enough. If I was going to be serving Him, I needed to be doing it right. So, God sat me down and had a talk with me for the past week. He needed to teach me things that if I weren't sick, I would not have listened to. So, this week I opened my ears and heart and fell at the Lord's feet with a willingness to listen to whatever He had to say to me. At some points it wasn't easy; I didn't always want to hear what He had to say, but I listened. He taught me amzing things this week that honestly, I wouldn't have been able to learn if I was anywhere else at any other time. I can't even put into words all the things He's taught me, but the one thing that I want to work on more than anything is to love ALL of God's people. Not just the people that I get along with the best, or the beautiful kids in Uganda, or my family, but EVERYONE! It's already been a struggle but God doesn't promise everything is going to be easy. It's caused me to be stretched and to grow. But I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's amazed me how much happier I am when I just love.
So for this last week that I'm here my prayer request is to love unconditionally. Even when things aren't going my way or someone says something hurtful or I'm just not enjoying my time. I need to love. I'm called to love because love covers over a multitude of sins.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Amani Baby Cottage
Since I haven't written in quite sometime, I figured I'd just give an overview of my days here and what exactly it is that I do.
Basically, at the beginning of every week, we're given a schedule for places to be throughout the week. The children are divided into five different groups, Baby A (the infants), Baby B (7-14 months), Baby C (14 months - 2 years), Toddlers (2-3 or 4 years), and Preschoolers (3 or 4 years - 5 years). We have a morning shift and an afternoon shift. The morning shift starts at 8 and goes til 1; the afternoon shift starts at 4 and goes to bed time which is around 7:30. From 1-4 the volunteers have a break while the kids are eating and napping. In the morning we're usually in the same place for three out of the five days, and in the afternoon, we're in a different place each night. The preschoolers are taught their colors, numbers, alphabet, shapes, and other basics. The Toddlers on down play with toys, are read stories, and pretty much just hang out. Each morning before lunch, the kids are taken out to the front yard to play and run around and let some energy lose. Lunch is at 12:45-1:00, then the kids are put down for a nap. When the kids wake up from their nap, they are given a snack and then back out to the front yard at 4:00 to play with us volunteers and hang out. At 6:00 the kids are fed dinner, followed by teeth brushing, bathing, susu (pee) time, changing of clothes, and story time before they are hugged and kissed good night and sent to bed.
Every other afternoon, we have one-on-one time with the kids where each volunteer takes out one kid to go swimming, go on a boat ride, go into town for a treat (milkshakes, sodas, or cake), or taken upstairs to the guest house to watch a movie and play with toys. The kids love going out with us and always ask when they get to go next.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we have project or outing days. Projects consist of cleaning the cribs and beds, washing windows, or organizing shelves. For outings, we usually visit other orphanages or do touristy things (horseback riding by the Nile, boat rides, going to the fair, rafting the Nile, etc.)
Saturdays and Sundays are basically free days. Some Saturdays are spent on outings or one-on-one time with the kids. Sundays we go to church at local churches here in Jinja and the rest of the day is free to do whatever. Usually we go into town, play games, watch movies, read, or play with the kids.
And that's pretty much what a normal week consists of.
Basically, at the beginning of every week, we're given a schedule for places to be throughout the week. The children are divided into five different groups, Baby A (the infants), Baby B (7-14 months), Baby C (14 months - 2 years), Toddlers (2-3 or 4 years), and Preschoolers (3 or 4 years - 5 years). We have a morning shift and an afternoon shift. The morning shift starts at 8 and goes til 1; the afternoon shift starts at 4 and goes to bed time which is around 7:30. From 1-4 the volunteers have a break while the kids are eating and napping. In the morning we're usually in the same place for three out of the five days, and in the afternoon, we're in a different place each night. The preschoolers are taught their colors, numbers, alphabet, shapes, and other basics. The Toddlers on down play with toys, are read stories, and pretty much just hang out. Each morning before lunch, the kids are taken out to the front yard to play and run around and let some energy lose. Lunch is at 12:45-1:00, then the kids are put down for a nap. When the kids wake up from their nap, they are given a snack and then back out to the front yard at 4:00 to play with us volunteers and hang out. At 6:00 the kids are fed dinner, followed by teeth brushing, bathing, susu (pee) time, changing of clothes, and story time before they are hugged and kissed good night and sent to bed.
Every other afternoon, we have one-on-one time with the kids where each volunteer takes out one kid to go swimming, go on a boat ride, go into town for a treat (milkshakes, sodas, or cake), or taken upstairs to the guest house to watch a movie and play with toys. The kids love going out with us and always ask when they get to go next.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, we have project or outing days. Projects consist of cleaning the cribs and beds, washing windows, or organizing shelves. For outings, we usually visit other orphanages or do touristy things (horseback riding by the Nile, boat rides, going to the fair, rafting the Nile, etc.)
Saturdays and Sundays are basically free days. Some Saturdays are spent on outings or one-on-one time with the kids. Sundays we go to church at local churches here in Jinja and the rest of the day is free to do whatever. Usually we go into town, play games, watch movies, read, or play with the kids.
