Hello again! I'm glad that I have a chance to update once again. This week has been crazy busy, but amazing. We had VBS Tues-Wed and it went really well. We were able to go on a African Safari yesterday, and it was so neat to see all of the animals. We drove back to Kampala (more accurately, we bounced back becuase the roads were so bad) and we are staying at the American Recreation Center Tonight.
While some of our team was working at VBS, some others were working with UBI (Uganda Bible Institute). Mr. Monty and Mr. John were leading a session for the gold couples, which is a group of married couples. They were expecting about 90 people, but ended up having 2 groups of about 90! These couples were able to ask questions. Mr. Monty said that most of their questions were early church questions, where you would find the aswers in the NT. Some of them asked if it was ok for a wife to work, or a pastor to work a 2nd job..things like that. I am so glad that they had the oppurtunity to minister to them! Mr. Jeff was in UBI meetings and missionary meetings for most of the first few days. He said that it went very well.
Wednesday was our second day of VBS and it was my favorite day. On our first day, we had gotten our group assignments and my kids were ALL boys! Let me tell you that I was a little discouraged because I wasn't too sure how I was going to relate or communicate with African boys. Thankfully I had one wonderful boy who spoke English really well, and he was able to help me. Our craft for that day was the bead bracelet that explains how to become a believer. You have the yellow, black, red, white and green beads. I had gone over every bead carefully, and slowly and would ask questions at the end. The kids really seemed to be getting it, and they seemed to be having fun. I was trying to ask questions about themselves, but they were really quiet. Towards the end, I asked if anyone would like to profess their faith in God and become a believer, but I received no response. I was a little discouraged, but told them that I was praying for them and told them to talk to me at any point if they had questions. We finished up with the craft and then we had play time. At the end of VBS, we had a Ugandan lady (Grace) sum up what we had learned that day in Ancholi, which is they language that they speak. She summed it up just to make sure that everyone got the message. The children were so attentive, but we really didn't know what was going on. All of a sudden about 40 children stood up and started praying the same prayer. We realized that Grace was saying the sinners's prayer and these children were becoming believers! Grace asked them all to walk to the front and sing a song. Well one of my little boys, Brian, was up at the front! I cannot express to you how full my heart was. I know that out of 40 children, 1 is not that many, but it did my heart good. Our group helped to spread God's word and it was powerful. It was the best day ever! After this happened, our team was invited to the school's chapel. We were able to see a group of about 12 kids sing and dance an African song. It was great!
Our last day of VBS was on Wednesday and it was wonderful as well. We went to our tarps and we gave the children journals, cloth bags, and balls to color and decorate. We gave them the bag because we wanted to put all of their new gifts in it. I told my group that we had a surprise for them and they all had smiles. I took them to the front of the church and we took polaroids of the children individually. THEY LOVED IT! It might not seem special to us Americans, but this may be the only picture that these children have of themselves for their whole lives. Mr. Monty told me that he wanted me to be in the picture with each boy, but I said that they could choose. I didn't want them to be stuck with me in their picture if they didn't want me! :) All of them wanted me in their picture! It made me feel so good becuase I wasn't to sure if they were enjoying me because they weren't talking to much. They all had HUGE smiles on their faces when they got their picture. After taking pictures, we went inside and they all got a new pair of shoes. Alot of the kids don't have shoes so it was so fun to see their excitement! They also received soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, waschlothes and new bibles. They were so excited about their bibles. Each one of them was really good at looking up verses, which surprised me. They seemed so happy! VBS was a huge success. The african children blessed me in ways that I can't even express. They are so precious and beautiful. They could sing so well and they were so joyful. It was wonderful!
Thursday night we were invited to dinner with the UBI graduates. We gave them all a new shirt and tie. It was great to see how happy they were.
Friday was the Uganda Bible Institute's (UBI) first graduation! We had to sit through a 5 hour ceremony. Although it was very long, it was really neat to see. It was something right off the discovery channel! Ceremonies in Africa tend to be very long, because the more important something is, the longer the ceremony will be. 5 hours was a very short ceremony time compared to most ceremonies.
