African Muzungu

I wonder if I'll ever feel ready to leave Uganda. As I approached Entebbe airport yet again, the memories of so many times flying out from that airport washed over me. My first time leaving was when I had just turned 16 years old, and I cried all the way to Nairobi. Granted that was only a 30 minute flight, but still. And since then I don't think there has ever been a time that I haven't shed a few tears leaving my beloved country.  Am I ecstatic about being with my family again? YES! Am I thrilled to have fellowship with my friends and church family back home? YES! Am I looking forward to soaking up some of the comforts of American living again? YES! I also have another reason to rejoice this time: This is the first time I'm flying out from Uganda on a round trip ticket BACK to Uganda! It's a little bit strange, and a lot bit amazing to have tickets not to/from the States, but to/from Africa! It really is a wonderful feeling to know the date that I'll be back...

Last Friday, March 30 th , was the 1 year anniversary of my friend, Liz’s death. I couldn’t mention it or write about it, because in some way it seemed speaking out about it made it less meaningful somehow. I guess grief is funny that way. It convinces us to do things that might not make much rational sense, but nonetheless we are compelled to do so. I guess I felt as though mentioning her would be asking for people’s compassion for me…when she was the one to suffer and should be the one to receive those attentions. But she’s gone. That day, I spent most of the day sick in bed with the beginnings of what would be a nasty head cold. That only compounded my sadness. But honestly, I told myself I didn’t have much right to be sad…after all, it was a whirlwind friendship. I loved her yes, but I didn’t really know her. Not as the real Liz. Just as the burned Liz. And while I’m so grateful for the chance I had to show her a little bit of love and grace, I know I didn’t do all I could...

So in an unexpected answer to prayer, while a couple of our staff members were searching through old boxes, they found......AN AWANA CIRCLE!!!!! The ministry must have had it from a looooong time ago, because none of my leaders remember ever seeing/using it. But the point is, it's there! And on Saturday we had our first AWANA club using it for our game time. The kids loved it! The leaders loved it! And that's a good great thing. Buuuut it comes with an addition prayer request.... this circle is is just barely big enough to accommodate the kids we have coming now... and we're definitely expecting even more to come as word gets out about the new program we're doing. So we could really use a second circle, and soon. But since God answered our first prayer even before we asked, I'm sure He's got this one under control too :) Even so, I'd so appreciate it if you'd ask Him for another one for us! Annnnd.... Just because the frequent visitation of our fu...

We truly have some wonderful people working here at Genesis school! Teaching our Nursery classes we have Teacher Daphine: And Teacher Brenda: And this very dear lady, Teacher Rose:   All three of them truly have a heart for the children, and they give their all to help them learn. Rose especially has been a dear friend to me. From the very first time I met her, she was special. Not only is she my Luganda buddy, but she has a heart bent on prayer and frequently tells me how she’s been praying for me. This past Easter weekend, I was down sick with a really bad head cold. Because of it, I called in sick to work yesterday and had a shorter day in the office today. Since Rose hadn’t seen me this week, she made a point to call me today and see how I was. She wanted to let me know that she was praying for me, and that she was trusting that the Lord would bring about my quick healing and recovery. Wow! What ...

Last year, we had cows in  the cornfield Handbook Time...... This year, we have chickens in the games circle. No matter what we're doing here in Kamonkoli, it's bound to have surprises! Saturday we had an all day training for our AWANA leaders by two trainers from the AWANA offices in Kampala. ( AWANA is a Bible memorization program started in the States and used internationally to teach and train children in the Word of God. See awana.org ) We were so pleased to have them, and to be trained well by them. While HUM has been doing AWANA for many years now, we have been in need of some fresh motivation and inspiration...as well as new material and training on how to use it! And while the training on the material was necessary and beneficial, our leaders definitely had the most fun with the games training! This was the first time for many of them to see an AWANA games circle, and if you haven't either, here's how they're set up: Translated int...

Just to make your day awesome... a video of our AWANA kids singing one of their favorite songs, Talemwa. Translated, it means: Our God will not fail: He grabs Satan and shakes him and shakes him all around, then kicks him and he falls down to hell. And this is just one reason my life in Africa is so awesome. Potholes, cockroaches, delays, language barriers, confusion, and difficulties. None of them outweigh the joy even one of these little ones brings! And in the end, they're right. My God will NEVER fail!

Walking into the office today, I just knew the day would not be so great. It started with finding out that around half of our staff members have the flu. Apparently, it started with some of the kids last week, and now it’s getting passed around the adults. That meant that even the ones that did make it into work weren’t their usual bright and shining selves. Then add to that the fact that my work for today was not that inspiring: hole punching. Yes, that’s right. Hole punching. We have a whole bunch of new material that we are looking to implement at Genesis, but it all came in loose leaf pages, so all of those needed to be punched and stored in binders. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the curriculum before we send our teachers to be trained in how to use it. But back to the hole punching. Growing up as I dreamed about my future ministry in Africa, I can’t say my dreams included hole punching. Praying over sick children? YES!     P...