Child Sponsorsip Program... now called... Child Development Program... and some news about life...

... so we had our first official child sponsorship meeting this past week. it was so good, we called all of the church leadership and talked to them about child sponsorship. the leaders expressed a great need for sponsorship not only on linigira island but also across all buvuma islands. they stated they want to implement their own program versus asking an organization like compassion to come in. they stated they know their own need best, and would like to create their own program. We talked about creating one that not only meets the financial need of a child but looks at the child from a holistic perspective; looking at a childs physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental well being. In the past sponsorship programs that have been initiated have been thought to be only for christian children... and although the tenants of any organization i work with will be Christ centered, i believe it should be for all children regardless of their faith.... so some beginning steps have been made. We have four children being sponsored so far which is a good number to start with as we begin to establish this. this program will need a lot of support from all around and were taking this one day at a time and just making sure that the Lord's hand is working here...because if it is not, the program will never last. we have our next meeting set for Oct. 10th

I have begun teaching in the discipleship class again... i almost forgot... two of my students (it's weird calling them students because they are both older than me and one is a pastor in a small village!) brought me fresh fruit and veggies one day.... only to realize that day was thursday and it was time for class!!!! ahh, good thing i had already prepared earlier in the week!

So as I am here in Africa and while i travel around on the mainland, i usually try and go to the same places so i can make friends and build relationships.... so i always go to the same internet cafe. yesterday they bought be lunch! Julius, Tracie, and Flavia gave me rice, meat and a soda! it was so nice because i was so hungry!! Later Jess and I were craving something familiar and that brought comfort..... so we found a place to watch 'Walk the Line' ... great movie if you haven't seen it yet. we sat and watched while eating some chocolate wafers!

weekend at uncle sam's... "i fell in love with the way family and community is expressed"

Here is a picture of Joseph, okoro's son who is currently staying at sam's place. he is a great musician! he makes up funny songs that make me laugh. i love it!

so when i first came to the mainland on thursday i planned on staying at the national office. it is nice there because i don't feel as though i am inconveniencing anyone. i can do my work and come and go freely. but when i came this past week i meet up with Benjamin. Benjamin is olive and okoro's oldest son. he insisted i stay with him and the kisolo family and said that uncle sam would be more than happy to receive me. he insisted i would not inconvenience anyone so he rang uncle sam and uncle sam expressed excitement on the phone knowing i was coming to stay. i was excited to come, so Ben and i walked back to the national office to get my luggage and off we went to sam's house. jess joined us the next day when she boated into the mainland.

this weekend was so good! i fell in love with the way family and community is expressed here. uncle's sam's home is a brick ranch-style home with a guest house close by... not fancy like you may think of some houses in the u.s. that have guest houses, but big enough to house many people. he houses his four children and wife...of course! but many others as well.... around 10 primary/secondary students who have some sort of relation to him some of which are orphans, his fathers sister who is lame, his mother-in-law who is mentally challenged, Georgeeeee a great young man with down syndrome (he brings so much joy to me and to all who meet him!) whose mother died... i think, last year. all of the students help out by cooking, washing laundry, cleaning the compound and house... they are all so respectful of sam and irene (mum (african mom) and dad). we enjoyed the weekend together cooking, washing laundry, playing a form of checkers, taking tea, eating toast with honey (i loved it so much ;) ) , we even watched 'everafter' one night we had power on uncle sams computer. the sound was so low that we had to narrate what was happening. some of us even painted our nails!

I have been praying about what's next in life for me...now i know what specifically i desire... I pray for family like this! i desire to have a family like this someday that can house people who are in need of a place to sleep. sam and irene still went about their business during the day but would come home at night to find everyone around, some preparing dinner, others playing... it was such a good weekend. This is the type of community i desire next in life. i can't wait. who knows it could be years away, but i know it will happen someday!

here is a snap of me being a 'ham' ....i am dreaming about the future ;) jess was the photographer!

SPEAKING OF MISS JESSICA... it has been a blast having her here in africa with me. i think she is adjusting well. she already has a best friend... henry... he names himself her best friend ;) i have been feeling bad for her though because these past nights she has had to sleep in the same room with me... the reason i feel bad is because at times i wake her up talking in my sleep ;) she thinks its great, i think its embarrassing! the other night i awoke when my head was at the bottom of the bed and my feet at the top... don't ask me how i got down there, i have no idea! lol :) jessica says i am an active sleeper ;) ....but jessica has been very encouraging to have around. she is getting adjusted to the culture, learning names, starting to pick the language, learning how to balance on a bodda bodda (motorbike) while in a skirt... she is doing great! today she is 'market shopping' like grocery shopping with papa O... one of jess' projects while here is to help the ywam base establish a balanced diet... finding out what foods are cheapest and in what season, figure out how long the fruits and vegetables will stay good before getting spoiled... she is going to create a full year food calendar for the ywam base.... just one of the many projects she will be working on. she will definetly be a blessing to the community and to me. yeah jessica ;)

short short update before i go back to the islands.

