We're Home Safe and Sound!!

"Praise God." ... "Amen."  This is the greeting and the response whenever a Christian addresses a group in Uganda.  On behalf of Team Uganda...  "Praise God." 

We are home safe and sound from our incredible life changing mission. We praise our wonderful Lord for His faithfulness to answer the prayers of His children on our behalf. We thank you, our wonderful blog followers and prayer partners for praying. We saw God at work in us and through us and we feel so full of joy! 

As we arrived in the Houston airport this afternoon, Saturday, we were greeted by our families holding signs of welcome and cheering. What a blessing! They didn't seem to mind that we hadn't really showered since Thursday afternoon Houston time. The water was off in our hotel Thursday night and Friday morning when we were leaving. Did you know you can clean your whole body and wash your hair with  one small bottle of drinking water?

We stretch out to sleep now in our comfortable beds, after hot showers and lots of soap, mindful of the fact that many still sleep on mud floors tonight without food in their stomachs, a blanket to cover them or a mommy and daddy to tuck them in. We know we made a difference for many. We will continue to pray for the precious people of Uganda each night as we get into beds, drink pure water or stand for a long time in the shower. Our lives are forever changed and we are grateful for that.  

Thank you Lord for allowing us to live out the Scriptures in Isaiah 6:8, which says "Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, " Here am I Lord, send me!"  

Amen. 

Please check back for additional photos from the team posted later.

 

*Intended to be read in a Steve Irwin Accent…

Deep in the African jungle, away from all civilization, our vans trekked through the thick foliage to Tororo, where wild baboons roam free. After an hour of bumpy roads and jolting whiplash, we were surprised to find the subjects of our adventure strutting along the side of the highway. Some people were aghast and nervous at the sheer size of the hairy beasts while others saw them as furry friends to be made. By the time the final team member emerged from the van, we found ourselves surrounded by curious and hungry creatures. Armed with bananas, we began to interact. At first we would throw the bananas about 20 feet to the 15 or so baboons in the area, but as time progressed they got braver and braver until they were eating right out of our hands. The one baboon that was banana shy and camera shy was the mama with her baby on her back. As we loaded up the vans and turned to wave goodbye, we were bid farewell with the flick of a tail and shiny pink bottoms fading in the distance.

On a more serious note, today was our last day at Lulwanda. Those of us who had previously endured this painful goodbye dreaded the inevitable sadness, while those who would experience it for the first time knew not what to expect. After a short playtime with the kids we had our final lunch at Lulwanda followed by the children’s goodbye presentation composed of beautiful songs and dances. When they had finished, we gave our own presentation to the kids and staff: our version of the Chris Tomlin song “Hello Love.” After distributing gift bags to the Lulwanda staff, we all watched a slide show composed of pictures of our activities at Lulwanda throughout the week. The kids thoroughly enjoyed seeing themselves projected onto the wall with magnified faces and amplified smiles. We then enjoyed a goodbye cake baked by the staff and soon after began to pass out backpacks filled with a prayer blanket and a toothbrush to each child. It was then time for us to leave. Full of emotion, we hugged the children and said our goodbyes. Goodbyes are never easy; however they are often a necessary part of maturity. One thing the people of Uganda reveal to a weary soul is that love is not easy, in fact it is often painful, but it is always worth the risk. God does not want us to hide away from love but rather to embrace it.




Thank you so much for praying for us and thinking of us as we have embarked on this incredible journey. We have continually felt the power of prayer in the midst of our work here and hope that those we have touched will continue to be blessed by the grace of God. Continue to pray for us as we depart for home. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Submitted by Sarah Hurst & Kelley Kerr

Another full and fulfilling day

The women’s hygiene team broke away from the group today to teach a hygiene conference at Namajae Church. This was deep in rural Uganda; we felt like we were reaching the outer most part of the world. Pastor Abraham is truly a man of God and it was apparent that the villagers love him and that he is greatly respected. When we first arrived, we were blessed with an indescribable time of worship. We all agreed we saw a small glimpse of heaven and what it will be like will all nations come together to worship him. The women seemed to love the lessons; they lingered on every word, asked questions, and even took notes. Afterwards, we were able to give them a small gift of soap, sugar and salt. These women were very joyful and gracious as they left with their gifts. Pastor Abraham shared with us that we were an answer to his prayers. He expressed that we could never understand what our teaching meant to these women and that our gifts were so needed. He was praying for people to come to lift the spirits of the village and bring gifts because there are no crops during this season. We truly serve a merciful and gracious God and we thank him for the blessing He gave us today.

