New Blog

My brothers and I decided to make a blog about our new club Compassion in Action. If anyone would want to check it out than you can go to:

kubamitweforchrist.blogspot.com

Goat babies!

Last week my goat had two babies. Here are some pictures when they are just a couple hours old:

Sauda’s Kitchen

After the second day (after I fell)

Last day

Completely done!

This last week my siblings and I have been very busy! Last Thursday Sauda, (Christopher’s Mom) came to my mom (I was the translator) and shared some worries that were on her heart.  One of them was that her kitchen (in Uganda everyone cooks outside) had fallen over so whenever it would rain she wouldn’t be able to eat. That morning it had rained and her and her two little kids hadn’t eaten breakfast.  I felt sorry for her and I told my brothers. We decided to build her a kitchen.  So that day we carried old scrap wood and iron sheets (we also purchased some new wood) to Sauda’s house.  The next day my brothers and I finished our school really quickly and hurried to Sauda’s house to start the kitchen, we worked the whole afternoon. At 5:00 that evening we were ready to put the first iron sheet on.  I climbed up on the roof and sat on the pole that was there and then all of a sudden (after I had the first nail in) the pole under me collapsed and I fell to the ground (about a 6-7 foot drop)! I landed on my flat on my face.  I was all right; I just sprained my thumb and bruised my hip and knee.  The next day (Saturday) I went back and worked but I didn’t feel very good.  I went back at lunchtime and was sick in bed the next two days.  Anyway, today we finished it and are recovering from our sore bodies.  It’s really cool seeing how just a little thing like that would bring a lot of happiness to others. My brothers and I were talking about every week going out and helping someone else who is in need. God is so good. I thank him for allowing us to be in such a good place to serve.

Quick Update

The Sky on the rainy Afternoons!

School has started again and everything is really busy. Most of the people who live in the house are at the conference so the house is basically empty, except for my mom and siblings. Since everyone is gone we've been having a lot of fun. It is the rainy season now and it has been raining every night. Every morning at 8:00 (that's when we have family devotions and we start school) we all come bundled up in our sweaters and blankets. The coldest it gets here is around 60 F, but for us that is really cold! Because of the rain we don't have our normal nightly activity (playing soccer with village kids); instead we play games and watch movies inside the house. God has really blessed us with nice weather these days; we're really thankful!

Lira Conference!

There's another conference that that my dad is doing right now. It is in Lira.  On the day that my dad was going to Lira he had to go to Mukono (which is the city about 2 hours away from where we live).  He didn't come back until 9:00 at night! So he had to drive in a pickup truck 4 hours in the middle of the night. When he was still multiple hours away there was a leak in the car. So he had to stop again... long story short, he arrived in Lira at 4:00 am that morning. So please pray for my dad as he is exhausted and he has to preach to hundreds of pastors for the rest of the week.

Youth Conference 2012 Uganda

Today is the beginning of the National Youth Conference in Uganda.  My parents are coming home today and are going straight to the conference.  I will post some pictures and tell you guys all about it.  I know my Dad would really enjoy your prayers because he's really tired from coming from America. Thank you.

Prayer Requests!!!

I was wondering if you could all pray for my siblings and I.  My parents are still in the states and all the kids are sick.  Emmitt just had malaria, Evan has malaria, Emma has a fever and a cold (it's not malaria), and the rest of us have really really bad colds.  It's been difficult to take care of everything in the house.  On Friday school is out so all of the students that are in boarding school (fifteen young adults that my Dad helps provide for their schooling) are coming home from school so we are going to have 30 people staying at our house. Please pray for us!

My Parents leaving for America!

This mourning at 5:00 my parents left for America.  My siblings and I are going to party, we have a ton of plans.

Good Bye Jotham!

