Hello Uganda Bloggers,

Friday began with an early start.  We took a left from our hotel and were headed in the direction of Rwanda.  It would be a 2 hour drive.  I had never gone this way so it was a new adventure for all. We made it about 20 feet down the road before we picked up a passenger!!   The road is much less traveled this way instead of toward Kampala. Kinda mountainous region.   As we looked inside our van,  we had 5 males………..3 named Emmy/Emmanuel.  God was” with us” the whole journey.

Stop #1 Pastor Hilliary’s church.

We had a long winding rode off the main road to get to it and then a bit on an incline to get up the hill right at his church.  Driver Emmy had some trouble getting the van up the hill to park by the church. At one point it seemed the whole town was watching us block traffic.

Of course…..Driver Emmy made it up the hill much to the cheers of his passengers.  Once there we got a quick greeting from the 110 at Pastor Hilliary’s school.  The children sang and danced .  Then we proceeded to the church.  There were about 30 there.  The crowd was much less because Pastor Hilliary told them 930am and for them that meant 12 noon.  I shared a brief message and we departed down the road for church #2.  There would be a second service I am sure at noon when all the people arrived.  ;o)

Stop #2  Pastor John’s Church

Next we went about a mile down the road to a very , very small church.  It was like an extension for a room in your home.  About 20 gathered in this precious place to worship and meet us .  This was a very unique place.  Ground cover was straw,  benches for us to sit on,  mud wall, and an open roof.  Emmy made me get up and share something.  I have been blessed to have Ambush with me and many of you know that he is one of the best speakers I know.  Jay is very talented too, much more than I.  Ambush has been telling me always use everything in your environment wherever you are to your advantage. So I stood up and asked the Lord to give me something to share.  All I had to do was look up……..I told them the story of Texas Stadium having a hole in the roof and how some think God is watching America’s team. I told them he wasn’t watching Jerry and the Boys, but He was watching everything these believers do through this open roof and He is well pleased.  The pastor’s daughter walked up to Karla on the bench as soon as we sat down and sat the entire time with her. Was a precious sight.

Stop #3  Pastor Ellis’s church

A little further down the road was Pastor Ellis’ church. The most beautiful church we have visited.  You could see for miles and it was amazing.  The church was some small trees holding up a tarp.  That’s it.  We began the service and then something really amazing happened.  We were listening to the Pastor and then up hobbles a beautiful Ugandan woman, Olivia. She was a bilateral AKA,  meaning she had only a tiny stump for both legs and they had been amputated above the knee. The way she could move was simply amazing .  She got to where she wanted to be and then sat. Once seated you would have thought she just had her legs crossed Indian style. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her.  Most would have considered she was “the least of these.”  Far from the case is what we would learn.  Pastor Ellis ended the sermon and said I want to introduce to you someone special. I new just who it was going to be.  Olivia gave a huge Ugandan smile and then Pastor Ellis said we stand on this land (the most beautiful we have seen all week) because Olivia donated all of it to the church.  Wow……..God is so good.  I got a picture with her, one of my most cherished ones of the trip.  I will post later as it is on my canon camera and not Jay’s iphone.

OLIVIA

Stop #4  Banana Plantation

Our last stop was Monica’s 41st birthday present.  A banana plantation in honor of her parent’s lives. I was so excited to finally see what it would look like.  There was a tiny dirt road that led to the plantation.  It sits at the top of a small mountain/ hill.  When you reach the edge you must carefully maneuver the Miracle van in and out of the trees to make it to the top. More than once Ambush and Jay said they would be happy to get out and walk.  Well, of course we made it to the top.  There we would find a small house,  sitting on an oasis of green grass.  There were many other fruit trees near the house…….avocado, jack fruit, sugar cane, pumpkins……many things.  Wow.  There we would find Julius and Yekoadah who work the plantation.  We took pictures and learned that this was Driver Emmy’s uncle who owned it and sold it.  We got a banana education and asked the boys to cut one down.  We walked amongst the 13 acres and it was incredibly beautiful. The plantation was away from the road, up the mountain on the top. There was almost no traffic.  No noise. Just the sound of your feet walking on the old banana trees that have been cut down and now are fertilizer for the new trees.  You get 1 big banana out of each tree a year.  New trees are generated next to the old ones constantly. We watched Yekoadah cut the tree down, cut off the big banana and then take the machete the chop up the large tree in to tiny pieces.  Then he picked up an old leaf,  and covered the stalk.  Then he used a large green leaf to wrap around the fruit and carry it off.  That was exciting………but not good enough for Ambush.  He re enacted the whole thing with his imaginary machete. The boys were so blessed.  Some of the biggest smiles all week. I forgot to say that they were jumping up and down when we arrived. Let me tell you they got some air time too.  We finished our visit with a prayer,  thanking the Lord for this plantation,  may it continue to be fruitful by providing food for the orphans and Emmy’s family. I am so thankful that this place will feed many orphan children for generations to come. What a blessing We will definitely be back here……………

