Yay, Ethiopian Airlines!

July 17

We had a nice drive back into Kampala the other day. We spent a little time at the souvenir shop and then at Lake Victoria for food. We waited until around 8:00pm before we left for the Airport, and dropped off the team. Robert then drove us back through Kampala to Seta. There was nasty traffic, and it took us quite a while. I took advantage of the opportunity and got my laser pointer out so I could play with people that were out and about. This place really does come alive when the sun goes down, it must have something to do with the temperature. We ended up getting back to the orphanage around 10:40pm. When we arrived at the orphanage all the lights were off and the gate was locked. I walked in and tried to find the keys to the gate. We eventually got in and had to rig up some quick mosquito nets before we could go to bed. It was the most primitive netting system I have seen... But it worked.

In the morning we woke up and went to church with the children. We washed some clothes and walked into town to get some of the essentials. I bought a bar of mint dark chocolate and a little box of tea. The children have been in testing at school all week, so the mornings are slow. After I wake up I usually have to go to the bathroom. Since they have closed the bathrooms that are near to us I walk across the orphanage to use the toilet. I get back to the house and we have tea and breakfast; which is either samosas or a granola bar. Then as we wake up we start to talk about what our lessons will look like for the Primary 7 children. We end up washing dishes, washing clothes, and talking to children and Mums throughout the day and then when 5:30pm rolls around we move down to the school and start to teach the lessons.

 

I have been slipping big hunks to children every now and then, it is so funny because you see the smaller children and they have sticky white nougat all over their face and hands. ...but they are so delicious!!

July 19

Get ready for a nice long paragraph...

I always forget what the last day is like when I am here without the whole team. I can't help but feel frustrated. The mums hear that we leave the next day and I get half a dozen mums coming up to me telling me that they have problems with their light bulb. There has been one mum that has been telling me she has a problem every day that I have been here. The initial frustration is that I was told that in all off the houses the light bulbs were replaced and the lights were turned on. The next one is that the mums will give me this look like i am turning my back on them and abandoning them with their problem if I can't fix it. I go to look at the mums house, and she shows me that her switch is broken. This means that I need to get into the container and find a switch, a screwdriver, and turn the power off. One of our interpreters sees me and tells me that breakfast and tea is ready, so I tell her to give me 15 minutes, so I go to the container and open it. I grab the cordless drill, find a screwdriver, then dig and dig through the place to find a switch. I lock the door of the container on may way out thinking this should be quick. I go to the house and set my things down in the main room and check the lights to make sure that I am in the right place. The switch does seem to be having problems. So I take my keys to the main panel to turn the power off to that house but I find that there is a new lock on the gate that protects the panel. Now I have to go find Mum Berna who has the keys. She isn't at her house. One of the Mums tells me where I can find her, so I go to find her. Then she says she will meet me at her house and she will give me the keys, so I go to her house and wait. She gets me the keys, and I walk back to the panel and unlock the gate. I open the panel and re-discover that unless I want to turn off the power to 15 houses i need to go to a different panel. I go to the new panel (which doesnt require a key) and turn off the breaker that shows the house I am working on. I walk back to the house and try turning the bulb on that still works. It still turns on. I start systematically turning off breakers until I have turned them all off except for the main breaker. The light still comes on, so I walk back to the panel and turn off the main switch for that panel, which I could have done from the main panel. The light finally turns off, so I go into the house and remove the old switch for the bad light, and wire in the new one. I set my tools outside so that I don't have to go back into the house, then walk back to the panel to turn on the power. The bad bulb still does not turn on. I grab the old switch and work it back and forth, and It feels like it works great. I think to myself, "Did I put the old switch back on? No, because this one has paint on it. It must be the bulb." I go to the container to look for more bulbs but find none. I go back to the house and tell her that I have no more bulbs, and can't fix it. She looks at me and says, "you don't have any lamp holders?" ...yes, I have lamp holders. I climb a set of bunk beds in the room and get in top of the wall. I inspect the light, and sure enough, the socket is all messed up. I climb down and walk back to the container and start to search for a lamp holder. I finally find one. I take it back to the house. Then I go back to the panel and turn off the main switch again. I go back to the house and try to take the drill, the screwdriver, and the new lamp holder up the bunk beds to the top of the wall. I get to the lamp holder to remove it, and the screws standard heads, which means that I have the wrong bit; back to the container. I get the new bit; back to the house, back up the wall, and start to remove the old switch. The dust is thick, and my nose is dripping. I shake my head to get rid of that drip on the tip of my nose, and realize that it is not a drip, but more like a shoelace. Without blowing a snot rocket in the house, and because of a lack of tissues in my pocket, I wipe it on my shirt and it looks like a slug crawled across my chest. I finish replacing the socket, and start to climb down. I take my things back outside and go to turn on the power again. I come back to the house to see if the light turns on, yes. I take the tools back to the container, lock the container, close up the panels, take the keys back to Mum Berna, then go to the bathroom on the other side of the orphanage, which I have been holding for some time, and walk back to the house and enjoy a nice cup of lukewarm tea. As frustrated as I was, on my way out of the Mum's house I saw a little boy in his school uniform standing in the doorway looking at me. His belly was big, and it was tucked into a maroon school sweater. He gave me a smile, and it made me smile. Sometimes it is easy to forget why I am here. If I put my frustrated face on, and walk around, who do they see in me? It's not Jesus. The work is worth the one smile that the little boy gave me. I remember that I am here to love these people, and not to worry about how many frustrating steps it takes to replace a lightbulb.

