Mission Season Ends

Monday July 26

Ok, so since yesterday, so much has happened. I know that I briefly told you about the mill, but this place is amazing.. Everything here is concrete and tile... with the exception of the rafters. There is an ancient road that runs right through the place covered by grass.. There is a volleyball court, a basketball court, a soccer field, ruins, amazing authentic Italian food, beautiful people, and the spirit of God. However, I also know that many of the people in the surrounding area are heavily involved in organized crime. This camp is like an Oasis in the middle of it all. I love the accents, the architecture, the history... Everything about this place is amazing... even the mosquitoes are amazing compared to the ones in Africa... they don't carry Malaria.

So after we bombed on Shannon's bible, we had the evening to relax. Sunday we went to the Church in Casoria. Again, a very beautiful church, but it was located in what is considered to be a slummy part of town. 

From what I am told there is much crime there also. Pastor Doug asked Dennis if he would have two people from our team give their testimonies.. He asked me to give one, and he would give the other. He wanted me to talk to the church about why I came to Italy. I started to think deep into my testimony because I wanted to be prepared. I was ready to talk for around 15 minutes. So when we got to church, Doug told me that he was looking for around 3 minutes from me... =) We sat for a while and listened (all Italiano).. Finally pastor Doug called us all up and introduced the team. First thing he said to me (in front of the church); How old are you? Second: Are you single, or married?... “Single.” I heard them chuckling, then he asked me, “Why are you here in Italy?” I said, “I am here to find a wife.” If I remember correctly there was some cheering... Don't think I am tooting my own horn, because I'm not. It was quite Humorous. I proceeded to tell them about when God changed my heart with the orphans in Uganda, and opened the door to missions for me, and how I want nothing more in my life than to be used by God. What I should have also said is “I have learned all the Italiano that I need to live here: Quattro Formaggi (Four Cheese Pizza)” but I totally thought of it after I had spoken. After the service Pastor Doug threw me a breath mint from the stage and sent a girl up to me... haha, she is 19, and very beautiful... I couldn't help but be shy. Turns out that she is one of the girls at the camp... Im thinking, “Oh great... that's just what I need.. Oh my gosh, she is Gorgeous.” Church is over and I uploaded my last posting in the Church office. I need to stress that there is a man named Tony here who used to be involved in heavy drug use, and when he accepted Christ he completely turned his life around and is now the associate pastor at the Casoria church. He is one absolutely amazing man. He is the camp director. I have very much enjoyed getting to know him. He has a beautiful wife and child, and doesn't understand why she married him... he says, “she could have done far better than I.”

After Church the youth started showing up at the camp. We got them all in the main room of this ancient building (which has since been added on to) and began orienting them and playing ice breaker games. We had a really fun idea of letting them pick names consisting of three words one word at a time. We had the words up on the projector and they would choose one word at a time in turn. Our results are as follows... “Big Red Fire”, “Laughing Blue Foxes”, “Crazy Green Stallions”, and “Angry White Monkeys”. Up to now, “Big Red Fire” has been the dominant force, so we are working out incorporating some more games that are not so much physical as intellectual, or witty.

Today we have started played some more games, tried to break language barriers, and worshiped the Lord. The meal times are amazing, the weather is nice. The cooks are older Italians who know how to cook, and everyone is very loving, despite their extreme and constant competitiveness... shouting/arguing... Italians.. =) In just a short while we will be playing Volleyball, Soccer, and another game involving shaving cream and Nylons. Ill have to tell you more about that one, chances are I will forget, but if you must know, you can ask me sometime. Oh by the way Tayler dominated at that game.<-- Tayler's note. Its totally not true though

Tuesday July 27

Day one and two of the camp are now over. This camp is more of a Christian camp than I had thought.

Its a nice surprise when you are expecting to be talking to kids that are not Christian. Still, some of the kids are not Christians, but they have been doing devotionals, and worship time. Dennis and I keep cracking up about the culture. Their competitiveness and shouting, and hand gestures always come up. For example when we were eating dinner last night, Tony and the people in the kitchen were having some fits... Dennis and I have no clue what was going on... Let me try and give you an idea of what was happening.. Imagine you are in a crowded room.. 5 long folding tables packed with Italians and a few Americans. As you can imagine the chatter is way above what would be considered a normal level. Tony and one of the other adults are shouting some degree of Italian arguments back and forth; each one trying to talk above the other. A few of the youth are trying to put their word into the argument themselves. All the while everyone is flailing their arms and using strong hand movements to emphasize their point... All of the sudden a man in the kitchen opens the kitchen door and stands there shouting at the top of his lungs with a clapping motion; his arms fully extended and lifting them open and dropping them closed like a Florida Gator cheer.... Then after about 8 seconds of this, he stops suddenly, turns around and goes back into the kitchen... chatter and arguing continues for the next 5 minutes... I love it. I don't know why, and maybe I shouldn't, but I do.

The people here are more than comfortable being very close to you or touching you. Not in an inappropriate way, but you know like the one friend that is just a touchy person. Everyone hangs on you. Everyone wants a high 5 from you. Everything you have they are interested in. Everything you say they want to hear and understand.

I had a great moment the other day when a translator asked me a question that led to me telling her my testimony like the one that I was prepared to give in church. Its amazing to me that even after 13 years, things that you think you can talk about bring tears to your eyes and stop you from talking. I know that God is molding my life and shaping me into what he wants me to be.

Friday July 30

Ok, so a few days have passed. We have been staying quite busy for the duration of virtually every day. We put on Tournament activities, which usually consist of soccer, and volleyball. We do games for points that they can add to their team scores. These would be games like relay races or things that they can do as a team. The tournament games are also for team points, but they play soccer every day, so we want to give them something that they don't ever get to do. We love games that focus not so much on athleticism as team work; games that you don't need the body of a Greek statue to play. 

We have been trying to incorporate water into as many games that we can during the day. When it is about 75 degrees, it is too cold for them to get wet... =) I have my shirt off most of the day, and wait... all night too. I have my shirt off always. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner we have shirts on, but for almost everything else it is “no shirt” time for me. The other day we had an evening schedule planned, and somehow the night ended up being a dance party. Italians don't really hold a schedule very well. We had a meeting about how we can help them keep schedules more precisely and run the camps more smoothly. It was all Italian driven, so it made it nice for us to participate and we didn't feel like we were forcing American culture on them.

We introduced the game “Pit” to them the other day also. This was during free time. If you know any italians, they love to argue, and they have extreme emotion when they do it. “Pit” is a game of trading crops or commodities with other people in the game by verbal communication. All trades are done at the same time, so you have everyone trying to talk over everyone else. Just imagine playing it with a bunch of Italians. Its awesome.

I also wanted to hang out with the youth at night, so I busted out my camera, a flashlight, and showed them how to draw. We started getting pretty creative and ended up doing some things that are actually quite beautiful. We went from just writing to drawing angels.. They loved it, and were quite good at it.

The days have all blended together, but we have had an amazing time getting to know the Italians. I said this before, and I have said it about Africans as well, but they are so beautiful. We have had some divine moments. Last night we took some Hillsong songs, typed out the lyrics and played them for the youth to sing along to for worship. They were awesome. It was the first time we really had that was solid worship and prayer. There were 3 boys that accepted Christ, that I know of, and I don't know how many girls. One thing that I thought was really cool is that I didn't have to understand the words to know what was happening. Its amazing how God's love transcends Language and Culture. Tonight we are “scheduled” to have a bonfire as our last night.

