Day 13 – 6 July 2018

This morning we did a few home visits at the community center after we ate breakfast. While we were eating our sweet friend Evelyn came with another mama so we could do her home visit. Evenlyn is the picture of joy, she is never without a smile on her face, and is always dancing and sounding my favorite Ugandan call of happiness. But as I’ve been watching her the past few days I could see that something is not right. I found out she’s having some medical problems and is in a lot of pain. Please keep this amazing woman in your prayers, she is incredibly strong and is trying to push through, but I pray she is healed quickly and is back to her joyous self quickly.

We are almost done with home visits just in time for the team to arrive this weekend, we have less than 20 left to do. As we were sitting in the banda, a hut with a palm frawn roof, the wind started picking up and the rain came quickly. It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but the temperature dropped and everyone sat close to keep warm. As quickly as the rain came, it was done and it was time to make the long drive to Mayuge, on the other side of Lake Victoria,

We have a few families that have relocated there, including David the brother of Patrick. He, like his brother, is the dad for a few of our kid in the sponsorship program and he loves to host, so we always have to go by his house. The drive winds us through the sugar cane fields, and we get a good “Ugandan massage” bumping down the red dirt roads. Job, our driver, told me I couldn’t sleep in the car like I did yesterday because he was bored driving.

We had a car full today, Pastor Julius, our village pastor came with us. Along with NBS, my brother Pande and Mama Justine, who is Patrick’s wife. Mama Justine never gets a chance to come with us, so I was very excited to have her with us. She is one of the strongest women I know, she has a heart to serve children, and I always connect with that.

We made a few stops at other families’ homes before we made it to David’s. One of the families served us a meal. Acts like this remind me of why I started working here. They barely have enough food for themselves, but they will always show their appreciation by sharing what they have with us. They even gave us an enormous bunch of bananas and a whole bag of yams to take home. 

Patrick’s brother greeted us with fish, chips and all the amenities. Fish is not for me, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. The view from his house is amazing and we always get to visit Lake Victoria while we’re there.  After everyone’s bellies were full, we visited the lakeshore. 

Lake Victoria is so beautiful, I love coming to this little fishing village. The boats were all pulled onto shore, and the fisherman’s nets were laid out and the mukene (silverfish) were drying on the shore. We took a minute to have some fun and take crazy pictures with all my favorite people. Job even tried to throw me in the lake.la

There was a pretty large group of kids that followed us to the lake. At first, they were scared of use, they don’t see many missionaries there. I knelt and greeted them; kneeling is a sign of respect and to them, it meant that I was on their level. After that, they were singing songs and dancing with us. One little girl led the group in “Jesus Loves Me” and it was the most adorable thing in the world. 

It was another long drive back to Musima to drop off out ride-alongs and then we headed back to Pastor Terry’s in time for dinner and watching some world cup.

Sula bulungi!