Monday moments

This morning I was able to sleep in just a little because the Shaardas are still in Kampala, which means I am unable to tutor Lydia at the moment. So I slept in til 7:45 am and then got up to start preparing my Princess Bible study tonight. I am finishing the series of who Jesus is in the Book of John.

I quickly found a new project to occupy my morning. For the past few months I have been communicating with an agency in Kampala that was supposed to receive a huge shipment of books from Canada. Action International went through their shipment and felt that they could give some books to International Teams in Soroti. Well, last night 12 banana boxes full of Christian resources arrived from Kampala. A huge blessing to the ministries here.

Tim, Angie, and I spent the morning organizing the books in to piles such as: evangelism, leadership, biographies, devotionals, commentaries, Old Testament, New Testament, Family, etc. After the books were sorted in to piles I started stamping each book to say that it now belongs to Team Beyond in Soroti.

I want to say a special thanks to Bethel CRC, my home church in Newmarket, for continuing to donate books to the Christian Salvage Mission... it's through Bethel that this shipment arrived all the way to Soroti.

Of course, the back door of the resource centre leads to the front door of Denis and Stella's home, so I went to see precious baby Esther.

I decided to bake cookies for each of the Princesses tonight, and give them as soda, as a special treat for they have reached the end of another school term. So I baked a lot of cookies in the afternoon. Then I quickly biked to town to print off my Bible study materials and drop by the post office (no blessings there today).

At 5:15 Angie, Avalien, Sarah and I went to the Lion's Club for another vigorous hour of aerobics. This class has become a lot of fun... and I can tell I needed it. :)

I had a passion fruit and mango shake for dinner before the girls arrived for Bible study. The study was good. During prayer request time, Stella asked that we pray for her family, especially her mom, as she is sick and is stuck in the belief that witchcraft will heal her. Stella was praying that Jesus would become real to all of her family.

The girls finished the evening by sharing cookies and drinks, and looking at my pictures on the computer. They had never seen snow before, and couldn't believe that I could catch fish, or swim in caves, or drive a car. Awww, so much to learn. And I was able to show them some beautiful pictures of their own country.

Now it is 10 pm and time to unwind. Good night!

Giggling on a Piki-piki

The other day when the girls and I went out for a hike we decided to go out for dinner on Saturday night. We heard that Marclays hotel had very good chicken burgers, so we thought we would give it a whirl. At 5 pm 6 of us gathered to go for a half hour hike out to this hotel that is not in town. Well, we got there closer to 5:40 pm and the staff said that all the food would be ready soon. We thought we had plenty of time to leave before 7pm.

Well, at 7:10 pm the burgers arrived and there were no chips/fries with them. There was a huge confusion about what we ordered and what the menu states. Needless to say, the chips took another 1/2 hour to be prepared. So we decided that we needed to make a plan for getting home. Our team-mates are out of town, so we couldn't call them for a ride in the van. Julia thought that someone from her work might be able to pick us up on the motorcycle. We figured we could make three trips back to home and then we would all be good.

Julia's driver wasn't sure about three trips, so I quickly thought of plan B. There was only enough juice in my cell phone to send out one text and I sent it to my friend Lawrence. "Zima and I are stuck at Marclays Hotel. Do you know where it is? Can you pick us up? My phone is going to die." I sent it and the phone died. Well, 10 minutes later Lawrence arrived on his motorcycle, also known as a piki-piki. :) We shared our fries with him while we waited for Julia's driver to come.

It was about 8:15 pm when Lawrence took Zima and Josiah first. The guys were going to escort Zima into her dark compound because she doesn't feel very safe there and we thought it best if she go home first. Sarah and I waited for the piki-piki to come back. Well, maybe 25 minutes later Josiah showed up on the bike. And then the adventure began. I got on behind Josiah and Sarah tried to get on behind me. She was sitting on the grill that goes out over the back tire. Needless to say, none of us were very comfortable. How do Ugandans (and Filipinos - if I remember correctly) ride with so many people on a bike?

Sarah and I giggled the whole way home. We thought she was going to fall off and I was squished in a Bokma sandwich. :) Sarah and I definitely realized that we have a close friendship :) but we were glad when we finally reached home. Next time we will order ahead of time and will clarify that we want the chips with the burgers. Ah, the joy of not understanding each other's English.

Friends of God

Last evening Sarah, Julia, Zima and I went for a beautiful, hour long sunset walk. My house is near the edge of town, so we started from there and went out into the rural community just a half a kilometre out. We wound around dirt paths that had simple mud huts along side of them. About half way through our hike we spotted a group of young ladies pumping water at a well. They were singing "I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God, He calls me friend." When they spotted us they got really shy and sort of giggled. Well, I started clapping and sang back to them "I am a friend of God; He calls me friend" and everyone was excited. It was a neat opportunity to worship on the path.

We finished off the hike with a view of the land atop a huge rock and then escorted Zima to her simple home. Zima is a Kenyan friend who is doing a two month internship with Fida. We get along really well. Zima showed us her room, which was maybe 9 by 15 feet and it contained a mattress, mosquito net, some clothing and personal supplies and a lantern. No electricity and I didn't notice any place to cook. I had no idea she lived so close to my house, in behind a simple cement building. I am always shocked at where people stay. But Zima only has two more days and then she is going back to Kenya. I will miss her fellowship.

