June Updates

Once again, it has been way too long since I’ve blogged about life in Uganda. As you can imagine, we’ve been pretty busy. Our schedule, just to give you an idea of what a “normal” week looks like for Rebecca and me, is pretty packed.

• Sunday – Church, out to lunch, House 2 tutoring
• Monday – our “off” day
• Tuesday – Ngongolo Village to work with Margaret in her school, House 1 homework
• Wednesday – Kitende Modern Primary School to teach P1 and P2 (we plan for PE and Counseling classes, but are starting to help with other subjects as well), House 2 homework
• Thursday – 4:30 wake up with the kids at House 2, day at House 1 helping with projects around the house and homework
• Friday – Kitende to teach clubs (art/music/drama)
• Saturday – House 1 tutoring, field day at Kitende with all of the Sozo kids, House 3 tutoring

One thing that the Lord continues to remind me is how I must be flexible, because even though we have a schedule to follow, there is never a week that everything goes exactly as planned. Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks:

Village School: The first time that I saw Margaret this summer, Rebecca was actually not with us in the village. She went on safari early in the summer with a friend of hers that came on a team. I was able to meet with her and tell her that we are looking forward to spending Tuesdays with her in her school. One thing that I wanted to make clear is that we don’t want to come in and just “take over” but we want to partner alongside her with the things she already has planned to do with her class.

A little background on Margaret’s school… She does not necessarily have a background with training in education but she saw a need for a school in the village and started one. Last summer she had over 40 students that were preschool-kindergarten age in a small mud hut of a classroom. When it came time to start the new school year back in February, some people from outside the village came through advertising a new school with “quality” education. Unfortunately, most of Margaret’s students from last year started attending the new one. She had a few parents ask her to continue to teach, so she is teaching with 5 students right now. Financially this has been difficult, and does not have the money to pay school fees for her own children right now. It is also very discouraging because the new school is literally across the dirt road from hers, which is a constant reminder of what has been taken from her.

When we work with Margaret, we are only there for a little over an hour with the students and then they go home for lunch, which leaves us with a couple of hours to just build a relationship with her. I’ve enjoyed this time so much, and we’ve had the time to give her encouragement in this time of her life that she is very disheartened by her situation. I’ve loved being able to share scripture and pray with her. The thing that God continues to place on my heart to share with her is that we do not always understand God’s plan and the way that things happen in this world, but “He who calls you is faithful” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Even when times are hard, “…the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Our second week in the village, Margaret asked us if we could get her a Bible. Last week, we had the privilege of taking a Luganda Bible to her, and I wish I could have bottled up the joy that was overflowing from her heart. Margaret said, “Now I have power,” as she held her own Bible for the first time. She immediately turned to Psalm 23 and read it to us in Luganda. Every time she could sneak away, we found her sitting in the corner reading from her new Bible. She asked us to help her mark the scriptures we’ve been sharing with her. Seeing Margaret with this Bible reminded me of how God calls us to treasure His Word. How often I take for granted having the opportunity to open my Bible and read for myself God’s Word. In fact, I have countless Bibles in my home, different versions and formats. Yet, I do not get giddy at the thought of being able to sit down and read them. God, I pray that You will give me the passion that Margaret has for studying Your Word!

Please continue to pray for Margaret and our time with her. Pray that she will be encouraged and trust that God has a sovereign plan for her life, and He will be faithful to her as she pursues her God-sized dream of a village school.

Kitende Modern Primary School: This is the school that our Sozo kids attend who are in primary school (Baby Class through P7). We are at this school two days a week. Rebecca and I were both discouraged at the beginning because we had been given the opportunity to teach PE, Counseling, and Clubs (art/music/drama). These happen to be the ONLY subjects that neither of us teach back home. Ha!! God has such a funny sense of humor.

However, with the schedule, we are able to be at Kitende and sit in on P1 and P2 subjects like math, English, and Luganda. We also happen to be there during the mid-morning break on Wednesday and have the opportunity to “take tea” with the teachers. Picture a break in the teacher’s lounge at school (although that doesn’t happen very often…) with hot tea as sweet as Milo’s and chapatti (fried flatbread that is a cross between a tortilla/pita). We enjoy this time to talk with the teachers about differences in education and cultures. A few fun conversations...

