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.