Where to begin?
I guess "blessing upon blessing" would be a good place to start. That would be blessings upon our team
members. From the second day of the
youth seminar to home visitation to the construction project, each member of
the team was surrounded by God’s presence throughout the day.
Today’s youth seminar was for ages 17-24, and there were
81 participants, where only 40 had been expected. Talking about leadership, true friendships,
boundaries, refusal skills, purity in relationships, we broke some new ground
with the youth, presenting some much needed instruction on these important life
skills and lessons. God provided each
teacher courage and His guidance in what to present. The youth were engaged and attentive with
many taking notes during the presentations.
After one team member gave a personal testimony, 5 guys came up at the
end of the day thanking him for sharing his story, because it gave them hope
and encouragement to make changes in their lives. During the seminar the youth had planned a
skit and special music so they could play an active role and not only be
participants. It was so encouraging
watching the initiative these youth take in participating in their church.
The home visitation today impacted at a minimum 317
individuals from young to old. At one
home, a sponsored widow provided a tour of her humble home. She wanted a minute to straighten her bed
before she would allow team members to go inside. What impacted the team most was the pride this
widow took in the little she had; although it was not much. This same widow was given a new yellow dress
which she promptly went to put on. Then
she came back out and wanted her picture taken.
Even though she was almost blind she could see the bright yellow color
and she was excited. Sometimes it really
is the little things. We often don’t
slow down enough to take pleasure in such small things.
On another home visit a team member got to meet her 2
sponsored kids along with an additional 2 siblings and the father. After supporting these siblings for the past
2 years it was an incredible blessing to see this precious family and to
deliver gifts which included Bibles, which one of the sponsored kids had
requested. Another God moment in this
home visit was that another team member bought the dress which was given to
the sponsored child, and the connection was made while at the home. God really is in the little details.
So, as you go through your day, focus on the blessings
that you have from the Lord. They are
there, both big and small, and He gave each one. A question I have been asked repeatedly
during our time here in Uganda has been, “How are you?” Because of the many blessings upon our team
and in our lives, the answer each time should be…”BLESSED!”
Construction Update -- Special Edition by
Rick
At the construction site much has been accomplished in
the first two days. We are building a
dormitory for young orphaned girls similar to the existing dorm for the
boys. Even though we’re in Uganda, we
were surprised that the foundation would be constructed without the use of any
electricity, gas powered or pneumatic tools (let alone a Bobcat or front-end
loader). This is because labor is dirt
cheap (pun intended) compared to the cost of materials.
The construction supervisor is Bennard, and he brought
12 local workers. The tools we used
included shovels, hoes, wheel barrows,
some planks, nails (some used), a 2-foot level, a machete, and a plumb
bob.
On Monday we poured a footing - a fairly
trivial task in America. We hand-mixed a
small mountain of sand, cement and gravel to make concrete on the ground. All this hauling was done by wheel barrow and
then transported to the trenches.
Today,
we moved one mountain of home-made bricks to the site from about 30 feet
away. These bricks are made of local
clay and are used to build a 3-foot high wall on the footing. Our team of three (Russ, Paul and Rick) has
provided mostly manual labor.
We have
been extremely impressed with the local
workers. Some work in rags, and all work
in bare feet or flip flops while earning only around $3 per day. Despite these
conditions they work incredibly hard and are equally skilled. What made an even bigger impression on us was
their attitude. It was obvious to us
that some of them felt trapped by their situation; several would like to go to
University but they just don’t have the money for it. Despite their predicaments, they had a sense
of joy that was remarkable. On occasion we found ourselves looking upon them in
awe. They will likely finish the
foundation and slab by the end of this week.
When enough money has been collected, the walls and roof will begin.
TUESDAY PRAYER
GROUP VISITATION
SHARING LOVE
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