Lira trip #1 and baptisms at the Ridar

Wednesday 6/22/11

I knew I was heading to Lira so I was pretty excited in the morning. This is what you can buy from vendors on the side of the road. BBQ Maze, an Kasava. the Kasava tastes like french fries..  I could not think of any names in Lira, but I could remember faces.. Faces you can not forget. I went to the Seeta orphanage to try and get some work done knowing that I was just going to be going back to the hotel and pack up my things to head North, so I felt almost like it was a last day of school... but not. So I worked on a retaining wall.. I kept filling old cement bags with the dirt that we were removing from the construction site. The construction side of me is wondering why we aren't actually working on the school right now, but I know that our primary reason for coming is not to work on the school. It is to work on the children's hearts. We were supposed to be finishing classrooms when we got here, but we knew that it may not end up being that way. We don't want to step on toes, we want to show everyone here that our heart is to do the work that God wants us to do, not that we can come and get angry at construction workers for having not completed the amount of work that we had hoped for. Its just the same as the last lesson that I taught the children from Matthew. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. If we don't show mercy, Our God in heaven will not show us mercy. We will be held to the standard by which we measure. Besides all that, Bruce eventually came on the second bus and let me know that we had about 15 minutes before we were heading back to the hotel to get our gear before we head to Lira. I thought that it might be a good idea to take the filter skid up north when we go so that we can build the pump house around the filter skid, so that was packed onto the bus along with around 8 large duffel bags of shoes and clothes. I got back onto the bus and we took off. We loaded up our overnight things from the Ridar Hotel, and we were soon heading back through Kampala and north to Lira. It took us around 5 hours to get to Lira. we left at 11:30am, and arrived at 4:30pm. 

 We went straight to the orphanage and met many of the children returning from school. The kids in Lira are a little different from the children in Seeta. When they come home from school or greet you at any time, they always come up to you and they touch their knees to the ground when they shake your hand. They are so humble. They show so much respect that I can not help but think even more highly of them. They are adorable. We met with the contractors that night. they showed up and we instructed them on what we were looking for, and a time frame on when we would need it to be completed. We ordered a 3 meter by 3 meter room that would have no windows and a solid locking door. There will be a water tower with two tanks. One on the ground, and one three meters off the ground. The city water will be pumped into the tank on the ground, then it will be filtered and sent up into the tank that is sitting on top of the tower. That way they have water pressure. I saw the three phase power that the government brought in from the street. It looks pretty nice. the community is so happy that Pastor Jackson had that done. all of them are telling us that they would love to begin paying the orphanage to connect power to their homes and businesses in the area. After we showed the contractors what we wanted, we had a few minutes to spend with the children before we had to go check in at the "Gracious Palace Hotel". This is a new Hotel with Christian owners that has started in Lira recently. It was recommended by multiple people, so we thought that we would try it out one night and the Pauline Hotel the next and compare the two. Which ever hotel had the least cockroaches we would call the winner. It was across town, and there were only two rooms. We gave Robert one and Bruce told them that I was his son, so I got to sleep in a bed with Bruce. I don't know if I should say anything about that... Lets just say that he sleeps with his good ear to the pillow, and grabs the sheet when he turns. Not a whole heck of a lot that I can do about it. As a missionary, I need to be able to adapt to different situations and work with what I have to get the job completed. The night was a little longer than they have been since I have been here, but it was quite alright in the end.