Today is travel day.  We will visit the orphans one last time, head to the chicken church for a message and then to Kampala.  I will try to update from Kampala tonight. 

Love,

Bub, Ambush, Jay and Karla

The team split up today………Jay and Karla stayed at the hotel for the teacher’s conference.  Here is a review of what happened written by a headmaster and a principal.:

As Jay summarized at the end of our 7 hour marathon seminar, if they remembered nothing else, we hoped that these eight Ugandan teachers “would be able to use the creation/fall/redemption paradigm to integrate biblical truth into all of your curriculum.  That is what makes you a distinctively Christian school.”  And they actually understood what he was talking about! As Karla suspected, the teachers were very bright and capable. They were eager to brainstorm ideas and ask good questions. Karla and Jay learned much from them—a blessing all the way around…so we considered the day a great success.  The teachers enjoyed the treat of hospitality in a nice hotel conference room, a lovely buffet lunch, and were introduced to the concept of biblical integration.  I don’t think any of them had ever been in such a fancy place or eaten in a restaurant and they were reluctant to leave even after the seminar was over.

 Oh…………..They left out just ………one…….. minor detail.  The conference was to supposed to start at 930am.  Well, students were in desks so Karla was teaching how to use the Child Evangelism Fellowship Bible at 920am.

Ambush and I headed straight for the school.  Of course on the way we had to make just a few stops. The first was to provide a snack for the children.  We told Emmy we wanted to do it for today, a couple of families had given just for this occasion.  Emmy listened,  then there was a delay, and he said  “We don’t have much food at school.  We should use the money to buy rice instead of snacks and juice.” Cant argue with that logic.  So they will have eaten rice for dinner for the first time in a long while. It is a special treat for them. Usually it is just beans, potatoes, and bananas,  day after day…….day after day.  We bought 100 kilograms with the money donated.  Enough for 2 entire meals for 200. Amazing.  This is a big prayer need.  You can join us in prayer that He will provide for them. Protein is needed in their diet.  Pray for peanuts! 

Then we headed to the local clinic.  There we walked in and the nurses were doing an IV for Emmy’s son Daniel.  His malaria count was very high.  He was in the front of the clinic near the window crying as the nurses were sticking him. He was glad to see us but he was going to have to stay a bit longer as far as days to improve.  We brought him his favorite almond nut bars from the US and told him he would would only have to give 1 to his little brother Roger. :o)  And Julie,  Emmy’s youngest 5 year old daughter didn’t need any since she got a brand new doll from a family who had a birthday party in Tyler but gave the gifts to the kids here in Uganda.  We thought we were about to leave the clinic when Emmy said,  step back here.  Driver Emmy’s wife was there.  I will give you one guess at the diagnosis.  Malaria.    She has just been diagnosed. We will wait for her level designation (1-2 -3) and that will determine how long she will stay.  You can all pray for her. 

We finally arrived at the school.  The orphans were waiting.  Imagine that.

Job #1.  Take a quality pictures of all the orphans.  Totaling nearly 200.  We had a great system going.  Let me describe it to you. 

The first goal was to capture the joy of these orphans. We were not going to take sad face pictures.  That is not representative of the good work that the Lord is doing through Pastor Emmy.   We would take about 15 at a time,  call out their names (done in narrative fashion by Ambush).  We would ask the kids what they were going to be when they get older and Ambush would act out the job description for them. Guaranteed ivory.  Only one kid didn’t smile.  Her name was Patience.  “Gotta have Patience with Patience” DW

As boring and tedious this job could be under the African sun,  i think i might enter it as a short comedy film in this year’s Academy awards. There was lots of love shown,  some great pictures made, and some awesome encouragement from Ambush.  I can’t wait to post all 200 on the blog and let the adoptive process begin. There are only 198 available though.  Esther and Ivan have already been sponsored by our family though. 