Then some more friends joined Julia, Sarah and I for dinner and a bonfire. The guys did not appreciate Sweet and Sour meatballs. They wanted simply fried and over-dried pork instead. O well, at least the girls relished my dish. (Mom and Dad, we finished off the night playing Nine Men Morris -- o the memories on the Mayflower)

Vocational School

Yesturday I was able to spend the afternoon playing with some very precious neighbourhood children. Aaron and Joanne fought to find a place on my lap. Joanne is an orphan and it is really neat to some local church leaders taker her into their home.

Aaron and Joanne want to greet all those who are far away.

Francis, one of the CAAF (Children Affected by Armed Forces) members came over the other day to share his story with those who were staying in my home. When the meeting was over he invited me to come and visit him and his friends at the vocational school. I promised I would.

There were a few teachers at the school who also wanted some Bible so I thought that a trip was in order. I walked over to the Fida office this morning to greet my friends and to see if anyone was available to take me to the vocational school. Fida is the agency that is sponsoring 21 of these village boys... as they are learning carpentry, driving and mechanics, bricklaying, and more. Well, after fellowshipping and sharing a tiny amount of pork with my friends at the office it was decided that one of them would take me on the bike.

First we went to town to buy two bobbins for some CAAF girls who are also taking a sewing class at the vocational school. We made our purchases and headed to the school. There I had to go through the ropes of meeting with the principal, the head teacher, the secretary, and then to eat posho (corn meal) and beans in the teachers lounge. The Bibles were passed out and the bobbins delivered. Then Francis was called out of class to come and meet with me.

Ten minutes later all the CAAF members were seated under a tree, and my friend, and the head master all met with them. We asked how things were going with the boys and they said that they were really enjoying their studies. They were just concerned that they were not getting enough food because the famine has decreased the portions. Also, they were in need of soap and sugar, but otherwise they were doing great. Sam, the young man behind Francis in the above photo, is learning how to be a driver, but he doesn't know how to read and write, especially in English. We are going to see if something can be worked out for him.

Anyways, a quick visit turned in to a two hour affair and it was absolutely worth it. For some reason the Lord has particularly placed these boys on my heart and I really want to see these former child soldiers succeed - with true peace and joy.

33 and an Empty Nester

Lately I have felt like a mother hen. I have been busy cooking meals and running a household since May 29th when my first summer guests started to arrive from America. It has been a blessing looking after these precious children of God who have come to Uganda to see if that is where God is calling them, or to offer encouragement to the team that is here. I have loved being a hostess! This morning at 7 am the last group pulled out of the gate and now the compound is quiet.

Yesturday Tim came into the house carrying a nest with babies in it. The bird's nest did not contain birds though - but maybe 7 baby rats. Brand new, pale, hairless pink skin, and blind. Disgustingly cute. I don't know what he did with the rats, but I told him to take them to Lydia's 6th birthday tea party. :)

But just like that bird's nest, I pray that my home will not always be empty. As a matter of fact I have two friends coming to spend the night already. Girls night out while the rest of the team goes down country. I have a feeling that life will be much quieter for me though, but I do know that there will be some guests coming throughout the fall.

I have not taken any pictures recently because I have lent out my camera to my neighbours and good friends, Denis and Stella. They had a precious baby girl born earlier this week. Esther was 2.5 kg and she came home just hours after the delivery. I was there for her first bath and once again I am thankful for the medical system back home. Esther and Stella are doing great and at least once a day I go over to visit this precious newborn.

Well, I had better clean the house before my dinner, movie, and bonfire night tonight. I also have a lot of neighbours to visit, and a post office to bike to. Cheers.

Shaarda's

Hello friends... I would love it if you could check out the Shaarda News blog update - the one labelled "Tragedy to Beauty". I believe the link is shaarda.blogspot.com and it describes in better detail our hiking trip last weekend. Cheers.

Peace talks

Two weeks ago I led worship around a bonfire at our house. The theme of the one hour worship and prayer time was peace. Every other Saturday night we as an International Teams team try to get together for this special hour of worship and we also invite some of our neighbours and friends. Well, Herbert came up to me after and he thanked me for leading and then he said, "And on Tuesday I will pick you up at 9am to lead our fellowship... you will preach for an hour on peace." Yikes, I am not a preacher. And for praise and worship I had quickly pulled a few verses about peace out of a quick reference book. I talked with Herbert, and due to my schedule, it was arranged for two weeks later.

Thursday I spent five hours in the resource centre, researching, planning, writing, and praying. I was so unpeaceful about talking about peace. But finally by the end of the day I was ready to lead this group of who knows who. Herbert called at 8pm and said there was to be a change of plans... instead of 9am it would be 2pm. Okay, I'm flexible.

So on Friday I reviewed my notes and at 2pm was ready to go, but Herbert was no where to be seen and there was no connection with his cell phone. I waited until 3:15 when he finally showed up. We biked to his neighbourhood and stopped at a house where a group of people were worshipping. I stepped into this tiny room, maybe 9x12 feet, and joined in the singing. 24 people had gathered and after an hour they introduced me and I began to talk.

Peacefully I was able to share a few testimonies of God's peace in my life, how perfect peace was broken in the Garden of Eden, how Jesus is the Prince of peace, and for about a half an hour we looked up verses - in both English and Ateso. Each verse shared a different way to have, find, or make peace and by the end of the hour all the participants shared that they had really learned something. I was grateful to be once again stretched out of my comfort zone.

May the grace and peace of God the Father be yours today!