MY OM Happened

Yippee, the store was officially named after my suggestion. So I go to MY Supermarket, but my local friends now say they shop at Karen's Supermarket. The staff are so excited to see me whenever I come into the store. Fun times.
The pictures speak for themselves!

Set Free

This week I have been super busy hosting a team of people who have come with Set Free Ministries. 3 men and 3 women have made themselves at home in my home and we have enjoyed eachother's company. They are here for six days. The men are leading a Set Free Training. The women are nurses and they are going to various women's groups and schools to share some medical expertise.
I have been privilege to join in on the Set Free Ministries training. It is a three day seminar on learning how to be set free from sinful issues such as - pride, sexual sins, non-Christian spiritual experiences, bondage, rebellion, etc. There have been 45 regular participants, with a few extras staying part of the time. It has been refreshing to pray through all of these areas and give them to God.
This time together with my Ugandan friends though, has once again shown me that I need to continue encouraging them and praying for them. When we got on to a discussion about witchcraft close to three-quarters of the room put up their hands that at some point in their lives they have dealt with a witchcraft. I was in shock.
And then we started approaching the topic of sexual sins and the room started to giggle. I have learned that laughter in the Ateso culture means guilt or uncomfortableness. Many people had questions, trying to justify the culture... what about polygamy? What about the roles of women? What about HIV/AIDS? Were they supposed to list the sexual sins from before or after marriage? And the list went on. I really feel like the room was challenged to make a choice to live differently from this day forward and to share that knowledge with their friends and churches.
We are finishing up the seminar today and I'm intrigued by what the discussions will hold today. But for now, I had better get breakfast on the go for the gang. Ciao.

Kneeology

While I was reading to and fellowshipping with my friends at SACAB they were eager to show me the purses that they knitted. I now have 9 of them in the gift shop in my house!! They did a pretty good job, but right now not all the handles match the bags. Aah, sigh. It takes a little longer to teach them to fully grasp what I am recommending because they can't see. So if they finish a purse and then a day or two later want to make a handle, they usually get the colours mixed up. God bless them.
Then we got on to prayer requests and they mentioned that every Saturday night they pull an all-nighter to practise kneeology and I thought that was awesome. These men and women know how to pray. I certainly see them as Spiritual role models in this community.

A Solution

For the past few weeks I have been having troubles with an upper right molar. It would be really sore and even keep me up for a night, and then two days later be fine again. Last week it flaired just a little, but it was manageable. But then last night I was up between 1:30 and 3:30 again, waiting for the painkillers to kick in. I finally decided that this needs to be dealt with. On November 10th I have an appointment booked at a dentist in Kampala. Yeah! Actually, it's going to be a team event, since the Shaardas, Sarah, and myself are all going at the same time. In the meantime, I would love your prayers over my teeth / gums. I would love to be pain free and be able to sleep through the night until the dentist appointment.

A Full Sunday

Sunday morning, 8 am, I hear honking at the gate. Pastor George has come to deliver a super huge turkey for me to roast. He wanted to cook their guests from the UK a special treat. Thankfully I didn't have much preparation to do... just added a few spices, but I must say that I had to rearrange the bird to make it fit in my oven.

By 9:30 am I was biking back to Pamba to attend church and man, was it crowded today. I spent most of the morning outside of the church, hanging out with the children while the other mzungus invaded my space. Besides, the actually service started an hour late because it took an hour to do the introductions of the guests and the church leadership people. I am not a fan of introductions and I really don't think that each person needs to say something, especially when a majority of them repeat what has already been said.

I did join in worship though, and I have no idea why, but Winnie made me come back inside for one particular song, where they tied a piece of cloth around my waste and made me dance in front of the church.

A few of us mzungus were traveling somewhere on a journey with God.
And the church looked on with sheer excitement on their faces.
I left the service at 1pm to check on my bird and a good thing I did... the oven had turned off, even though the gas wasn't finished, so the bird wasn't quite ready yet. Thankfully all of the guests didn't arrive until almost three. It was super fun having a house full of guests who sport British accents and who also love turkey. Thankfully George and Winnie took the rest of the food with them... rice, sweet potatoes, brown beans and watermelon. I think I had the easy part.
The coach pulled out of my yard at 4:30 pm and then some of the neighbours came over for a photo opportunity.
Here is Lydia, one of the neighbour girls.