While the hygiene lessons were taking place at Namajae, the rest of the group organized and produced another game day for the children at Covenant Primary School. The event operated similarly to the previous game day, with the exception that there were about twice as many kids. After we finished and left the equipment with the school, we returned to the vans to head to our next destination, but lo and behold one of the vans wasn’t there (side-note: “American time” here means on time, “Ugandan time” means whenever). Inevitably, a group of students began to gather around us expecting us to do something else with them. Morgan, being the selfless person he is, volunteered me (Smith) to sing some songs. We ended up singing our theme song “O-kwa-gala-kwe,” and we were able to explain His love to the students. An alternate van arrived, and we headed off to our next location: the Luwanda Children’s Home!

Today we concluded VBS - three days of Bible stories, worship, and crafts. In crafts, they made frames with mirrors in the center and decorated the frames with jewels. When they peeled the layer of film of the mirrors and saw their reflection, their eyes beamed with excitement. The children closed the day with a surprise performance filled with dancing, drama and of course reciting scripture. The kids were precious, especially the little ones who followed the older children with the exact same song. By the end we all realized how hard it is going to be to leave children after getting to spend so much time with them.

God is good, and thank you for your prayers.

This is Tonya, Smith, and Helen, signing out.

Clean Hands Clean Heart

“Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit – keep it tidy, keep it clean, Our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit”.
Today the team drove an hour to arrive at the village of Kahginima and visited a primary school named “Geritol”. We were welcomed warmly by the children and staff through the gift of song and dance. The children were divided into three groups according to age and were taught basic hygiene skills accordingly by Di, Cathy, Heidi, Connie, and Tonya. The gospel was also presented during these lessons. Following the lessons, each of the 350 children was given a backpack with a toothbrush, a bar of soap, and a pair of sandals. It was beautiful to see the gratitude through their warm and gracious attitudes. By the way, we gained even a greater appreciation for the porcelain throne and Charmin today.

We truly enjoyed the opportunity to see the beautiful Ugandan countryside on the drive back to Lulwanda. After a well-prepared lunch, we started the afternoon with a few songs of worship with the children. Then, the children were divided back into their groups and day 2 of VBS began. Today’s focus was “Worship Him”, and all three stations followed this theme. The Bible story was based on Matthew 4:18-22 where Peter walked on the water. In Smith, Heather, and Sarah Hurst’s station, the kids were taught some new worship songs as well as the game “4 Corners”. The craft today was called the “worship whirligig”. The older children constructed hanging mobiles while the “baby class” strung beads together to make worship bracelets. One of the biggest blessings God has given us on this trip is the unity that our team has; it was very apparent today as everyone worked together so well.

Following VBS, we were told that we had to entertain the children for an extra 45 minutes due to the fact that a staff meeting was being held inside the home. Props to Smith, Heather, and Sarah H. for once again coming up with exciting songs and other improvisations to pass the time. Thank you very much for your continued prayers. The team is on the mend and we look forward to the last few days of the trip and returning safely home.

Heidi, Di, and Nathan

Expect the Unexpected

We started our day loading slides, toys, baby blankets, and lots of love into our vans for the children of St. Kizito Baby’s Home. Our first stop was at a local market in Mbale where we purchased 200 kilos of food supplies for the children. This included flour, sugar, oil, salt, rice, and beans. Upon our arrival at the baby’s home, Sister Mary met us and gave us a brief history and tour of the house. Currently, there are 45 babies residing in the home from the ages of 1 day to 4 years old. We know the babies had not yet been tested for HIV; we were briefed on how to handle the babies safely. Each and every baby we met had an incredible impact on us. Today was the first time Nathan and Phillip had ever held a baby! After we had a chance to love on them, we surprised them with toys, rattles, mini-bikes, and three swings. It was a blessing to watch these children come alive when they saw their new toys being unwrapped. It was incredible to share in the lives of these babies even if it was just for a moment.