This week jess and I are on the mainland, originally we came for a wedding, but it was postponed because they didn’t have enough finances. So we have been hanging out with Uncle Sam Kisolo and his family while getting jess adjusted to life in Africa. She is really adjusting well and already has many friends who love her so much. It is funny though because at times I am translating their lugandan for her (who would have thought!) and what’s even funnier for me is when I have to translate their English because at times she is missing the accent. I love it ;)

Encouragement for me… papa O told me the other day he viewed me like Riek Macher (I think that is his name…the Vice president of southern sudan). Riek is the peacemaker/negotiator between the lords resistance army (people who have been abducting children and making them into soldiers in addition to killing people) and the gov’t of Uganda.

well i am off to the 'market' with jess... i have to introduce her to her market friends... ;)

Jessica's Arrival!

Jessica arrived safely this past sunday late late evening! i was so excited i made a small cheer for her as i saw her walking out of customs... i think the people around thought i was crazy :) but i had to do my best to make sure she is welcomed! and who is really welcomed when the cheer is so quiet?!! all travel went smooth and she was soon fast asleep on the boat as we traveled to the islands (notice she is sleeping on bags of salt, sugar, with other foods and luggage all around!! :) i was very excited to receive her so as you can see i was all smiles on the boat ride!! (thanks mom for this new camera!!!!...i can now put pictures here!)

second step of secondary school registration completed! we recently had a meeting with all of the church leaders to agree to set up a school bank account. it was more than successful. God used this meeting as a time for the leaders to apologize to one another and air out hurt feelings which were caused way back when the school was formed in february.... the leaders really humbled themselves and apologized to one another. it was so good... and then wrote the minutes to set up a bank account. we have submitted the proper documents to the bank manager and now we are just waiting for the okay!! it is very exciting, when the bank account is formed we will be one step closer to getting the school registered. the church leaders have asked me to be the treasurer during my stay here, i agreed. i will be working out the details to be able to hand it to one of them asap when the books are all created and it is organized. also, we have set a date, Sept. 3oth to draw all the community members together and apologize to the community at large and communicate with them what is happening and plead for their support, because without it the school will not stand. so i am very excited for this meeting because this is really one of the first steps to reconcile the community with the school. my role is just to pray and let the community know i am here for them since i was not around when the school began....

my health. ... still good... except i have a heat rash on my right leg and small spots elsewhere... my skin is so sensitive when it is in constant warmth.... i hope it goes away!! i have some medicated cream i am rubbing on it. also i have taken 3-weeks off of running but yesterday i ran with sarah a friend from the islands and a few of the kids from the island joined us! it was so great!

...thank you to all who are sponsoring a child! i will be getting you more info soon. to those who still want to sponsor a child, just let me know and i will be getting more details out as soon as possible! i really think we may be creating an entire child sponsorship program for the islands, i am very excited for this! and it will look different than compassion international.... more details to come later. we have a meeting set with the church leadership again to talk about the details of a sponsorship program! chulungi nyo (very good!)....

jess and i will be relaxing tonight by watching one of my favorite movies... Ever After... we will be going to my friend henry's place. he has a tv and dvd!! i am excited!

one last funny before i go back to the islands!

okay, so yesterday i was cutting a pineapple and my friend robert could obviously tell i was struggling ;) so he took the pineapple and started cutting it for me... i grabbed a pitcher of water and started pouring it into a cup... while pouring the water i started watching how he was cutting the pineapple and got so enthralled watching how well he was cutting that the water started flowing out of the cup, onto the table... needless to say i didn't notice until my lap was soaked! lol... i think i was tired :) ahh i had a good laugh.

secondary school update...