Saturday was our team Safari day! WOW!!! It was incredible, and we saw so many animals. The drive to Mweya was gorgeous. There were mountains and valleys at every turn. Everything was green, but in all different shades of green. Tea plantations lined the mountains and it was gorgeous. We got to the National Park and drove around in taxi vans, not the best for a safari! Haha. The first animals that we saw were Kob and some type of buffalo. We were headed to lunch when we saw elephants. We were driving and all of a sudden they were there. It was AWESOME. We had passed a herd of elephants and had driven for about 2 min and we came upon a baby elephant to our left. We were oohing and awwing over him, and we started asking where the Mama elephant was. Well as soon as those words came out of our mouths, we looked to the right and that Mama was standing right next to us and she was not pleased! She started flapping her ears, and screeching her long horn at us. Mr. Jeff freaked out and started screaming at our driver to get us out of there. It was so funny! It was by far the best part of the day. We then went on a boat ride where we saw lots of Hippos and even more elephants. Seeing this many elephants is a very rare thing, so we were so excited that we saw them. We were about 10 minutes into our boat ride and we came upon about 5 hippos. They were going under water whenever we would come up and so we lost sight of them for a few minutes. At the same time, we saw a crocodile slide into the water. All of a sudden this hippo head pops up right by Mr. Johns arm! We all started screaming and we jumped like a foot into the air. It was hysterical. I will post the video when I get home! :) We were also able to see elephants bathing in the water! We ate lunch at the Safari Lodge. We then went on a Crater Run, and it was absolutely beautiful. Words cannot describe, so I will post pictures on later. On our way out of the park, we saw a leopard in a tree. Some of our team got out of the van and were taking some up close pictures. I of course stayed in the van, and I was slightly freaking out for them. All of a sudden the leopard jumps out of the tree. Can you imagine how fast those people ran back to our van. I started freaking out and screaming at them! Haha. I mean people were jumping across seats, jumping through windows and everything. Everyone was safe and the animal didn't come near us, but it was fun excitement for awhile! We were also able to see bamboons (SP?) on our way out and feed them. They are mean animals, we saw 2 get into a fight and tear the skin off of each other. We all had so much fun! Bless and TJ Magezi also came with us and we had fun getting to know them. Their father, Amos Magezi went to RTS in Jackson and is now a pastor and working at UBI. It was so neat to get to know their family.
While we were at the hotel in Mbarara, we were able to befriend a few of the workers their. Milton and Saturday became our friends and we were able to witness to them. Seeds are being sown, and I know that God will use others to grow them.
Today we went to All Saints Church, and were able to witness a African church ceremony! It was really neat to see. We drove back to Kampala this afternoon, and we are going to Jinja to see the beginning of the Nile River tomorrow. Tuesday we go to the market, and our flight leaves that night.
Please be praying for our health and safety as we are here only a few more days. A few team members have had stomach problems, and Jordan had a sore throat, but thankfully all has passed. As you pray for us, please keep all of the people that we have touched in your prayers as well.
While some of our team was working at VBS, some others were working with UBI (Uganda Bible Institute). Mr. Monty and Mr. John were leading a session for the gold couples, which is a group of married couples. They were expecting about 90 people, but ended up having 2 groups of about 90! These couples were able to ask questions. Mr. Monty said that most of their questions were early church questions, where you would find the aswers in the NT. Some of them asked if it was ok for a wife to work, or a pastor to work a 2nd job..things like that. I am so glad that they had the oppurtunity to minister to them! Mr. Jeff was in UBI meetings and missionary meetings for most of the first few days. He said that it went very well.
Wednesday was our second day of VBS and it was my favorite day. On our first day, we had gotten our group assignments and my kids were ALL boys! Let me tell you that I was a little discouraged because I wasn't too sure how I was going to relate or communicate with African boys. Thankfully I had one wonderful boy who spoke English really well, and he was able to help me. Our craft for that day was the bead bracelet that explains how to become a believer. You have the yellow, black, red, white and green beads. I had gone over every bead carefully, and slowly and would ask questions at the end. The kids really seemed to be getting it, and they seemed to be having fun. I was trying to ask questions about themselves, but they were really quiet. Towards the end, I asked if anyone would like to profess their faith in God and become a believer, but I received no response. I was a little discouraged, but told them that I was praying for them and told them to talk to me at any point if they had questions. We finished up with the craft and then we had play time. At the end of VBS, we had a Ugandan lady (Grace) sum up what we had learned that day in Ancholi, which is they language that they speak. She summed it up just to make sure that everyone got the message. The children were so attentive, but we really didn't know what was going on. All of a sudden about 40 children stood up and started praying the same prayer. We realized that Grace was saying the sinners's prayer and these children were becoming believers! Grace asked them all to walk to the front and sing a song. Well one of my little boys, Brian, was up at the front! I cannot express to you how full my heart was. I know that out of 40 children, 1 is not that many, but it did my heart good. Our group helped to spread God's word and it was powerful. It was the best day ever! After this happened, our team was invited to the school's chapel. We were able to see a group of about 12 kids sing and dance an African song. It was great!
