More of this week...

Wednesday night at evangelism in the village of Wakisi with Pastor Henry's church about 10 women accepted Christ. It was amazing to be a part of experiencing! I love doing evangelism with the team from the church. It's like a big party when someone accepts Christ. They are truly excited from the inside out that another person has joined the family of Christ!! They sing and dance without holding back, giving glory to God! The passion of these people amazes me more and more everyday! I am learning so much here!

Thursday was really good. About 4 or 5 of the kids were at the orphanage because they were sick with malaria. Here, malaria is a very common thing. The kids just take some anti malarial medicine when they get it and it is gone within about 3 days. But since the kids were sick, we got to hang out with them. They taught us how to make different things out of the fibers of banana trees. We made balls, dolls, jump rope, and Stella even made me some flip flops as a joke!

As we were making things, we heard music coming from outside. In fact, "It's a Small World" was playing. We asked what it was. Grace and Stella told us it was the ice cream truck. I decided that since there were only a few kids, I could buy them some. We go outside and the ice cream "truck" is a boda boda with an ice chest strapped to the back. It was homemade and he just scooped it out with a regular metal spoon. It was so good though. And the kids were SO excited. It was definitely something they do not get very often. It was awesome to be able to treat them to some!

Once all the kids got home, Sarah, a 13 year old at the orphanage, began braiding my hair. Then a few of the other girls joined in. It was so funny. I had about 3 girls braiding my hair. And they just kept saying "Oh, your hair is so different. It's better, it's better". Then about 3 other girls began to do Tiffany's as well. I don't know what it was about Thursday, but the orphanage really felt like a home to me. I think we are really connecting with the children and with Ms. Agnes, Grace, and Stella. It's amazing! It's even to the point that walking through town, Ms. Agnes just says that we are her daughters!

Friday we just hung out around the orphanage and helped make necklaces that they can sell in July when teams come to visit the orphanage. There will be a team here on July 3rd, then another on July 17th. July is going to fly by. I can't believe we have already been here almost a month!

Saturday, we went to the home of Ms. Agnes' family. We met her daughter, husband, and grandchildren. She took us around and showed us her garden. She has everything imaginable in the garden- mangos, jackfruit (African fruit shaped like a watermelon with a very weird taste and rubbery texture), potatoes, etc. She even wanted to take a family picture, but she wanted Tiffany and I to be in the family picture. It was awesome. Her family is amazing!

Today at church was the most interesting week by far. As the guest pastor from Kenya was speaking, a little girl fell asleep on my lap. She has slept on my lap the past two weeks, so I thought nothing of it. But this time, I felt something really warm on my lap, then something running down my leg. The little girl peed in my lap- a lot. Tiffany and I could not stop laughing. I felt so bad. We could not focus, but it was so funny. I told Carol, the girl that was sitting next to me. She said "Well I hope it didn't go through on the other side. Then the people will think you wet yourself." Then after the service, I was telling our friend Brenda and she told me that because I got wet on, I was ready to be a mother. It was so funny. I don't understand that comment, but it was funny to hear her say it! When we finally refocused, the pastor had a really good message. He was talking about counterfeit christianity versus authentic christianity. He said that authentic christians were FAT- faithful, available, teachable.

Please continue to pray for us. We are doing really good in every aspect. I also have 2 special requests. One of mine and Tiffany's friends, Blake, is in Burkina Faso serving as a summer missionary with the IMB. He has malaria. I think he is getting better, but just keep him in your prayers. Also, a couple from our church in Hattiesburg is in Kampala, Uganda trying to adopt 2 children. They are running into a lot of issues with the embassy. We are probably going to meet up with them next week because they will be in Jinja. They were scheduled to be able to return home next Sunday with the children, but it is not looking that way now. They are really having a tough time, but know that God is still faithful through it all. Pray for them though!

Tiffany and I have been so blessed on this trip. We have had no problems. The people go above and beyond to take care of us! Especially Pastor Henry and Ms. Agnes. They are amazing people! I am learning so much from them day by day! I just wish I could bring all these people back to America so all of you could meet them and understand what I am talking about. There is no way to describe the presence of the Lord and the passion in these people!!! They have very little compared to us in America, yet I can not describe the difference in the joy of these people compared to most Americans.