Today (October 6) once again started early. I was at breakfast with my computer in hand long before I needed to be there but it was good to have some time to try to catch up. Liz went to bed last night with a headache and woke up not feeling good so we left her at the Mum to sleep. The good news is that when we returned she was watching the Big Bang Theory so I’m guessing she is feeling better. Good news for me as I was really missing her good sense of humor. I did NOT like her not feeling good. The mama in me was coming out…
So off we went to Top Hills for church today. The drive there is long but it is also beautiful. We travel on the red dirt roads through the greenest of sceneries. All along the way there are people; children playing, mothers nursing babies, or cookies, people of all ages working. The great thing is that everyone is outside so we don’t only get to enjoy the beauty but the people as well. It is a photographer’s paradise. No matter how many pictures I get there is always something new around the next bend. I spend every second in the car with my head looking and observing. I don’t want to miss a second of this country. We arrived there at about 9:15 and the Sunday school class had already started. Irene’s husband, Patrick, is the Pastor out there and as you can imagine the little church was full. The first rows were filled with children. So I sat in the first row with about three. Before long, our little bench had six children and me. One little boy just sat and grinned at me. His resemblance to my sponsored child at Phil’s, Adrian, was uncanny. He could have been his identical twin brother. His smile just melted my heart. With the little bit of bench that I had he took my hand and grinned for the remainder of the service, which for those of you who have been in Uganda know can be a while. I taught him how to say “I love you” in sign language and then the little girl next to me started showing me pictures from a picture Bible. Each time she wanted me to tell her the story. I’m not sure the Pastor appreciated this but she may have learned something. I certainly had her attention. The service was really good and his lesson was on bringing Jesus into your heart. At the end he asked if anyone wanted to invite Jesus into their lives and a father of one of our sponsored children (Lee Bowers your child) came to the front and before everyone said that he had been away from the church for seven years and today he was asking forgiveness and coming back to God. It was really a cool moment. The whole community was so excited for him. Yahoo! Then of course, we had the honor of having the girls’ choir sing and dance for us. At the end of the service one of the girls handed Patrick a note and asked if they could sing one more song for us. And so they did…in English no less. I love the enthusiasm with which they sing. Glenn, I love your singing. I hope you are working on those dance movements for when we get back! After the service Jame’s wife cooked us a great meal. So we all sat together and feasted. It was so good! As we were eating I could hear a guitar in the distance and I knew it was not Moses because I could see him from where I was sitting. He was eating with us. When I peaked out the door there was another young man playing the guitar we had given to Top Hills. He is Moses’ first student and I have to say he sounded really good. Moses was really excited about already finding someone to teach and says they have been working together some every day. He even requested a picture of teacher and student. I told him that you, Glenn, would be so proud of both. I also told Moses that as we come back in the future we would like to hear him play for the children as you did. He was very excited at the prospect of being able to do this. Who knew God would work so quickly in passing this skill on. Your work here is taking off.
And so we headed back to the Mum. But not without another adventure to add to the list. What do you get with three Mzungus and a nail? Probably the same thing as you’d get back home… a flat tire. So in the middle of nowhere we pull off to the side of the road. Judy asked if we could stay in the car and Haji, being Haji said yes. I suggested we get out. It is hard enough to use a jack without all our additional weight to lift (no offence intended to Judy or Jaimie… well maybe some to Jaimie!) Out came the jack and every time we thought the men (Haji and Stephen) were close to getting the tire off the ground, the jack slipped. I am telling you it was hot. You could have fried an egg on any one of our heads! Meanwhile, the men were working hard. The three of us pulled the girl card. “Oh, it’s so good to have such strong men around. I’m glad we don’t have to do that, we might break a nail”. Haji just laughed! Jaimie in the meantime is sticking her thumb up trying to hitch hike. It is hard to be in control of this group. Meanwhile traffic is speeding by in the wrong direction and we are trying hard not to get killed. Have to say I’m sorry Liz missed this. I’m sure she would have added a little humor to the situation. When they finally got the old tire off there was a huge hole in it. As they put the new tire on, that had been riding underneath the car all this time; it was practically orange in color. It was so dirty. In contrast to the lug nuts it looked very out of place. The only thing that would have added to this was if a monkey had jumped out of the woods and landed on one of our heads! But alas before long we were “back on the road again!” Then he stopped in front of a man on a bicycle carrying a load of matoke (bananas). I was probably not more than two feet from him when I said, “Can I take a picture of your bananas?” I probably looked as stupid as I sounded. Jaimie was cracking up in the back seat. Fortunately the guy had a good sense of humor, nodded yes, and started smiling.
