Final Countdown

It is officially the final countdown to our trip back home!...Our last week....
I am sure our family and friends are ready for us to be home....but I'm not sure if I am quite ready to go...

One of my very favorite readers name is Cate...she is PRECIOUS! Cate is a 52 year old widow and a member of the church here. She makes and sells beads with the women here at the church to support her six children that all still live at home. Cate's husband passed away in 1998 from AIDS. She is renting a room here in Kampala for herself and her 6 children. Cate is SUCH a strong believer. She has nothing...yet she knows that God WILL provide for her.
A few times...Cate has seriously blown me away with the trust...faith...and love she has for God. We were reading the lesson of Elijah and Moses appearing to Jesus and how the cloud came and spoke to Peter, James, and John. After the story, I asked Cate if God had ever spoken to her. She said, "Oh yes! God speaks when we sleep. He came as a visitor in my dream after my husband died. He was in shiny clothes and a voice told her to let the visitor in...so she did and then the visitor said only one thing to her-'I will take care of you." Another time was when we read Luke 11:1-13 and discussed prayer. I asked Cate if she truly believed that if she prayed continually that God would answer and she said, "Oh yes! I KNOW he will!" When I read the verse that said  'Whoever continues asking will receive" Cate said 'AMEN!'. We talked about prayer and prayers that had and had not been answered. I asked her if she ever got mad or angry with God because of unanswered prayers-her reply, " Oh no!!I have NEVER been angry with God!!"
Lesson from this story....BE A CATE!<3
Saturday was a day with the kids....they were all here and we played and enjoyed each others company! I read books with Jone and played on the swings. There was another good rain storm Saturday too, so we stayed under the covering most of the day. One of the boys, Joseph, got us a Jack Fruit down from the tree for us to share. We played UNO later in the day and then went and watched a movie with the members of the church.
Joesph is an AMAZING boy! And he is such a great kid!!! Joseph lives at the boys home and has lived there for about a year. Before then, Joseph's life was pretty average for a child living in Africa. He lived with his mother, brother, and sister in a small town. When he was 2, his mother took him to the village where his grandfather lived. Joseph stayed there until he was 11. He went to school and worked on his grandfathers farm where they grew cassava, yams , and maize. When he was 11, he moved to live with his uncle and his wife  He said he would wake up, drink tea, and then go play soccer- he said he use to get in so much trouble every day from his aunt because he wasn't home to do work. He said he would play soccer till almost 7 at night. He left his uncles house when he was 14 and took a bus to Kampala. A woman saw him and asked him to  come work for her washing dishes. So he took the job and got paid enough to rent a room. He worked for her for about a year and one day a man saw him working and asked him if he had a home. He told the man no and the man told him about the boys home and how he could come live there and attend school as well.He moved to the boys home and has been there ever since.  I asked Joseph if he ever gets to see his brothers and sisters and he said no, that after his mother died, he never heard from them again. I am praying that God continues to bless this boy and provides for him throughout this life here in Kampala.
That night...we went to eat like normal...a few of the younger boys from the boys home followed us there. Their names are Jumba and Aby. I was asking them to go home because I knew that the boys had curfew back at the home and it was also dinner time. They would never turn around! They just kept saying "I want to go to America with you!" They thought we were leaving right that minute! And they did NOT want to be left behind!! I explained to them that we were not going to America but they just continued on. They sat in the restaurant and eventually left...only to return later. They waited for us the whole time...I finally had to go speak with them and remind them that they MUST go home...it was already 8:00 and dark by this point. I told Jumba that he must take Aby home now so they could get home safe...to be strong and big...because I didn't want them on the streets at dark. Jumba started crying and said how they were hungry and how they had missed dinner. I explained to them that if they went home...they could get food. Then he started crying more and said "They will beat me!!" It broke my heart-I didn't know what to do or say....so I just told him I loved them and they had to leave to get home safe. I had to eventually walk away....they eventually went home...and it was just heart breaking to know what might be done that night to those boys....all because they wanted to go to America with us SO bad!!

Sunday it rained ALL morning!!(Who knew I should've packed my rain jacket to Africa!!!) We went to the early morning service which is in the local language(Luganda). It's really amazing to hear people worship and pray to the same God but in a totally different language. Church was delayed a bit because of the rain. After services...we loaded up and headed to Wabigalo to teach Sunday School! We did our lesson on Daniel in the Lion's Den...I read the children a book...and then we passed out craft supplies for the kids to make lion masks out of paper plates, lion puppets out of paper bags, and regular paper to draw the story of Daniel and the Lions. There were kids of all ages!! Babies who were just walking to 15 year olds! My grandma Treva made several cloth headbands for me to bring on this trip...I took them with me to the school to give to the girls there...I began giving the headbands to the girls and tying them on their heads...this however, did not last...because the boys started wanting them too! So...now the girls AND boys of Wabigalo are wearing homemade Arkansas cloth headbands! It was SO cute!!One little baby girl, snotty nose and smelling of pee, was the most precious little girl I have ever seen.She was ALWAYS smiling at me when I looked at her! She LOVED my full attention! When class was over and everyone was headed home, she was just walking down the road alone with her lion mask in hand and a daisy headband tied around her little head-an image I will NEVER forget! We left all of our extra craft supplies and materials for the school and church to use whenever they need them!
Yesterday was our LAST full off day in Kampala. Abel drove us ALL around the city!! We went to one last craft market and enjoyed our time there. Then we went to Garden City which is JUST like an American mall!! It was so cool! And we even ate there. We ate at a nice restaurant and the food was SOOO good!! We loved walking around and seeing all the stores!! We got back in the car and drove around a little more and then returned to the hotel to rest for a bit. Then we went back to town to eat at Sam's. Sam's is a restaurant that we first heard of from a friend of ours who lives in Kenya. He said that we MUST eat there while in Kampala...not long after that...it was on a television show on Discovery Channel! So of course we HAD to eat there! And we had WILD AFRICAN GAME!! We had the mixed grilled platter which included Spring Buck, Kudu, and Wildebeest....and it was SOO good!! We left there VERY happy and full!
We only have six days left...six days of God blessing EVERY minute here with his people!!<3