Sunday August 1

Ok, so that night we didn't end up having a bonfire. We experienced nasty lightning and thunderstorms. At home I get all excited about the lightning because It doesn't seem to happen all that much. There was lightning flashing probably once every 3 seconds for around an hour. It poured all that day so we didn't get to do any games for our tournament. I was surprised by the Italians; they were not concerned with the final scores, only sad that we had to leave. We still met inside and I ended up giving my testimony to the whole group. It wasn't the condensed version... It was hard. Goodbyes were tough, but they always are. The next morning we left the camp around 9:00 and headed for the church in Casoria to drop our things off so that we didn't have to worry about theft, but we had no one to drive, so guess who drove... =) We were heading to Pompei!

It's an ancient city like Rome, only Mt. Vesuvius blew up in something like 79 AD and incinerated the city and the population. The ruins are amazing. After Pompei we headed for the train station and then out of Napoli and back to Rome. The train was late and ended up taking 3 hours, but we finally arrived and had to find our hotel. It was 11:00PM, and we didn't know quite where it was.. only that it was within walking distance from the train station. We eventually found it. It was a little door in the side of the building that we had previously walked past. No big sign, nothing notifying you where it is.. just a door. We actually had to walk into another hotel and have them point us to the door... If you know where it is, its a neat little place; cheap, near the train station, close to the metro, and the staff are quite nice. David and Andrew decided they wanted to go out, and I stayed in and showered. The bed that I got was actually quite comfortable. It was a little short, but I'm short enough that it actually made me feel like I was tall.

Today, we went to the Roman tourist attractions. We started out at St. Peter's Square and Basilica. 

That was very impressive. I had Rick Steve's audio tours downloaded on my iPod, so I had him to tell me some neat facts. Like Raphael and Michelangelo both worked on the building, and that all the words that were spoken by Jesus to Paul in the Bible are all written in 7' tall gold letters and line the inside of the sanctuary. It was very beautiful, and very amazing. Unfortunately the Sistine chapel was closed. Since it was Sunday we were forced to leave that for next time. We then went to get some lunch while visiting a few Piazzas in the area. Piazza Navona was really neat, it seems to me like all the fountains in Rome are glorious. If I were to build a fountain there, I would feel mildly outmatched compared to the others and in comparison to the historical buildings... We had our lunch, then proceeded on to the Pantheon. ...wow. That place is just crazy, I don't really know what else to say. Massively Amazing maybe... How the heck did they get those columns in place back then? I want to see their scaffolding. Probably similar to Africa's The building wasn't as ornate as St Peters, but the scale of that dome is crazy. Its breath-taking. 

The Pantheon was built by Emperor Marcus Agrippa, the same Emperor that Paul wrote to in Acts. I was also intrigued to hear that it is the oldest building in the world that has seen continuous use since its original construction... It has never been closed. From the Pantheon we went on to the Colosseum. We had day passes for the metro, so we could hop a bus or the train and get around pretty fast. The Colosseum was awesome. Once again the scale of the place is crazy. I enjoyed looking at the arches, and the transitions from original to restoration. It was easy to tell because of the Travertine block that it was originally constructed with and the red brick that they reinforced it with when they tried to restore it. 

I wish I could have sat in a seat at the very top when it was being used. Rick Steve walked me through that one too; he walked me through all of them. Since the Colosseum is right net to the Roman Forum, that was our next destination. It was quite cool to walk where Paul walked. We saw all kinds of stuff there, but too much to see in a day. One thing that I thought was awesome is that one of the arches had engravings of Romans carrying off Israels plunder back to Rome. I guess sometimes when Im reading my bible its easy for me to hold the book in my hands and let the words stop there in my brain and imagination. When you see proof of the stories that are in the bible... its like you get one of those moments when your like, “Wow...” We also saw some statue figures that were quite stunning and well chiseled. They were preserved abnormally well... We didnt see everything, but everyone was getting tired, and we had to go... We needed to save some of that for next time too. =) 

On our way home most of the girls split off to go shopping. Shannon, David, Andrew, Dennis, and I headed back to the hotel, then out for dinner. After dinner Dennis went back to the hotel to go to pack up for the trip home and go to bed. The rest of us went to Trevi Fountain. We wanted to find some cheap vendors for sunglasses. We found them, then scrambled back to the Metro before our passes expired; we were within a half hour. We then had some Gillato Ice Cream and sat at the nearest fountain and just enjoyed our last moments in Italy.

Thanks for following the blog. I really had a memorable year. Both Africa teams and Italy teams were some of the best I have been on. I think that the more God lets me go, the better we all become at working as a team. Please feel free to refer my blog to anyone. I pray that everything I did on the trip is something that can be used by God. I pray that the Italian youth that we worked with at the old mill who came to know Jesus don't forget what happened, and that they don't let the world distract them or cause them to stumble.

1 Corinthians 10:31-33

Oh my gosh; im in a hurry

Thursday July 22

Ok, plane came in, we got our bags from the luggage carousel, we gave everyone their things from various bags, and then everyone left for home. I had to ride with Debbie Douglas since my car was parked at her house. We were all pretty tired; the goodbyes were pretty short. I was carrying around $9,000 for Mark Gosvener in my pocket, so that was pretty exciting... especially in the security checkpoints where they frisk you down. Anyways, we are moving on here, I got home, saw my cousin Greg and went right to bed at around 2:00PM. The basement is nice because there are no windows. If I shut my door and turn the lights off, its total darkness. It works out pretty well. I woke up around 11:30PM and stayed up all night unpacking, washing clothes, and re-packing for Italy. I found out from Tayler Younge that there was a meeting planned on the 21^st at 7:00PM, which for me was going to be like 3:00AM, so I got the rest of my stuff ready for Italy, and went to bed. I woke up around 6:30PM. Andrew Millikan was picking me up since I took my car off insurance. 

We went to the meeting. After the meeting I was going to try and hang out with some friends, but Andrew and I were totally sleepwalking...but totally safe to drive. Not to mention that it was about 9:30PM when we left. We wanted to hit up Target, then get something to eat. We ended up going to Wall-mart since Target was closed then to Fred Meyer because Andrew wanted a passport pouch like the one that Tayler and Shannon got for me. I ended up sitting down on one of the demo recliners; next thing I know Andrew is laying on the couch next to it.. We ate at the Hot Cake House on Powell. I have to say, Good food... a lot of food... but when you are jet-lagged and tired its more gut bomb than anyone needs to put into their body. I did it though, and it defeated me. I ended up crashing at Andrew's place and we went to the airport together with his brother Josh. Now we are all on the plane headed for Philadelphia. We have a 1 hour layover there before we head on to Rome...

