What a week!! It has been a busy one thats for sure. The week started out with our sabbath day which ours is on Monday. We went to town to pick out fabric and then we went to the tailor to get dresses made!! I am excited because I am getting a more American looking skirt so that I can wear it more than just in Africa. The boys also got shirts made.
Tuesday we did some door to door ministry. I was teamed with Lilli, Billy and one of the locals Michael. So we headed off and we met some young boys in one of the streets and started talking to them and sharing who Jesus is and explained to them that going to church is just not enough that it’s asking Jesus to come into your life and believing in Him. When we were in the middle of our conversation we were approached by a drunkard. He was very belligerent. He was yelling at us telling us how foolish we were. He even tried starting a fight with Michael in which Michael handled very Godly. We were trying to get away from this guy because he was just that riled up but he ended up following us for a good 10 or 15 minutes. The drunkard finally decided to go on his way and we continued talking with the young boys that we had met. Billy kept on sharing his testimony and sharing who Jesus is with them. Billy even used the drunkard as an example to these young men of how your life could turn out without Jesus being the center of your life. After talking with these guys for a long while we came to the point of the conversation when we asked them if they wanted to except Jesus into their life and all three of them made the decision to ask Jesus to come into their life, so right there in the street we locked hands and we prayed.
Wednesday was our busiest day of the week. We had to be up and by the road by 6:30AM to wait for our taxi. Our first stop was the Mcgoree police staff. We spent some time worshiping and praying with them and then my team mate Tommy gave them a message. Our next stop was an orphanage. We were so excited to get this opportunity and when we arrived we found out that the orphans were not there. The children go twice a year to go back to their village with their extended family so that they don’t forget where they come from. I was a little disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. The good news is the children will be back our last week here in Kenya so there is a good chance we will get to go back. So we got to hang out with the staff which was awesome. We had teacoffee and girl scout cookies. They also gave me two tshirts which I was so grateful for because I only brought two of them with me and I was wishing I would have brought more. They also have a clinic and we got to take a tour and that was so awesome!! If you know me you know that I love anything medical related. The staff also gave us 97 pillowcase dresses to hand out in Isibania. Our last and final stop of the day was the prison. The staff at the orphanage were planning a trip to the prison so they ended up just tagging along with us. Before heading to the prison we had to eat so we went to a hotel to eat and had chicken, rice, greens, chipotti and coke. The prison was probably my favorite stop of the day. The prisoners had so much joy and you could tell that a lot of them loved Jesus. They shared some of their worship with us and then we shared our worship with them and then Tommy gave the message. After Tommy’s message Pastor got up and started talking with them and asked them to raise their hand if they wanted to receive Jesus as their Lord and savior. 20-30 hands went up and I could feel Gods presence in that prison cell. When we finally got home we went through the dresses and started picking some out for our neighborhood girls. We were handing them out and we found out that our local friend John was really sick. We went over to his hut and he was laying in bed and he looked horrible. He had a very high fever and was not looking good at all. We spent time praying with him for healing and then came to the decision that we needed to take him to the hospital that night. After being examined by the nurse he was admitted for the night. The nurse started an IV and gave him some fluids and antibiotics. We prayed with him again and left him there for the night.
Thursday was a very interesting day to say the least. It started out visiting John at the hospital and he was back to normal and he was felling much better. His smile was back! We were able to bless him by paying for his visit which was only $25. Then we were off to a family visit. This was not a normal family visit what so ever haha! It started out with us having to hike for like and hour and a half through the bush. I went through trees, ditches, thorn bushes and those round sticker things that like to stick to you. We finally made it!!! We were told that the family we were visiting was struggling financially. We were able to bless them with sugar and some other things. They had us sit outside and out comes bread and tea. This family was giving everything that they had to bless us. It really makes you thing about how selfish Americans are. Before the food came this lady came up to us and she was holding two small birds. She kept on trying to get me to hold these silly things and she didn’t understand that i did not want to hold them. As she kept trying to place them in my hand I eventually had to get up out of my chair and make a scene haha! Not only did they feed us bread and tea they also gave us a chicken yes a chicken. This thing was alive not dead. The legs were tied together as well as the wings. After praying with a couple of families it started pouring down the rain and so we were stuck. We all crammed into this mud hut and had to wait out the rain. After waiting for probably about an hour or so it had not stopped but was light enough for us to make a run for it. Pastor had called for a taxi because of the rain. So we were off tracking our way through the mud and I was telling to be careful that it was slick and what do you know I was the one who went splat in the mud. I thought it was hilarious and the children did too so I was happy that I was able to make them laugh…its not everyday they see a white person fall in the mud!
Friday was the most tiring for me. We went back to Mcgoree in the morning and visited the Hospital. After sharing at the hospital we headed to the market for our weekly shopping. Not only were we shopping for the team but we were also buying food to cook our hosts an american meal. Our menu consisted of southern fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, corn, rolls and fruit salad. We were already given a chicken the previos day so we had to get 2 more chickens because we were feeding about 25 people. As soon as we got back from the market we had to take lunch and get to cooking. We had to kill, pluck and cut 3 chickens and had to prepare all the rest with only 2 coal burning plates. Lets just say its a lot easier to cook in America haha!
This brings us to today Saturday which Pastor wants us to rest and prepare for our last Sunday at church. I can’t believe that we have not even a full week left here in isibania. Time is flying by so very fast. It makes me sad to think about having to leave all my new friends here but I am also excited to see what God has for us in Uganda. Which reminds me next week me and my squad will be white water rafting the Nile River so get excited!!
Love
Jaime