And that's pretty much what a normal week consists of.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Baby Pick-Up
I had an awesome time picking up the babies!! I went with a girl here named Annaliese. We left Monday at 9:30AM from Jinja and arrived in Mbarara at 6:00 that night. On the way we stopped at the equator, took a couple pictures and got some chips and guacamole and a chai smoothie (tastes nothing like the chai we have!). We stayed at a missionary's home which was really awesome. The mom and dad are named Scott and Emily and they have six kids, the two youngest are adopted from here. The kids are so well behaved and stinking adorable. We talked for a while before eating dinner. She made us spaghetti and bread which was absolutely delicious. Afterwards, they always have the guests tell a story about themsleves so I told them about me getting stuck in the couch. They thought it was awesome. After the story, they made brownies, which were absolutely amazing, and coffee for us and they actually had french vanilla creamer! It was so great! We stayed up talking for a little while longer than went to bed. In the morning, they made us tortillas, eggs, and gravy. It was going to be biscuits and gravy but their stove wasn't working so we had tortillas instead. I was so happy to have that food! I can' wait to get back and have my moms home cooked meals every night (or anyone elses for that matter)!!! After breakfast Annaliese, Emily and I went to the Mbarara Hospital to find the Social Worker who would help us with getting the babies. When we arrived, she wasn't there yet but a guy in the office told us that there was a mom who was brought to the hospital on Sunday unconscience with her baby boy by random people. She went into a coma Monday night and died Tuesday morning so there was another baby that we were able to take if we could. Before we heard about this baby, I was going to be able to name one baby and Annaliese was going to be able to name the other baby but when we found out about this one, she remembered that I had a second name so we ended up naming one Eric and one Christopher and the other one is named Caleb. I was so excited! The youngest baby (Eric) is 6 weeks and was born premature and abandoned by his mother. Tiniest little baby that I've ever seen in my entire life! I honestly have no clue how it's still alive! The second youngest baby(Caleb) is two months, he was also abandoned by his mother and has a skin problem. We think it's just because he hasn't been bathed but we'll see. The oldest is Christopher! Stinking happiest baby ever! He's so adorbable and loves to laugh. He's seven months old and has a scar from a burn right about his left ear. So once we picked up the babies, we had to go to court to get documents signed and stamped by the magistrate. Easiest process I think I'll ever see to be able to take a baby. After, we went back to the hospital to get a birth certificate for one of the babies. Once we finished, we went back to the house, grabbed our stuff, and headed to the supermarket to get baby formula, diapers and an extra bottle before leaving to go back to Jinja. When we were just standing around at the hospital waiting for documents and things to get done, random Ugandan women would come up to us and say "thank you so much for what you are doing, you are such a blessing to these babies and to us, God bless you!" It was awesome to see how happy they were to see us pick up a few babies! So we drove 8 hours back to Jinja today with three babies. They were all perfect angels in the car and barely ever cried. It was so great. If I could I would go pick up babies everyday it was such a blessing and awesome experience!!!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Recap of My First Two Weeks in Africa
I apologize for not writing more often. I haven't had much access to the Internet so it's been hard trying to write on this. For now I'm just going to write on my first two weeks to let everyone know how that went. I'll write about the rest of my trip later because I am short on time.
First off, I'm going to start with writing about how much I enjoyed our team. It was awesome to see so many people from so many different places come together and serve our Lord. Everyone was such an encouragement to me and I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them. I also really enjoyed getting to see "newbies" share the love that I have with the Ugandan people. We could not have had a better team put together! It was awesome!
Our church plant was actually named Busiu (a little mix up in communication) so for the week we went out around the Busiu village sharing the Gospel with anyone who wanted to hear. It is so humbling to come here and be able to share the love of God and not be judged or looked down on because you are a Christian. Because I came here with a cold, my first day out hut-to-hut I went with Bekah Kennedy just in case I didn't have the strength or ability (because of my cough) to keep going. The day was great Bekah shared with most everyone and while she was sharing, I was coughing like crazy. The one house I shared out God kept me from coughing and I was able to present the Gospel with no interruptions. The rest of the week, I went hut-to-hut with Vicki and our two translators Charles and Roger. Each day was such a blessing because I was able to share words of encouragement to the believers and share Jesus with the non-believers. In between huts, we got to know our translators and fellowship with them. We found out that Roger came to know the Lord the first year we went hut-to-hut at Angalia! Such an encouragement and such a blessing!