Saturday July 24

We got to Rome yesterday. The craziest thing ever happened to me while I was waiting for people to finish freshening up at the airport bathroom. I was leaning against the wall, and I totally saw someone I recognized walk by... “Uncle Bob!” Bob Lewis is the Brother-in-Law of my Father's Brother's Wife. Think about that one for a bit. He is a pilot for Delta. This was his first flight into Rome for work I believe. I just couldn't believe that it was really him. I mean what are the chances that I run into my uncle in the Rome Airport? We talked for a little while, I Introduced him to the team, and then he had to go... It was nice to see him for that brief moment... aside from my amazement at the whole situation. Dennis has got me acting pretty paranoid. I half expected people to constantly be trying to steal all my bags, and reach into my pockets through out the day. It isn't as bad as I was expecting but that is because I was on full alert the whole time; suspecting everyone that walked close to me or that was standing idle to be a thief... I was eye-ing everyone.

We had to take the train from the Rome train station to the Napoli train station. It took around an hour to get there. This train was by far better than the last one. It was quiet, smooth, but the pressure changes in the cabin were the worst I have experienced; even on a plane. I was constantly popping my ears trying to clear the pressure. We pulled into the Napoli train station and walked another half mile to pile our luggage in a location at that station for about an hour and a half. We had to wait till Tony showed up to pick us up. Dennis has already prepped me on the whole lifestyle difference between here and the US, so I wasn't too worried about it. Italians will place relationships above schedules, so many times things go a little late. I love it. When Tony showed up, we piled our things into two vans and headed into Napoli to where we were going to be staying for the night. Shannon Todd and I were in one van and everyone else in the other. We were following Tony in the van in front of us. Our drive spoke no English.. and we basically speak no Italiano. The driver would turn around and aks something like a long question to us and wait for a response... I didn't know what to do, so I would just pull a trick I learned from one of my good friends and look at Shannon as if she were the one that he asked the question to. (Thanks Chris) We had a pretty fun ride, we ran out of gas while Tony wasn't watching is rear view mirror and were sitting on their freeway for a little while. He finally came back, pushed a button in the van, and started it back up and we drove to the hotel. The hotel is actually very nice. The rooms are small, but honestly... there is nothing there that you don't need. I think it is perfect size. Maybe that's because I am a sample size kind of guy. The balcony looks out on the concrete jungle, but it has this really cool metal door that slides up and down electronically. Its a shield for burglary, and it keeps the room very cool. It also blocks out all sunlight.. which caused us to sleep in somewhat later than planned.

So, we checked in, went with Tony to a pizzeria, ate some lunch around 3:50PM, then checked out his families house, met his wife (Angela) and child (Gabriel), who are both adorable, then back to the hotel to freshen up. We went back out later that night. We were going to go downtown Napoli to see some historica buildings, some castles, and to walk down the Spockanapoli road. The castles were sick, though I didn't get a chance to take any real pictures. The Spockanaploi road is a very old road that divides the two sides of Napoli. I don't know all the history of it, but it is basically like a Burnside, the way it divides Portland. There are tons of old buildings on that road, and tons of old alleys too. They are all VERY cool looking. Tony wanted to take us to a resturant on the road that he knew. It was amazing, authentic, Noepolitan food. I had Muscles and they were delicious. The seafood here is outstanding. The night ended, and we crashed when we got back to the hotel.. The night was memorable, however.

Also I might note that Andrew totally hit on an Italian hotel staff today. He said' “I think you and I are good together. You are very beautiful.” Her initial response was “No, no.” I was dying. Andrew left the breakfast area pretty quick. Dennis told me that she did tell him that he was also very handsome. I dont think he understood her when she said it though. Later before we left he asked her for a picture and she totally said no. Way to go Andrew. I am now ready for the mission to officially start.

We drove for a little while; dont think it was quite an hour. And we got to a little villa looking place. It was an old flour mill. And when I say old, I mean 1000 years old; it is half as old as Christ... It is the coolest place ever. I would build a house just like it. We we had our “Pronzo” around 3:00PM this is lunch... a multi-course lunch. We then went out and started preparing some of our “Equipment” for the games that we will be playing with the Youth. For those of you who do not know. This mission is an English-speaking camp. The youth are mostly from the Church in Casoria. Though this is a mission trip our goal is to share the gospel through relationships. We are not doing bible studies, or verse memorization.. we are teaching them to speak English and building relationships with them so that we might be able to share the gospel when they are comfortable with us. Most evangelism is when you go tell people about Christ and more or less confront them with some hard truths. Dennis looks at it like this; when you do street evangelism you are, in a way, trying to force a door open, whether their heart is open to Jesus or not. If God opens the door it is a divine opportunity rather than a forced one. I am down with that.

So, here we are trying out our “Equipment” I don't really know what else to call it... we have some water balloons and one of the giant slingshot launcher dealy-bobs. We needed to give it a whirl. So to try it out, we filled up 3 balloons, and went way back behind some bushes. We picked Dennis as our target, and let the first one fly. We launched it way past him. We loaded up the next one as quickly as we could and launched it... It landed close enough for him to hear. As quickly as we could; we loaded the third and pulled it back. Meanwhile, we could see Dennis turn around, having no idea what is happening, and ask Shannon.. “Was that a water balloon?!” We launched: direct hit... Shannon was sitting down at a picnic table reading her bible; we nailed her bible right in front of her...   More exciting things just happened, Stay tuned. sorry for any grammatical errors.

Saturday July 17

The past couple days have mixed together for me. But I can tell you what I remember. Yesterday, we put up a clothes line that spans around 75 feet. Doug Collins and I took turns using a post hole digger and a giant steel bar breaking ground and scooping. We cast some posts in concrete, and let them set overnight. There was a little stress about getting people on the bus that I ended up experiencing second hand, but it was a good day. When we got back to the Ridar, I decided that I would go down and take a swim. It was very relaxing and refreshing. 

Today we went to the orphanage very early because we wanted to start handing out clothes to boys. It seems that 80 percent of the boys are the same size, so they ended up running out of boys pants a little early. Steven and I setup the One-Stop Barber Shop for some of the children. We had two sets of Oster home clippers that we were using. We had kids lined up to get their hair cut. They mostly don't have any hair, but what the do have, they want gone. In general everyone hates hair here. They love White peoples hair and want to have hair like ours... I have tried to tell them “You are all handmade by God just the way he likes you. Having hair like yours is beautiful to God.”, but It isn't always heard I guess. I suppose that is like someone telling me, because I am not tall.. “Yes, but you are tall in other ways!” It just doesn't have the meaning that it is intended to have. No offense to anyone that has said that to me. =) The hair cutting went well.

I managed to ship an iPod docking station on the container, so we had our barber shop music going in the background. It was great. I had a box of things that I wanted to put onto the container for next time I come, so I packed it up and took it to the container. I also left my tools for next time. We ended up putting the top bar on the clothes lines and handing that project off to another team that will be staying at the orphanage for another couple weeks. The children also had a party planned for us. There were around 900 sodas that were handed out to the kids. There was popcorn... The Choir sang for us. There were new songs that I had never heard before. I got some great shots of them. I walked around with my camera like I do and tried to get some neat shots, then when the formal part of the party was finished, I danced for a while. Now that most of the children know who I am I spend around an hour just hugging and saying goodbye to mums and children. I have a pouch on my backpack full of letters from kids to me and to other people at home.

I had to show you a letter that one of my girls wrote to me that was just cracking me up. She is so cute. Just click on the picture to enlarge it.

