We are currently in Seeta, Uganda in the Mukono district outside of Kampala for the next month working with Celebrate Jesus Ministries. I will update more next week on what our ministry looks like this month, but it includes working with a church and a school, so we will finally get to play with lots of kids! For now I want to wrap up last month. As we get videos loaded over the next few months, I will continue blogging about Kenya and all of Africa, but for now here is the monthly summary.
Here are the numbers
Number of beds we slept in: 2
Number of wifi networks we used: 3
Number of times Joel stepped in poop of some sort: 6
Number of Dutch Blitz games Team Wreckonciled played: approximately 150 (yes, we had some time on our hands…)
Number of babies who cried because we were white: 5
Number of times we were called “mzungu” (white person in Swahili): absolutely impossible to count
Advice to future racers
In Africa, prepare to become the zoo attraction. You will be the rarest thing that lots of people have ever seen. We literally went on a safari, saw a bus full of school children on a field trip, and instead of looking at the zebras and rhinos a few hundred feet away, they all screamed, “Mzungus!!” and looked at us. Welcome to being the center of attention 100% of the time.
Also, prepare to sit around and wait. A lot. There is a saying that goes like this: “Americans have watches, but Africans have time.” If they say noon, they mean sometime before 4 pm. Bring a book.
Have at least three praise songs and a sermon always ready. At church, you will be leading everything.
If you are lactose-intolerant, bring lots of Lactaid pills to Kenya. They drink Chai tea at least twice a day, and it’s made with whole milk.
If you require a lot of fiber to keep your body in check, bring some pills, because the East African diet has almost none.
Prepare to do any number of absolutely random things that you may be in no way qualified for. The World Race is about adjusting and doing what’s asked of you. Who knows…you may find yourself in the Rift Valley filming a music video when you had never even used iMovie before the Race. Have fun!
If you’re in Eldoret and you want a fun team day off, consider the following options: a safari at the Lake Nakuru Nature Preserve in Nakuru about three hours from Eldoret, driving to several beautiful waterfalls in the area, or going to the Kerio View Resort and eating at the amazing restaurant that overlooks the Rift Valley…it has one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen and they have western toilets!
Ministry Summary
This was a slower month for Team Wreckonciled as we transitioned from Asian punctuality to African Time, but we enjoyed getting some much needed rest and down time as a team. We helped out Pastor Patrick by preaching on Sundays at Releasing Destinies Ministries Church, which was started by the World Race K Squad last year. We also did some home visits with Pastor Patrick to encourage members of the church. And our surprise ministry of the month turned out to be filming a music video for a song that S Squad helped Pastor P record when they were in Kenya. Joel and I did our best with our lack of professional skills, and we’ll post the video the next time we have good Internet. All in all, it was a restful month where we got to water a lot of the seeds planted by previous squads.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for our team’s health this month in Uganda. Malaria is a big problem here so we are praying against that. Some members of our team are also struggling with difficult intestinal illnesses, so please pray for good health for everyone.
Please pray for Mae who we met and helped in Thailand. I’m going to write another blog updating everyone on the details next week hopefully, but she has left Lighthouse in Action and has run off with her old boyfriend from Italy who comes to see her every few months but has his own wife and family in Italy. Please pray for her safe return and for her to see the light and realize that Emmi can help her. Please pray for her to accept God’s love and return to Lighthouse in Action so she can get out of the prostitution industry once and for all and embrace her new life. This is a critical prayer request, so please share it with friends and family, and direct them to the blogs about her story if they want details!!
Thank you for all your prayers and support! Finally, since we can’t load full length videos due to slow Internet, we made this trailer of our travel day video from Thailand to Kenya. Enjoy!!
