Uganda Day 5-Primary, Garden, Church

The Men and Pastor Dongo had a productive day at the garden. They planted 550 banana plants, and were so excited to see the ones that we planted last year are growing tall and will be producing in 60 days! The kids will be so happy to start eating bananas!

The banana plants in full bloom!

Mike bought a stove that burns with wood and creates energy to charge a battery and gave to Wilbur who helps at the garden.

The cows and goats have been moved to the garden.

The ladies visited the primary school in the morning to complete sponsor correspondence and then headed over to Pastor Dongo’s church to meet with their ladies team to help prepare for the women’s conference. They are so resourceful! They are preparing for 300 women and since many are spending the night due to distance, there is so much to do. They are creating a wash area for them to wash their feet and clean up from travel, cooking for many meals over the 2 days and creating a sleep area for them in the basement at the church. They have worked so hard to have a place that the women will be comfortable and ready to learn about and worship God. Their women have been fasting and praying all day for this conference to be life changing for these women.

The kids at the dining hall at the primary school.

Abby and Sarah were able to practice worship with their worship leader Maria and had so much fun ministering to and learning from each other. Maria said she had never been to anything with 300 women in one place and was so humbled to be used by God to lead in worship. She said, “Praise God for the mighty work he is doing in women in Uganda! We have been praying for such a large women’s event for years and it is finally happening!” We are humbled and honored to be God’s vessels to help this happen. The high school girls 15 years and older are also coming, and we couldn’t be more thrilled for them to see these women worship and learn about God. These young girls are Uganda’s future and we believe God is going to do great and mighty things through them.

 

Please pray for part of our team that will be serving at the conference tomorrow and for the part of our team that is leading the Olympics at the Primary School. Also pray for continued good health for our team, besides not being able to sleep well, everyone is doing great!!

Uganda Day 4- High School

Their awesome daily quote board

The highlight of our day at the High School was Chapel. Ezra, Pastor Dongo's son, brought the sound system from the church so they were able to have mics and music. Abby and Sarah  practiced with the high school praise team before Chapel and loved getting to meet the kids and teach them a new song. They said they are amazing singers and had terrific harmony! Several of our team members said watching the worship was their favorite part of the day.

Mary taught chapel and asked some of the kids to volunteer reading John 4 about the Samaritan Woman at the Well. We talked about just as physical water in necessary to sustain physical life, living water from Jesus is necessary to sustain eternal life with Him! The best part was watching the kids stand up in front of their peers (who were laughing and cheering them on) and reading God’s Word into a microphone! They had never done that and although they were intimidated, they did it! They grew a lot today! The principal thanked us for challenging the kids to be bold with their faith. She said God gives us opportunities to stand up for him and we must take them. She said if we don't someone else will who may not believe in our God! Great lesson for us too!

Listen to this video and hear their sweet voices! This is a group of kids that were fasting during lunch. We heard them singing and went to hear their worship and prayer time. They have such a heart for God and want to know Him and please Him with their lives. It is totally student lead, there were no teachers around.

Darrick making friends with fellow Ice Cream lovers. I am not quite sure how that topic came up!

We took all the class pictures at the High School, and they were much calmer and “cooler” than the Primary School. They all wanted to be tall and be on the back row. It was fun to watch them interact with their friends. No matter where you are, there is always a class clown to make you laugh! We handed out more loom bracelets to all the kids that Met Kids made for them. They loved them so much and were so encouraged that kids from the US had cared enough for them to make them a free gift.The kids in this picture are all sponsored by families of The Met...what a great looking crew!

The crazy camera crew trying to make the kids smile!

Uganda Day 3 at the High School

The High School has changed since last year! There is a new floor and the roof is ready to be put on! There is much construction going on there. We were so happy to see some of our friends who have moved up to the High School from the primary. They have 70% that are able to move up to the High School, which is above average for Uganda schools. They have a very difficult testing system that kids must pass to go to the next grade.

Our team sanded the 4^th floor concrete walls and put the primer on the walls. Their method of construction and resources is very limited, but they are very hard workers and very innovative! They are so appreciative for anything we do and make our time with them so rewarding.