Tracy, if you read this, I cant tell you how many of the kids want Flower to come back. For those who don't know, Flower is a clown costume that my friend Tracy brought in 2007 and dressed up in for the kids. They ask me about her every year.

My now roommate, Isaiah Anderson, is asleep and I am just about to go and brush my teeth and hit the sack. We go to the airport tomorrow. Team 2 goes home on a plane, then myself and the other 7 of us wait in a hotel next to the airport till Monday to head out. I dont know how it all worked that way... Something funky with the tickets. =) Sula Bulungi (means ”Goodnight”)

Sunday July 19

The team left the Ridar yesterday around 11:00AM. Mark had said that one thing we needed to do was to square our bills with the hotel up, but I never charged anything to our room, so I was good. I went to turn the key in, and they were like, “You have unsettled bills to your room.” One of my roommates had done some laundry and forgot to pay the bill... sweet. Winnie and Zion came with us. It was Zion's Birthday. She said that it was her best birthday ever because she got to come with us; that was sweet of her to say. We went to “Shop-rite”; I picked up a few items there, then we went over to the usual souvenir shop that is next to “1000 cups of Coffee”. Its a great little coffee shop. They have great coffee, and amazing coffee beans... So I hear. I had to pick up a bag for a friend, and noticed a shirt. It was pretty small, but I tried it on and it fit just the same as one of my other shirts. It is very tight, but I have been liking it that way for a while. The brand was “Adam”, so I had to do it. Ended up being about 15 dollars... I just couldn't pass it up. I met up with Darrie Turner and he gave me a bag full of African wood samples that I am taking back to Shwood so that they can make some Sunglasses out of them. I'm thinking with the amount of wood that I have in my check-in bag, they should be happy.

We got back on the bus and headed to Entebbe. Most of the team was to fly out that night and 8 of us the following day. We had some delicious pizza on the beach, then we said our short good-byes, sent them to the airport with Robert, and we went to the Andarita Hotel across the street. The night of prolonged excitement for us was just beginning. We checked in, and Oh!.. they gave our rooms out. Okay, well just get you some different rooms that you can stay in. Andrew Steven and I were going to room together as planned. They ended up giving us a room for 4, and 1 mosquito net.... =) Yeah, we get real close in Africa. Debbie Douglas and Jackie Richard roomed together. Their situation was a crack up. They had the tiniest room; no bathroom, just a double bed. Their bathroom was down at the other end of the hall. It had a toilet and a shower, but no sink. The sink was down on the main floor in the middle of the dining area. Oh, and the door to the bathroom didn't have a lock, so they say they had to stand guard for each other. Mark came up to get us after we were all shown our rooms for a little assignment; Debbie's bag apparently had something living in it... so Andrew and I took it down the stairs and out on their front lawn to open it up and get whatever was in there out. We unpacked the whole thing... Nothing. Although when we packed it back up and took it back inside there was a guy at the door with a metal detecting wand that wanted to search the bag for a bomb.... We had to let the guy re-open the bag and go through everything before we could go back up to Debbie's room... it was awesome... Mark had another unique experience at the Andarita that we hadn't expected; he was walking back up to his room. Little did he know that he was being followed by a woman. As soon as he put his hand on the doorknob she put her hand on his and asked if he needed company tonite.... He was like, “No, I have company!.. My wife!!” My goodness..

Andrew got to sleep pretty quick, but Steven and I just couldn't seem to get comfortable. He asked me what time it was, sure that it was about 6AM, and it was about 1AM.. After that I dont know what happened, I think we passed out. We were snug though. We scooted a twin sized bed next to a queen and all shared the mosquito net. I made that thing so bug tight... They like to come up from the floor around the inside of the mosquito net, and between the two beds, so I took the comforter and crammed it all in there. Tucking the net in all around the mattress is crucial to making through the night without bites.

Monday July 19 – July 20

Today we had to blow about 13 hours waiting for our plane. So we sat on the beach at Lake Victoria for a solid 8 hours. I know it sounds really hard, but it is hard when you have nowhere to be and nothing to do... We did play a ton of card games... I hiked my shorts up a little bit and got a nice burn on my thighs. Im feeling that right now... Feels great! Mum Betty came to say goodbye and to give me my glasses that I accidentally left at the Pauline Hotel in Lira. She is so awesome. Ive been writing on the plane, and Ill be posting from PDX, so when you read this I am probably asleep in my room at home. Andrew and I head off to Italy for another mission trip on Thursday the 22nd. We have a day to do laundry, then fly to Rome. Everyone asks why we are doing it that way, but it just worked out to be cheaper that way. The trick is to not adjust the body clock. =)

Now I am at home in my own bed down in the basement wide awake at 11:15PM. My body says 9:15AM...   

Long time coming

Tuesday July 6

Well, we made the trip to Lira today. We have the goal of completing a kitchen expansion in 4 days. That is; demolishing a wall, pouring a new footing and slab, building up the walls, and then the roof. Right now the Lira kitchen is about 10' wide and 14' long. We will be making it into a 10' x 20' room. Our bus was scheduled to leave the Ridar Hotel at 6:15AM, but we ended up leaving at around 7:10AM. One of the Mums from Seeta was moving north to Lira, so our bus had to make a stop at the orphanage before it came to the Ridar. We had to go and pick up Betty 

at Christian Life Church after we left the Ridar, then 

once we got there, we started to smell something burning on the bus. Turns out the mechanic had over-tightened the brakes and they were smoking. We walked across the street, which is no cake walk, and had a brunch at a hotel that the Douglas's had stayed at before. It was quite nice. We finally got heading north around 9:30AM. I got to sit in the back of the bus, which was literally half full of bags and luggage, with 3 little orphans from Seeta. They fell asleep on me on a number of occasions. We got to Lira around 3:30 PM and dropped off a bunch of things at the Pauline Hotel, then went to the Lira Orphanage. Since we only have about 4 days to get the job done, we met with a contractor up here that is going to help us get everything that we need. We spent the afternoon and early evening running around getting tools and materials. We even wanted to go to the village today and start busting down the wall, but we couldn't find any sledge hammers. So we dropped off some form boards and went back to the Hotel for dinner. The food is actually very good here, I was quite impressed. Kirk and I are just chilling in our room just preparing to watch the Uruguay/Netherlands game.

Wednesday July 7

We had a largely productive day. We got to the orphanage this morning around 8:10AM, and our Lira contractor James had started laying out the footprint of the expansion. We had told him all along what we wanted to do, but he started doing it his way. We were so excited to be pouring a floor the way that we do in the US. We know why there are so many problems with the buildings in the orphanage, but the workers all build the buildings the same way. The floors crack, pit, and chunks come out of the floor leaving huge holes. We got the footings dug, the 

forms fabricated, and rock layed into the bottom of the forms. We even got the wall broken down and the concrete poured. We finished the pour and scraped off the excess concrete then went to the hotel to eat dinner, and then we went back to the orphanage and floated the concrete floor as best we could to make it smooth. I have to say that that is the best concrete work I have ever done. Not because it is the most quality finish, because its not, but because we had kids lined up watching us float the concrete in the light of bus headlights. I sweat more today than I think I ever have. I must have drank 4.5 liters liters and went to the bathroom but once. All the rest was sweat. It was pretty fun doing our thing with all the nationals standing around murmuring about what we were doing.. They must have thought that we are crazy Americans. I heard someone say that they can build a house with the amount of cement we used. I can say without a doubt, however, that we poured a quality floor. Francis the cook is very excited. I heard that the Container was delivered to the Seeta orphanage yesterday, and was inspected today. They want another $3000 on top of the $6000 we have already paid them to let us into it.