Thursday 6/23/11

We woke up around 7:30am and had a little breakfast. We met Robert out at a table near where they were going to be serving, but there was no food ready yet, so we just sat and went over our daily devotional. In case I haven't said it yet, our devotional is on Romans. Its a beautiful way to start a day. The hot water for tea came out, so we all went over and got some tea. I saw Cockroaches darting between the cups and thermos, around the sugar... They are fast little buggers. If you can get past the little guys the tea is actually really good. I think I counted around 5 of them. We checked out after breakfast and headed back to the Orphanage. We met Sam (Our Contractor), and watched a little as they started to break ground. I think Ugandans can dig faster with a Hoe than we can with a Backhoe. its really pretty amazing. There were a few things that we needed to get from town that the workers were going to need, so we got in Sam's car and headed in. We checked out some Water Storage tanks. We figured that 200o Liter tanks should be enough. One tank for city water, and the other for potable water. We also stopped by the metal fab shop, where they weld up the tower. We bought all the materials, and I drew them up a quick sketch for them to follow. So we will see how accurate they can get. When we got back to the orphanage, Bruce was running low on Shillings, so we had to head over to one of the banks to get some more. The first two banks were willing to give us decent exchange rates, but would not give us 50,000 shilling bills. (~2300 shillings / 1 Dollar) they only wanted to give us 10,000 shilling bills which would have been 480 bills; a bag filled with cash... We had to finish paying Sam so that the building would be completed by the time we got back on July 4th. We paid him around 3/4 of the total cost, The rest to be paid upon completion. We ended up buying a few more things. We got a new wheel barrel for the Village, new Hoes for the Mums, and Mosquito nets for some of the houses that didn't have any. When we got back to the orphanage after our second trip into Lira, we spent the next couple of hours hanging mosquito nets over the children's bunk beds. It reminded me of a few years back when we wired lights and switches into the houses.. it was no 125 degrees, but I definitely started to sweat when I got up on that ladder. I think Lira in general is quite a bit hotter than Kampala. I think just sitting outside it had to be in the 90s. The children all come back from school around 5:00.. Once they get back they start their prayers and praise. They all get in a circle and one or two of them take turns leading, and the rest follow. The songs all have moments where the kids do their moves all at the same time. Jumping, shouting. its all pretty awesome. I had a little bit of Francis's beans that he makes for the kids. He makes them taste really good. I would put it up past Campbell soups. its that good. This picture is all the mums in the morning hanging out in the kitchen preparing food for when the children come home. We said our goodbyes for now, and headed to the Pauline Hotel. We got there as it was getting dark, but to walk there literally takes 3 minutes. 

They were happy to see us. I think we were the only ones at the hotel for a while. We all got our own rooms. I was looking forward to a nice nights sleep. They gave me the "royal suite 1"... it was quite a bit larger than the others. the only difference was more closet space, and a nice padded chair. I think Id just prefer a small room. The bed was very large as well. I will say that I took a shower and drank one of my favorite sodas at the same time.. it was nice. We went to get some food. I think the Pauline makes good food. I ordered fried chicken and chips and it only took about an hour for them to make. Score! after dinner we all went back to our rooms. I got all ready for bed, and flipped down the mosquito net, pulled the cover back and saw something move... Threw the covers back really far to see if I could see it again, and sure enough; a cockroach. after strip searching my bed for more cockroaches, I put it back together, tucked the mosquito net back in, and crawled into bed. I figured if I felt something crawl across my chest in the middle of the night, I would just swat it off of me and roll over; go back to sleep.

Friday 6/24/11

So the morning came, there was thunder and Lightning that night. It always amazes me the power of the thunder here. I swear it is louder and rolls longer than the thunder back home. I think the lightning is a little more aggressive too. I woke up and was out of my room before Bruce, or Robert. so I went to the breakfast buffet and poured myself some African Tea, sat down at a table, and did my devotional. I listened to some worship music, and had some prayer time. I wish I could start every day that way. Bruce and Robert caught up with me, and we checked out of the Pauline Hotel and drove back to the orphanage. The children were gone, but we got the chance to spend time with the Mums while we waited for the Contractor to show up.. He said that he could have it done in 10 days, so we are counting on that. he eventually showed up around 11:00am. We had been waiting for a solid 3 hours. We needed to get him funds so that he could buy materials. We handed the money off, and had some grilled maze that the Mums made for us, and we took off. The drive back to Kampala went faster than the drive up to Lira.. 

We passed a pretty nasty looking wreck. It was a huge semi type truck that had been towing double trailers... One trailer was on one side of the road, and the main part of the truck was on the other flipped on their sides. When we drove by, Bruce said that he saw a considerable amount of blood on the back side of it. There were tons of people there around it. There wasn't anything we could do but keep driving by. Another reminder of how short life is... We made record time back to Kampala, but once we started getting into the city we hit really heavy traffic. We passed a few more accidents. traffic, traffic, accident. We eventually got back to the Hotel and I pretty much flopped onto my bed and started to pass out. The team came back home from the orphanage, we had dinner, and then I went back to my room popped my malaria pill, and passed our for real.