• Comparing the differences between teaching a class of 100 vs. a class of 15.
• Rebecca being given a stick to carry around as she was teaching, after the class was told, “White ones beat harder than black ones.” And the conversation that followed about how you just need to have a stick to intimidate them.
• In Uganda, if you were 27 and single with no children, it would be considered bad. They told us that we can’t be too picky, we can’t all marry a wealthy man. We told them as long as a guy loves Jesus and loves us, we would be satisfied. They said, “We will find you a black one.” And the next time we showed up, one of the single male teachers started a conversation about wanting us to take him to the states to teach with us. Banange! (Luganda for “oh my goodness”)
• A conversation about needing to “reduce” (aka lose weight), and to do that you have to eat only vegetables and drink a lot of water… All while stuffing our faces with chapatti, fried samosas, and on a sugar-high from the tea.
• Being asked about our “Uganda teacher clothes” that we always wear (long skirts and t-shirt). When they discovered that was not our uniform, they asked why we always wore the same kind of clothes…

As we have continued to be at Kitende, the teachers have opened up more and more. Please pray for our relationships with Teachers Gorret, Amanda, Godfred, and Agnes. Pray that we have opportunities to encourage them, learn from them about education in Uganda, and conversations to share our faith with them.

Sozo Homes: The time that we spend in our Sozo houses has to be my favorite. The kids are learning our schedule and when we will be at their house to “do learning” as they say. I love that we are able to be with these kids at their highs and their lows, and show a picture of God’s unending love. Let’s be honest… Sometimes it is hard to love them when they continue to snatch your water bottle, refuse to do homework, or tickle you so hard it hurts. But, God always gives you a reminder of how He has called us to love, even in the hard times. Sometimes it is through an unexpected kiss on the cheek; a child taking you by the hand saying, “Come we go,” and leading you to share their treasured mud pie; or asking you to pray over them before bed.

Please be praying that although we are busy during the day at the schools, that we still have the energy and patience to spend quality time with our Sozo kids. Pray that I never overlook those moments to love and adore these children, and I use every opportunity to reflect the love our Heavenly Father has for us (1 John 3:1). Pray that we can be intentional with the aunties and uncles who work tirelessly to care for the kids and the muzungus (white people) in the homes.

A friend from my small group at Brook Hills, Rachel, came on the team this past week. I was able to switch my off day to travel to Jinja with her team, which ended up giving me a lot of time serving alongside her. I loved getting to see her experience Uganda for the first time, and watching her fall in love with the Sozo kids who have stolen my heart. It was the perfect time in the summer to have a little piece of home come to this side of the world. It was hard putting her on the plane last night, knowing that I will not be able to be back with her for another month. I can’t wait to get back to my small group girls and enjoy their fellowship every week!

Thank you all so much for the encouraging emails and texts that you continue to send. Often times is exactly what I need to refocus on why God has called me to Uganda this summer. Some days it seems like I have been here forever, and some days I feel like I just arrived. I can’t believe that I only have four weeks until I hit the ground in the U.S. Please pray that God will make the most of the time that I have left to serve Him here this summer. Continue to pray for good health and rest (so far, so good!), intentional time building relationships, and boldness to declare the Gospel to the nations!

“My life is in Your hands, my times are in Your hands,

Though nations shake and thunders roll,

I will trust in You completely.

I yearn for more of You, Your grace alive in me,

My life is nailed to hands that bled

In this love my soul is free.”

– Kari Jobe, “Yours Forever”

Drama Club

June 13, 2014

**Sorry this post is almost a week late!! I have a few more updates from the week that I will be posting soon.**

There are not words to describe our day. All day I felt like God was whispering in my ear, “Remember, I am in control.” It is days like today that make you realize that even the best made plans cannot compare to what God has in store.

Today was “supposed” to be the calm before the storm. The weekends are extremely busy for Rebecca and me because it is our time to work with the Sozo kids individually and in small groups to do some extra education activities to fill in the gaps. Fridays are pretty slow. Today we planned to do chores at the house, have our quiet time, do some education planning for the weekend ahead, run into town to get groceries, come back to House 4 to fix lunch, take the van to school, teach “Clubs,” and have a slow afternoon helping with homework after school at House 1.

“Clubs” is a time that P1 and P2 (1^st and 2^nd grade students) get to have art, music, drama, or scouting (learning “survival” skills for outdoors). When we were asked to help teach clubs, we agreed with the understanding that we could just choose one of them and teach from 2:00-3:00. We chose drama thinking we could do some interactive read-alouds with skits.

The hour before clubs is lunch. We were a little scattered because we had been running errands in town, and wanted time to collect our thoughts. The teachers were all eating together, so we went and sat with them. They were all joking around in Luganda, so Rebecca and I were sitting around not quite sure what was going on. When we asked logistics about clubs like where we were going to meet, the teachers said they were trying to work it out. That should have been clue #1.

