I had the opportunity to take two children to Kampala with me this week.  Though I would never think to make an 8 hour round trip journey in one day in the States, in Uganda it is not uncommon.  People do it all the time.  So, when in Uganda do as the Ugandans.

Having left super early, Fatuma was tired and quickly fell asleep in the car.  As we approached into Jinja (the midway point of our journey), Siraji tapped my shoulder from the back seat and said, "Teacha, Fatuma has been taken by sleep this whole time.  She is missing all the places I have longed to see."

The journey continued with an entertaining and educational commentary from Siraji:

Siraji: "Teacha, is this River Nile?"  

Me: "Yes" 

S: "River Nile is the longest river in the world.  It also runs north." 

Me: "Do you know why it runs north?"

S: "Yes, because Uganda is higher than Egypt."

S: "Oh we are now entering into Mabira forest.  Teacher Amos tells us that it is 400 miles long."

Me: "400 miles?  Or maybe 400 square kilometers?"

S: "Oh yes that.  It has equatorial climate.  That is why it gets rain most of the year.  Mbale has tropical climate so it rains and it's dry and it rains and it's dry."

Me: "Is geography your favorite subject?"

S: "Yes."

Me:  "I could tell."

The journey continued with his informative commentary.  And since Fatuma slept through the first passing through the forest, he was stopped her in the middle of singing a worship song on the way back and said, "Fatuma, you see.  This is the forest.  It has equatorial climate.  Feel it (as he rolled down the window)." "But I would not be caught walking on foot through the forest at night."

Me: "Why?"

S: "Wild animals."

Me: "Sure?"

S: "Ahh, you try it and see.  The animals will come and bite your legs."

Me: "You think there are more than monkeys in this forest?"

S: "Ahh Teacha, there are many animals, but even these monkeys can handle you."

Outside of the commentary, I just love the phrases and word choices they use.

The journey continued with all three of us singing sweet songs to our Savior.  It was a precious moment.

And a very successful journey.  Everything we set out to do in Kampala was accomplished.  

AND...  I now have a ticket to the US 

and will arrive in Austin on November 16th!!

(I am still in need of a car to use for part or all of the time I am in the states, so please pray with me)

Waiting for ice-cream at Nat's favorite place in Kampala

Elephants in Kampala?

Can you help?

The Lord has been so good in allowing me to spend every other Christmas holiday in the States/Uganda.  This year, I plan to be back in the States (even hoping to come home a bit early to join in on the Thanksgiving turkey :)

While in Texas I plan to spend time with family and friends and to travel within the state to visit various churches to share all that God is doing at Lulwanda Children's Home.

BUT in order to do this traveling I am in need of a vehicle.  That is where you come in.  Do you have an extra vehicle I could borrow for the whole or part of my time?  Did you just buy a new car and are planning to sell your old one (but could wait on selling, let me borrow it, and then sell it later)?  Does your no-longer-driving grandparent have a car I could borrow?  Will you be on vacation and need a car-sitter?

Here are some of the details:
- I will be based in Austin, Texas with my family
- My hopeful dates in the States are around the 19th Nov - 31st Jan
- I will likely be driving to New Braunfels, Houston area, Dallas area, and around Austin

Please let me know if you might be able to help me get some wheels for part or all of the time I will be home.  Thank you.

natinuganda@gmail.com

Grace

So, I will throw it out their. A slight unveiling of my heart in this season. Having lived in this foreign land I now call home for five years now, I am so grateful the Lord continues to teach me new things about myself, my mission, and who I am in Him.

 My housemate, Tiffany, said something awhile back that is basic, but has stuck with me since then:

"We are here (in Uganda) by God's grace and it's His grace that keeps us here." 

How often do I forget the great gift of grace it is to be here, in a foreign land, serving side by side with His people? What a unique experience that some people only dream of but will never have. It is easy to look at the sacrifices (and I am not discounting that there are great sacrifices) but forget the gift of grace it is to be here.

"It is His grace that keeps us here." - Honestly my first interpretation of that was - "It takes a lot of His grace in me to help me handle all that goes on in living in a different place with a different culture and people."  But I don't think that is what Tiff meant.

Each day I remain in Uganda is the Father's gift of grace to me.  I am receiving what I don't deserve.  And perhaps the second statement is more about the grace manifested in others towards me.

The grace of me in Uganda has nothing to do with me; nothing to do with me manifesting any grace.  But it is poured out on me by my Father in heaven and by the hearts of the people who have allowed me to work beside them and have adopted me into their lives.

Therefore, the only natural and justifiable response back should be a gracious heart.  Does my life reflect the grace poured out on me?

I am afraid the answer is often, "no".

Ann (my middle name) means "full of grace"-  this has been my prayer for months now.  Oh Lord, may I live out the fullness of my name and be full of grace in everything I do.  Help me to walk more in your Spirit.  Let me love and show grace without boundaries.  Amen.

Lip Dub

So, about 2 months ago I hadn't even heard of a "lip dub".  Now, thanks to Sarah H. and Jerad the children at LCH have their own.  And it is SO good!  Click the link below and please feel free to share.

For more information on how to be part of the Father's work of restoring HOPE to His children in Uganda, visit http://www.ugandaorhans.org/

Lulwanda's Lip Dub

Oh Uganda!

My Life in Africa… REALLY??

Today a friend borrowed my car to take it to LCH to pick up one of his GOATS that he wanted to give to his friend as a wedding gift.  But the friend lives in Kenya so he needed the car tonight to bring his friend to his village house, pick up the goat, in order to take it across the border to Kenya tomorrow.   REALLY?  You are borrowing my car to put a goat in it?  REALLY?  You are giving a goat as a wedding gift and this is considered a really great gift?  REALLY?  You are going to carry the goat across the border?  Oh Africa!!

An unrelated but funny photo.  I love that I see goats WAY more often than I see dogs here.

God is good, all the time!!

We are still alive and kickin', enjoying the many summer visitors that we have been blessed to host.

So don't give up on checking up on the blog...

but it's always better to live fully in each moment God has given.

Time flies when you are having fun.  This holiday from school has been one of the busiest that I can remember.  But I am grateful to embrace each moment and what it brings.  From crusades to chameleons, here is a recap of what has been happening the past month at Lulwanda.


(Sorry for the formatting.  It was not cooperating with me)

Jesus Love's Children Ministry

The LCH children and I were blessed to be a part of Jesus Love's Children Ministry's first Crusade.

The vision behind this ministry is to teach children about the love of Jesus and how salvation is a free gift given to us by our Father in Heaven.   Hosting nearly 400 children everyday, God showed up in a wonderful way as groups of child performers from 12 different churches came with their friends.  Unlike most crusades that are held, JLCM's crusade allowed children to lead praise and worship songs, testimonies, translating language, and prayers.  Each morning hour children were taught on the theme, ''Children are gifts from God'' and every crusade was closed with the gospel presentation of Jesus' love for the world.                      



            

 While the performers were organizing, hundreds of children gathered around the Mzungus to hear their funny accent.  But they also learned songs and motions to Jesus Loves Me This I Know. 

And at first they did not know what to think about the giant parachutes that were brought out but they quickly became a hit.



                               

Children praying for one another.

Perfect love comes from the Father through Jesus Christ, our Savior!

If you would like to know more about Jesus Love's Children Ministry or to help financially support one of the future crusades, please contact me for more information.

 
 
St. Kizito's Babies Home

As holiday approaches, children begin asking me daily, ''Teacha, when are be going to St. Kizito's?''   Usually I take three groups each holiday to visit their little 'brothers and sisters'.  The LCH children love to
play with the babies as well as help feed and bathe them.  I always encourage them that whatever friend they made at St. Kizito is now their baby to pray for because there might not be anyone else praying for them.  It is such a joy seeing my kids serving the Lord and loving these little ones. 