...i came to the mainland this past friday 01 Sept.. to work on some things for the secondary school. I am excited because it has been a very productive, successful and even restful five days... Friday we went to a city called mukono, where they make african drums... we picked 4-drums and a zialaphone... I picked these for the secondary school for the music and drama dept. and not only that dept. but as you can imagine drums are part of the culture here used for celebrations, worship, and assemblies. I had some extra support (money) come in and was able to buy these for the school. Thank you supporters!!! the hightlight from saturday was dinner!!!! i went with my friend Ben to a restaurant (remember i am on the mainland) called 2 friends... they had pizza, hawaiian pizza!! :) now this didn't compare with my favorite pizza, pizza pit... but what does?!!! so this pizza was good! ahh, i had a large smile on my face... sunday has two highlights... church... back in 2001 when the first madcity team came to africa, Pastor Joe Steinke lead a sermon on worship at a church in jinja. i attended the same church this past sunday. it brought back good memories of home and jessica who was on that team and who is soon to be arriving in uganda... after church we took some speedy speedy bodda's (motorbikes) to bugagali falls.... i was praying pretty hard as we went down this hill, ahhh yes and there were 3 of use on a motorbike...imagine!! (mom... i couldn't control the mans speed :) i didn't know before getting on this bodda that he would be so speedy!) lol...so bugagali falls is a falls on the nile. the water was so powerful and amazing. I have not taken communion for a long while, so we brought grape juice and some sweet bread with us and took communion at the falls.... there were eagles sitting up high on a tree near by. the whole day was so relaxing and enjoyable... back to work on monday as Pastor Robert and I traveled to Kampala to the ministry of education. There I recieved more information for the secondary school. but the real highlight was when we stopped at his friend Isaac's house. we had great conversation. we conversated about the child sponsorhip program that has been started but really needs much help and implementing... we talked about what would really work and what wouldn't... Robert is a very respected man on the islands and i really trust him and so does the community. he really wants to see this child sponsorship program happen and we both really believe it is on God's heart. pray for this! i am really excited about it. and today, tuesday! i had the opportunity to go to Jinja Secondary School. i was able to ask many questions and pick many documents that will be helpful for our secondary school. i was so excited when i met up with pastor Moses ... i had been praying for this, because i didn't even know where he was! and while we were walking we ran into a man he knew, also named moses. this new moses has a child sponshorship ministry on the mainland! i was so excited, he is forwarding me many of the documents they use for their child sponsorship program... and the last highlight before I sign off is from this very internet cafe! ... you must realize i have been sitting at this computer for 2 hours and 52 minutes... i do this quite often when i am on the mainland. like today, prior to this update i had many school documents to work on before i had a chance to write this blog. i have found the quikest internet in jinja and i am sure to always come here, Caltex (a gas station!). because i make caltex one of my main stops while in jinja, i have made friends. today they have offered me a soda because i have been here so long! ;)

scripture...

so here is a recent pic. of me in some authentic african wear with my friend sarah!!! this picture is from the introduction i spoke about in an earlier blog... i want to put the picture of me carrying a basket on my head, but that one is not working for some reason...maybe for another blog later!

i wanted to let you know some things the Lord has been speaking to me through scripture lately...

... i was reading psalm 72... the passage speaks about a righteous king, and how a king should be... in verse 12 it speaks about the king will deliver the needy who cry out and take care of them, he will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight... it continues to speak about how such a king is honored ... may the people ever pray for him.... i think this scripture spoke to me so much because where ever we are in life i think we have authority wether big or small to some capacity... and how we really need to be a righteous king like this passage speaks about. watching out for the needy. for the orphans, the widows, the oppressed. i think if only our governing officials goverened in such a say what would the world really look like. i took this as a challenge for myself... if only i would look out for the needy, orphans, oppressed in such a manner how i could change a small part of the world i engage in...

...then there was a series of scripture that tied together... first psalm 39 where is speaks about God teaching us to number our days and to know that life is but a breath... right after reading that i was reminded of matthew 6 where God speaks to us not to worry, not to be anxious, for he cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, for how much more will he care for us, his childen... and after that He went to Hebrews 12... so throw off anything that hinders...sin or anything and run the race with perseverance, soley focused upon the Lord... these scriputures were so encouraging because i let myself worry... worry about being effective for the Lord, worry about not getting married, worry about .... ahhh the list i worry... but this was so encouraging and these scriptures really brought a lot of freedom to my life.


these scriptures have been encouraging to me... may they encourage you also.
love you!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

first sign of missing home....

as i spoke with my friend david yesterday from the u.s. he talked to me about the badger football team getting ready to play bowling green! ahh, i don't know what it was but i almost teared up... the excitement of a new year starting... and i am not there. no concerts on the square, grape stomping, badger football games, new students to teach.... ahhh, Fall brings so many things, so much excitement... a new season is begining for each of you.... in life and in nature...okay i am bringing tears to my eyes as i write this.... but it is so true. it almost seems surreal because it still seems like summer is in full swing because the weather is so beautiful here. it is really hard to believe that Sept. is really here. i am officially in Africa! there is no turning back and coming home to teach and resume life as usual. I have never been in africa in sept... i really do love it here, but this is just a moment of appretiation of the U.S. ....(ahh, the toliets :), warm showers, taco's, movies (family man, ever after, armeggedon, how to lose a guy in 10days ...all my favorites), carpet, laundry machines, a kitchen..stove and refrigerator... i could go on. we have so much to be thankful for in the United States, may i never take these things for granted.

one more care package request!!!

SCRABBLE AND CHESS.... the science teacher of the secondary school wanted games that required the mind... not so physical... so if you would like to send those games or some others you know about, wonderful :)