Job #2  Measure shoe sizes.  We brought crocs of all sizes , except the smallest ones……..my mistake. Some of these orphans are tiny people but oh so cute.  After you got your picture,  you proceeded to the boys dorm for a try on.   A size was recorded and it was noted if you had no shoes at all.  Currently there are about 50 with no shoes at all.  Mostly smaller sizes.  After you made it through the try on you got a sucker.  Such an orderly well behaved line.  Then we brought back 10 orphans to distribute the try on crocs too. They gathered in the dorm, just the 10 of them. Quietly, patiently waiting for us to say something.  It was hard for me to start talking but eventually the words came out.  “We want you to have these shoes.  They are yours to keep.”  One by one they exited with huge hugs to Ambush and I.  Note to self……..we gotta get everyone in a shoe soon. 

Job #3  Encourage the orphans through gifts.  Now i don’t know if there is a better job in the world than this James 1 directive to love an orphan.  We brought out the giant frisbee,  as big as the biggest suitcase you can find and gave it a launch. It made it half way across the compound with 200 in chase.  Lots of fun there…….5 minutes later and it was on the roof.  Thats ok…….a man made ladder out of tree limbs can retrieve that off the “iron sheets.”  Then it was time for some badmitton,   Ambush vs Bub,  Emmy vs Ambush…….lots of fun hitting the birdie. Then we threw out the soccer balls and game was on.  The cones were good to keep the crowd back off the pitch.  The hit of the day was the Gull Lake frisbee.  If you saw the pictures from the blog in March,  some of the very best were the kids chasing the colorful balloons in midair.  Ambush had a whole suitcase of frisbees in store for this trip.  THEY WERE AWESOME. Thank you Miss Congeniality in Michigan. They were flying everywhere.  We had brought one for each. Many of the children would walk up to us , quietly tug us on our arms and simply says these words……..”May God bless you”   The joy was all ours.  I cant tell you how much joy was spread here with 200 simple pieces of plastic. I will remember just the one event for a lifetime.

Job #4

Encourage the staff (non teachers) through gifts.  First gift was to Elusam the cook.  He got hot mitts, and all kinds of cooking utensils and spoons.  He was so thankful.  He is the guy who cooks all the meals, and stays up all night every night protecting these precious orphans.  Next were the dorm leaders. Huge cheers for a simple,  $3.98 large flashlight.  Up till this point each dorm room had just 1 latern on the wall. I can’t imagine how these children survive with essentially no light every night.  Bonny, Archleo and Jan and Agnes were full grin mode with that gift.  Then came the next gift.  When I had come in March I saw Bonny in the same red soccer shirt EVERY DAY.  Smiling , joy filled.  As I left in March I pulled him close and whispered to him,  I am going to get you another soccer shirt.  Oh my goodness……….wait until you see these pictures.  I retired from soccer/ coaching one year ago.  I knew the Lord was telling me to do so but I didn’t know why. It was very painful to me to give up a game i so dearly love at 42.  Little did i know what He had in store for me.  I can’t tell you what a joy it is for me to have all my old jerseys and practice shirts being worn in rural Uganda. 

Job #5

The last job was teaching the orphans the armor of God found in Ephesians.  Except one minor detail.  Soldier Ambush had an armor made of balloons. Thanks go to Tract the Clown for the many hours he spent with me lately……at his house,  that’s right i was at a clown’s house and Luby’s too.  Of course i saw some patients at Luby’s while receiving my instruction and they wondered what in the world i was doing.  Socialized medicine with the new administration is just around the corner. I think ballooning might soon be better.

I am in the pre K of my knowledge here. Its something i have always wanted to do in my life.  I praise God that i now know why He is teaching me this craft.  I will be back with more tricks for the orphans very soon.

The day ended about the way it started.  

We arrived back at the hotel to meet up with the team and love on the teachers.  They were having a terrific time and were still going strong at 4pm.  Conference was to be over at 330pm.  Conference actual quitting time……….530pm. 

  ALERT…………ALERT ……………..ALERT………….beep beep.  Grace faculty teachers you will now be starting school 10 minutes early and staying 2 hours later in the evening as of 11/11.  Enjoy the easy days while you have em.  

Pray for safe travel tomorrow,  good decisions by Driver Emmy ……….and another awesome day of visiting 5 rural churches . 

 No muddin tomorrow…….Just pothole dodging. 

Love  

Bub , Ambush , Jay and Karla 

Hello Ugandan Bloggers,

Busy Day.  I will break it down with a description of each of our days.  They were all different but oh so powerful.

Jay -  Jay took the lead today with the pastors conference. Leadership principles just come out of his mouth naturally.  If you hang around, you can’t help but be influenced.  ;o)  Today the conference was to start at 930am.  African interpretation would be a phone call at 1000 am saying we were late and that is what happened. Who cares……..it’s Africa baby.  The Miracle van maintained its reputation………arriving at 1100am with the second group of pastors.  Two trips, 42 people transported by Driver Emmy. You do the math.   Many of the pastors slept in the open air at the school.  Some had traveled 140 miles to hear Daniel and Jay.  I am not so surprised for that as I would do that but that same pastor Amos  rides his bike to his church 10 miles each way daily. There were many rural pastors.  Some had never stepped in such a nice hotel ever.  They were “so blessed and encouraged” per Pastor Emmy.  They didn’t even think the clear cold water bottle in front of them was for them.  They had to ask Emmy if they could drink it.  (It’s ok to show some emotion here. No one will see you wipe your eyes).  They had a snack when they showed up and then they had a huge lunch buffet.  Quote DW….”I have never seen plates piled so high with food in my life.”   Some real Coney Island hot dog eating candidates.  (Ok to laugh here now that you have cried).  Jay spoke so well on servant’s heart, confessing sin, and being above the line using David and Saul as examples.  He also touched on prayer and its importance. By doing so, we engage Him and He answers us. Jay was beaming after the meeting.  Karla and I missed the whole meeting being at the school all day ……….but I hardly had to ask him how it went. It was all over his countenance, spirit, words and excitement.  He is developing a love for these precious people.  I am so encouraged knowing that others are coming on board.  Praise God!!!!!!!

Daniel a.k.a. “Ambush” took a shotgun position for this conference.  The guy can fill up a small spiral single spaced with the number of speaking engagements he has done. He was quick to acknowledge Jay’s excellent preparation and was ready to go as the Spirit led him.  He showed me his notes he had for the conference. For a few hours of material,  he had about 10 lines of chicken scratch on a page. Unbelievable.!!!  The guy has literally a library of material between the ears.  I love him and am so encouraged EVERY TIME I am with him. Go figure……..do you think he was going to be any different today.  No way. The first pastor couldn’t get inside the door before you hear such cheering and celebration.  Whohoo!!!  So glad you are here.!!! from Daniel ;o) !  He spoke to them on communication, relationships and the body of Christ working together.  He gave a good demonstration on body language and asked the group this question……”Do you think I love you? (meaning Daniel loving these pastors). Why? Pastor David summed it up best……..”You love us because you left your family and job, traveled to the other side of the world to give us spiritual food and physical food.”    (getting a little watery again…..I am).  Then he helped them transition to the power of love in action and how it speaks when words are not being used.  As Christians, we should have the body language of Christ.  The pastors were asked to share their key concern as pastors.  1. How do we motivate the people to LIVE the Word? 2. Marriage problems 3. young people with hardened hearts 4. Deacons being prideful. )  Ok….sounds just like us American Christians ehhh? and good advice for us.  The conference ended with Biblical answers and direction to address those questions and lots of hugs.

Karla - Karla went with me to the school.. I was there the whole time she was and hardly saw her. She had a big meeting with the teachers.   It was kinda icy at first but kinda expected. Karla wisely broke the ice by having everyone share their testimony.  I will get Sarah, Emmy’s wife’s testimony as well as Gaston’s on video.  It will be worth the watch .   That is wisdom to use the testimonies as way for them to open up.  She identified the spiritual leader of the teacher group and dove in to how they share responsibilities.  She touched on what they are to cover on biblical integration and the teachers were interested in everything on the proposed agenda. She also identified that Jonathan, the new math teacher, is an emerging leader of the group. We didn’t get to see school in action because the orphans worked from 800-300pm just cleaning up everything from the celebration.  That was kinda a bummer so we changed the schedule and will head out over there tomorrow early am before our trip to see Emmy’s mom, Pastor Simon and Reuben’s church.  Basically Karla laid the foundation for the conference.  Whohoo……….I am so glad she is on this trip.  She is the perfect completion to our 4 person team.!!!!!