Here are many of the Princesses and some of their friends from the hostel.

I taught one of the girls how to use my camera so that I could get in on the action.

The girls were very creative in their poses... and don't worry Tim, all of your plants are fine!

Cuthbert. This boy can be such a pain some moments and such a sweetie at other times. I absolutely love this shot though.

A Saturday in Pamba

On Friday afternoon I received a wonderful phonecall from my pastor's wife. She was wondering if I could cook with a few ladies on Saturday morning while 13 visitors from the UK came to meet with their sponsor children. Yeah, I was delighted to be a servant again. I really feel like my church friends see me as a member and that makes me so excited.

So on Saturday morning I hopped on my bike and pedalled about 15 minutes to the compound of Pastor George and Teacher Winnie.

The children from Goshen Nursery school put on a few presentations for their sponsors. This one was the local version of a chicken dance. Hilarious!
Here is one of the ladies pounding garlic and spice for the rice pilaf.

This is the kitchen I spent most of the morning in. I chopped a pail full of onions and showed the ladies how to use a carrot peeler and a grater. We ended up making beef/rice pilaf, chicken, greens, and fresh fruits for lunch... for close to 60 people.

Then at 3 o'clock I biked over to the home of my other Pastor. He wanted to get together with me and Moses, one of my Sunday school helpers so that we could visit a few of the families with children and encourage them. Moses rode a bike while he took Pastor Francis on the rack behind him - boda boda style - and I followed on my bike.

First we biked through Pamba town, weaving our bikes around houses on packed dirt that could be a road or a yard. We stopped to visit one family that I have rarely seen in church. We visited with the kids, who sat on grass mats and sang for us. We prayed for the children. I shared a few verses with them and they were so excited for the special visit.

We proceeded then to a more rural community of homes, biking through fields of sorgum (which I thought was corn) and cassava until we found some more children. The kids quickly put together a presentation for us.

The children we so delighted to have visitors come just for them.

Again, we shared God's love with these kids, prayed with them and had a great time.

Upon biking back to Pastor Francis' house, we made a surprise stop at a Pork Joint just beside the Pamba market... amidst the local bar scene. Loud music playing. Men sitting around in circles, drinking some brew from a communal pot. Each person has a super long straw that goes from the pot to their mouth.

But don't worry, I didn't go to the bar, I just sat in a circular hut with Moses, Pastor Francis, and his wife Janet... she had arranged the whole surprise feast for us. Yum Yum.

By 6 pm we arrived back at the pastor's home and I spent a half hour singing and dancing with the praise team that was practising there before raising home to beat the rain and and the darkness. I got home just in time... the skies opened up and started pouring as soon as I got to my front verandah. A long, but amazing day with friends from church!

"Please sir, will you be my Shepherd?"

"And let us consider how we cay spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24 was the theme of our latest team meeting. It was really encouraging to share and pray together with my team-mates and to once again be reminded that the Lord is the Almighty Shepherd of all of Soroti.

Sarah and I biked home from the meeting and we stopped to chat outside her gate. Children in the background were yelling, "Auntie Karen, give us sweets!" and I was trying hard to ignore them without getting angry. A few minutes into our conversation a trio of secondary students strolled by. Two men and a young lady. They seemed to be minding their own business. Then along the road, bleating angrily, came a male sheep. He started eyeing the students and slowly chasing them. Then he sped up and confronted the group. The young lady played the role of a typical young girl who is in flirty love. She kept holding one of the guys hands and using him as a shield. The other young man stepped aside maybe 8 feet and the sheep stopped and stared at him. Sarah and I were laughing our heads off at this point. Anybody who was out on the road was watching this scene. The sheep was stubborn, determined, and obviously had a reason for picking on this one young man.

How often do I, as one of God's sheep, forget who my Shepherd is and just chase the closest thing that has caught my attention? "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 14-15. I pray that I will always listen to my Heavenly Father's voice!