Fancy, one of the cooks

The Cooks serving lunch

Me and Lydia (one of the cooks) 

Rebecca and her good friend Mama Mark

Little Nate eating

Rebecca and Jotham

The Guest of honor seats 

All of the attendants to the party

The Guests of honor getting lunch

Church attendants

Yesterday was a very sad, but exciting day.  Jotham Muwonge Kizza has served our church (Community Bible Church of Kubamitwe) as our pastor for the past two years. He and his wife Rebecca have a baby daughter named Joy. She is the cutest baby ever! He and his family are going to America to get further training at The Master’s Seminary. Yesterday was his goodbye party at church. Many ladies spent their Saturday preparing traditional Ugandan food for the party, which we all enjoyed together after the service. Several church members cried as they shared testimonies of how Jotham and Rebecca have made an impact in their lives.  Today at 10:00 am, 42 people showed up to see them off in prayer. It was very heartbreaking as we watched them drive away, especially because they’re not coming back for another three to four years. If you live in California, please take care of the Muwonges for us… Our church would greatly appreciate it.

We're Home!

We are back home in Uganda.  We arrived on Friday, at 3:30 in the morning! I'm still recovering from our trip. After going to Italy we went to Greece for a missionary conference.  It was so cool seeing where Paul preached and shared the gospel of our Lord.  I'm so glad to be back.  Things are very crazy like normal.  Another team is here.  They're from Faith Bible Church in California. They're very fun.   I've been reading Colossians.  I was really excited by Colossians 3:1-3.  I would really like to set my mind and eyes on the things above but it's really difficult. Please pray for me that I would be loving to my siblings despite our earthly desires. This past month I have seen God awesomely working in the lives of others and in mine!  Thanks for your prayers!

Italy

Hi everyone! I'm sorry that I didn't write for a while... It has been very busy. The team stayed a week and then left to go back to America on the same morning that my family and I left for Italy for our first family vacation out of the country. We left at 2:00 am. The next day we got on a train (it was Evan and Emmitt's first time) and went to Rome. In Rome we went to the Colosseum and we got a tour of the prison where Peter might have been held. It was fun! That night we bought a bunch of fruit. It was delicious especially because we hardly get American fruit in Uganda. We arrived back at the hotel at 12:00. It was a long but fun day!

TEAMS!!!!!!!!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:00 am to go with my dad to pick up the first team of the summer.  We arrived at 8:30 because the airport is over three hours away from our house.  When we arrived at the airport, we met the team and then went to a bus that my Dad had rented.  We all crammed in the bus for a good three and a half hours.  When we reached the dirt road we bumped around for another thirty minutes.  I sure was grateful to get home and just in time for lunch. When we arrived home, we went into the village and handed out flyers telling all the villagers that there is going to be a VBS and movie night this Saturday.  I will post something about the VBS and movie night tomorrow.  I'm so excited to hang out with the team. It's going to be a blast!

Sauda and little Christopher

Little Christopher a couple months before he died

A few years ago Sauda (a former Muslim lady from the village) started coming to my mom's Bible study.  God saved her soon after. When her family heard of her new faith they told her to leave her new beliefs as well has her Christian husband or else they would disown her.  Her husband, Fred, worked for SOS.  She ran to my mom who showed her what the Bible said about it. She decided to obey what the Bible said and to stay with her husband and her new belief even if her mother and father would reject her.  On a Tuesday morning in August, 2010, Fred (who had HIV) died,leaving her behind with four children. The youngest, Christopher had been born the day before his death, but his dad never met him.  Sauda was heart-broken, but she trusted in God for strength.  Two years have passed and other sad things have happened in Sauda's life: she found out that little Christopher, like his father has HIV, and she also found out that her Muslim sister died. One of the worst trials of her life came this past Tuesday night at 10:00.  Little Christopher, her little baby passed away at a Ugandan hospital.  When my parents got the call from SOS's estate manager, they quickly called the heart-broken Sauda.  What they heard from the other side of the phone was the miserable, "Christopher, afude! Omwana wange, Christopher, afude!" ("Christopher died, my baby, Christopher died!") She came back to her small village hut holding her little baby's dead and frail body in a plastic bag.  My parents went to see her at 1:30 am.  She gave my mom a hug and wept in her arms.  My mom lay down with her trying to help her sleep.  Finally the exhausted Sauda fell asleep.  My mom came back home at 5:00 am.  She had to get ready for the funeral that was at 4:00 pm.  She went back to Sauda's house at 8:30 am.  She tried to help as much as she could.  When it was time for the funeral Sauda could hardly walk to the grave site so my mom had to support her as she wept (I was unable to go because I had to stay home and watch my little brothers).  Today, Thursday, I went with Bekah (SOS intern and our tutor) to visit her.  She greeted us with a big, warm hug.  We sat down and just chatted.  We talked about Christopher, God's sovereignty and just general life.  I told her that God is good and that He knew exactly what He was doing.  She said "I know.  God was the one who gave him to me so He has every right to take him away. I know that God loves me and will take care of me and I will trust in Him to help me. The least I can do is to give Christopher back to Him. God is good." (By the way, all of this was in Luganda; she doesn't know much English.) God's work is so evident in Sauda's life.  Her response was challenging to me.  I asked myself, would I trust God like Sauda?

