update on the first week

Sunday

Praise God. We made it to the village in Masolita safely. All the boxes arrived safely and Ruiqi got past security even though he had some trouble with his boarding pass. The two hour bus ride from Kampala to Masolita gave us our breathtaking first views of Africa. We got a lot of attention from the locals because they all thought we were white. (According to Ugandans, everyone from America is white!) Overall, the people are SO welcoming and warm – everyone we wave at always waves back with a huge smile, especially all the children. In addition, the hospitality here greatly exceeds our expectations. Our first genuine Ugandan dinner was delicious, and the people here have gone out of their way to provide a power generator for us. So excited to be here! 

Monday

It was pouring night, with lots of thunder and lightning (and Joanna’s screaming at 3 a.m. Yay Joanna.). We pray that the rain will stop on time for tomorrow since most of the children have to walk a great distance to get to school. Today was our “prep” day for the rest of the week. We met some of the teachers who would be working with us, decorated the rooms, trained crew leaders, made name tags, and played with the children!

Tuesday

This was Day 1 of VBS.  After the first run through of our program, we are all exhausted. An unexpected challenge was that many of the children have a hard time understanding our English so the teachers’ translations are invaluable. During snack time, Devin and Louie ventured off into the school’s gardens past patches of potatoes, corn and reached a well. Upon observing some students drink from the well water, Louie decided to have a taste. He says it was refreshing…. let’s pray that he doesn’t get sick. After VBS, a few of us also went exploring around the school, where we got to play with chickens, pigs, and goats.  We learned that the people living at the school grow all of their own food, including avocados, potatoes, cabbage, cassava, various livestock (including chickens and pigs), and corn. Every meal we eat is 100% organic, and we get four meals a day. The food. Is. Amazing.

Louie says, “Everything is communal, at least for the guys.”

Peter says, “OH NO.”

Wednesday

Today we finally met Jolly! She’s the founder of AFC and built this school from her own farm. Apparently, the building we are staying in is going to be a clinic for school. Jolly explained that AFC as an organization is not an orphanage, but rather a “transition center”. Children are rescued from abandonment/abuse and can stay here for a certain period of time, but the ultimate goal is to replant them in a safe family environment. The school has expanded to include children who have families but still suffer from poverty and live too far away to seek a public city education. It’s an amazing vision.

After sharing lunch with Jolly, the entire team took a 2k walk to the town center during which we got to talk with a teenager named Emmanuel and one of the teachers, Nelson. They were curious about our interest in their country. To them, American paved roads were much more attractive than the dusty dirt roads of Uganda, but we explained that in America, nothing is as natural as the beautiful Ugandan landscapes. On the way, we passed a church, fields with kids playing football, the AFC headquarters, and a police station guarded by an eccentric turkey. Richard bought three stalks of sugarcane for ten cents each, which we brought back for dessert. Thankfully we made it back to the school just as it was getting dark outside.

P.S. Devin tried to sell Joanna for one cow.

Thursday

Today was a tough day and we could all feel the spiritual warfare. During the day, our generator failed and our amplifier burned out. Also, after VBS today, the weather took a turn for the worse. It was raining so hard that the children had to stay inside the school to wait for the rain to subside. During our prayer meeting, we prayed for tomorrow that the kids will be receptive to the Gospel when it is presented for the first time. We also prayed for the broken generator situation and pastor Jack, who got extremely sick with pneumonia.

Friday

Even though it was pouring during our morning devotion, we prayed for the children to still show up and they did! Day 4 is the most important day of VBS because it’s the day we present the Gospel during closing worship. The message today was about Peter denying Jesus three times and then reconciling. As a result, the tone today was much deeper than the rest of the week. 131 children accepted Christ as their Savior today after Pastor Jack’s altar call during the closing worship. Each child also got a Jesus Loves Me bracelet as a reminder for the gift they’ve received. After VBS, we ate Cap’n Crunch and played with the kids that live in the transition home at the school. Nate played an intense game of hide and seek with them, as Louie, Devin, Richard, and Ruiqi played out some impressive card games. We all are excited for our safari tomorrow at 6 a.m.!!!!!!!!! SHOWERS YES!!!!