The two best days for me were Thursday when I went to schools and the second Monday when we were able to go back to Kerekeren, a church we planted last year. On Thursday, we went to three schools. The first school was primary and the last two were secondary. To my surprise I enjoyed the secondary schools a lot more than the primary schools. I really feel God has been burdening my heart for the teenagers this year and to turn my focus more to them than the kids. The first secondary school we went to was not expecting us and was a Muslim based school. Because they weren't expecting us, it took a while for us to convince them to let us visit them. God worked a miracle and they allowed us to come in even though it was their lunch break and there would not be many kids. After we finished our testimonies and the lesson, we had an altar call. It took quite a while for the first kid to stand up and come forward to confess that he had accepted Christ. It was awesome to see the boldness he had to show his new found love for the Lord. The second secondary school we went to was a Christian school so it was awesome to be able to fellowship with believers! We had enough time before and after testimonies and the lesson to be able to talk with the kids which was such an amazing experience just to get to know them, to find out their likes and dislikes, what they wanted to do after secondary school, what their favorite subject was. I enjoyed it so much! It was such a great day to experience the Lord's work in such a different way!
My day at Kerekeren was by far the best. My heart has been so burdened for the people around this village and I am so blessed to be able to know these wonderful people. There was a little girl last year that I really connected with. I spent everyday with her just hanging out and playing with her. My one prayer request this year was to be able to see this little girl again and be reunited with her. I stepped out of the van and an overwhelming feeling came over me! My translator and his wife found me and greeted me with their new baby boy! I was so grateful to see them again. While catching up with them, Taylor came up to me holding my little girl in her arms. Immediately tears of joy came rushing out of my eyes! I was so excited to see her! She's just as beautiful as I remembered her. I was able to meet her dad which was so great for me because now I know she's not an orphan! God answered my prayers and made me the happiest girl ever! I was so blessed to be able to spend the day with her and love on her.
It is so awesome to see the work God is doing here in Uganda and that He has chosen me to serve Him here. God has blessed me beyond belief with the opportunity to be here and love on the Ugandan people. I praise God everyday for how great and powerful He is. None of this could be done without Him.
First off, I'm going to start with writing about how much I enjoyed our team. It was awesome to see so many people from so many different places come together and serve our Lord. Everyone was such an encouragement to me and I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them. I also really enjoyed getting to see "newbies" share the love that I have with the Ugandan people. We could not have had a better team put together! It was awesome!
Our church plant was actually named Busiu (a little mix up in communication) so for the week we went out around the Busiu village sharing the Gospel with anyone who wanted to hear. It is so humbling to come here and be able to share the love of God and not be judged or looked down on because you are a Christian. Because I came here with a cold, my first day out hut-to-hut I went with Bekah Kennedy just in case I didn't have the strength or ability (because of my cough) to keep going. The day was great Bekah shared with most everyone and while she was sharing, I was coughing like crazy. The one house I shared out God kept me from coughing and I was able to present the Gospel with no interruptions. The rest of the week, I went hut-to-hut with Vicki and our two translators Charles and Roger. Each day was such a blessing because I was able to share words of encouragement to the believers and share Jesus with the non-believers. In between huts, we got to know our translators and fellowship with them. We found out that Roger came to know the Lord the first year we went hut-to-hut at Angalia! Such an encouragement and such a blessing!
The two best days for me were Thursday when I went to schools and the second Monday when we were able to go back to Kerekeren, a church we planted last year. On Thursday, we went to three schools. The first school was primary and the last two were secondary. To my surprise I enjoyed the secondary schools a lot more than the primary schools. I really feel God has been burdening my heart for the teenagers this year and to turn my focus more to them than the kids. The first secondary school we went to was not expecting us and was a Muslim based school. Because they weren't expecting us, it took a while for us to convince them to let us visit them. God worked a miracle and they allowed us to come in even though it was their lunch break and there would not be many kids. After we finished our testimonies and the lesson, we had an altar call. It took quite a while for the first kid to stand up and come forward to confess that he had accepted Christ. It was awesome to see the boldness he had to show his new found love for the Lord. The second secondary school we went to was a Christian school so it was awesome to be able to fellowship with believers! We had enough time before and after testimonies and the lesson to be able to talk with the kids which was such an amazing experience just to get to know them, to find out their likes and dislikes, what they wanted to do after secondary school, what their favorite subject was. I enjoyed it so much! It was such a great day to experience the Lord's work in such a different way!
My day at Kerekeren was by far the best. My heart has been so burdened for the people around this village and I am so blessed to be able to know these wonderful people. There was a little girl last year that I really connected with. I spent everyday with her just hanging out and playing with her. My one prayer request this year was to be able to see this little girl again and be reunited with her. I stepped out of the van and an overwhelming feeling came over me! My translator and his wife found me and greeted me with their new baby boy! I was so grateful to see them again. While catching up with them, Taylor came up to me holding my little girl in her arms. Immediately tears of joy came rushing out of my eyes! I was so excited to see her! She's just as beautiful as I remembered her. I was able to meet her dad which was so great for me because now I know she's not an orphan! God answered my prayers and made me the happiest girl ever! I was so blessed to be able to spend the day with her and love on her.
It is so awesome to see the work God is doing here in Uganda and that He has chosen me to serve Him here. God has blessed me beyond belief with the opportunity to be here and love on the Ugandan people. I praise God everyday for how great and powerful He is. None of this could be done without Him.
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