Bub -  I went straight to the school with Karla after taking some pictures of the pastor’s conference.   So what did I do?  I had an amazing day. All I did was walk, talk, and sit amongst the orphans for the whole day.   My first job was to head for Simon the water boy.  You are only as good as your smallest employee and I wanted to value him.  He was thrilled that I showed an interest in what he does.  He has been working so hard for so long that he has started to develop some chest pain and they have recruited some more help. His name is Moses.  I don’t know about you but if I was a water boy, I would love to have a teammate named “Moses.”  So I watched them take two jerricans “large yellow cans holding water” each and head for the water. I was right behind them of course with the camera and video.  They made the way effortlessly empty and filled them up in the swiftly moving brown river.

They started their ascent and quickly made it to the top.  I was way behind and had nothing but a wimpy video camera.  Upon reaching the top I made them stop and flex their muscles.  A priceless picture.  After they made it to kitchen area where the water is stored in larger black containers,  I asked them how many jerricans they have to fetch every day . The answer……….NINETY.  Upon hearing that, I had some good news for them .  Jay and I are making it a priority to furnish a well for them.  Oh my ………that would be huge.  From personal hygiene,  being able to wash the new latrene stall areas and tons of saved time and effort.  This will be a huge blessing.   The other time was spent interviewing orphans.  Let me tell you of Esther( see picture).   She is the one with the world’s greatest smile. What a beautiful girl.  She was the most joyful of all the choir members for sure.  I had her go to her dorm and get on her bed.  I asked here where her blue box was.  She didn’t have one. She shares it with her brother.  Bonny got it for us .  Inside was 1 shoe, 1 shirt with holes, 1 nightgown pink but really brown, and her uniform was missing. She looked all around and finally found it on the floor.  I asked many questions but always at the end I ask,  do you have any needs?  She waited patiently and then finally answered.  I would like a blanket and sheets to sleep with.  I lost it at that point. What a blessing this child is to me, my family and the Kingdom.    I thought I was done for the day after visiting the boy’s dorm but gave them a chance to ask questions. One orphan  had one………”Where is Monica?”   Then I really lost it inside.  Then they said: “Where is Bailey?”  “Where is Libby?”  Oh Lord, may I return soon with my precious family.  I miss them so.  

We all miss our families,

We love you.

Bub, Daniel, Jay and Karla

Well…………..32 hours later……..We are here.  Planes, trains, buses, and a ride in the new “Miracle Van”   Its awesome.  Didn’t even come close to breaking down. ;o)

A few comments from Daniel, Jay and Karla in no certain order:

•”Minnesota is the land of 10000 lakes, Uganda is the land of   10000 potholes.”  

• ”there are some crazy drivers here driving on the wrong side of the road.”

•”wow look at those termite mountains”

•”Emmy sure is the real deal.”

•”its very green here”

•”its raining “

•”wow look at the street in Kampala is flooding”

•”now look,  there are cars headed in 5 different directions just trying to avoid the street flood”

•”this is a real traffic jam”

•”wow that pothole took up 1/2 the street”

•”those are some beautiful trees”

•”how come 1/2 the advertising is for cell phone companies?

•”look at those beautiful smiles”

A few more comments on what am i doing here:

•” I came here knowing it would be fun and an adventure.  I know the Lord will have a purpose for being here. I needed to come.  I did come on this trip.”

•” I am here to help analyze the current situation, build relationships, encourage these Believers.  He is going to reveal more to me on why i am here later so i can help others see what i have seen.”

•” I have prayed and supported the continent of Africa for a while.  I have been praying for an opportunity.  When i read the blog,  I knew God told me to go.”

Our accommodations are even better than before. We are not suffering for Jesus.  We even have AC on this trip.  What a blessing.  The team dynamics are wonderful.  Our low maintenance lady of this trip is going with the flow and staying up with the boys.  

Stops on the side of the side of the road so far………. Jay (3) Daniel (2)  Karla and Bub (0).  Woohoo Karla!!!!

Tomorrow we have the big celebration with Emmy’s church.  Maybe a 1000 people.  Many local and state officials.  We told him no parade.  We are all level at the cross.  He said we will have other ways to honor your presence here with us. 

Pray the Lord have us share the words He wants them to hear and be discerning on when to hold back other words.  

We are a long way from home………but we are right where He wants us to be.

Thank you for praying for us.

Will send pictures as soon as we can get Emmy to help us.

Love,

Bub, Daniel, Jay and Karla