After a little break Jaimie, Liz and I headed to Phil’s house. We saw Caroline Amulen who had heard we were in town and came to the kid’s house in hopes we were there. She hasn’t changed one bit. It was great to see her and talk to her for a while. We spent time with all the kids and watched as little Adrian pushed a wheelbarrow around the yard. I sat in the back with the girls talking about school. Poor Jesca (the matron) was telling me about her daughter, Jennifer who was sick and in the local “hospital”. She was so sad. So as we left we offered Jesca a ride to see her daughter. When we got there she asked me to go in and so I did. Poor Jennifer was lying in bed asleep. I asked if I could pray over her and so I did. She woke up and when she saw me she gave me the beautiful smile and thanked me for coming. She is as beautiful as ever. I felt so bad for her seeing her so sick! But I was so glad I went in. Then we went into town to find more Oreos. Some things are just worth the time! It took two supermarkets but we did find “the worlds best biscuits” but not before we almost got killed crossing the road. Haji said we were so bad at this that he actually moved the van so we wouldn’t have to cross back. But coming out of the store we didn’t see him. Even though we heard a whole chorus of “Jaimie’s” coming from the boda boda drivers we kept on going. Finally we heard a familiar voice calling her name and looked back to see Haji just laughing at us. He is such a character and so much fun!
So another day ends and I am hoping for a good nights sleep to get ready for another busy day. I want to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Liz and I are going to eat Oreos. Bet you wish you were us!!!
So off we went to Top Hills for church today. The drive there is long but it is also beautiful. We travel on the red dirt roads through the greenest of sceneries. All along the way there are people; children playing, mothers nursing babies, or cookies, people of all ages working. The great thing is that everyone is outside so we don’t only get to enjoy the beauty but the people as well. It is a photographer’s paradise. No matter how many pictures I get there is always something new around the next bend. I spend every second in the car with my head looking and observing. I don’t want to miss a second of this country. We arrived there at about 9:15 and the Sunday school class had already started. Irene’s husband, Patrick, is the Pastor out there and as you can imagine the little church was full. The first rows were filled with children. So I sat in the first row with about three. Before long, our little bench had six children and me. One little boy just sat and grinned at me. His resemblance to my sponsored child at Phil’s, Adrian, was uncanny. He could have been his identical twin brother. His smile just melted my heart. With the little bit of bench that I had he took my hand and grinned for the remainder of the service, which for those of you who have been in Uganda know can be a while. I taught him how to say “I love you” in sign language and then the little girl next to me started showing me pictures from a picture Bible. Each time she wanted me to tell her the story. I’m not sure the Pastor appreciated this but she may have learned something. I certainly had her attention. The service was really good and his lesson was on bringing Jesus into your heart. At the end he asked if anyone wanted to invite Jesus into their lives and a father of one of our sponsored children (Lee Bowers your child) came to the front and before everyone said that he had been away from the church for seven years and today he was asking forgiveness and coming back to God. It was really a cool moment. The whole community was so excited for him. Yahoo! Then of course, we had the honor of having the girls’ choir sing and dance for us. At the end of the service one of the girls handed Patrick a note and asked if they could sing one more song for us. And so they did…in English no less. I love the enthusiasm with which they sing. Glenn, I love your singing. I hope you are working on those dance movements for when we get back! After the service Jame’s wife cooked us a great meal. So we all sat together and feasted. It was so good! As we were eating I could hear a guitar in the distance and I knew it was not Moses because I could see him from where I was sitting. He was eating with us. When I peaked out the door there was another young man playing the guitar we had given to Top Hills. He is Moses’ first student and I have to say he sounded really good. Moses was really excited about already finding someone to teach and says they have been working together some every day. He even requested a picture of teacher and student. I told him that you, Glenn, would be so proud of both. I also told Moses that as we come back in the future we would like to hear him play for the children as you did. He was very excited at the prospect of being able to do this. Who knew God would work so quickly in passing this skill on. Your work here is taking off.