Saturday 6/25/11

My feet and ankles are pretty much solid bug bites. The bites that don't itch anymore, I have scratched off to the point that i bleed and a scab forms. then I manage to scratch the scab off because it is so close to another bug bite and it gets collateral damage. It is non stop scratching. 

We were all supposed to have our free day today. This is the opportunity to do a little shopping, see the Nile, see some wildlife, and just relax. so that is what we did. I have to say that I have seen everything that we saw today 5 times now. so I cant say that anything was so spectacular to me, but I am always reminded of the beauty and power of the world that God created. It is just impossible to capture it all on a picture. You cant really grasp the scale and volume of the water that moves through this,, or the size of the rapid... this picture is just the top of it. I always try to take a picture of the bottom where it looks a little more violent, but all you get on a picture is white.. We got to take the interpreters with us to see Bujugali falls, and the source of the Nile in Jinja. It is always fun to take them, because sometimes you find out that even though they live an hour or two away, they have never seen the falls, or the source of the Nile... which blows me away.

Sunday 6/26/11

We got to sleep in again today. We had to be on the bus heading to the orphanage at 9:30, so that gave me some time to wake up and have a nice breakfast. I had my usual morning drink.. 1 scoop of instant coffee.. 1 scoop cocoa powder, 1 scoop sugar, half milk, half hot water. Bam! The agenda was to get on the bus, go have church at the orphanage with the children. Dr. Bruce and Mr. Mark were going to speak. I like to play a part in the messages if I can, so Dr Bruce spoke on distraction. He challenged them to see if they could resist being distracted when God has a message to tell them.. so I got to fly a remote helicopter out over the sea of children to get their attention so Bruce could prove a point. Not only was every child watching the helicopter, as was all of the interpreters, Mums, and our team. I guess it worked. They were held captive to distraction. So Bruce got to roll that into his message. It was all planned of course. I didn't just grab a helicopter and fly it in the middle of a sermon for attention. When Church was over I had an opportunity to hang out with the kids. I was in Joan's house with all of the girls in the house. I got to give Joan her water bottle full of hygiene things. She was so excited to have a new flashlight and everything else that I put into it. I almost missed the bus back the the Hotel. We had to get back for baptisms. We had about 108 children and some of the mums brought to be baptized at the Ridar pool. The whole team had stations assigned to them.

Mine was orientation. I got to welcome the Children and the Mums off the bus, sit them all down and go over the procedures and what it means to be baptized, the meaning of foot washing, pray for them, and send them on their way to the next station. We had 3 buss loads from the orphanage. There were a total of around 125 people baptized today. I got to run up and snag my camera just as they were baptizing some of the last children. This picture is of Pastor Jackson Senyonga pulling a child up out of the water... Washed by the water. I got to walk the children back to the bus, and talk with them for a while as they sat waiting to leave.

 I love those moments. When you get to know the kids on a more personal level outside of formalities. This picture is me with my buddy Godfrey. He has the biggest white smile and huge dimples. I always see him following me around. He is a very sweet kid. When the 3rd bus took the last load of children back to the orphanage, the swimming day started with the interpreters. Like a complete idiot, I forgot my swim trunks... So I haven't swam yet, but I did sit in the sun for a little bit. We had dinner, then there was a game night in my room. We always play games on the trip. They seem to be Mission only games too. I only seem to play them with team members... They are a blast though. Around 10:00pm we shut it down, and I opened my computer and started to type. Most of what I have written has been at night, and I do it in such a quantity that I don't really want to go back and proof read it. So please just deal pretend that you don't see the errors.