Saturday/Sunday


After two days of awesome Ugandan safari, we have seen elephants, lions, hippos, giraffes, and the falls at the Nile river! Saturday we rode safari trucks through miles of national park, and today (Sunday) we rode a ferry called the African Queen down the Nile. Currently in an Internet Cafe with the team madly typing away since we're paying 30 Ugandan shillings per minute. Soon going to head back to Masuliita in time for week 2 of VBS starting tomorrow. The local teachers are taking over the program this time around and we're going to be helpers now ... whew! Yesterday we encountered some reservation and rooming issues at the hotel and Cecilia fell sick last night, but praise God everyone is now safe and healthy!


Pictures to come soon....

Dubai Airport

We made it safely to Dubai last night after our 16 hour flight and after staying overnight at Holiday Inn we are about to board the 7 hour plane to Entembe, Uganda. Nathan our 12th team member is meeting us here soon! Please continue to pray for us! Louie says "I'm excited for food."

Church send-off

The countdown is three days until our departure from SFO!

Last Sunday, after the service, Pastor Job led the congregation in "sending off" our team with prayers, advice, and blessings. It was a privilege to be sent off by such a loving and supportive church family.

Also, all of our team VBS supplies have been fully covered by your gracious donations and participation in our fundraisers. Just a few months ago, we didn't know where all these necessary funds were going to come from, but the Lord has provided!

On Wednesday we will be meeting one last time for some last minute preparations, especially making the student name tags. In addition, all 200 of the students now have been adopted in prayer by a "prayer warrior" which is awesome. If all goes as planned, you can expect to receive a picture of your adopted Ugandan child sometime during the trip. Thanks for reading and God bless! 

An update on our team trainings and events

Our 1st team training took place on Saturday June 25. The team had a blessed time meeting and getting to know each other better! We shared breakfast, prepped for our fundraising events, discussed our spiritual gifts and personalities, and baked dozens of cupcakes for the bake sale fundraiser. Some of you probably saw (and tasted) the red velvet and chocolate cupcakes at the church bake sale on Sunday June 26 - the fundraising was a great success. Every last cupcake was sold... raising a total of $500.43!

In addition, Louie is leading an ongoing program called "Adopt A Child in Prayer". Since we will be serving over 200 Ugandan children, we have compiled a list of each child's name, grade, and age. We encourage congregation members to sign up to personally commit and pray for one of these children - and pin the child's "apple" or "sheep" name card on to the tree painting. As Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, please pray that these children will be the ripe and abundant "fruit" of our Lord and also that His precious "sheep" will be fed. We still have many children who are open for adoption in prayer so please do so this Sunday if you are interested! You will receive updates and pictures about your child during the mission trip.

Our 2nd and final team training/building day was held on Saturday July 9th! Again, we had another blessed time of more team bonding as well as preparation for the opportunities and challenges we might face on our trip. We looked at our role in cross-cultural missions and shared our expectations of different aspects of the trip. This was also a great opportunity to practice our personal testimonies and child evangelism with each other so that by the time we get to Uganda, it won't be quite as scary... In addition, the following evening, the pastors, mission board, and families of all the team members joined us for an informational presentation, a Q&A session, a potluck dinner, and an overall great time of fellowship.

On Sunday July 10th, two last church events took place in preparation for the Uganda mission trip: a "Jesus Loves Me" bracelet making activity and a CAR WASH!

Thank you Karen for teaching parents and children how to make the colorful "Jesus Loves Me" bracelets which we will be bringing to Uganda. We plan on doing personal child evangelism in Uganda, and the bracelets will be given out to each child after he or she hears the Gospel and accepts Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.

Thank you Joanna for organizing the car wash, which turned into a church effort! A lot of people not going on the mission helped us out, including youth and families, which was a major relief so thank you to everyone who volunteered. We washed a total of 16 cars and praise the Lord that we were able to raise another $400+ this weekend to go to our supplies fund.

There is just over one week until our departure for the mission trip to Uganda. Since there are still many details to take care, please pray that in the midst of our busy-ness we won't overlook anything, and that our team will continue to grow unified in Christ.

Thank you for reading and supporting, your prayers make a difference. Feel free to leave any suggestions you may have in the comments. 
P.S. Next time there will be more pictures!