We finished our last day at the orphanage. It seemed to fly by from the moment I woke up. I don't even know what I did all day after the electrical fix. Our last bible study started on time and finished on time. It was on faith. "Saving faith isn't only knowing about God, saving faith isn't only for now, saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our eternal life." I wanted to emphasize that the saving faith if not accompanied by action is not a saving faith, like James chapter 2 talks about. The kids were a captive audience, and I think God worked on their hearts. At the end I asked them if any of them would like to accept the gift of eternal life from Jesus and many of them shouted, "Yes!" I told them that if in their heart they really wanted to, then they could pray a salvation prayer with me. I don't know how many of them accepted Christ, but I am so blessed to be a part of it.

A little later I was walking through the orphanage as it was getting dark and Godfrey came up to me and said that he was sad that I was leaving. He gave me a big hug. I started to walk again, but he just clinged on and started to walk with me. It has got to be so hard for those kids when visitors come and become so attached. I wish I never had to leave them. Someday in heaven, there won't be the sadness of departing.

Its 11:40pm.. We are now at the Uganda airport. Andrew, Julie, and I are playing a boardgame waiting to go to our gate. Andrew's plane takes off about 2 hours after ours.

1:50am.. on paper, our plane is flying away right now, but we are sitting in the terminal.

3:45am.. Oh here is Andrew coming through the gate boarding his plane to fly to Japan. Hey Buddy..

4:10am.. They are saying our flight has been cancelled. We are waiting to hear from the Ethiopian Airlines representative about what we can expect.

6:15am.. They are crossing our exit stamp on our passports off because we have to go back into Uganda to a hotel. We are boarding a bus for The Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel. Next flight will be around 5:00pm tomorrow.

 

Lira

Tuesday July 10

Lira has been amazing. When we arrived the some of us had mixed feelings of being here; torn between missing the children in Seta and being excited about being here. They said, "I dont know how I feel about being here, I'm just not that excited and I would almost rather be in Seta." After we spent a day here they came back and said that now, they we're excited to be here. The Lira kids got a hold of their hearts and were filling them up with joy.

We have been here for just under a week now, the chicken coop is moving along nicely, and we have wired all of the homes with solar lighting. After we went back to the hotel last night, I started to plug things in to recharge, and just after I got my last thing plugged in, the power went out. Joe said, "Isn't this ironic that now we have no lights, but the orphahage that has never had light has their lights on right now?" I am so glad that we have given them the solar panels, because now as unreliable as the power grid is here, they will always be able to turn their lights on.

We have been blessed to worship with the kids. Julie said to me that this is what it sounds like in heaven, and I think she is right. When they worship it is so beautiful. In Matthew 18 it says; "we must become like little children if we are to see the kingdom of heaven" and it is no wonder to me for they sound so beautiful. They move their bodies, clap their hands, gently whisper and shout at the top of their lungs, they stomp their feet and play their drums. One of the girls brought out an instrument that she had made out of can. They can harmonize... They can chant... They do all of these things together and it is beautiful.

This being my first time as the leader I vaguely knew what to expect, I almost feel spoiled to have a team like the one that I have. They are all so even keeled. They don't complain, they don't have many needs, they do what they are told, they desire to do what God wants, and they try their hardest to put the children before themselves. God is spoiling me.