After arriving at Lulwanda, we were all physically and emotionally exhausted and it was exhilarating to have a lovely lunch waiting for us (guacamole was our favorite!). The children were so excited for their first day of Vacation Bible School. We started with worship led by Smith, Heather, and Sarah H. We broke into groups and the children were led to different stations to rotate through. The crafts station was led by Kelly E. and Maureen. The kids really enjoyed decorating and putting together their “name-a-rangs”. The music/games station was led by Smith, Heather, and Sarah H. We played follow the leader, musical bean bags, and were taught a new song. In the Bible stories station, led by Helen, Heidi, Phillip, and Nathan, the children heard the story of “Peter’s Invitation”. They were taught the importance of following Jesus by listening to a story and watching a skit. It was fun and relaxing for everyone. We were amazed to see how knowledgeable the children are with stories from the Bible. We know they even taught us a thing or two!

On a sad note, we ask for your prayers for Diana Solheim (from Katy), who has been the nurse at Lulwanda for the past 4 months. Today she received word that her brother passed away unexpectedly. She will be flying home tomorrow with another team who is leaving Uganda.

Connie, Cheryl, and Sarah M.

Church – Ugandan Style

Today we attended church at Bulolelo, located right behind Lulwanda Children’s Home. Morgan and Phillip joined Pastor David sitting at the front of the church while the rest of the group joined the village people and Lulwanda children on the wooden benches. The women had beautiful dresses on; it is typical for them to wear their best clothes to church every Sunday. The worship was very involved, both in Ugandan and in English. Singing, dancing, and clapping were a part of every song. We were blessed to be invited to sing our much-practiced song “Love” by Chris Tomlin in front of the whole church. After an hour of authentic, energetic worship, the children were released for Sunday school.

Sunday school was held outside under the blazing sun. Maureen planned and organized all of the fun activities that the children participated in. Sunday school involved telling a story while cutting pictures out of paper to illustrate it. The stories included “Creation”, “The Fall of Man”, and “Sampson and Jonah”. The other team members acted out the stories as they were being told. The children also got to “cut and tell” the stories themselves. The Sampson wig was a big hit! The children got to go “fishing”, catching paper fish and gum (aka “sweets”). The provision of the crafts and the time spent planning the activities were appreciated by the children and the staff; we could really see this by all the laughter and the joy in their smiling faces. They all had an attitude of gratitude, good manners, and joy!

Meanwhile, back in “big church”, Morgan and Phillip were each given the opportunity to share a message with the congregation. Phillip spoke first and shared Ecclesiastes 3; God makes everything beautiful in its own time. The congregation was very engaged, and some villagers even asked questions for Phillip to answer at the end of his sermon. The people were so hungry to understand the Word in an in-depth way. Morgan taught on Philippians, and he talked about the importance of having a steadfast life for Christ. They both did such an awesome job, and God clearly spoke through them.

After a powerful and exhausting four hour church service, we ate lunch at Lulwanda with the children and staff. It was so impressive to witness the manners of the children; all 90 of them waited to eat until everyone was served. They also ate in almost complete silence, a respectful tradition in their culture. The children are always grateful for whatever food they get even though the meals are very similar every day. After we finished eating, we loaded into the vans and headed back to Mt. Elgon Hotel for a few extra hours of rest before dinner.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and a unique experience in the Ugandan culture. It was neat to watch and engage in the worship service and to lead the Sunday school.

Maureen Hiller and Phillip Arneson, on behalf of the team

Game Day for 200 children

After an emotionally intense day yesterday at the Namatala village, today was filled with extravagant joy and laughter! After beginning the day with our usual worship and devotional time at the hotel, we loaded up the crates full of equipment on top of the vans, piled in and traveled the 30minute journey to Lulwanda. The trip is never boring as there are so many incredible sights to see along the way. So many people walking and riding bicycles and motorcycles carrying an amazing assortment of things with them. We’ve seen animals, furniture, food and other treasures all piled on their heads or tied on their vehicles.

We began the day at the Children’s Home worshiping the Lord with the children as their friends from the neighboring village slowly trickled in. Each Lulwanda child has been paired with a child from the surrounding village in a program called The Good Neighbor Program (TGN). This program was created in attempt to keep the LCH kids in touch with their local culture and avoid becoming a sub culture unto themselves. It also serves a means for outreach to bless the poor villagers with some of the blessing that God has poured out on Lulwanda.