And so we headed back to the Mum. But not without another adventure to add to the list. What do you get with three Mzungus and a nail? Probably the same thing as you’d get back home… a flat tire. So in the middle of nowhere we pull off to the side of the road. Judy asked if we could stay in the car and Haji, being Haji said yes. I suggested we get out. It is hard enough to use a jack without all our additional weight to lift (no offence intended to Judy or Jaimie… well maybe some to Jaimie!) Out came the jack and every time we thought the men (Haji and Stephen) were close to getting the tire off the ground, the jack slipped. I am telling you it was hot. You could have fried an egg on any one of our heads! Meanwhile, the men were working hard. The three of us pulled the girl card. “Oh, it’s so good to have such strong men around. I’m glad we don’t have to do that, we might break a nail”. Haji just laughed! Jaimie in the meantime is sticking her thumb up trying to hitch hike. It is hard to be in control of this group. Meanwhile traffic is speeding by in the wrong direction and we are trying hard not to get killed. Have to say I’m sorry Liz missed this. I’m sure she would have added a little humor to the situation. When they finally got the old tire off there was a huge hole in it. As they put the new tire on, that had been riding underneath the car all this time; it was practically orange in color. It was so dirty. In contrast to the lug nuts it looked very out of place. The only thing that would have added to this was if a monkey had jumped out of the woods and landed on one of our heads! But alas before long we were “back on the road again!” Then he stopped in front of a man on a bicycle carrying a load of matoke (bananas). I was probably not more than two feet from him when I said, “Can I take a picture of your bananas?” I probably looked as stupid as I sounded. Jaimie was cracking up in the back seat. Fortunately the guy had a good sense of humor, nodded yes, and started smiling.
After a little break Jaimie, Liz and I headed to Phil’s house. We saw Caroline Amulen who had heard we were in town and came to the kid’s house in hopes we were there. She hasn’t changed one bit. It was great to see her and talk to her for a while. We spent time with all the kids and watched as little Adrian pushed a wheelbarrow around the yard. I sat in the back with the girls talking about school. Poor Jesca (the matron) was telling me about her daughter, Jennifer who was sick and in the local “hospital”. She was so sad. So as we left we offered Jesca a ride to see her daughter. When we got there she asked me to go in and so I did. Poor Jennifer was lying in bed asleep. I asked if I could pray over her and so I did. She woke up and when she saw me she gave me the beautiful smile and thanked me for coming. She is as beautiful as ever. I felt so bad for her seeing her so sick! But I was so glad I went in. Then we went into town to find more Oreos. Some things are just worth the time! It took two supermarkets but we did find “the worlds best biscuits” but not before we almost got killed crossing the road. Haji said we were so bad at this that he actually moved the van so we wouldn’t have to cross back. But coming out of the store we didn’t see him. Even though we heard a whole chorus of “Jaimie’s” coming from the boda boda drivers we kept on going. Finally we heard a familiar voice calling her name and looked back to see Haji just laughing at us. He is such a character and so much fun!
So another day ends and I am hoping for a good nights sleep to get ready for another busy day. I want to thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Liz and I are going to eat Oreos. Bet you wish you were us!!!
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