Our last day of VBS was on Wednesday and it was wonderful as well. We went to our tarps and we gave the children journals, cloth bags, and balls to color and decorate. We gave them the bag because we wanted to put all of their new gifts in it. I told my group that we had a surprise for them and they all had smiles. I took them to the front of the church and we took polaroids of the children individually. THEY LOVED IT! It might not seem special to us Americans, but this may be the only picture that these children have of themselves for their whole lives. Mr. Monty told me that he wanted me to be in the picture with each boy, but I said that they could choose. I didn't want them to be stuck with me in their picture if they didn't want me! :) All of them wanted me in their picture! It made me feel so good becuase I wasn't to sure if they were enjoying me because they weren't talking to much. They all had HUGE smiles on their faces when they got their picture. After taking pictures, we went inside and they all got a new pair of shoes. Alot of the kids don't have shoes so it was so fun to see their excitement! They also received soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, waschlothes and new bibles. They were so excited about their bibles. Each one of them was really good at looking up verses, which surprised me. They seemed so happy! VBS was a huge success. The african children blessed me in ways that I can't even express. They are so precious and beautiful. They could sing so well and they were so joyful. It was wonderful!
Thursday night we were invited to dinner with the UBI graduates. We gave them all a new shirt and tie. It was great to see how happy they were.
Friday was the Uganda Bible Institute's (UBI) first graduation! We had to sit through a 5 hour ceremony. Although it was very long, it was really neat to see. It was something right off the discovery channel! Ceremonies in Africa tend to be very long, because the more important something is, the longer the ceremony will be. 5 hours was a very short ceremony time compared to most ceremonies.
Saturday was our team Safari day! WOW!!! It was incredible, and we saw so many animals. The drive to Mweya was gorgeous. There were mountains and valleys at every turn. Everything was green, but in all different shades of green. Tea plantations lined the mountains and it was gorgeous. We got to the National Park and drove around in taxi vans, not the best for a safari! Haha. The first animals that we saw were Kob and some type of buffalo. We were headed to lunch when we saw elephants. We were driving and all of a sudden they were there. It was AWESOME. We had passed a herd of elephants and had driven for about 2 min and we came upon a baby elephant to our left. We were oohing and awwing over him, and we started asking where the Mama elephant was. Well as soon as those words came out of our mouths, we looked to the right and that Mama was standing right next to us and she was not pleased! She started flapping her ears, and screeching her long horn at us. Mr. Jeff freaked out and started screaming at our driver to get us out of there. It was so funny! It was by far the best part of the day. We then went on a boat ride where we saw lots of Hippos and even more elephants. Seeing this many elephants is a very rare thing, so we were so excited that we saw them. We were about 10 minutes into our boat ride and we came upon about 5 hippos. They were going under water whenever we would come up and so we lost sight of them for a few minutes. At the same time, we saw a crocodile slide into the water. All of a sudden this hippo head pops up right by Mr. Johns arm! We all started screaming and we jumped like a foot into the air. It was hysterical. I will post the video when I get home! :) We were also able to see elephants bathing in the water! We ate lunch at the Safari Lodge. We then went on a Crater Run, and it was absolutely beautiful. Words cannot describe, so I will post pictures on later. On our way out of the park, we saw a leopard in a tree. Some of our team got out of the van and were taking some up close pictures. I of course stayed in the van, and I was slightly freaking out for them. All of a sudden the leopard jumps out of the tree. Can you imagine how fast those people ran back to our van. I started freaking out and screaming at them! Haha. I mean people were jumping across seats, jumping through windows and everything. Everyone was safe and the animal didn't come near us, but it was fun excitement for awhile! We were also able to see bamboons (SP?) on our way out and feed them. They are mean animals, we saw 2 get into a fight and tear the skin off of each other. We all had so much fun! Bless and TJ Magezi also came with us and we had fun getting to know them. Their father, Amos Magezi went to RTS in Jackson and is now a pastor and working at UBI. It was so neat to get to know their family.
While we were at the hotel in Mbarara, we were able to befriend a few of the workers their. Milton and Saturday became our friends and we were able to witness to them. Seeds are being sown, and I know that God will use others to grow them.
Today we went to All Saints Church, and were able to witness a African church ceremony! It was really neat to see. We drove back to Kampala this afternoon, and we are going to Jinja to see the beginning of the Nile River tomorrow. Tuesday we go to the market, and our flight leaves that night.
Please be praying for our health and safety as we are here only a few more days. A few team members have had stomach problems, and Jordan had a sore throat, but thankfully all has passed. As you pray for us, please keep all of the people that we have touched in your prayers as well.
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