While the TGN children ate their breakfast, Kelley Kerr improvised a rousing sing-along with the LCH kids, while some made last minute preparations for the events and activities of game day. Two hours of fun and excitement under Pic’s excellent leadership and the blazing Uganda sun with jump ropes, parachutes, catch the monkey’s tail, bean bag toss, and “flip your lid” made everyone very hungry for lunch! The staff had as much fun as the children did and joined in every activity. The laughter and giggles truly filled our hearts with joy.

Lunch was served to about 200 kids, 58 visitors (us plus a visiting team of 36 from Rocky Mt Bible Church in Colorado), and 30 staff members. After lunch, the children blessed us with a sampling of their singing, dancing, a skit, and scripture recitation. Many of us shed tears of joy and we know God was smiling at His precious children. The children at Lulwanda absolutely love to sing and make up dances; they could do it all day long. After the presentation was complete Kelley, Connie, Cheryl, Cathy and Heidi joined in with the children to continue dancing, and we have video to prove it! Gifts paid for by the generous support of many of you were distributed to the TGN children as they departed. Each child received a bag with 3 mosquito nets and a prayer blanket in a nylon drawstring backpack to take home.

By the end of the day, our team was exhausted, sunburned, and yet still full of joy. It was a blessing to see how God is working in the lives of these children. They are so full of love for Him. Some even broke into spontaneous prayers of thanksgiving when they were handed their gifts. Over 100 more mosquito nets were distributed to the children and the staff of Lulwanda before we departed to head back to the hotel.

We thank God for your prayers. The Lord has kept us safe and based on the debriefing sessions we hold each evening in our large group and small groups, He is revealing Himself to us in amazing ways. Some of our team members are a little sick with headaches and some intestinal problems. We ask that you pray for them to heal quickly and that the rest of us will remain healthy.

God bless you our wonderful prayer partners!!
Pic and Cathy
For the Team!

An Incredible Day

Today was our second day of ministry and God worked in miraculous ways! After breakfast and devotional time, we went to a slum of Mbale called Namatala to share the gospel and go hut to hut with interpreters for two hours. The Lord provided more interpreters than expected. We broke up into 7 teams of 3, which was a blessing since it allowed us to reach more people. God led us to people that were ready to receive His Good News and He spoke through each person on the team. He used us to reach many people who prayed to receive Christ for the first time! Let’s give the Lord the glory and thank Him for our new brothers and sisters! Ministry was not limited just to unbelievers but we also ministered to believers who were suffering, doubting, mourning, and dying. Through the mighty power of Jesus’ name and prayer, we eased people’s pain, hurts, fears, tears, doubts, and also helped a family recommit their lives to Christ.

Each team was given 3 gospel tracts as a tool for presenting the message. One team was inundated with people who could read English and asked for their own tracts. They were afraid they had run out of their material and people were still coming. A small miracle occurred…they kept finding tracts in their pockets as long as they continued to share the gospel. In the exact words of this team, “this was a type of loaves and fish story and there was even extra tracts which was the baskets left over!” How cool is our God!

After heartbreaking goodbyes at Namatala, we loaded into the vans and drove to Lulwanda. We were blessed to participate in their Friday fellowship time. We sang, danced, and listened to a message from a house mother, Sylvia, about spiritual growth. While the children were coloring and decorating a bag, some of us hid 500 Easter eggs filled with sweets, stickers, rings, and small toys. The kids had so much fun finding all of them and enjoyed their treats. For the rest of the afternoon we had unstructured play with the children which consisted of games, songs, and sports.

Tonight during our debrief, we had worship and encouraged each other. It was intense and emotional considering the hard things that we saw earlier today at Namatala. We broke into our small groups and prayed for protection of our hearts, the people we met today, and for you, our prayer partners.

Thank you so much prayer partners for your prayers! God is working mightily through you! We feel them and the Lord is so present with us here! They are being answered and are moving mountains in Uganda! Please keep lifting us up daily and interceding on behalf of the African people. The Lord is good and worthy of praise!

To Him be the glory,

Morgan and Heather

Our First Day of Ministry

This morning we arose with smiles on our faces, even though some of the team had trouble sleeping due to jet lag. We started the day with an excellent breakfast and several members of the team experienced African coffee for the first time… YUM!

Our first stop was a church in Mbale. We went in order to teach hygiene lessons to children and their mothers of the Namatala village. Our prayers were answered when the translator overcame the language barrier and the women clearly understood the message we were attempting to get across.