Thursday July 8

Mosquitoes attacked last night. Karlie Gonzalez got bit under both eyes last night, when she woke up her eyes were little swollen... also she had amazing sausage toes because mosquitoes hit up each of her knuckles on her feet... someone needs to take Malaria Prevention 101. We got to the orphanage today and the workers had stripped off our forms. I wanted them to leave them on for a bit longer than that, but what can you do. They are just doing what they know. They were setting brick this morning, and it ended up taking pretty much the whole day, so

Kirk, Steve, and I sat around for a while just doing whatever we could think of with the kids that were there. There is this one girl, Mercy, who had the longest fingernails. Kirk and I started referring to her as Wolverine. She seemed to like to go for the throat. Don't get me wrong, she is a sweetie; she just had long fingernails... and sharp. I played the role of David in a David and Goliath skit for Bible School. I worked with Francis, the cook, cooking beans. He makes them very well. They taste like the Campbell's bean with bacon soup. I love that stuff. I ate a couple bowls of that... then I decided that I would carve him a new stir paddle. The one he had was looking a little worn. We had a little mahogany left over from making our scaffolding. That's right; mahogany scaffolding. I have always considered Mahogany as pretty spendy stuff, but here it is like their basic 2x4 that we would buy at home depot. Later in the day, when we were about to take off, I was sitting around and the kids were all lined up to get new shoes. There was a really cool sunset, so I took a picture. Most of you know how I like Silhouette pictures.

Container update. So they opened it, inspected it, shut it, and the latest that I have heard is that they are asking around $10,000 on tariffs for us to access it. We paid it, but I feel like it might not be that worth the money. With that kind of money we could probably build 4 more houses, and fill them with children. They rip us so bad. The organization that is supposed to be helping us has not yet been able to get us registered with the Government or something like that. There was a 10 month waiting period, and we started the whole process in January. So hopefully this will be the last container that we get ripped on.

Friday July 9

Today was a far more significant day than I had realized. I didnt realize it until just after dinner. It was a day all about testimonies. One that touched me today in particular was my friend Tiffany's. She led bible study for the children here in Lira while I was doing construction. The study was about David and Bathsheba; how he sinned and found forgiveness with God. The kids had some great questions. One child asked about how they get forgiveness, or give forgiveness to someone that has since died. That opened up a number of questions in my mind. Then she said that a child asked, “Can I be forgiven if I have murdered someone?” ...”Can I be forgiven if I was forced to kill someone?” ...You never really think about it I guess. Maybe I just don't think about it, but these children in Lira; most have seen loved ones killed, killed people, have been forced to kill... in many cases even someone they loved. Sometimes I think that I have had a rough start at life, but now I find myself thinking, “Who am I, that I get to live the way that I do." So many things that I have taken for granted in my life; some I learned about the hard way, and some I get to learn from someone else. This tribe in particular was a target of Joseph Kony, whom I'm sure that many of you have heard about. “Invisible Children” does a great job at exposing and informing people about him. I will let you lean about him and what he did if you are interested, but getting to be part of people's lives who were directly impacted by him has really impacted me.

Compared to the testimonies about today that I heard, I feel a little like I didnt really do anything significant. Maybe the right word, instead of “significant”, would be “eternal”. Eternally significant? … I put Concrete in a kitchen, and patched floors. I poured a small foundation for a Barbeque, and a small chunk of concrete to help the water at their tap flow away and drain. Though I know this helps their immediate needs, Sometimes I have a hard time seeing anything but treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Here it also seems like everything you have will grow legs and run away when you are not looking, and here everything breaks ...all the time. Though this is all true, I like to think of it as a constant reminder that there is a bigger and better treasure that cant be destroyed or stolen. =) That is the treasure that we want to give them. All we can do is show them where to get it, and then they have to choose to accept it. The beauty of it all is that the treasure is a gift, and not a wage. You don't have to work for it. You just have to accept it.

Saturday July 10

Seems like the days are starting to blend together. We have almost finished the kitchen. I am getting to know the kids a little more. Since it is a different language, it is taking some getting used to. I don't really have any way of communicating with them other than English. I am understanding Luganda in the south to the point where I can communicate pleasantries, and essentials, but up here it is totally different. It almost sounds like an Asian dialect to me.

Bruce and Steve spent a good amount of time scrubbing creosote off of the existing walls. The kitchen in some places I would say had creosote up to 1/4” thick. The container came the other day, so Bruce and Robert took the bus down to Kampala to get the stoves that we wanted to install, clothes, shoes, a stereo for the Lira children, bed sheets; plenty of things. I got the Stereo jamming with some Hillsong United, and did my usual fetching water. I finished the BBQ, and kept workers supplied with Mortar for brick laying. During bible study, I don't know if it was today or yesterday, but this little girl, Mercy, totally ate a green crayon. Her teeth were Forrest green. It was pretty cute. Two girls at the orphanage are total hams. Mercy and Rita. They are about the same age. I am feeling pretty delirious. I am sitting out in the main room of the Pauline hotel fighting sleep, and mosquitoes. The Germany/Uruguay game is on, but I might have to call it quits for the night. I believe that the girls are trying to play Settlers of Catan on Kirk's and my bed right now too. I feel like this posting is going to be the longest one ever because I haven't had any internet since I have been in Lira.

Monday July 12

I had the most awesome Happy Birthday sang to me yesterday at the Lira Orphanage. We went for church with the children, then back to the hotel to change, then at 3:00PM they gave us a “production”. They had their choir sing and dance a number of songs for us. I swear, they are the best children's choir ever. They sing so beautifully. After the production we started to disperse, and someone tipped the kids off that it was my birthday, even though I had 2 more days, they surrounded me and all sang me a 3 verse happy birthday song.. Ill never forget that one.

Today we set off back for Kampala, taking a minor detour and stopping over at Red Chilli before we get there. Red Chilli is a small safari camp in North West Uganda close to Congo and Lake Albert. It sits right on the Blue Nile. We take a boat safari up to see Murchison Falls and back again. It covers a small amount of the river, but we see tons of wildlife. If Jerry's Rogue Jets wanted to make a sister company, this would be a great place for it. The boats are not so much designed for speed and going over rapids as just putting up river and slowing down to look at Crocodile, Hippo, Elephant, birds, and whatever else may be in the water or getting a drink.

We checked into our first room/hut just a little while ago. And there are some warthogs meandering through the place. Just doing their think looking for food. I guess if you have any food in a tent, they will rip through the tent to get it. So they advise against it. Our food is mostly safe; on the bus.

I brought Deb and Gav (Red Chilli managers) a summer sausage. I remember last time we were here we gave them the rest of the one that we had, and they loved it. So I wanted to be sure to bring them one again. Right now our party of 14 is sitting under a huge grass roof looking out over the Blue Nile into part of Uganda. This is a great place.