Monday 6/27/11

I heard a couple stories tonight after dinner. The team sat around in a meeting and we exchanged stories about how we have seen God working. Debbie shared something that I thought was quite amazing. It may not sound so huge, but I think it is. Part of our team is dedicated to working the the Mums at the orphanage. They are such a large role in the lives of the children and have so much influence that the team is crucial. Every year we do a ladies day out where we take the... I am not on the Mums team, this is what Debbie shared in the meeting. We take the mums out of the orphanage and treat them to something special. In the past we have done hair stylists, manicures, pedicures... girl stuff that really gets them excited. This year they threw a tea party for them. they had all kinds of teas to choose from, cupcakes, candies, fruits, breads, whatever. Someone had donated some money to buy tables that the Mums could put into their houses because many of them don't have tables. The only thing was that there were only enough tables for about 11 of the now 85 homes that are there. So they decided to take a drawing. Debbie mixed up the names of all the mums that needed a table into a jar and prayed over it that God would decide since he knows best. As the names were drawn, someone pointed out that one of the names it looked like Debbie had picked intentionally because of the way she was standing; almost facing the wall. She had seen the name that she had drawn, and decided that its only fair to redraw so that they know it is not us that are making the decisions. So she put the name in, shook the jar, and reached down deeper into the pile to get a for sure random name, and it was the same name... When she told that story I knew that it was God. There was another story about a girl from Lira named Susan. She is one of the first orphans that Christian Life Ministries took in. When you see her now, she is tall and beautiful, and you can see in her eyes that there joy. David Mcintosh shared about when he washed her feet during baptisms, he noticed the scars on her feet from when she was young. they were not scars like that of someone being cut by nature, but scars that were intended to cause pain. He described them as cigarette burns that were done in a line up her feet. For 5 years she ran from the Rebel army to avoid being a child soldier and lived in the bush after her parents were killed. The Government found her and ushered her into and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp where she was noticed by Mum Betty. Mum Betty took her and told her that she was now her daughter. From that point on she has been under the care of Christian Life Ministries receiving an education and being well fed with a roof over her head. I can only imagine the things that her eyes have seen. She is only about 17 years old now which means that she was probably 9 or 10 when she was taken in. 

That night we had a game night in my room.. It is always a good time. I love to pack the people around the bed and play some cards for a whileThe workers for the school didn't show until about 11:00am today. So, we hunted and pecked for things to keep us busy for the first part of the day. I decided that since the workers weren't there I would put people on helping me clean out and organize the container that we sent last year. After that the workers had showed and they started mixing concrete for the ceiling of the school. Around noon I had to split off to start working on my lesson. As it turned out there were not as many students as there were last week, and we ended up combining the two groups into one. Mark and Spike did most of the teaching and I just more or less watched as they did it. I think for the rest of the week I will just move out to help pour concrete since I think I am needed more out there than in the classroom until our next group. I stayed a little later to take care of a little more business with the kids, and then walked home with the Interpreters as it started to get dark. The soup tonight was probably some of the Best I have had Not only in Uganda, but back home too.. they killed it on my internal grading chart! =) Adam Gosvener is not feeling well right now, so you can pray for him, I am just typing in my room as he is laying in the bed next to mine. He stayed home today because of a migraine. Also there are something like 5 other team members that are not feeling so hot. So just pray for the team.  

Container Arrived!

Monday June 20

The day started really really good. I got to talk to Stacey and Julie Neidert this morning. Her mom and dad were there and it sounds like they are doing very well. thank you so much to everyone who has been praying for them. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." How amazing it is... I know that the Neiderts have been comforted even though they morn. They are surely a family after the heart of God. Please continue to pray for them as today is 1 week since Rory was ushered into eternity.