While the hygiene lessons were being taught, a mother walked out of the church with her ill and crying infant. The Lord immediately prompted Kelly Elkins to approach the two and ask to hold the baby and suggest that the mother return to participate in the lessons. As she held the child she prayed that he would come to know the Lord early in his young life and that he would grow up in a Christian home. Morgan soon helped out with another crying baby and rocked and comforted him also taking advantage of the time to pray.

The hygiene lessons went great! The children and mothers learned about germs, the importance of washing hands, and how to do so while using very little water. Cathy, Heidi, and Di did an amazing job presenting the lessons and the mothers were very thankful for the information that will keep their children from getting sick. After singing our group song that we have been practicing for weeks, “Love” by Chris Tomlin, Connie presented the women with the prayer blankets specially embroidered with the Lugandan words “O-kwa-ga-la-kwe” meaning “His love.” The mothers were given enough blankets for every child in their family, along with sugar, flour, soap, mosquito nets and flip flops. The overjoyed mothers expressed their gratitude with loud trilling noises made with their tongues, and headed back home with all their new gifts balanced on their heads.

We headed to Lulwanda Children’s Home and even those of us who were returning from previous years were not sure what to expect. With a heart full of joy, Chrissy got out of the van and began to look for the children she had been exchanging letters with for the past year. She went to the schoolhouse and within a few seconds, the children ran from their rooms and hugged her. Tears began streaming down her face. A child embraced her and wiped the tears from her cheek saying, “It is okay. God loves you.” The rest of the team shared equally moving experiences upon being welcomed with such love.

The rest of our time at Lulwanda was spent getting a tour of the Home, meeting the new staff members, and playing with the children. We only spent a few hours at the orphanage, but we all look forward to having the next week to disciple and to love on these kids.
As far as our team, everything is going very well, and we are looking forward to hut-to-hut evangelism tomorrow. We are so thankful to have such powerful support back at home. Hope all is well in Texas! We miss y’all! J

God Bless,

Chrissy O’Rourke, Kelly Elkins, and Rebecca Marshall

Praise God the GFUMC 2009 Uganda mission is off to a great start!

Monday afternoon we all made it to the Houston airport in plenty of time to load 43 50-pound pieces of luggage on the plane and head for Amsterdam. We want to thank all of the friends and family who came to the Houston airport to wish us bon-voyage. It was a long and tiring trip, but most of us managed to catnap. Rebecca Marshall slept the whole 9 hours, and Smith Leggett didn’t sleep at all! We spent four hours Tuesday morning in Amsterdam Airport, some window shopping drooling over all of the beautiful (and expensive) merchandise made in Holland, others eating and relaxing.

Then we were off on our second leg of the journey, an 8 hour trip from Amsterdam to Entebbe. Upon arrive in Entebbe Airport we were all checked for Swine Flu symptoms, and to our amazement given a clean bill of health. We had our passports stamped with our visa into Uganda, and all the baggage appeared! We were relieved to see the four vans that carried the 22 of us and our luggage to the hotel for our first night in Africa.

Wednesday morning, after beginning the day with worship and a devotion, we drove to the only large department store in Kampala to purchase toys and other gifts for the orphans we will minister to. While at the department store we linked up with 17 year old David Schoultz, from GFUMC, who has been here approximately two months with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and will soon be leaving for South Africa. David has contracted Malaria, so we gathered around him and prayed for his health and safety.

After a four hour drive through the country side, we arrived at our hotel. The journey was amazing to most of us, to see how the people of Africa live. We saw poverty stricken people living in huts and sheds, walking along the roads carrying everything from water to bananas on their heads. We saw workers in the tea fields, and rice paddies, making bricks, and selling anything imaginable along the road side.

It was a great relief to get to our hotel in late afternoon, get cleaned up and have a wonderful meal. Then we had a great time of praise and worship led by Smith Leggett and Kelly Kerr. We broke up into small groups and reflected on 2nd Timothy 1:7. We all are looking forward to a good night sleep and hope it isn’t interrupted by jet lag.We thank all of you for your continued prayers for our mission trip.

Joann Hopkins and Rob Marshall on behalf of the Uganda Team.

We made it safely and all luggage came!