Thrusday July 15

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I have typed let alone posted on the blog. Now that I an back at the Ridar, I can now access the internet once again. We had a great time at Red Chilli's. We stayed two nights, and hit up Murchison Falls on the way back to Kampala. After our fist night, we went on a morning boat safari up the Nile to the falls. We had a little time once we got back to the camp, so the younger people decided to take a trip in the bus to the top of the falls and hike down some trails to the bottom of the falls. We fought the Tsetse flies all the way there, and then they just left us alone. It started pouring once we got to the trail head, and by the time we started descending, we were all soaked. I was freaking out because I didn't think the bus would be able to get out of the place since the roads are all dirt and clay. I was wrong, we got out. The rain seemed to stir up the flies for some reason, and we were literally under attack on the way back to the camp by the Tsetse flies. They would chase the bus until it slowed down, then try to fly in through all the windows and bite us...

Ok, so we left Red Chilli's, hit up the falls one more time, and came back to Kampala where we met up with the portion of our team that was on their way to the airport to come back home. We went through the shopping centers and rode the bus with the team to the airport, then finally returned back at the Ridar around 10:30PM

Today, we got to go back to the Seta village and tossed some more brick around. They have gotten so much completed since I have been in Lira. The walls are above my head.. I know that isn't saying too much, but come on... We heard that there was a boys football game at the school they attend, so many of us wanted to go and see that. The game was really cool, our teams all won all their games!! I made a Vuvuzela (Horn) for it our of PVC pipe and was blowing it the whole day. We ended the day at the football and Netball field, and came back to the Ridar.

I know that some of you may have heard about a bomb going off in Kampala the other day/week. I was in Lira, and our team was not affected. Apparently it was Somalians targeting Ugandan nationals because there are Ugandan peace keeping forces in Somalia that they don't want there. We were no where near the bomb, and are all safe. There were lives lost; mostly Ugandans and 1 American.

Its getting slower, the team is shrinking as people are going home and we are really realizing that this year's team has been very close. Ill be making a short stay in Portland before I go to Italy very soon.  

Happy 4th!

Saturday July 3

Today is Winnie and Levi's Wedding!!! I started writing down thoughts on the way to the church. I was riding on the 25 passenger van packed in there listening to “Snow Patrol” just thinking about the wedding. I can only imagine what is happening in Levi's head. He isn't the most outgoing guy, and to be put on stage in front of so many people is way out of his comfort zone. The Ugandan culture is VERY into dancing. However, he is so in love with Winnie that it didn't really matter all that much to him, he was just ready to be wed. They were both so happy. I can only imagine the difficulty in having a relationship over such a distance. For anyone that doesn't know the story, Winnie was one of our interpreters the 2^nd year we came when we installed the water collection system. We split all our missionaries up and paired them with interpreters. Winnie and Levi were paired. The rest is as you might imagine. Now they are married. They are still having problems with the US Embassy though. I dont know if anyone knows someone that works for the US Embassy, or immigration, but they could sure use some help. It has been looking like they are going to have to wait for 9 months to a year before Winnie can come back with him. That situation still needs prayer. I took photos for him at the ceremony. He asked me if I would, alongside the Ugandan Photographers; just in case. I was happy to do so. I ended up taking around 1400 pictures. When I went to bed, I passed out pretty hard. I ended up sleeping in till 7:45 the next morning, which is 45 minutes later than I have yet been able to.

Sunday July 4

Happy 4^th of July!!

Today we have church at the Village with all the children. I think that the service at Christian Life Church is very beautiful, but service at the Orphan village is truly amazing. When you hear all the little children singing at the top of their lungs... they are incredibly rhythmic, and full of singing power. Children's Choirs are the most amazing thing to hear for me. In this case, its not a children's Choir, there are just 700 children packed into the church and every one of them is singing as loud as they can. This is Godfrey and I in the Church building waiting for the P7 children to eat their lunch and come back into the church so we can start our study. I was supposed to teach P7 bible study today, but what ended up happening is that all the children that I was supposed to teach came really late, and I had to head to meet up with the Turners for a 4^th of July Celebration. I thought that I was going to be getting more tea, but Darrie didn't head west when he got home due to sickness. So, no tea. ...but the little party was fun. We had a great time catching up; the Gosveners, Turners, and I.

Ok, so best story of the Day: Sheala Pritchard was so tired when she got off the plane, she just recently confessed to brushing her teeth with hand lotion before she went to bed... don't quite know how you make that mistake, but she did. must have been tired...   disgusting.   Love her to death.

Catching up...

I must apologize, I usually like to have more pictures in my blog, but I haven't been slinging my camera like I usually do. I will get more for you.

Monday June 28

I found out last night that today is the day that we start our older kids's bible study. I would be lying if I said that I was totally ready for it. However, in his usual way, God gave me the words to speak in front of around 150 children. Natalie Caminiti and I are leaders for the older children in a study on the life of David. It was really neat to get the children in the church and have them so attentive... I wasn't surprised at their attention, but it was cool. I cant remember ever being in front of that many people and not being nervous either.

I hear that the container is now 150 miles away from the orphanage, and we can expect it as early as tomorrow. That would be really amazing to see it come in. The stoves for Lira are on the container. We need to have it here before we can go. I never thought that it would get here this early when they told us where it was. That will be a HUGE answer to prayer.

Construction went well today. I stopped around 1:00PM for lunch, then worked on the bible study material, but while we were working, I got to work with the nationals leveling dirt inside the foundation walls so that they can compact and prepare it to pour a slab. I got to meet Pastor Jackson's daughter Elizabeth for the first time. She is a really sweet girl; lots of fun to work with and talk to. She has no accent. I felt a little weird, almost out of place talking to her because my natural Uganda enunciation comes out when I talk to people here. I don't have to worry about it with her. Its pretty impressive that she is so fluent, then I learned that she doesn't know Luganda all that well (still way better than any of us...), and has spent most of her life in Texas. It doesn't change the fact that she is a cool girl.

Levi and Winnie are very excited, Levi has been working with the US Embassy to get Winnie a visa, but it has been a very up-hill battle for him, so that would be a great thing for you to pray for. Pray also for the container, and for God to use me for his purposes.

Tuesday June 29

Had some more great progress at the work site today. We have gotten to the point where, in the Ugandan construction process, where we are placing large pieces of quartz into the floors. That the slab is going to be poured over. I guess they do this to fill space and conserve on concrete costs... who knows. So whenever we walk from the orphanage to the hotel with some of the interpreters, we inevitably end up getting scolded more or less to watch out for Boda-bodas. They tend to drive extra close to you. It gets annoying sometimes, but today I got nailed by a handlebar or a mirror or something. The guy on the bike flew past me, and he had a ton of room on the other side which makes me believe that it may have been intentional. Basically it made me bleed a little bit at the elbow, but turned out to be just a scratch that bled pretty well... Now I have a huge band-aid...