We were talking to one of the administrators and she said she had just returned from picking up a girl who hadn’t returned to school. She had graduated from the primary school at the top of her class, but her parents didn’t have the resources to send her to the high school and were not sure if they wanted her to go there since it is an hour from the primary and where they live. The administrator went to her house and brought Brenda and her father to the high school for them to see it, now that is dedication and love! When they arrived her father started crying and was so overwhelmed at the opportunity for his daughter and how caring everyone was to them! She would need sponsors, but they felt like this is where God wanted her! Someone from our team had a family member who was looking for someone to sponsor and was so happy to help and thankful to get to take a picture with Brenda and her dad! God is so amazing, He didn’t have to let us see the whole process….but He did and blessed us! Sarah and I walked off with tears in our eyes as we watched this thankful and proud daddy who is so thankful someone is giving his daughter a chance. School is her chance to not only survive in very tough conditions, but to have an education and a job to support herself one day. He was overwhelmed, as any daddy in America would be, that someone would believe in and help his daughter when he could not! That is God’s love in action.

We also passed out letters to kids from their sponsors. It was so fun telling them about their sponsors and how much they loved, sacrificed to support them and prayed for them.  We would ask them about their studies and what their best class was. They are so smart…physics, math, literature! Bob, one of friends who just moved up from the primary said he was learning so much. I asked him what he hopes to do in the future and he said he just wants to be used by God! He said he wants to help Uganda find God and stop doing such destructive things! Alex (the photographer because he always wants to use our camera to take pictures and our friend from the primary who returned this year to the high school) said he had so many talents he wasn’t sure which one God wanted him to use yet! AHHH, I agree. They are such amazing kids.

We are excited to return to the High School tomorrow for Chapel! Pray we will be a blessing to them! To quote our young friend Bob, we yearn to bless them more than they are blessing us!

Day 2, Uganda

We had a great day with the kids at The Primary School. There are about 1000 kids that range from 3 to 14 years old. We took their class pictures and gave each of them one of the loom bracelets that kids from our church made for them. We told them the bracelets were made with love from kids their age. They were so excited to receive a gift from America.

We were thrilled to get to see the water well we raised money for last year. It is so impressive and far exceeded our expectations. They use the hand pump part of the well for bathing and washing clothes, and have it filtered by the dinning hall for drinking. The kids are drinking and eating well! All have grown inches since we last saw them and are happy and growing spiritually as well. They love to tell you their favorite verse or sing a praise song.

The kids definitely remembered us and The Met. We met many new kids and were so impressed at the kids and their ambition. They value their education and have big dreams of going to college and becoming doctors, lawyers, and accountants. They have a great sense of humor and try to make you laugh.

They ask a lot of questions and are very interested what our lives are like back home. They ask about our families and our church and friends who are missing us back home.  They ask what they can pray for us, and are genuinely interested. Their joy is contagious! They are so happy for basic things we think are necessities and very happy just sitting and holding your hand and smiling—with them no words are necessary, just the understanding that we both are happy to just be together.

Day 1, Uganda

We are here in Uganda safe and sound. We got to our "Hut" about 1:00am their time, so we are trying to convert to their time. Our first leg to London was 8 hours, we sat at the airport for 4 hours and our next leg to Uganda was 8 hours! A lot of sitting for our team!

Dongo and his sweet wife Florence met us at the airport and are picking us up in the morning at 9:30 to start our day at the Primary school. We are so excited to see the kids and take them lots of toothbrushes, Scripture memory cards, and lots of letters from sponsors. We will be taking class pictures for them. Last year was our first year to help them document their classes and classmates. We printed and bound them together and made a book for the entire school, it will be so fun seeing them crowd together and saying "JESUS" for the camera.

It is warm here, quite a change from Texas. Pray for our day tomorrow and for us to be able to meet many new kids and encourage staff. Please pray for our whole team by name over the next 10 days! We believe God is going to great things and we believe in the power of prayer and so thankful for everyone who is "Standing in the Gap" praying for our safety, health, spiritual growth, and blessing we can be while we're here. 
(names from Left to Right, top to bottom in picture below)
Bob Dillon, Mike Dilworth, Darrick Walls, Mary Walls, Liz Griffith, Monica Walsh, Duane Griffith, Sarah Brannan, Abbey Arneson.