 

July 13

Our time in Lira came to an end. I don't like leaving. Our last night we talked about all the different experiences that we have had, and the stories and moments with the children that we want to share with people when we get home. I wanted them to think about what they will say. It seems when people ask you how the trip was back home, you have one of two answers. It will either be "good", or it will be a 3 hour dumping of information that someone may or may not be ready for. We have heard testimonies from the children that make even the hardest testimonies in America seem weak by comparison. I have never heard of someone in America having their parents executed in front of them and then being abducted by rebels; being forced to carry guns, materials, food, anything that they want or face being shot or tortured. They run from bullets as they try to escape, showing the scars from where the bullets have torn through their legs. Care is rejected by their own people because these little ones still have a grandmother that is alive in their village that can care for them; a woman too old, being forced to labor in the fields, working to try and provide food for her children's children. The children beg and plead for a way out of their nightmare, but how do you say yes to 2 million children? If too many people get on the boat we will all drown. I feel the least I can do is give up my spot on the boat. I say this and then get on a plane to go back home where we are all rich and i am back in the place of comfort and luxury. Meanwhile the old lady is still toiling, and the children's world is still shaken to the ground.

At the same time, there is something that I see in the children that I don't see in the hopeless in the USA. Despite their burden they have joy that is unexplainable; a joy that makes no sense. There is no formula that you can apply, or logical explanation for it. They peek at you with half of their face hidden behind a crumbling building. You can only see one of their eyes as they study you from a safe distance; their curiosity getting the best of them. When you make eye contact, they show you the white of their teeth and a smile that overtakes your heart. With their eyes hidden behind their cheeks and they quickly disappear. They have no sense of entitlement. They humble themselves to us when we should be the ones that are humbling ourselves to them. Their happiness comes only from God. They have faith that can move mountains and a joy that overflows so much it fills me up. That is what being set free from sin by the blood of Jesus does. It is the freedom of forgiveness and truth that allows you to have joy despite such great suffering

We completed the chicken coop, purchased 40 laying hens, 5 roosters, and bags of feed that will allow the chickens to adapt to their new home so that they an go out and free range again. We set them up with a ccken coop that Dr. Peter says will accommodate up to 200 chickens. I don't know that it will ever get that far, but the children are very excited about having and taking care of the chickens. I pray that at some point they will be able to sell chickens and eggs to keep progressing toward a sustainable orphanage. Our solar lights are all in place in the houses. I believe our next step in Lira and in Seta is to adapt the pumps to solar power so that they do not rely on the power for water, and so that we can removIe their power bill.

We had a really, really awesome party for the kids on the 11th with sodas, cookies, sweets, singing, dancing, drama, and speeches. They asked for the leader of the Ukids team to give them a short speech, so I got to deliver on the cuff. I reinforced that they may think we are rich, and we do have money that God has given us, but one thing that we can not buy with that money is Joy. "You children have a joy that so many people in America wish they could have, yet they fail to see the way to experience the real joy that you experience. We always say that we are coming here to do all these things and give you children something that you need. We forget to say that when we come here, you give us something that we need. We are in debt to you, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as you. You are co-heirs with Jesus Christ, and your joy that comes from Him overflows into our cups."

We are now in Merchison Falls National Park at the Red Chili Safari Camp. We had a game drive on the way in, spent the night in huts, and today we have been on a Nile Boat Safari. Our next step is to sleep tonight in tents, visit the top of the falls, and drive back to Kampala where the majority of our team will fly home. The remnant of the team will then be Andrew, Julie, and I.

 

The Remnant

June 25 2012

I was talking to Susan Gosvener about the day we went to visit our children that are now in secondary school. I believe it was last saturay. Our team was split into two busses. I was on the 2nd bus as we drove onto the school campus. We were planning on making a suprise visit to the kids, but two giant busses of white people isn't really subtle. As the first bus drove up to the parking place Susan saw Joan searching the bus for me.. Her eyes were wide open and had a look of determination as she scanned the first bus. When she didn't see me on the bus, Susan said that her shoulders dropped and her eyes looked down as she moved to the back of the group. Children quickly filled her spot as other they looked for their sponsors. The second bus started up the driveway and Joan heard its engine. She turned and looked toward the bus and the excitement slowly returned to her eyes. Susan watched her as she studied the bus. The door opened and we started to file off the bus. Thats when she noticed me. Susan said she flashed a big smile and instantly started cutting her way through the crowd to get to me. This is when I remember seeing her; her eyes were fixed on me. She was showing me her pretty smile as she moved in my direction until finally I had the little girl that I sponsored 6 years ago in my arms. I think every year I am a little taken by the way that these children love us. If only I could show them what they have done for me in my life...