Wednesday June 30

Today was so tiring. I just felt drained all day. This usually happens to me at some point on the trip. There is always a day when the work that you have been doing catches up to you and you get slammed with the desire to sit in the shade and nap. You are tired, just from working every day, the sun is extra hot and saps your energy, didn't get a ton of sleep the night before; basically its a perfect storm. You just are dragging all day. I still went out there and tossed rocks around, then went and did my P5(4^th Grade) bible study. The study went well despite my sleepiness. The children learned about how God wants to be their friend forever. We told them the story of David, how God gave him a friend he could trust through difficult times like when King Saul was trying to kill him. We had delicious Uganda BBQ tonight again. It was awesome, as usual. I had 4 pieces of steak, and 2 pieces of chicken. I also have been wrestling with the hot water here at the Hotel. When the power goes out, which is all the time, we lose our water heater for a couple days. I have a hypothesis... a breaker gets tripped and they just don't go and turn it back on... so then when you are just about to go to bed, you are thinking you will take a shower and be clean, you have to take a freezing one.. its a real downer.

Thursday July 1

Have you ever traversed treacherous rocky landscapes with a wheel barrel full of concrete on a wooden plank? ...I have. There is a decent concrete mixer right in the middle of the worksite and we transport the concrete to the edges of the building with wheel barrels. ...and I swear, if the wheel barrels were Go-Carts, I got the bad one. It felt as if there was a break engaged at all times. Try pushing that full of concrete over a few boards that are teetering on big quartz rocks. It was an experience to say the least. ...”its all for Jesus.” That's what I keep saying in my head. =)

Friday July 2

I had a neat God moment that began yesterday. I was talking with Joan (my sponsored child). She was telling me that one of her older sisters had a problem with her eyes. So I asked if they were pink, and she told me they were. I thought about it real fast and I remembered I had pink eye a few months back. I went to Dr. Bruce and he got me a prescription for some pink eye medication, and it was a decent little bottle; not one of those 2 drops each eye, each day for 3 days kinds of prescriptions. It was a 4 drops, each eye, each day for 2 weeks kind of prescription. I remembered holding it in my hand and contemplating whether or not I should be packing it in my bag; whether or not I would even need it. Well, I did; I put it in my little first aid kit. So when Joan told me about the problem, I immediately remembered it and thought, “God is amazing.” I knew I put that little bottle in my bag for a reason. So today, first thing, when Bus 1 got to the orphanage I went straight to her house. To my surprise, not 1, but 4 of the girls had the nastiest looking eye infections that I have seen. I gave them each a drop in each eye 3 times during the day, and by the end of the day their eyes looked exponentially better. I left the bottle with their Mum, Annette, and said 2 more drops in each eye tomorrow and Ill be back on Sunday to check on them. I felt like a doctor. I then learned later that evening that those 4 girls were out of around 40 children that were infected... so Bruce hooked me up with some more eye juice to take to them. What are the chances...

Team 2 arrived tonight. I cant wait to meet up with them. I also had a small world moment; I learned that one of the ladies (Linda, formerly Bergstrom) on the trip used to spend time with my Uncle Jim Wright when he was just a little guy. She knew all about my past, and kind of blew my out of the water when she told me. She said that she remembered praying for my siblings and I when we were younger in her prayer group.

Container is in Kampala right now and may come to the orphanage as early as Saturday!!!

Wednesday June 23

We went to the orphan village today, and got to reconnect with all the children. It was amazing. I have to say that this time was a little different for me than the previous arrivals. The children made me feel as if I had come home after a 5 month trip. They were alongside the bus just wanting to touch our hands as we drove up. It was really amazing. I was making eye contact with seemingly endless numbers of familiar faces that were smiling uncontrollably.

The flight yesterday was long, and as usual somewhat boring. I have to say that for the first time, I was not wanting to watch movies, or listen to my iPod. I also succumbed to the desire to sleep on the second flight. I am terrible at sleeping on planes; my feet go numb, my neck hangs, and I can never breathe through my nose because it always is so plugged by all the dust circulating in the air. I got through it though. I actually ordered special meals, so I was eating kosher the whole time. The cool thing about it is that aside from being pretty delicious, you get your food up to 30 minutes before any one else. Everyone thought I was Jewish too.... I was constantly like.. “No, no... I'm not Jewish, I just special ordered kosher meals”. They got a kick out of it.

Thursday June 24

Today was our first real day of working. Alarm on my watch has been going off at around 7AM every morning, but I have woken up just before that both mornings too. I actually am waking up at 4AM wide awake, then forcing myself back to sleep and waking up at the usual time. My roommates this year are Kirk and Jake(we call him Hoss). We eat breakfast together, then we all board the bus at 8:30. Today, the construction team went on the first bus. We wanted to get started helping out with the school as soon as we could. We leveled off an area for the container when it arrives and there was a lot of moving brick but that is about it. Kirk did some brick laying, but for the most part they don't yet trust us enough to let all of us jump in and really work side by side. By moving brick we save them a lot of energy and time, so that is fine with me; whatever we can do to help! We finished working around 3PM and went to play with the kids. I got to watch the school use the soccer field for the first time with an organized team. That was rewarding. There has also been a Netball court installed at one end of the field. Netball is like basketball only there is no dribbling and no backboard. The girls like to play netball, the boys like to play football. The bus leaves the orphanage around 5:30PM every day; some people walk. Once we get back to the hotel, many people have been going to the pool. I went the first day, but this time I decided to do some blogging. Dinner starts around 7PM, and then we have our team meeting and prayer around 8PM. Then its off to our rooms for the most part, and so far everyone has been too pooped to do anything but go to bed.

Friday June 25

Still haven't slept through the night. I think it has to do more with the sunburn from yesterday than the time zone. Fought my way through the Mosquito net around 6:30AM and had a nice devotional. I always head down to the pool to do that as there inst anyone down there and its pleasant, so I can have my “Good Morning” time with God. When we got to the orphanage, we did our stretches again, and divided up into two groups. My group needed to get water to the construction site by digging a 250' ditch, laying the water line in and covering it back up. I was proud, we did it in 1½ hours. It was a quite productive day. We finished it all off with a little game of football with the orphans; we tied 2-2.

Sunday June 26

Winnie and Levi had their Kwanjura (Introduction) today. This is a tribal marriage tradition where the men dress in white dresses (called “Kanzu” in singular form) with a sport coat over it. Traditionally the men aren't supposed to be wearing anything underneath, but these days they all remain with their trousers. The women put on a Traditional Ugandan dress called a “Gomesi”.. cant really explain, but check out the picture of Winnie and Levi; she is in one. The Groom and his family are welcomed by the Bride and her family. The ceremony was quite interesting. We had all our prep at the orphanage, and traveled to Winnie's home village, which is Northeast of 

Kampala somewhere; further out from the orphan village. While at the Orphanage, I went to get some water that we have in the room of a house there, and noticed that someone had a nice big piece of beef! I later found out that it was part of the dowry, but if I were in charge of putting it somewhere, I also would have put it there. Logistically it makes the most sense. Anyways, to make a long day short; we parade into the village in our traditional dress, we sit on one side with the bride's family on the other, groups of around 6 girls at a time dance out in front of us and all greet us in the name of Jesus and try to find Levi. I'm not too sure what the purpose of this is, but its tradition. More and more groups are brought out until finally someone who knows Levi is brought out (Winnie). She then says that she knows who he is, and walks back and forth through the Groom's family searching for him. Once she finds him she takes him to her side and introduces him to her family. The dowry is then paid (which is a ton of stuff), and to finalize it Levi presents Winnie's brother with a rooster and says “Muko nkuwa enkoko eno ompe Winnie.” This means, “Brother-in-law, I give you this Rooster to give me Winnie.” They expected him to say it in English, but he really impressed them by saying it in Luganda. Then there is food, cake.... and thats about it.. we all filed into a line and greeted Winnie personally on our way out of the Village. The day went from around 8:30AM to around 8:00PM. It was very hot in my Kanzu and sport coat. It stuck to my body because of all the sweat and restricted my steps, but it was totally worth it. I got tons of pictures of the whole thing, and Winnie was absolutely gorgeous. We then arrived back at the Ridar and watched the US get beat by Ghana... were going to get a ton of flak for that. =)

Team Photo!!!!

