Children's Party

Catching up on some of my blogging (: A few weeks back a team from Canada threw a party for the Sonrise Children, Mirembe Girls, and the local Village Children. Big success! They planned for 100 kids, around 300 came!

Bubbles!

Jumping Ropes

Face Drawings (:

Canadian Stickers Anyone?

The hit of the party. So much fun!

The majority put the stickers on their heads.

Cat, Cat, Mouse (Duck, Duck, Goose) with Water Balls

Snack Time! Juice and Popcorn for everyone!

They enjoyed the snacks and games!

Transitions from the Old to the New Church

The church has moved! This is a huge blessing. The church was growing and we were losing space. Everyone was not able to fit under the shelter and were sitting on the ground around the shelter. Through prayer, we decided to move the church off the children's home land and to another lot down the road where more people can see where we are. We ordered the tent in town for the new church. While it was being made, the church went on a few day fast to pray over that land and tent. After much prayer, God said that was not the land the church needed to be on. Found another piece of land 2 lots next to the baby home for less rent and the perfect space! Praise God! The tent was finished and being delivered. Last Tuesday the tent started going up. Thursday the old church was being torn down. Bittersweet moment.

The Old Church - a few weeks before our 3 year anniversary

Here is the process of the new church being built

Taking a break...

My favorite picture

The chicken family that roams the church yard

 

 

 Here it is!

And taking down the old....

We would like to thank everyone who prayed and gave financially for us to buy the tent and rent the land! It is a blessing to be here and we have room to grow. This Sept. 1st was our first Sunday in the new church and we had a good turn out. Had 8 visitors and a couple people came to know the Lord that day. Thankful for a pastor who teaches the Word.

Languages

Ok, so I am learning the languages. Thought I would share with you a few of the basic words/phrases that I am learning. If you ever come to Uganda you will know them too! (:

1st language I am learning is "Lugandan". It is a tonal language, the change in the pitch of a syllable can change the meaning of a word

2nd language is. "Lusoga". That is the language that Ivan, Damali, and the majority of Ivan's family speak.

I might eventually learn a bit of "Swahili" one day. Most of the aunties speak it.

Lugandan:

Oli Otya    (Oh-Leigh-Oh-Tea-A)    - How are you?

Bulungi     (Balloon-Gee)    - Fine, Thank you!

Tugende   (Too-Gan-Day)  - Let's Go

Gyendi      (Gen-Day)   -  I'm OK

Weebale   (Way-Ba-Lee)   - Thank you

Kale           (Caw-Lay)  - You are welcome

Wangi       (Wan -Gee)  - Pardon?

Ssebo        (Say-Bow)   - Sir

Nnyabo     (Ne-ay-Bow)   - Madam

Swahili:

Jumbo  -  Hello

Changes/Meeting New People

Adjusting to the new food here. Lots of rice and beans! New Favorite foods here:

Matoke (grows like bananas but tastes like a bittersweet potato)

Chapattis (Flatbread)

Beef Samosas

Mandazzi (doughnut)

Passion Fruit Juice

Still trying to cook a bit of american style foods for dinner. Craving so many things from America! (:

They are teaching me how to cook a few Ugandan things. Best things, all the fresh fruits and super cheap! Can get a huge pineapple for $2. 2 large bundles of bananas for less than $1. That big bundle of matoke was $8.

Matoke

 

I keep sweet tea in the house but limit myself to 1 glass a day so that it will last longer! As I am typing this, my husband just brought me a Pineapple Breeze Novida Drink...another one of my favorites. If you every make your way over here, you HAVE to try one!

Meeting new people almost every day! Yesterday I met 2 people that worked at the home that Ivan grew up in. Today, met another one of his GSF (The home) sisters he grew up with. We went to a village last week that all spoke Lusoga (the language Ivan speaks). Found out that many of his mother's side of the family lives there. Met some Aunts and they were so excited to meet me. 1 hugged me so tight and said "my daughter is home"! They told me I have to come back so that they can show me how to digg for potatoes. Said I need to know! haha. Then I was at the baby home and I saw a lady come in the gate that looked just like Auntie Peace (the infant baby caretaker) and Nurse Rose (sonrise nurse). Found out it was her sister. She was introduced to me and then she realized who I was and that I was married to Ivan. She got so excited, she gave me the biggest hug and wouldn't let go. (: Kept hugging me and yelling "my daughter is home, my daughter is finally home"! It's such a good feeling to know that the family and people around here love and accept me even though I am a different color! My new siblings treat me like family as well. Love being with them. Everyone here has kept me from getting super homesick. We stay really busy too and that helps. Ivan has taken really good care of me. I love it here and so glad I can call this home. (:

Was told that I became an official Ugandan when the rat in the house was killed. We don't know how he came in. Our house is solid with no holes or cracks in the doors, walls, or windows. The only thing we could think of, it came in with the laundry from outside since it was stuck in the linen closet. Eww...The house lady noticed some wood shavings next to the closet and pointed it out to me. Told me to get a trap. when Ivan came home, I told him about it. That night we were watching a movie and I heard chewing from the closet. So I walked in to investigate. Mistake. I opened the closet door and out jumps...a RAT! I screamed and jumped on the bed and it ran under the bed. Ivan laughs at me. I quickly ran out of the room and closed the door. He can't get back in the closet and can't leave the room. trapped. Decided to get a trap the next day. The next day Ivan left to run errands and I was listening to the rat try to chew through the door and pushing the shavings under the door into the hallway. ugh. Destruction! We put the trap in the room with some peanuts and M&M's, within 15 min. Caught! Ivan grabbed it and told me to take a picture. (: I made him go outside to kill it. He killed it with a rock.  