 

Okay, so like an idiot, I decided to wear a cutoff the second day here and didn't apply any sunscreen, I got a little more sun than I was thinking, which I think is always the case, and got a nice red color on my shoulders. They have peeled already and now I'm left with the skin that doesn't look like it should be doing its time yet. I a little afraid to wear cutoffs again, but I think I might bust them out tomorrow morning while we are tossing brick and put on a shirt mid morning when the sun really starts to get hot.

 

Today is Tuesday June 26th

We have been doing a great job teaching the curriculum to the children in VBS. It is called Evangelism Explosion. And what it is doing is helping the children to see just what Jesus did, and how He is the only way to heaven. I got to teach the memory verse to my little group today; Romans 6:23. We are discovering that some of the mums and the children here are really focused on doing works to earn their salvation. It is amazing to see how they respond when we tell them that it is not something that is earned or deserved.

 

We had the leaders of Evangelism Explosion in Uganda come to the school today to start instructing the teachers with the curriculum, and have had several teachers re-dedicate their lives to Christ. It has been a time where God has been glorified. We have 1 week to go before part of the team goes north to have a little fun on a Safari trip and then fly home. I have really appreciated everyone on the team this year. Talking to some of the members, they have told me that they would rather stay at the orphanage than go on safari, they think that they safari would be fun, but that it would mean more for them, and for the children to just spend the time at the orphanage instead.

I have had the pleasure of working with a few of the guys on the team in prayer each night. What we do is while our meeting is going on, I pass around my notebook and have people put down their prayer requests and their name. Then after the meeting all team members who want to be a part of it can stay a little later. We worship together and end in prayer. We make sure to not only cover the requests on the list, but also anything that God has been placing on our heart. I have had time to pray for my brothers and sisters in Italy, and back home. It really is amazing what prayer does. We have had sickness go away, people have given their lives to Christ, and even had mosquito bites disappear. Back injuries have been relieved and joy has been restored. The team is performing as a well oiled machine. I have been really impressed by our team with the unity and the willingness to serve without complaint. It really is a joy to serve God. We do it because we love him.

 

Holly is one of the girls on our team who shared a testimony tonight during our meeting at the hotel. I thought I might share a little of what she said, because though the team was laughing at her gestures and the way she explained things, what she had to say was really good. She was talking about the beauty of the children here, and what it is about them that gives them that beauty in her eyes. She spoke about their purity. They have been so un-polluted by the world. They have a confidence that just inspires and baffles her because they walk around with clothes that are tattered, buttons are missing, their sandals just about to break, scabs all over their bodies and in need of a bath. Yet, somehow they walk with a confidence that in America would be shunned and scorned. ...because they don't see what we see back home. Their souls are not connected to the magazines and TV shows that tell us what we need to be in order to have confidence. They have a natural confidence that is not afraid to show its face for fear of scorn. They are beautiful.

 

She also talked about her experience when she gets back to the hotel after a day at the orphanage, she turns on the hot water in the shower and it just barely trickles from a spout that you have to kneed down into the tub to get to. She cherishes the little trickle, and values it so much. She starts to think about how the children and even the mums get excited about what in our eyes is the smallest thing. Our team does some of the children's studies with the Mums and they cherish the little paper crowns that they make, the tiny little paper crafts that we would just throw away. We have so much, and they have so little. Never has she loved that little trickle of warm water as much as she does now. We are so rich.

July 1

We are now the remnant. Most of the team has gone on their trip to Merchison Falls up in the north and we have had some of our people that travel to Lira with us fly in. We will be in Seta until Thursday and then we go north.

We had a great day yesterday. Tiffany Gosvener and Chris Ratzlaff had their Uganda wedding. All of the children from Lira were bussed into the orphanage, all of the secondary students were brought back, the mums, pastors, and even the Ridar Hotel staff were brought to the village for the ceremony. As we waited for the bridal party to show up, all the students lined the red carpet that they had strung out on the path that leads down to the pump house. The ceremony was to take place on the cisterns that we had built back in 2008. Standing around trying to figure out where the vehicles were going to drive in from, the clouds covered the place and God opened up the floodgates of heaven for a moment. The children and adults scattered to the nearest shelter to get out of the rain. A few days earlier we had noticed, while doing inspections of the homes, that one of them had a room that was full on umbrellas. I ran with one hand holding my camera, and the other covering my lens to get an umbrella that was up the hill. The rain never fully went away, so the crowd slowly came back out when they had gotten umbrellas. It actually made the wedding very beautiful. Umbrellas of purple, blue, green, and red speckled the crowd of children that watched from the hillside. After the ceremony we had a wonderful party and saw the children off; back to their schools.

I am getting excited for Lira. I love and miss those children so much.