We had our usual morning routine; eat breakfast, gather for the bus. Be on the bus at 8:30. Bus ride went smoothly, and we arrived at the Orphanage to find the container set into place! We had seen it pass us on our way back to the hotel on Sunday. This always is a good thing, It means that the children get to get out of class and have a celebration! I have never had a hard time getting a little extra welling in my eyes when I see these celebrations. The children are so amazing the way they show their gratitude. their smiles are so big. We got to start unloading it all, I am pretty small, so I get to fold myself up and cram into the back of the container. I don't want you to think that I am complaining, because I'm not, I love it. Thank you God for making me the size that I am. I get to pull stuff out and hand it off to the next person. It was probably an easy 100 degrees inside that container. It reminded me of when we wired the houses, it got up to 125 degrees when you would get up above the walls. It wasn't that hot, but the sweat definitely starts to come out. We took out so many shoes and clothes that we had a minor back up when we moved it all down to the House where we store it. we only had two wheel barrels, and one of them we broke last year, so we were trying to get all the clothes down to the house on tarps. We would lay the tarps out, and just toss all the clothes and shoes onto the tarps. Then about 6 guys would get around the tarps and just lift it down the hill to the house. We eventually got it all unloaded, and we had to put all the school supplies, computers, and school desks that back onto the container for safe keeping. When I get a moment I like to just stand in awe of how much God has poured his love out to these kids through our team and all the people who help us get there. All of the people that donate things to the trip.... I mean before we came, there really wasn't very much there. We have sent 3 containers full of things for them. We have seen so much accomplished. When lunch time came I was ready for it to say the least. I think I lost a third of my weight in sweat- most of it wiped onto the back of my gloves. I had some Trio bars from Costco that were delicious and then realized that I was out of water... So I got to experience thirst for the rest of the day. I knew that I was going to be out of the sun for the rest of the day, so I was fine. I started to look over my Bible Study material for my boys later in the day. We are doing the Beatitudes.

Our first verse that we are doing is Matt 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." It was really nice to be able to teach them. It was a challenge to explain the idea of "Poor in Spirit" We eventually got them to understand it though. The day ended with little time to spend with some of the older kids. I really enjoy that time. we got to partake in a little Uganda BBQ for supper which is always delicious. Our meeting that night consisted mostly of working through details of the baptisms that we are going to be having for the kids on Sunday. I am so excited to be a part of that again. I signed up for the foot washing. Just like Jesus did with his disciples, we are doing that for the children. I also get to prep the children for baptism; explain the procedures, and tell them the story from the bible of Jesus washing his disciples feet. Then we all retired for the night.

Tuesday June 21

I woke up talking to someone in a dream. Have you ever woken up and you realize that you are saying something that makes absolutely no sense? In my dream I was trying to explain to someone how to take a picture with my camera. I woke up mumbling to Adam G. about how he needed to bring the camera up to his eye and use the viewfinder... He was like "What..?" Pausing for a moment I just replied.. "use the Viewfinder." Its the Doxyiclene.. It gives you amazingly vivid dreams. Everyone on the team has been talking about really crazy dreams that they have been having. So yeah, I woke up talking gibberish. I made a list in my head of all the things that I needed to be sure to do when we got to the orphanage. of the 3 things on my imaginary list I accomplished 0 of them. I started at the school cleaning up old form boards, and moving tile and brick, then cleaning off the covered walkways outside the classrooms. At lunch time Steve Dolan and I, all of the sudden, looked at each other after we noticed an old bag that the Mums had filled with dirt and used as a sandbag to divert water.. It was an old cement bag from the construction site. So after lunch we started building retaining walls out of cement bags. These bags are not paper, but a woven plastic, almost like a burlap sack, only not burlap.. Plastic. and a durable plastic at that. I got all involved in that and finally had to pull away. I needed to prep for my older kids bible study. Today's verse is Matt 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." This is a great study for the kids, because the kids do have a hard time forgiving each other. But just as before; I got them to understand it all. I employed a tactic I learned a little while ago. It is called bribing. =) I have a lot of Wrigley's 5 chewing gum that I bribe them with. Its amazing their participation went from 2 or 3 of 20 to about 18 of 20 that had their hands raised to answer every question. I just had to laugh at some of their responses.. You can just tell how bad they want that gum. I guarantee that of the boys that have bibles all of them will be there tomorrow. and I guarantee at least half of them will be able to recite the last two verses. After the lesson, we had a little craft time. Even though the craft really had nothing to do with the Lesson, It was awesome. They made little sheep heads our of a piece of paper using origami. They all got it, and then I made them all make sheep noises. It was the

funniest thing ever. Just imagine for a second what that would sound like to the classroom next door. they were my little flock. I was sure to ask them, "If we are all sheep, who is our Shepherd?" they all got it right. Jesus. Its looking like I will be heading to Lira tomorrow. Bruce and I will be heading up making sure that construction is under way on the pump house. Otherwise, we might not get our Lira project completed in time.  

