Hello from Gulu! we are sitting at cafe larem enjoying our day off, having some coffee and updating all our friends on the latest news. we had a really great time traveling. although the time was very long, savannah did great. we were blessed to have bulkhead on the flight from washington d.c. to ethiopia which gave us more leg room and a bassinet type thing for savannah. she slept well and never seemed to struggle much with her ears. we each had our own video players so we could watch movies and play games. by the time we were on the van ride to our house though everyone was so exhausted we just couldn't stay awake. 24 hours of straight travel really takes it out of you!
So far uganda reminds me a lot of honduras and every other third world country i've been to. diesel exhuast fills the air, everything is green and animals roam free. the weather is great. hot and humid but there's actually relief at night. it's even better than the georgia climate :) although it's the rainy season, the showers are relatively short and it does a great job cooling things off. the people are beautiful. so warm and inviting. they are enamored with us. mizungu is what they call us. it means white person. haha. their smiles are enchanting and they have captured our hearts from the beginning. we live in a 4 bedroom house with 19 people. there are definitely days when the house seems smaller than others but we're getting through. irritations are common and personal space isn't always respected, especially from the kids, but relationships haven't suffered and unity is still good. we have 3 bathrooms, a garage, kitchen and living space. we even have a few chickens. the kids love chasing them around and crowing with the roosters. we're blessed to have power most of the time. but it's sometimes touch and go. it will go out randomly and we use solar lamps and headlamps. we cheer whenever it comes back on. it's the little things :) town is just a short boda (motorcycle taxi) ride or walk away so we make it to the city pretty frequently to get online or get a soda. we ate at an incredible pork joint today for the equivalent of $1 and we may go to a pizza place tonight for dinner. we're settling in to the routine of life really well.
Ministry has been good. we had a great meeting on tuesday where we planned what the team is hoping to accompish while we're here: to complete profiles for all of the children to set up sponsorships and made a promo video, to cement the floor of the nursery school classroom, lay the foundation of the church, paint the exterior, set up a budget, etc. it was a great time of planning and direction seeking. we've also done a lot of intercession for the ministry, the village and our team. we pray for the other outreach teams as well and it's been cool to pray for our friends in turkey, thailand and nepal. so cool to know that God is working all around the world at the same time. eric has actually been put in charge of intercession for our team. he sets up times for the team to come together and pray as one. it's a perfect job for him. he also went to buy construction supplies on wednesday so we could plaster the walls of one of the buildings. we were hoping to paint the outside to create some color at the school and make it more appealing to others who may want to attend. we worked hard for 3 days and had an all-hands-on-deck day friday. we know now how to mix cement and throw it on the walls with a trowel. however, we received some discouraging news saturday night. apparently the original builder at the ministry payed no attention to property lines and the building we had done all the work on was 5 feet on another man's property. he was fine with the building being there because it was understood that the building was temporary (it would last approx. 7 years) but once we began plastering he was upset because who plasters a temporary building? (our plan was to paint the outside to provide some color to the buildings and make it more inviting.) so now the building has to come down. all the work and supplies were in a sense wasted. our team took the news well. we looked at the work as practice :) but our hearts hurt for soldiers of christ. it was a huge blow to them. we spent some time in intercession and tried to encourage jenny, jimmy and collines as well as we could with Words the Lord gave us. now they have to figure out the next step to take. when to tear down the building, do they look into obtaining more property, etc. but we're moving forward and just making the most of all we have. at least we can use the bricks to help lay the foundation for the church.
The 4th of july was on monday and we had to remind ourselves it was because obviously it's not celebrated here. lol. we had our own version of a BBQ by eating macaroni and cheese from back home and pineapple then watched a movie on the 9inch portable dvd player we brought. :)
We celebrated eric's birthday on thursday (july 7th). he's 24 now! he spent the morning in intercession with tyler and we all went out to dinner as a team to a lebanse restaurant. i bought him a book and 2 crunch bars back in the states and gave them to him here. he loved the surprise. unfortunately one of the little boys came into our room the next day and ate one of the bars. remember when i said sometimes personal space wasn't respected? lol but it's fine. we're learning to cope.
The food here has been delicious. we're fortunate to have hired a local woman to cook all our meals for us and she even blesses us by doing our laundry. we eat a lot of rice, beans,chipati (basically a tortilla), fruit (they have the freshest bananas and pineapple and what's called jack fruit), matoke (which looks like a banana but has a similar texture and flavor to potatoes. savannah eats ok. somedays she likes the food more than others but you can pray she eats more. with all the running around and eating mostly granola bars and pb&j, her adorable little belly is getting smaller.