Thanks for the prayers! In Kampala now & on our way to Mbale.

Our Commissioning

Before church this morning many on our team commented that they can't believe the time is actually here and we are getting on a plane tomorrow to head to Africa!  After today's amazing send off  at Grace Fellowship we believe it and we feel so ready!

We were honored to be commissioned and prayed over in front of the whole church by our senior pastor, Jim Leggett in the first service and by Morgan Pylant, the Connections Pastor in the second service.  We are grateful for the prayers of our church body and of all of you who are following this blog.  We go out thankful and confident that we serve a God who hears the prayers of His people. 

In between services, we were invited to the Next Generation in our Kids Place at Grace. These kids are the children of parents who are serving in one of our services and attending the other. Next Generation  is a special program for them and we can attest it is powerful in equipping these children to be godly leaders. After sharing a little of what we would be doing in Africa, the kids, whose average age was about 8 years old, got up off the floor and split up coming to each of us to lay hands on us and pray for us. They asked us our names and how they could pray specifically and then they prayed the sweetest prayers you could imagine for each of us by name. They prayed for our health, our safety, that God would use us, for our comfort and so much more. It was awesome!

Thank you Kelly Brotherton, Kristen Kershner and the other leaders of this ministry. You are doing a terrific job and we are so blessed to have witnessed what God is doing in and through these precious  kids.  May the Lord bless them and continue growing them up serving Him so powerfully like they did today. 

We will likely not get a chance to post again until Wednesday night when we arrive at our final destination in Mbale. Thank you for your prayers!

There is Love- Okwagala Kwe

"Okwagala Kwe" has become the theme of our mission.   It means "His Love" in Lugandan.  We are going to Uganda to tell as many as we can about His love. We are going to share His love in many ways, even without words. We have embroidered the words Okwagala Kwe on the 300 prayer blankets we are bringing and will explain that the blankets are a gift from Jesus. We pray they will to serve as a reminder of His love whenever the recipient needs comfort.  We have memorized the Chris Tomlin song, "Love" over the past few months so we can actually sing it in church and anywhere else we have opportunity!  Tonya had the lyrics printed on beautiful Team T shirts she gave us. We will wear these on the flights over to serve as a witness to everyone we meet on the long journey to Uganda.

Click on the YouTube link (on the right sidebar) to the song performed by Chris Tomlin and the Ugandan Children's Choir in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda last year. The quality of the video is amateur but you can still hear the song and imagine us in the place of the performers! Imagine Smith Leggett leading us with his guitar and the rest of our group singing the African lyrics led by Sarah Hurst.  They make us sound really good!   Maybe after we perform it in church we can upload our version!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wbJPPAcmLY

Our Itinerary and Prayer Requests

Please pray as you are led but here are some prompts based on our daily activities.

Monday June 8 through Wednesday June 10

Depart Houston Monday 3:30pm, on KLM to Amsterdam (9.5 hrs), a 4 hour layover and then on to Entebbe (8 hrs). We overnight in an Entebbe hotel and travel on to Mbale by mini buses (4 hours). We arrive at our final destination Wednesday around 8am Houston time. Uganda is 8 hours ahead of Houston. Pray for safe travels, rest and that all our luggage and ministry supplies arrive.

Thursday June 11

Morning: Visit the Namatala village children at a local church and provide for some basic needs: prayer blankets, shoes, soap and toothbrush. Clean Hands, Clean heart presentation of the gospel. Pray that our visit to them will be received as love and compassion from the Lord.

Afternoon: First visit to our main focus group, the 90 orphans of Lulwanda Children’s Home (LCH). These children are b/n ages of 4 and 13yrs old. Pray for relationship building and help for jet lag.

Friday June 12

Morning: Visit the Namatala slum/village.  Sharing the Gospel hut to hut through translators. Pray for prepared hearts, good communication, courage, salvation!

Afternoon: Resurrection Celebration at LCH. Easter-egg hunt with 500 plastic filled eggs. Games/crafts. Fun! Pray for joy in the Lord and understanding of the most important message.

Saturday June 13

Host an All Day Sports/Field Day for 90 LCH kids and the 90 village children partnered with them in The Good Neighbor Program. Distribute prayer blankets and hygiene supplies. Pray for joy, safety, and delight in the Lord.