 

Ok, enough with the rat...

 

Rainy season has just begun so it rains all the time now and when it rains, it brings cooler temps. Feels really good and I've even had to wear a jacket! Having no A/C really hasn't been too bad. On those days when its been hot I can just plug in a fan. Most of the time, when I am hot, Ivan is cold. Ugandan's get cold easily. So, I have to keep the fan pointed at me away from him. The cold showers actually feels pretty good. Don't really miss the hot water too much. It's kind of refreshing. (;

A team from the UK came in a couple weeks ago. Brought us coffee and M&M's! THANK YOU! They brought the children's home school supplies and hired a tutor! Every afternoon at 2pm the teacher comes in to teach the older children English, Spelling, Numbers, etc. I will be starting to help her with that soon. There are 9 children in that class at the moment. Many didn't know how to spell their own name. The UK team made name plates for them and we started to teach them how to copy and write it. They loved it!

Ministries

So much to update you on! I have seen God move in so many ways the past few weeks!

Enjoyed having the team from Birmingham here with us. We did the first ever Medical Clinic in a local village.  Saw hundreds of people. Treated them all day long. Lots of prescriptions and testing's for HIV, Malaria, Typhoid, Syphilis, and Pregnancy. An 8 year old girl was the youngest to test positive for HIV. So hard to see. Mothers coming in with all her babies and her telling me that she is afraid that they all have HIV and wanting to get everyone tested. Some of the faces I saw are still in my mind as they waited for their test results. So many of them so young.  While some of the team were testing people, some were giving out prescriptions, some removing jiggers, some bandaging wounds, etc. 80% of the community are Muslim. At the end of the day we went to eat at a local family's home. We were entertained by a couple tribal dancers. So much fun. The 2 guys that danced came to our wedding to entertain us too. Good to see them again! So many gathered to see the Muzungus (white people) and most were the people that came to see us at the medical clinic. So, we had the opportunity to share the gospel with the crowd and through that, 26 people came to know the Lord! It had been raining all day and as we were praying for those people, the sky broke and the sun came out brighter than ever! Gave us chill bumps as the presence of God was known! God is good!

A line to register and a line to the ambulance (pharmacy)

Testing Center and Waiting on Results. This was inside a school room.

 

Went to a school on the island and so many people were there! We sat under a couple of tarps with huge holes in them. They gave us their best chairs and even decorated them with doilies for us to sit on. The wind was blowing and looked like it was about to rain. As the group sat, the crowd grew. The school had no walls and a dirt ground. Some of the children were inside practicing songs to come sing to us. As usual, we all introduced ourselves. Names, where we are from, and a word of encouragement. The Ugandan team introduces and then the American team. First time I am not on the American team. I am not officially a part of the Ugandan team and introduce myself as from Uganda. (: After the introductions, so many beautiful voices came out and sang for us. Then the entire school and village children broke out in worship. It was amazing! Some of the group then began setting up for the jigger removal clinic/wound clinic and some set up for puppets and bible stories. Over 100 came to remove the jiggers and clean the wounds. While that group was finishing with the clinic we went down to the field. Let just say it was beautiful! Overlooking Lake Victoria it was breathtaking. We played a game of "Cat & Mouse" (duck, duck, goose)and sang songs. Yes, the kids think it's fun to pick the muzungus for the games to run around. (: These kids run fast and you are running for your life so you don't get tagged to run again! This isn't a small circle to run around either. It has at least 100 kids in a circle. Ha! We were all hurting from running the next day.  

School House

 

2 days later, we went out to a village for hut to hut evangelism. We split up into 4 groups and went different directions from the church. My group went down a small dirt path and through some corn field to find the homes. While walking through the corn fields, you can't see anything around you but you can hear someone following you in the field. Couldn't get them to come out and couldn't see them but could hear them walking with us. (: The majority of the homes we visited were Catholic and Muslim. Came across 1 home that the entire 3 generations of family were believers but still wanted to hear what we had to say. We spoke and then prayed for them. They were so happy that we were there. Went to several other homes and 8 people came to know the Lord. Visited a lady in her field and she came to us asking for prayer. Her 6 year old girl was strapped to her back. Said that her daughter got sick last year (not sure what it was) and had many seizures. Her daughter has never spoke or walked since that day. She carries her with her everywhere she goes. She asks that we pray for her strength as she is still working and has to carry her. Pray for her little girl. We went back to the church to meet the rest of the teams and hear their stories. A total of 23 came to know the Lord that day. Gave the names to the pastor so he could follow up with everyone.