As the lunch break ended with the bell, all of the P1 students returned to class and sat in their desks. Teacher Gorret suddenly disappeared from the room, and we were there with 87 kids and not sure what was going on. Rebecca got up and led the students through the alphabet in sign language. She was still not back. So, we pulled a book to read aloud. About two pages in, Gorret returned and moved the kids out to the veranda… all of them. And there were students piling out of other classrooms as well. We thought that they were going to give general instructions about where to go for the different clubs and then we would get started.

We were wrong. The teachers decided that since there were “muzungus” here to teach drama, that all of the students should be there. So imagine 250+ students sitting outside, speaking Luganda, with us trying to do a read-aloud of “Five Little Monkeys.” Utter chaos. I’m convinced that some of these children had never seen a picture book before. There were many times that if I would have moved an inch in any direction, I would have stepped on a child. Banange!

This picture is at the very beginning of the book, before the kids surrounded me, and more classes kept coming to join us...

That wasn’t even the worst of it. Rebecca and I had planned to split them in to groups to act it out. This turned in to her with a group of 100+ and me with a group of 100+ yelling over the children talking, while maybe 5 of them actually acted out the book. I looked at my watch and we still had 20 minutes to kill. We ended up pulling out every children’s book we had taken with us, trying to read it as loud as our voices could, with the teachers sitting around watching the chaos. When Rebecca asked them how they normally did clubs and managed so many children, their response was, “We have not.”

So, we were the guinea pigs. It was the first week of ever doing clubs with the younger grades, and they just gave them all to us. They told us at the end, “That was too many to manage.” At least we were not the only ones that thought that… Next week, they will at least be split into P1 and P2, so the groups will be half that size. That also means that Rebecca and I will be split and not be able to play off of each other.

Let’s just say that the rest of the day, we were exhausted. What we thought was going to be a “slow” day, ended up to be the most exhausting day of our week. We thought we had a plan… a plan for our day, a plan for teaching drama club, a plan to relax and get ahead on some education activities. God always has bigger and better plans than we can ever imagine. I know that God has big things in store for me this summer. He is going to teach me so much that I cannot even begin to fathom. In the midst of what seems like complete chaos, God is weaving together threads to accomplish His divine plan.

My prayer is that I will not forget that. I pray that I will lean on His strength when I have none. I want God to do amazing things through me this summer, but I want Him to do them in a way that only He can receive the glory for it!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Faith Like A Child

We have enjoyed a weekend full of time at all of the Sozo Houses. The weekends are our time to really focus on education with our kids, other than just doing their nightly homework. Many of them started school late or did their first years at a village school, so many of them are behind where they need to be in their classes. One of the things that Rebecca and I knew would focus on this summer was tutoring with our Sozo kids. We spent this week doing some assessments and getting to know their individual needs. Rebecca has been focusing on Reading and I have been focusing on Math, just for the simplicity of knowing that we are hitting both areas with each child.

Saturday morning we spent time at House 1 with the younger ones (baby class through Primary 2) because they do not have school in the mornings like the older ones. When Mato returned from the market with the food for the week, we hopped on the van and they dropped us off at House 3. The older boys trickled in from school throughout the afternoon. We were able to work with one who knows very little English, is 16 years old, and in Primary 4. After spending a couple hours with him, attempting some upper level math (that I finally had to admit that I couldn’t help with…) we were coaxed into playing basketball and then volleyball. Let’s just say that volleyball is not Rebecca’s cup of tea… The one that we were helping with English said, “Auntie, you will improve” and “Do not fear” as she screamed and ducked every time the ball came her way. We are left today with bruised forearms and fun memories as evidence of our long afternoon on the court.

Today we had church at the Sozo Houses as Watoto Church was having a big celebration for their anniversary and they were not holding services at the location that we normally attend. 

After church we went with the team to lunch and then to House 2. We were able to get in some good education activities with the kids there and enjoy devotion and dinner with them. One of the older girls fried a turkey egg for us to sample after I told her I had never eaten one.

I love how I was able to really connect with kids at all of the houses this weekend, each in a different and unique way. Many of the nightly devotions since we arrived have focused on how God created each person differently, that He made us “very good,” and that we should use our unique gifts to bring Him glory. “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10) I love that every home has a different feel to it, and that the unique gifts and talents of the aunties, uncles, and children that live there.

One of the highlights of my time serving with Sozo this summer is with We have been doing a lot of reading with the young ones from House 1 since we are there most afternoons when they get home from school. Victoria (aka Victo, Vicky-to, Victor, or any other variation you can come up with…) is one of the kids that we knew would need a lot of attention this summer. Rebecca and I have both been very intentional about reading “beginning reader” books with her over and over to build her confidence. She even “keeps” a book for a day to practice reading to others around the house. Victoria also happens to be one of the girls that I pray with at bedtime every night that I am at House 1. Every night she has been asking me to pray that she will learn at school. On Friday, that transitioned to praying for her to “do well with reading.” Saturday night, she said, “Pray that God will help me keep learning to read. And he will help me love to read. And he will help me read so I can read [the Bible] and learn about God. And that I love him more.”

That, my friends, is what it is all about. These children have taught me so much about how to have faith and hope in Jesus Christ, how to seek Him with my whole heart, and how to live life with joy and peace despite the circumstances around me. So many times this week I have been reminded of Luke 18:16, “But Jesus called them to him, saying ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.’”

Everyday Life with Sozo

We have finally gotten settled into everyday life here in Uganda!! There is so much that happens day in and day out that is so hard to put into words. From rising early and jumping right into chores, to helping prepare food for the day, to helping with projects around the Sozo houses, visiting schools, Kabalagala, the village, working with the kids on their homework and tutoring, to dinner and bedtime... There is never a dull moment!

Elise Huguley was a short-term missionary with Sozo this spring. She created a video from her trip that completely captures everyday life in Uganda. Take a minute to watch it and see a glimpse of what my life this summer is like. 

Sozo Children Uganda

Thank you for your prayers during these first few weeks as I have gotten settled in to my home for the summer. Please continue to pray for me to get rest, and joyfully serve in every capacity while I am here. Rebecca and I have been going non-stop for the past couple of days. When you end your exhausting day trying to do homework (that is quite difficult for someone who does not have a Ugandan education) with about 20 kids who would rather be doing ANYTHING other than homework, patience sometimes runs a little thin. Please pray that we are able to work with these children, we are able to love them well and make the most of every moment that we have them one-on-one or in a small group. These past few days, my prayer has been that in every moment -- peeling matoke, frying chapati, organizing medical files, reading and re-reading the same books over and over, bedtime prayers -- my life would reflect His glory and sing His praises!

"Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised..." Psalm 96:1-4

Serve

June 2, 2014

Sozo House 4 is officially occupied! The interns arrived last night late to a house that still has its quirks, but has a lot of love poured into preparing for them. After traveling for two days, the top two priorities upon arriving are: 1) shower and 2) bed. Well, the city water had been off all day and we did not have any reserve water in the tanks. No showers or toilets. Today, we were able to get a water truck out and take showers before dinner. But, after dinner, the power went out. Most of the time scheduled outages are during the day, so this evening has been interesting finding torches (flashlights) to finish hanging mosquito nets (we had to move a few bunks around and get creative…) and trying to entertain ourselves to distract from the sweat that is literally rolling down my back as I lay in bed. Thank goodness for computer batteries…

(Yes this is two mosquito nets from one hook that is in the middle of the room. Using duct tape, a knicker hanger, and rope. Tommy Lunceford would be proud of our Jimmy-rigging!)

It has been so neat to be here the week leading up to the summer interns arriving. There are 13 college students who were selected to do a summer internship serving in the Sozo homes this summer. In the past the interns have lived at the homes, but with so many teams in and out over the summer, Sozo found a separate house for the interns and summer missionaries. It is just down the hill from House 1. The Sozo Uganda staff has worked so hard all week coordinating the plumBer (see previous post for Ugandan pronunciation…), electrician, and corralling some of the Sozo kids to help clean, hang curtains, move beds and mattresses, lay (make) the bed, label keys, fill buckets of water for the toilets, etc. I have loved every minute getting to work alongside them and seeing the joy that they have in having a way to give back to those who are coming to spend their summer with them!

Helping hang our curtains with zip ties.

Our key ring with all of the keys finally labeled for the different locks keeping us secure in the house. This lasted for all of 10 minutes before we had to find a better system...

Each one of the intern family groups picks a “word” to focus on over the summer. Some groups pick words like “love” or “abide.” They dig into the Word to discover what God has to teach them about that idea as they spend time working and doing ministry together throughout the summer. After my first week here, I’ve decided that my word for the summer is “SERVE.”

“Sozo” is a Greek word meaning “to save.” Sozo Children is a ministry that exists to save children not only from their physical poverty, but most importantly to save them from spiritual poverty. (Read more about this ministry at www.sozochildren.org.) I love every part of who Sozo is and what they do. The more that I am around Sozo, the more I realize how every single Sozo staff member, child, and missionary has a heart to SERVE.

Mark 10:48 says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to SERVE, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” My prayer is that through my time in Uganda this summer, I will learn how to SERVE the way that Jesus came to this earth to SERVE. And I’ve got a lot of people to learn from all around me, most of them our Sozo children!