Sunday June 14

Morning: Worship African style at Bulolelo village church!!! Our group will sing a Chris Tomlin song with some Ugandan lyrics. Morgan and Philip will preach and teach adults while our group will conduct Sunday School around 150 kids. Pray we remember the words! Peace for Morgan and Philip as they share the Word.

Afternoon: Rest at hotel. Pray the team can clearly hear what God is saying to us and pray for restoration of weary bodies.

Monday June 15

Morning: Shop at local market to stock pantry of Gangama Babies Home, home to 50 babies who are under 4 yrs old. Visit the home and assemble a swing set and play with children. Distribute prayer blankets, toys and other gifts. Pray that we would be a blessing to the staff and interact well with the young children. Pray they are not afraid of our white skin!

Afternoon: Vacation Bible School at LCH- worship, crafts, Bible and games. Our message:  Because Jesus loves and chooses me, I can follow Him. Pray the messages would be understood clearly and the children would feel the love of Christ through us.   

Tuesday June 16

Morning: 5 ladies will conduct a Living Water International Basic Hygiene conference for 200 women in Namaje village. Gospel presentation. Pray for clarity of teaching through translators and comprehension of the life saving messages. Pray the presenters would be supernaturally empowered to teach.  The rest of the team will conduct a Sports/Field Day at a local elementary school for 300 children. Pray for safety, order and joy in the Lord.

Afternoon: VBS continued at LCH with the whole team. Our message: Because Jesus is the Son of God, I can worship Him. Pray for understanding and revelation and true worship.

Wednesday June 17

Morning: Visit a public elementary school and teach LWI’s Basic Hygiene lessons with a gospel component to 350 students. Gifts of soap, toothbrushes, flip flops and nylon backpacks. Pray for order, safety, understanding of the messages. Pray that we can split the group into three for easier teaching. Pray for comprehension and salvations and that the children understand the gifts are an expression of love and compassion from Jesus.

Afternoon: VBS at LCH. Our message: Because Jesus helps me, I can follow God's plan for me. Pray for changed hearts and deeper commitments to Christ.

Thursday June 18

Morning: Sight seeing in an area with baboons!! Pray for safety and freedom from fear for some!

Afternoon: Closing celebration at LCH, video recap of our time there (pray the power will be on) saying goodbyes to staff and children (pray for protected hearts,).

Friday June19

Depart early for Kampala, sight see the Source of the Nile on the way. Lunch and souvenir shopping at a local craft market in Kampala. Depart for the Entebbe airport. Fly out at 10:20pm. Pray for safe travel on the dangerous roads and protection while in the city. Pray for a smooth check- in and ability to rest on the flights.

Saturday June 20    Arrive Houston 1:30pm   Safe and sound. Praise God!!

The Countdown Begins

In one week from today we will depart Houston to serve the Lord in Uganda, Africa! We are so happy to have you along with us! You are a vital part of our team and we are grateful for you. Your faithful prayers will have eternal impact on us and on those we are going to serve.  

Our team has been training together, planning and preparing since January and we are all so excited to be used of the Lord. Very united in love and purpose, we are eager to bring His love and compassion to the orphans and the poor in Uganda.   

Together we have crafted and embraced the following mission statement:

As Team Uganda 2009 we will pray continuously, love one another with a cheerful heart, give thanks at all times, watch God work miraculously through us while serving each other and the people of Uganda whom we consider better than ourselves.  

The primary focus of our mission is the group of 90 orphans at the Lulwanda Children's Home. You can read all about them at http://www.ugandaorphans.org

We will also minister to the 50 babies of St. Kizito Babies Home, and about 500 children from very poor villages through our two game days, and visits to a public school. Physical life saving messages using the Living Water International curriculum will be taught at a Women's Hygiene conference for 200 women, and at a public school for 350 children. We will also be sharing the life saving gospel message at these locations as well as in a poor village called Namatala. Our team will teach and preach to adults and children as we worship with our African brothers and sisters in the local church on Sunday. 

Each morning and evening our team will be worshiping together at our hotel and sharing how we have seen God at work in us and thorough us. The testimonies to how our Lord has been working and changing us have already been many and we haven't even left yet. What an awesome God we serve!

We hope to be able to post to our blog daily but with frequent power outages and a dial up modem, this may not happen as often as we would like.  But we'll try!

Thank you again for your partnership in our mission and thank you for your prayers.