So far uganda reminds me a lot of honduras and every other third world country i've been to. diesel exhuast fills the air, everything is green and animals roam free. the weather is great. hot and humid but there's actually relief at night. it's even better than the georgia climate :) although it's the rainy season, the showers are relatively short and it does a great job cooling things off. the people are beautiful. so warm and inviting. they are enamored with us. mizungu is what they call us. it means white person. haha. their smiles are enchanting and they have captured our hearts from the beginning. we live in a 4 bedroom house with 19 people. there are definitely days when the house seems smaller than others but we're getting through. irritations are common and personal space isn't always respected, especially from the kids, but relationships haven't suffered and unity is still good. we have 3 bathrooms, a garage, kitchen and living space. we even have a few chickens. the kids love chasing them around and crowing with the roosters. we're blessed to have power most of the time. but it's sometimes touch and go. it will go out randomly and we use solar lamps and headlamps. we cheer whenever it comes back on. it's the little things :) town is just a short boda (motorcycle taxi) ride or walk away so we make it to the city pretty frequently to get online or get a soda. we ate at an incredible pork joint today for the equivalent of $1 and we may go to a pizza place tonight for dinner. we're settling in to the routine of life really well.
Ministry has been good. we had a great meeting on tuesday where we planned what the team is hoping to accompish while we're here: to complete profiles for all of the children to set up sponsorships and made a promo video, to cement the floor of the nursery school classroom, lay the foundation of the church, paint the exterior, set up a budget, etc. it was a great time of planning and direction seeking. we've also done a lot of intercession for the ministry, the village and our team. we pray for the other outreach teams as well and it's been cool to pray for our friends in turkey, thailand and nepal. so cool to know that God is working all around the world at the same time. eric has actually been put in charge of intercession for our team. he sets up times for the team to come together and pray as one. it's a perfect job for him. he also went to buy construction supplies on wednesday so we could plaster the walls of one of the buildings. we were hoping to paint the outside to create some color at the school and make it more appealing to others who may want to attend. we worked hard for 3 days and had an all-hands-on-deck day friday. we know now how to mix cement and throw it on the walls with a trowel. however, we received some discouraging news saturday night. apparently the original builder at the ministry payed no attention to property lines and the building we had done all the work on was 5 feet on another man's property. he was fine with the building being there because it was understood that the building was temporary (it would last approx. 7 years) but once we began plastering he was upset because who plasters a temporary building? (our plan was to paint the outside to provide some color to the buildings and make it more inviting.) so now the building has to come down. all the work and supplies were in a sense wasted. our team took the news well. we looked at the work as practice :) but our hearts hurt for soldiers of christ. it was a huge blow to them. we spent some time in intercession and tried to encourage jenny, jimmy and collines as well as we could with Words the Lord gave us. now they have to figure out the next step to take. when to tear down the building, do they look into obtaining more property, etc. but we're moving forward and just making the most of all we have. at least we can use the bricks to help lay the foundation for the church.
The 4th of july was on monday and we had to remind ourselves it was because obviously it's not celebrated here. lol. we had our own version of a BBQ by eating macaroni and cheese from back home and pineapple then watched a movie on the 9inch portable dvd player we brought. :)
We celebrated eric's birthday on thursday (july 7th). he's 24 now! he spent the morning in intercession with tyler and we all went out to dinner as a team to a lebanse restaurant. i bought him a book and 2 crunch bars back in the states and gave them to him here. he loved the surprise. unfortunately one of the little boys came into our room the next day and ate one of the bars. remember when i said sometimes personal space wasn't respected? lol but it's fine. we're learning to cope.
The food here has been delicious. we're fortunate to have hired a local woman to cook all our meals for us and she even blesses us by doing our laundry. we eat a lot of rice, beans,chipati (basically a tortilla), fruit (they have the freshest bananas and pineapple and what's called jack fruit), matoke (which looks like a banana but has a similar texture and flavor to potatoes. savannah eats ok. somedays she likes the food more than others but you can pray she eats more. with all the running around and eating mostly granola bars and pb&j, her adorable little belly is getting smaller.
prayer points:
*continued health
*wisdom for the ministry and what to do next and what that looks like for our team and how we can be most effective
*team unity and patience as we get used to living with 19 people in a 4 bedroom house.
*obedience and healthy appetites for the kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment