> Africa and perhaps this is how Jesus may have felt - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

Month 7….Hello from Africa. I have at least one or two blog stories overdue to you from Malaysia, one from Thailand and another from Nicaragua… such is the life on the World Race…it's hard to find the time to convey all I'm thinking and experiencing to you while I'm actually doing it. Make sense? So, I'm transitioning on to our third continent with the hopes of backtracking at some point.

When we arrived to the African continent about 10 days ago, we spent about five nights in Entebbe, Uganda (near Lake Victoria) together as a squad. We debriefed our SE Asia experience and prepared for our time in Africa. Then came a 13 hour bus ride to this month's ministry site location in Kigali, Rwanda.

UGANDA

"You are here" in Entebbe, Uganda. We visited a wildlife education centre ("zoo") and ran into a lot of interesting wildlife and some very beautiful people.

Our debrief occurred next to a church that ran a school program. Probably more than half the children were orpans. Many times the church members have come to their church to find abandoned babies and children. Regardless, these kinds were filled with such JOY. We have so much to learn from this beautiful children.

More wildlife (Uganda's national bird) and more beautiful kiddos.

RWANDA

Making my debut on the Rwandan airwaves preaching some Truth. Quite possibly the most fun church service I've ever been to: Me + African kids dancing in the aisle for Jesus. Does it get any better? This last week, as I've walked along our path between our house and the church, I've pondered, I wonder if this is how Jesus felt as he walked along when he was doing his ministry? Did children run up to him and walk alongside him? It must have brought him so much joy to see the joy in the children. "Faith like a child."

Children are always walking us to our house (red gate) or waiting for us there. They call us Mzungu (foreigner) and I love it. These are the kids we are helping with in the mornings. There is one teacher at the church for about 40 kids. It's chaos! Most of these kids are very poor and cannot afford going to a government school. The church tries to provide some type of learning opportunity for these kids. For $300 a year, the church (through sponsorship) puts these kids into school and gets them uniforms. If by chance it moves your heart, e-mail me through this website and I can get you info on how to sponsor one of these kiddos.

Mary is one of the women who is serving us at the house we are staying at. She is amazing and cooks us three meals a day. I had heard interesting stories about the meal experiences in Africa from former racers, but I'm finding this month I've probably had the most food prepared for me. Don't worry mom: I'm eating and I'm eating very well. Here, I'm with the pastor's wife and she is also such a servant to us. It's unbelievable the welcome we've been given by all the people we have met here, including the children. These people and children are filled with so much JOY and they come from such meager living conditions. It's a reminder money doesn't bring happiness.

We were stopped at a gas station and these women were showing us how to strap their babies to their back, African-style. This is a view from the bus window as we traveled between Uganda and Rwanda. Rwanda's highest mountain is more than 14,000 feet, though we won't be near it.

Kids, kids, kids. Kids from church. Kids that greet us as we walk our route every day.

This is the path we travel between our house and the church. It's probably only a 10 minute walk, but it usually takes maybe 20 minutes. That's because there are dozens of kids that come to hold our hands, give us hugs and walk with us along the way. If I woke up feeling lonely or unloved one morning, it sure goes away as I take about 20 steps outside our house for the month!