Pictures

This is a picture of our backyard at night... It's kinda scary when I'm by myself.

I was sitting at my desk doing school when I saw monkeys out the window!
It was pretty cool.

Today was a very crazy and cultural day! After lunch I went with Bekah (SOS intern and our tutor) to a Bible study in a village nearby. Because it was so far we had to take a boda boda taxi (small version of a motorcycle).  The Bible study was very fun as we sat on the grass right outside of a crumbling Ugandan school and studied with a woman who was very eager to learn the truth. After finishing the Bible study, Bekah and I took another boda boda to a women’s conference that my mom was speaking at. The little church, where the conference was being held was a small building, which looked more like a big shack than a church.  It was made with wood and straw, with a tarp as the roof.  My mom taught about the gospel and how to be a godly mother. It was a very interesting sight watching the women’s eyes as they were given the truths of God for the first time.  After my mom was finished Emma and I also spoke for a few minutes.  It was quite an experience!  When we finally came home Emma and I went with our parents to a neighboring family’s home for dinner.  They said that they invited us to thank us for helping them in their time of need. When we entered the first thing we saw was a small table with a lantern on it and a small couch right next to it.  The family had my parents sit on the couch while the rest of us sat on a mat on the floor. Since there was no electricity, I played with their kids (who were all under 7 years old) in the dark—mostly making animal shadows on the wall.  We ate local food, which I enjoy: potatoes, rice, spaghetti noodles, chicken, and cabbage.  We ended up going home at around 8:30.  It was a very long but very fruitful day!

Mice!!!!!!

Tonight we had a funny and scary experience.  We have many mice in our house, which we have been trying to get rid of but though we have tried a countless amount of times we have killed about 7 mice in our house.  Well, tonight was one of those nights when we had a mouse chase! My brothers and I were having a slumber party in the living room when we decided that before we went to bed we should play some football.  So we were in the middle of a very competitive game when Evan yelled "Guys, a mouse!" So I yelled, "Boys, get the baseball bats!" So Ethan and Evan ran to their room to get the bats while Kabite (a little Ugandan boy who is living with us) and I stood guard with a stick.  Well anyway, we chased it for a long time and were unsuccessful; but tonight my brothers and I will certainly be sleeping with sticks just in case!!!!

A Day In Africa!

Here's my typical day in africa:

6:00- I wake up and do my quiet time
6:30- Read the bible with each of my brothers (Each day I read with one of them individually)
7:00- Breakfast/ get ready for school
8:00- Start school (School goes from 8:00-2:00)
12:00- Lunch
2:00- Go into the village or play with my little brothers or go get mangos
5:00- Do my chores
6:00- dinner (Usually around 13-16 people to get fed)
 6:30- Play soccer with village kids
7:30- Shower/ play with brothers
10:00- bed

 So this is a typical day in Africa but there usually isn't a normal day here, whether it's trying to catch mice or an injured person needing to be rushed to the hospital etc. There really isn't a normal here and i dont think there will ever be until we get to Heaven, our true home.

My little brothers and I!!!!

This Saturday morning I went with my brothers into the village.  We played with some of our little friends.  Emmitt (3 yrs) played tag with them.  We took a lot of pictures.  Here are some of the pictures: