Christmas letters

Today (Saturday-November 23) we spent the day in the village with all of our sponsored kiddos. We were helping them write letters to their sponsors thanking them for their continued support and wishing them a merry christmas. Just as an FYI if you sponsor a kid please please take time to pray and thank The Lord for the people that help your children write to you. Let me tell you first hand it is NOT easy. We had an early start this morning and all crammed into our two vans and headed to the luwero district of Zirobwe. We had all been split up into teams to work with the different age groups. I was paired up with Christine that you met in my last blog and we had p.5 and p.6 so they were in upper middle school. Anytime we go out there is always exciting and today there was added excitement due to the fact that even though I knew it was going to be hard work that there was a blessing in disguise somewhere. So- as I am trying to working the positive- I put on my big girl skirt rolled up my sleeves and prepared for that patient endurance talked about in Hebrew 10. (; we were given a templet to work with and had children write out the best we could- some came back with perfectly structured letters while others took all day that is when your countenance begins to show. There were quite a few children that I had never met before but also some that are always hanging around the church.

I immediately ran into my African mom and she said Shananeee with a big smile on my face and hugged me a lot and then simply said, "I like you a lot" I do t know what it is about that phrase but the simplicity and straight forward aspect of it makes me so overjoyed. No big ordeal just straight to the point. I remembered I had a job so I got back to helping the kids write letters (so hard when you don't keep your focus) a few moments later Dora, Grace, and Jennifer were walking towards the church.( Those are my girls and mama lukas daughters.) so I saw them and ran to say hi! They all smiled and said hello I asked them about their week and just small talked and I said Ndi musanyufu okoba!!!! Which means I am so happy to be here to which they all look at each other and giggle because of the way I pronounce it or they think it's funny to watch a mzungu fail at luganda. I really feel at home here and I am learning little by little how to make small talk. The only problem I have come across is when I get to a point in the conversation where someone tries to keep talking to me in luganda and I have not a clue what they said so my default response is always, " Mmmhhhmm" with a big grin on my face. Lol. Probably not the smartest idea. I walked into the church with the girls and mom said something to her and Dora brought over the most beautiful gift I could ever receive and said here Shan this is from my mom. I was confused at first but Mama luka came over to me and told me she had made it as a gift for me. Literally my favorite people out there I am sure you already got that though.

When Christine and I were working with writing letters she had remembered to tell me that her dad had a garden out in Zirobwe and that she was bummed I couldn't meet him today and she sent Luka to go get some pineapples from her dads land. She explained that I loved pineapple Nyo Nyo Nyo (so so so much much much) ..he cam back with four HUGE pineapple. Not long after that a lot of the kids were done with letter writing so we handed out porridge and buttermilk rolls. I was still helping the older kids revise their letters and this is when I really started enjoying helping with letter writing. Each of the older kids sat around together and worked on their letters together as a community it was so sweet. They helped one another out when they were struggling and if someone wanted to give up or just not do it they began to encourage one another. It was an example and a reminder that is what the body of Christ should look like. It was a challenge to be looking for ways that I can connect with people this week and pray for those who are struggling.

New foods I tried today:
G nuts or ground nuts- they look like they have a peanut shell and you bite it open just like a peanut shell but they look like little mini brains inside of it they are soft and chewy and resemble the flavor of peanuts just slightly. Someone told me today that if you drink them with cold Mountain Dew that they are the best!
Berries: they call them strawberries and they look like grapes they taste nothing like either. (: Kennedy brought me a whole bag of them but then decided he wanted them back I was not at all offended

We are headed back in the morning for Sunday school and we will be working on the Christmas skit.

Be praying for our guesthouse and the necessary funding to come in for that. ALSO WE STILL ARE NEEDING FUNDING FOR OUR CHRISTMAS PARTY THAT IS SO CLOSE. If there is anyway you can be involved please contact me directly!! Continue to pray for our MST's, staff members, and volunteers as well as we finish up this years work. And may our break be a time of refreshment as well as a time of reflection of Gods grace I'm our life.

Also side note if you read this far: Thank you. Sometimes I ramble on like now but I know that someone somewhere is reading it may The Lord bless you in more ways than one!! (:

Uganda Shan aka Muwala Wamusumba