Here is the 2010 Abundant Life Church, Ukids Uganda team.  The guy 2nd from the left, top row (Andrew Millikan) gets the award for best face. Notice the cast/brace thing on his arm? yeah, he messed it up playing basketball. That guy is coming to Italy along with me when we get back from Africa. ... Great face though. I am in the red shirt front row. next to the thumbs up. I know that God is going to use this team to do some awesome work. ONE MORE WEEK!!!!

The Mission Season

I recently was approached by a man named Dennis Quick. He is from my church and leads a mission team to Italy; has been for the last 2 years I believe. When he spoke to me, he asked me if I could come to Italy on his team.. I wanted to so badly, but I told him that it was just going to be too hard with the Africa trip to make it work out. I mean, the Italy trip was going to cost around $2,500 on top of the $3,500 that I was already supposed to raise for Africa. I left him that day with the notion that if God wanted me on the rip the funding would come. I told him to start selling my chairs. If I could just sell some more chairs!! I might come up with the money that I need to make it a reality. a few days later I looked into what it was going to cost me to cancel my flight home and instead do a flight from Uganda to Rome, then Rome to Portland. It was looking like $3,000 dollars just to change my flight. I was very distraught. I sent Dennis an email telling him what I found out. He called me a day later and asked, "Why did you send me this terrible message? What do you mean you don't think you can do it?"

     I told him, "Dennis, my supporters are exhausted. I have already asked them for support for Africa, how can I ask them to also support a trip to Italy? Unless you have an order for around 20 chairs for me, I don't see how this is going to happen."

     "Don't worry about the money."
     "What do you mean don't worry about the money?!"
     "Its taken care of."
     "The plane ticket is taken care of?"
     "The money is taken care of."
     "....So, ...what does that mean? Do I not need to pay for my ticket?"
     "Just don't worry about it."
     "What about lodging and food? what do I need to fund?"
     "You need to bring enough money to pay for what you want to bring back."
     "Thats it?!"
     "Thats it."
... I didn't believe it. I have to say my reaction was probably not what he was expecting. I wasn't jumping up and down, I just stood there trying to understand what he just said. Looks like I am going to be doing two more mission trips to add onto my January trip this year! Later we started to talk more logistically about the details of the trip. It just so happens that the Africa trip ends a whole day before the Italy team starts. I found that it is cheaper for me to fly all the way home, hang out for a day, and then fly all the way back to Rome than it is to fly from Uganda to Rome. I can already tell that I am going to have an awesome day on the 21st of July. If I don't stay on Italy time, I am going to be a train wreck when I get back to Europe. So, the Italy trip will be in Naples, Italy and I will be there for 2 weeks. We are going to be working at an English speaking camp for college age people who are wanting to practice their English. I'm really stoked.

Raising Funds

Last Friday and Saturday, I worked a garage sale with Debbie Douglas. We had quite a number of items that were donated. We really had a great time. I wasn't aware how much really goes into a garage sale... Had an early start; we drove around stapling signs on telephone poles of some of the major streets in the area. The signs are a huge deal. most of the people that came to the sale were there just because of the signs.. We put an add in Craigslist, and in The Oregonian but the signs were the main draw. If any of you ever do garage sales, here is a tip on the signs. Big yellow neon paper that says "GARAGE SALE" then a separate neon yellow paper with an arrow that you can staple in any direction. Make a couple sets of those and a few extra arrows and you should do great.. Everyone said "Oh we loved the signs! They were so easy to follow." Another big factor is location. Obviously someone out in the country is going to have a harder time than someone in the heart of Portland's residential neighborhoods. It took a good 2 hours to setup the first time, and around a half hour to setup the second. We sold enough on the first day that we could mostly just move set tables in and out of the Garage. You do, however, always manage to get the early birds that come before everything is out. and that happened both days. They would see the signs, and just start coming. There is definitely a science about the whole thing. Everyone at garage sales likes to barter, so we would just tell them upfront why we were having the sale, and some people decided to make the purchase, and donate additional money for our cause. I had a great time and we managed to make a decent chunk of cash to help pay for plane tickets.  It was a success.

Preparing for 2010

Its almost been a year since the last team trip. I was able to make a trip in January on a small team of 4 to talk to some of our people in Uganda to find out what we would be doing for the summer trip. I once again was able to stay after the team left and build relationships with the children at the orphanage. I led bible studies, and participated in the life of an orphan; doing what they do, eating what they eat, and sleeping where they sleep. My total time there was around 5 weeks.

Since I have been back, we have been doing fund raisers, having meetings, and preparing to go. We will be having a luau to help with fund raising. I know, the first thing you think of when you think of Uganda is Hawaii... at least that is what I think of. =) Even though it mostly has nothing to do with Africa, the one very important thing is that its for Africa. We figured, everyone likes Hawaii.. Everyone likes Hawaiian food.. I know all you older guys have at least 3 Hawaiian shirts that you need an excuse to wear. Well, here is your excuse. Its going down May 16th at Abundant Life Church in Happy Valley, OR at 5:00PM. If you want to help My team and I get to Uganda this year, this would be a fun opportunity to bring your family and have a fun time ...and eat some good food. $10 for adults, $5 for kids, and $35 for a family. You can prepay for your tickets, or buy some at the door when you come in. We would ideally like to presell so that we know how much food we should be buying, but I would love to see my supporters come to it.

I have been trying to raise some cash to pay for the trip this year. I have been getting donations from my supporters which have been a huge help! As of now, my funding is around $1,700. I have been trying to be creative and explore new ways of raising money, so I thought I would try making deck furniture like I did back in High School, and sell those to make a profit that could go directly into my mission account. So I have been creating these chairs that everyone seems to like, but I cant say many are in a real hurry to pay for them. I can assure you however that the chairs are of the utmost quality. the connections are glued and screwed, the screws are all countersunk with dowell plugs. The seats and backrests are cedar, and the frame is hemlock and fir. Check out my pictures!!! the chairs are $150 each, which I think is a steal for the quality. ... Here I am trying to make a sale on all of you, but really. If you know anyone that might be interested, let me know. Like I said earlier all of the profits go to the 2010 Uganda Mission. Send me an email @ small.neil@gmail.com, or gie me a call @ 503.504.3322 if you can help me out.

That is really the latest but I am going to try and blog again this time, so Ill send out the notification emails just like I did last time. thanks for reading!!