A team came in from Canada this week and they handed Ivan and I some cash to go into Kampala and buy Bibles! We were able to buy 500 Lugandan Bibles and are in search for some in the Lusoga language. They Bibles are being distributed between churches and villages. Huge blessing to have the Bibles!

Tomorrow we are going back to a village to share the Jesus film with the people. Will update you on that soon!

Donations

This month has flown by! It's crazy to think that I have been here for just over a month. I wanted to update you on all the donations that ya'll gave for my team to bring up here last month! First off, Sonrise says "THANK YOU!!!".

22 people came with me in July. We were able to bring around 53 (50lb) bags of donations. Everything from adult clothes, children clothes, diapers, formula, bottles, plastic spoons, toys, flip flop of all sizes (over 500 pairs), baby shoes, socks, books, crayons, chalk, bibles, shampoos and soaps (for the aunties), etc.

The day we arrived, we started sorting through the donation boxes to get the items where they needed to go and when we got to the formula, the workers were so excited! Found out that they had JUST run out of the last bit of formula they had that morning. Gods timing is the best timing!

We just handed out the last bit of those donations last week. With all the flip flops/shoes, you were able to supply a couple pairs of shoes for each child in the Baby, Children's, and Girl's Home. We had enough left over to give some to the workers too. Then we carried them into the villages. Gave them out at several schools. In the jigger removal clinics, we were able to give out shoes to those who just had their feet treated for the jiggers.

Thank you to Westside Baptist Church for raising the funds for the Berkey Water Filter!! Use it every day. Nice to have clean water! (:

Thank you to the anonymous donor for the new camera! We are loving it and it is taking great pictures.

Thank you to United Baptist Church for the funds to buy water filters to put in the homes!

The aunties were so excited to get their shampoos and soaps. Children are loving the toys and chalk.

Again, thank you for all of your love, support, and donations! It means so much to all of us here!

The Kasiki/Wedding

Wow! The wedding was more beautiful than I could have ever dreamt of.  Wedding for a queen!  When I arrived in Uganda I was still going around with the team I can with and planned to do everything they were doing. One day we went out to go digging in some gardens and I was told to stay in the shade and not to do a thing. They didn't want me to get scratched, bruised, or burnt. Haha. They later told me that in their culture, the bride is usually not seen a week before the wedding. She is supposed to stay in a dark room, in her bed, resting. The most she will do is lift her arms for someone to rub oil on her! (:  Aleto and Brenda gave me dance lessons. Told me that I will be the center of attention and everyone will be watching to see how I dance. This white girl found it hard to dance the way they do. I'm just not that coordinated! haha.

Thursday night was the wedding Kasiki (usually the night before the wedding). The Kasiki is held at the grooms home. It's 1 big dance party that lasts all night long! We arrived to music you could hear a mile down the road. Earlier that day, they killed and skinned a goat for the Kasiki feast. You could see it cooking on the grill in the corner of the yard. I had to go around to every person to greet, introduce myself, and thank them for coming. Of course, there was a bride and groom dance to start the party off. Glad it was a dark but I danced! (:

Friday they allowed me to take a nap (bride needs rest) and then they took me to a local "Salon" (Saloon - is how they say it) to get my nails done and get the african dirt off my feet. Was told that if I got dirt on my feet again, they would hurt me.

Saturday was the wedding! Got up at 5am to get to the Salon by 6 so they could do my hair and all my girls. Learned that 6am means 7:30 African time. Wedding was supposed to start at 10am. At 11am we were still in the salon and I was getting worried. LATE!! But someone came in to reasure me that they are supposed to wait on me and I am not to rush 1 bit and to take my time. The cars arrived at 11:30 to pick us up and take us to The Source of the Nile Gardens. I figured that the groom and grooms men would already be there but no. Our car pulls into a gas station and pulls up right next to the groom and his car. All the girls in my car (including me) started screaming at Ivan to turn around and for the driver to drive away. I quickly laid down in the car as flat as I could with my dress. Sheesh. We finally move on without him seeing me. We arrive at 12noon and everyone is waiting. 2 hours late for my wedding but they tell me I am not late and I am right on time. (: The place was beautiful. Cool breeze, sun was out, plenty of shade, and the nile river right next to us. 20 min later, I walked down the isle in my daddy's arm to meet my Ivan. He looked so handsome standing there waiting for me. We said, I do! I felt like a celebrity. Cameras all up in our faces all day long. counted 15 cameras at one time. Danced back up the isle and took lots of pictures. The decorations, tents, flowers, food, and hours of entertainment was amazing! Tribal dancers, Sonrise Childrens Choir, more dancers, singers, and speeches.  

 

 

After the cake cutting, he took cake to my family to serve them and I took cake to his family to serve them. I met his grandmother (87 years old) through this. Then we went and served each other cake and Mountain Dew (:  Made our speeches and danced some more. We had over 800 people at the wedding. I am so glad I was able to share it with my parents, sister, best friend, new family, and team. Many came from Canada and the UK to join us for the wedding too. All the Aunties, Church members, Mirembe girls, and Sonrise children/babies were all there.

So thankful for my wonderful husband, siblings,  and his team of friend who planned this beautiful wedding. I love you all!