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.