Sharing God's Love,

Mary

Uganda 7 Day Countdown

It is hard to believe we will be leaving for Uganda in 7 days! God has already done so much to get our team to this point and we are blessed and thankful beyond words. We are taking over 1500 toothbrushes, 2759 bracelets the kids from our church have been making with looms, lots of letters from sponsors, money for food to plant when we get there and the list goes on. There will be so many smiling faces when we get there to just see us and to be loved on...taking gifts will just blow them away. My heart is already bursting!

I have completed preparing The Women's Conference, 3 sessions on Esther, 2 church services on Prayer, and a High School Chapel service on prayer. It is in God's hands now to teach, reach and touch the lives of all of those there.

Please pray with us this week each day as we desire to bless God while we are there. He has already blessed us beyond measure and we are each honored to be able to go.

Sunday- Pray for safety and health for our team during our 2 weeks. Please pray for them by name:
Mike, Liz, Duane, Mary, Darrick, Monica, Abby, Sarah, and Bob.
Monday- Pray for the 1000 kids at the primary school and 250 at the High School. Many live there and many walk or take a bus to get to school each day. Most do not have parents and some have relatives who check on them. Pray for these kids to trust Jesus as their Lord, work hard in school, and to be free from illness. Pray they will become leaders in Uganda that will glorify God.
Tuesday-Pray for the crops we will be planting. Pray God will bring rain to prepare for the harvest. That it will be more food than they know what to do with!
Wednesday- Pray for the school teachers and administration. Pray God will bless them and multiply their time and efforts. They work very hard for very little money and many spend hours getting to work. Pray they will love the kids and share the love of Jesus with them.
Thursday-Pray for the Women's Conference on Saturday and Sunday. There will be many women from all over Uganda and many brought in from outlying areas and the bush on buses. They will spend the night in the basement of the church Saturday night since it is too far to travel back home. They will attend Church services at Pastor Dongo's church on Sunday morning and then attend the rest of the conference Sunday afternoon. Pray they will be able to make the travel, they will hear from God and many to accept Jesus, many to be encouraged as they head back to their homes, and for all details for the event to run smoothly. We are not sure how many will attend, we are leaving that to God!
Friday- Pray for the Kids Olympic day the guys will be handling while the women are at the conference. Pray for fun competition and for the kids to have fun while building relationships with others.
Saturday- Pray for the day we drive a few hours to Jinja to minister to ladies with AIDS. Pray we can be an encouragement as we share Jesus with them and the love that only He can give! Pray they will be healed, have money for the AIDS medication, their families will not contract AIDS and that they will have jobs to provide for their families.

Thank you for praying with us on this great adventure God has called us to on the other side of the world. We are taking you with us to love on the people there in Uganda. Thank you so much for joining us in support and prayer. You are a blessing to us! 
  
Phil 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

Mary

God Are You On Vacation?

I have been studying the book of Esther and it is really rocking my world. I go to sleep living with Esther and wake-up traumatized by the life she is living. It is so depraved; think sex trafficking with a strong dose of The Bachelor. Since God is never mentioned by name in this book, no one prays, no one prophesies, no miracles ever happen, and no Scripture is ever read, you might wonder if God took a break from history while this book of the Bible was written. The only glimpse we see of God is his people, the Jews, and they are at great risk of being exterminated. 

Just as I am thanking God I don’t live in that depraved world, I hear about the Sex Trafficking that occurs each year around the Super Bowl. I am reminded that horrible things don’t just happen in far away countries and centuries ago, but the same destruction and abuse is happening today right where we live. I am thinking, “God do you see what is going on here? Are you on vacation?”

God reminds me he is working in this situation, just as he was in Esther’s situation years ago. Since the Super Bowl is known as the single largest Sex Trafficking event in the United States, He has called people to be on the front lines fighting for these girls. They go into difficult places and see horrific things, but they are standing up to make a difference for others. Since February is Human Trafficking month, please pray for the ministries fighting against this war on slavery. No God is not on vacation; He is using people to stand up for Him and to carry out his plan. 

Are you been asked by God to do something you really don’t want to do? Are you trying to muster up the courage to do something that benefits others? Be brave and stand up for what God has called you to. You will never know the reverberation of your actions for the present generation and the generations to come. If you don’t, God will bypass you and use someone else to do something amazing, but don’t let this opportunity pass by friend...... you were born for this! 

Esther 4:14

¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”