Life is beautiful.

Last week in a recap. Monday was an office day so we spent our time in meetings and going back and forth from all the different departments. I recently joined the Planning, Managing, and Evaluating (PME) committee along with Porsche and Victor. We review the following weeks plan and look at any conflicts that may be in place. Mondays and Fridays are typically office days: Mondays are primarily used for planning and Fridays are used as an evaluation time. It is a very effective way to stay involved and to be a part of everything that is going on throughout the organization. Any way- Monday evening we have the special ladies bible study so we met with them. We are still working through Ruth. It has been SO much fun to get to know them since we have visited their houses the want to be so personable. They LOVE sharing with us what is going on in their lives and just how God is doing big things for them. I always walk away from that study so refreshed. Some women even bring friends now. I was semi flustered due to my lack of laptop. Porsche had moved out for a board meeting so our awesome MST’s were so willing to jump in and lead the group! I went to bed quickly Monday night.

On Tuesday the team went to Sanyu Babies home as I stayed back to have a meeting with the PME committee. After the meeting was over I had the rest of the morning off. So I decided to grab a taxi then a boda up to the Mulago cancer institute. I went to go see our sweet friend Tonny. I got to the hospital with Edgar and we just sat on the floor and just spent time just in silence some of the time. Edgar helped Tonny bathe and I sat with Jaja (grandma) and we just sat there and chatted. She is so good to me, everytime I am there wel always talk (even though there is a HUGE language barrier) about how fun it would be if we stayed together. How we would sit in the company of eachother and just have so much fun. She makes me so happy! I am so thankful she stays with Tonny all of the time. I came back to the house and got packed up to head to the village. We left at 2:00pm. When we arrived to the village we were able to get our tents set up pretty quickly. We went to individual homes so we could do some New Skills with them and teach them English. Alison (an 18 year old from Canada), Esther (MST Coordinator), and myself walked down the road to Mama Sunday’s home. As we walked children who had just been released from school would follow closely behind and let out a giggle every couple minutes. I would hear whispers of ‘Mzungu’ and ‘Muwala Wamusumba’. That place is home to me <3. We worked on several phrases like, “Go get a chair” and “Go brush your teeth” . Jeremy the new MST brought a ton of resources for teaching English so we had these HUGE flashcards with pictures of basic home essentials so we worked through a handful of those and then wrote it on her whiteboard so that her and her children can be working on the things we taught them during the week.

Wednesday I went over to the school, Empowered Leaders Academy (ELA) with Porsche and we met with the Bursar for the school to talk about registering a couple kids that a volunteer had left money for. I was also trying to find a way to get a uniform for my sponsored kiddo. I failed. The rest of the team were clearing a path and doing some manual labor. We had some personal ministry time but it was so hot that most of the volunteers found comfort in the shade of the trees around the church. I layed down in my tent for just a moment and woke up a few hours later all sticky! Wednesday evening we had the coolest most radical and loud praise rally. I am not even sure how long we sang- but it was beautiful. We sang until we ran out of songs and then we invited the kiddos to lead some praise songs. There was dancing, jumping, praying, laughing and it was a beautiful evening. During our devotions later in the evening we heard a boda pull up. It was Gaspar, He is a volunteer that has been helping out for a couple months here in Uganda and he is seriously one of my best friends, I am so thankful for him. He spent two weeks in South Sudan just spreading the word of God and visiting orphanages. We spent time catching up and going through every story and adventure he went on. We were so happy to have him back!

Thursday was another day of manual labor but again Porsche and I had a staff meeting with some of the teachers so we went over to take minutes for the meeting and just be another set of ears to listen. It was one of the longest meetings I have ever attended I am not quite sure how they do it but Ugandans like to talk about every detail of every subject. I feel quite knowledgeable of the education system we have in place. J IN the afternoon we headed home and got ready to go to the airport. It was a sad evening for EAC we lost a great volunteer. It is so exciting at the same time though because I know that God is going to use Gaspar in Hungary! He has so many plans for that boy. Porsche, Sandra, Victor, Patrick and I escorted him to the airport. The whole way there I kept asking him to stay and to just not get onto the airplane…he did.

On Friday we had an evaluation and planning meeting.

Saturday we went to see Tonny again. He was not as good today. He got up to take a shower. He is not very responsive. Edgar helped him bathe and then he came back to eat some food- A cup of tea and two boiled eggs as he began to eat the eggs he just quietly asked for a bucket in Luganda. Edgar brought him a bucket and he immediately began to throw up the little he had managed to eat. I would give anything to take this from him. I was just asked to make a small write up for how his sickness started so I feel even more connected to him and my heart just breaks into a million little pieces every time I think about it.

Sunday we went out to the village for church but the youth had left before we arrived to go minister to a neighboring church. I am so proud of them that they are going out and doing things on their own and not feeling like they have to wait for our lead!

On Monday we had so many meetings and just brainstormed new ideas for the coming months. In the evening Porsche and I were exhausted so we snuck away to the little café nearby the house and picked up some milkshakes to go. When we got back to the house we noticed our special ladies had arrived for bible study so we jumped right in. There were a handful of kiddos though that were being a distraction so I went and led a small group study with the kiddos. We sang some songs and read scripture and just had some fun times, we even invited the neighbour kiddos.

Today we had team bonding that I get the honor and pleasure of leading every week. We started with some praise and worship and then made a poster for Tonny. We spent some time in prayer for all of the sickness that has affected our team. I had everyone trace their hand onto the poster and then we wrote i<3Tonny on the paper and took a group photo it is going to be a part of a collage that we are putting together for them. Then we played a scavenger hunt. I cut up a piece of paper that had the word teamwork on it and then taped it all around the house and compound the team was divided into groups of three and they had to go searching based on clues that I made up for the places. After devotions Esther and I took the MST’s to the hospital. First stop? Tonny’s room of course. Last night in the middle of the night Tonny was having difficult time breathing so he began to pray out loud and then the doctors came in and gave him an oxygen tank. He is so swollen. In his stomach. Face and feet. He is very weak, he cannot even keep his head up. I presented him with the poster and then not long after that he laid down and went to sleep. No reaction. No communication. His heart races through his chest. I would give anything to have this hurt for him. This afternoon I have been working on his poster and spending some quality time with the great provider and just really seeking after His heart. <3