Again, i am in Uganda

Wednesday June 15th

This day started early. I had the pleasure to help drive some Somalian refugees to the airport who were moving to Texas to flee persecution that they were experiencing here because of their Muslim faith. I don't say pleasure because I have anything against Muslim people, I say pleasure because they are beautiful people and Jesus loves them too. They had to be at the airport around 6, so I got up and took it like a man. =) I am sad to see them move to Texas, but I think Jenni Lechelt did an amazing job at reflecting Christ to them through her service and devotion and prayer. I finished with the Airport, then headed back home to do some last minute emails, my last blog entry, do the final touches on my bags, then off to the Church to join up with the rest of the team and head out on the bus to Seattle. We managed to pull out of the church parking lot around 10:30AM if I remember correctly. We had so many bags that we had to pack a few in the cabin with us. It was Uganda in America. We stopped once so that we could get some food and go to the bathroom, but other than that we made amazing time I'd say. Got to the Airport, and I met up with my Aunt Tori and another wonderful couple from their church in Bellevue. They donated 200 dresses and were going to pay the fees for the extra bags. It was so nice to introduce them to some of the team. God actually blessed us with not having to pay for our second bags, and then they let us have the 3rd bag for free as well... HUGE blessing; saved us about 6000 dollars. Checked the bags in straight to Uganda, and then went in through security, and eventually got on the plane. It was a miserable 9 hour flight to London, but I will spare you the miserable details. We had a solid 12 hours to blow in London. As we touched down it was really wet, so right then and there I decided I didn't need to go and see London. I have seen it before, and it would really be the same sights as then, so I opted to stay in the airport and try to get a little sleep... well, just so happens that every seat in the airport is designed to be seat and not a bed. The all have nice akward armrests in between the seats, and when you find one that doesnt, its right next to an air register that is freezing... I eventually found a bench that believe it or not was PADDED!! the only problem was that it was in the shape of an S.... so I made the spoon position and did what I could with what I had. That is pretty much crucial for a missionary's line of work. I slept a few hours, and then it was just another waiting game for the next flight. It was right about then when I realized that I didnt bring any spare Contact Lenses on the trip. so I have the one pair that I am wearing till late September. Hope I dont get any Pink Eye!!! you can be praying for that. =) Ok, next Flight...

Friday June 17th

Yeah, a day passed somewhere in there.. lost in travel. The flight from London to Entebbe, Uganda; amazing. One of the better flights that I have had believe it or not. I went from one of the worst to one of the best. The food wasn't too bad, I was all the way up in row 10, that is the row right behind the first class section (I didn't see business class.. I don't know..). All I know is that my seat had a little foot rest that popped up like a lazyboy that enhanced my flight experience by about 7. I was actually able to get a good hour of sleep on that flight which probably did more for me than the 2 hours that I wrestled on that stinking spooning bench in London. I watched Harry Potter 7, I finished reading the book "Radical" by David Platt, I made a nice entry in my Journal that Shawn Strannigan made me, and I got good time to pray. When we finally landed, we were all really excited. I stepped out the door and just like I remember; the temperature went up a solid 15 degrees or so, and your skin turns into contact cement. Nice and humid. We got all of our bags off the baggage carousel, and took them out to the parking lot where we reunited with Robert (Bus Driver). We got the small truck for our bags this year, and we just barely squeaked by. On the way to the Hotel, there was a bag that was about to go. just holding on by pretty much nothing. We got that taken care of, and loaded back up and back on the road. Drove through Kampala, saw some good traffic. I forgot that some of these big trucks here pipe the exhaust right out the side of the truck so it just gasses people as it drives by. All our windows are open of course because we are weak Americans and need air-conditioning if it gets warmer than 75, and heat if it gets below 70. Yeah, I got gassed a few times, but the carbon monoxide doesn't quite have enough time to get all your brain cells. We are all a little ..strange, though. =) Finally arrived at the Ridar Hotel! And in record time too!! the London layover really did us in.. it only took us 38 hours, 41 minutes, and 37 seconds to get from the door of Abundant Life Church to the door of the Ridar. Yes, I timed it. the rest of that day gets a little hazy, but it went something like; Got my bags and went to bed. I was OUT. Too bad the day wasn't over and I had to wake up in an hour and go to the orphanage since it was only about 2:00PM. I can tell you one of the most draining things when you are already drained is going and smiling and laughing and clapping and dancing. I was excited to see everyone, so it wasn't too hard to get going again. We all loaded back on the bus and headed over to the orphanage. It was another amazing reunion. Palm branches, singing, dancing, smiles, laughter, HUGE hugs.. Both Joan and Florence gave me the running start hugs that end in me almost falling over. That happens to me a lot, but not usually with little girls. I saw so many of the looks