The Lulwanda children are very grateful to East Lake Fellowship in Burnet, Texas who graciously offered to sponsor this holiday’s visits to St. Kizito.  Thank you so much!

SWIMMING

And one of the highlights of the holiday for many of the children was a special outing planned as an appreciation and motivation for all the LCH performers and singers.  If you have ever visited 


LCH, you know that we have some very talented children who love to give glory for what God has done in their lives through songs, skits, and dances.  As you can imagine, their polished performances take many hours of learning and practice.  Therefore, the performers and singers were blessed with an outing to Mt. Elgon Hotel for a day of swimming and fun.  Shouts of joy and excitement never ceased as the children jumped in and splashed around the cool water.  Children played and swam until exhausted and then walked to Tr. Natalie’s house to eat lunch and enjoy a movie.  Praise God for such talented children (and leader) who work hard to be a voice of gratitude for the whole family of Lulwanda Children’s Home. 

During free time children could be found playing hopscotch.

The Good Neighbor Program

Lulwanda is blessed to be a blessing to 110 children that live in Bulolelo village.  Thanks to our friends at MDPC, every term LCH children are able to invite their TGN friends to come for a day of fellowship and fun.

Sharing porridge together for breakfast

S2 boys catching up after some time apart

This TGN day was extra special because all LCH and TGN children received gifts thanks to Operation Christmas Child.  

It was fun for me to have been part of filling a box in the States, wondering where it might end up.  And now to be in Uganda on the receiving end and seeing the sheer joy and excitement as children received a gift in May, for no great reason other than the love of Jesus.  (I know these gifts are meant for Christmas- hints the name- but the reality is that they are not delivered until about April, so it makes them fun gifts 'just because'.)

Children playing with their friends on the playground

Showing off their goodies.

BEST PERFORMERS TOUR

The students of LPS and Nursery school who were the best in class for various topics were rewarded with an outing.  Children excitedly entered the new coaster and headed off to the next town beyond Lulwanda- Tororo.  After passing through a million potholes, our first stop was to see our furry friends up close and personal.  

Passing (or throwing- depending on how brave they were) bananas out the window, our bus became quite popular with the baboons.

Look Auntie, we're in Kenya!  That's right.  Lulwanda Children's Home is only 45 minutes (if the road is in good condition) from the Malaba boarder to Kenya.  Children were excited to be able to go home and tell people that today they went to Kenya.  They were also interested in the differences that were noticeable even at the boarder, such as license plates, police uniforms, road conditions, money, and language.

Here we are crossing over 'no man's land'- the river/bridge dividing Uganda and Kenya

Of course everyday activities also happened while children were on holiday.  Here Davis, Betty, and Ivan are helping the Aunties to wash dishes.

We always enjoy the holidays because our secondary students come back from school.


As I mentioned at the beginning,

Our holiday has been wonderfully blessed, from crusades to chameleons and everything in between.  

The boys found this little guy moving casually across the field in the front lawn.  Trapping it under something one boy came running to my office to get me. 'Teacha we caught a chameleon.  And it is BIG.  And mean.''

Not really thinking they knew what a chameleon was, I went outside to see what they had.  Sure enough, there it was.  Unfortunately, the boys had been throwing stones near it so it was quite frightened and making hissing noises.

I told them to wait while I found something to keep it in.  But this was definitely against their advice.  ''Teacha, you are going to touch it?!?! Its tongue is long and it will slap you with poison and bite you.''  Someone had obviously been telling them some untrue stories :)

Having commented on how yellow it had turned, I suggested that we put it somewhere else with another color to see if it would change.  Sure enough, it did.  The children were all really excited to watch its colors change before their eyes.

Later, we freed it in the garden of Pastor David where it hopefully is roaming free without any other encounters of little boys who throw stones.