that become blushing turning away smiles when you make eye contact. The kids are so sweet.. So sweet. This is the ONLY picture I have actually taken so far. I get a big fat F in the picture taking department right now, but I promise I can do better next time. I wanted to get a glimpse of what it looks like from in the bus when we pull up. We only spent about 3 hours there with the kids then came back to the hotel for dinner and went to bed. This time I went to bed at 8PM, and got a rather solid sleep of around 9 hours. When I woke up, however, my eyes were still a little bloodshot. I forced my only pair of contacts back into my eyes and got to start another day. and that was Today!!!

Saturday, June 18th

They just let us sleep in. whenever we wake up is when we needed to wake up. That is what Dr. Bruce said he wanted us to do, so that's what I did. =) Adam Gosvener and I woke up to the Mosque prayers that are broadcast at 6 in the morning, but I think they are beautiful. They would be so much more beautiful if they glorified Christ, but in this world that is what it is. Ill let you in on a little secret, someday they will! Every knee will bow and tongue confess.. that's what it says!! There was an optional bus going to the orphanage. I had to go, I don't come all the way over here to show love to the swimming pool or the internet cafe here at the Ridar if you know what I mean. Every chance I have, I have got to get to that orphanage. they wait too long for us to come back to hold any time away from them. I had breakfast, did my devotional, and hopped on the bus to the orphanage. I had to check the container for some things that I left last year in the container that I knew I would need this year. and then it was all playing and goofing off with the kids. We had to come back at 3:30PM, and then Robert and I went into Kampala to update our cell phones. I decided that this year I should probably just buy a phone and give the Ukids phone back. so now I have a phone. my number is 256784567477 and I think you put a + in the front of it, so if someone just had to get a hold of me with Skype (Its really cheap!!) they totally could. Just do me a huge favor and dont call me between 12PM and 9PM (your time) that is in the middle of my hard earned slumber. although if someone were to call me with a wake up.. a good time to call would be 8:30PM your time. Speaking of Slumber, I need to go and do that. But before I do I have a few more things to say. Rory Neidert's memorial service was today. Please just keep praying for his family. I have had them on my heart since last Wednesday around 6:00pm. My heart breaks for them. We tried to watch the service live from here, but the internet connection isn't very accommodating for streaming. I Love you Neiderts. Talk to you soon!

Frailty of Life

Some of you may know the Neiderts, some of you may not, but I want to invite you if you would like to pray with me for them. Rory was killed yesterday in a car accident on Marine Drive in Portland.

Oh God,
Each of our lives are laid out in your master plan. Sometimes it is so hard to see how you can make good out of the misfortunes in them. I want to lift up the Neidert family to you today. I pray that you would give them incredible comfort as they grieve for the loss of their dear son Rory. I know that it is not easy to lose someone so close to you. I wish that I could carry some of the burden that they must now bear. I am so sad for their loss, but at the same time am so happy that Rory is now sitting with You on Your throne; that he will no longer know the discomforts of this broken world; but the joy and comfort that is found only in You. Rory is happier than he has ever been. I pray that the Neiderts would be surrounded constantly by friends and family and most importantly You, oh God. I pray that your healing arms would surround them and protect them. I pray that the healing process would be swift and that there would be as little discomfort as possible. I know, Lord, that events such as these are very hard to get through, but through them, Lord, you impact lives for Your glory. I thank you so much that Rory knew you. I thank you for the reminder that each breath we breathe is from you, and that at any moment our lives can be demanded from us. We love and miss you Rory! - Amen