The Nile!

What a fun opportunity we had to take children from the Genesis School on an amazing field trip! We loaded 90 children up on the bus and headed out on the 3 hour ride to Jinja to the Nile River. Wow! I think our team was much more impressed by being on the Nile than the children. The Nile! It was amazing to ride in the boats with the tour guides who told us much about the Nile.

After the boat ride we had a picnic lunch by the Nile where monkeys soon appeared, I think in hopes of snagging a snack. The children squealed with delight as the monkeys jumped from limb to limb! An amazingly fun day!

Adventure day!

Today our team headed to see Sipi Falls and what a beautiful adventure it was!

We rose to an elevation near 7000 feet, the views were amazing! We stopped at several overlooks and were in awe of Gods creation. We then hiked through a tropical jungle to a cave behind the falls. We also hiked a different trail to view a different waterfall. We saw many coffee plants, they looked much different than what I expected. What an absolutely beautiful day!

On our way back to town we stopped at a coffee factory. Ahhh, it smelled so good!

Ladies tea

Tuesday afternoon after school we went to the church for a ladies tea, what a sweet time! When we arrived at church the church was full of ladies, who were so excited to see us. They were singing and clapping their hands. Carrie Anne came in a different car a couple of minutes after me and they danced her into the church, when in Africa.....Another lady and myself shared our testimony and gave a devotional. What a special time it was! We did a small craft with the ladies and then served them tea and African donuts. As they left just about everyone came and hugged us, such sweet, joyful ladies!

Our day at school

Today was such a fun day! We spent the day at school working with the children. We started by serving them their breakfast of porridge and a boiled egg. We then had a teacher appreciation time and gave each teacher a gift. They shared porridge and boiled eggs with us. Next, our team paired up in groups of two and rotated into the classrooms, what fun that was! I shared a lesson how God will always keep His promises. Things that were prophesied in the Old Testament, came true in the New Testament. God told us in Isaiah He would provide a savior to redeem us from our sins and that happened many hundreds of years later. I also shared with them how they can receive Christ as their personal Savior. We then did a craft with them to remind them what we had learned!

Next came lunch and after lunch we divided the children into groups of five and read storybooks to them.

What a great day! But, the fun was not over we headed back to the guesthouse for just a couple of moments before heading to a ladies tea at the church. More about that in the next post!

This sweet girl needs a sponsor to be able to continue in school.

Home visits

Today was a day that I can not adequately put into words......emotional, humbling, hard yet great! We started our day by touring the school and medical clinic, what a great ministry they have. Then we moved on to home visits. We traveled out into the villages, down paths that appeared were just a walking path yet our van turned down them. We would stop at an area where we would see a few people and within minutes the crowd would swell to over a hundred at most stops. We would start by someone from our team sharing scripture, then we would sing with them. After that we would hand out needed items, such as clothes, flip flops or veggie seeds. We would also give them candy. A lady at my church donated head bands that she made and the girls LOVED them! Especially the older girls would just glow as we told them they were beautiful! We would take their picture and show them as they do not often see what they look like. The people out of respect and appreciation, as is their culture, would get on their knees or bow to us. At our first stop as we were ready to leave two ladies came to us and each gave us a chicken. (Our ms. chickens are suppose to be dinner for us one night 😜) We stopped at quite a few stops.....the conditions are hard to put into words, often children with no clothes, yet their joy is immense! They shower us hugs, love and appreciation. I do not think anyone could come to Uganda and not completely fall in love with the people!

More from our wonderful day!

After sorting out supplies we were in the guesthouse chatting and heard some children outside. A couple of the girls grabbed some bubbles and went out to play with some of the village children. There were about five children and within a few minutes the children were laughing and soon there were about 30 children on the front lawn of the guesthouse playing. We played with bubbles, jumped rope that we made from twine and played soccer. Then we started singing some songs with them and played duck, duck, goose. It was such a fun evening interacting with the local children.

What a fun day! Tomorrow home visits in the village! Can't wait!

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Wonderful day!

Our day started with team devotions and we then headed to church. As we drove we passed lots of children walking to Sunday School. The class was full and more children sat outside under the tree on papyrus mats. The lady from our team that was teaching Sunday school taught the lesson again to those outside who wouldn't fit in the building.

What precious children, ready to learn about Jesus!

This morning the team leader/pastor for our trip preached a wonderful message from 1Kings. The church service was different from home, but the same in many ways...the word of God and a clear gospel presentation was given......AND APPROXIMATELY TWENTY PEOPLE CAME FORWARD FOR SALVATION! Oh praising Jesus! Sweet ones that the Ugandan pastor will continue to mentor and disciple.

After church we were able to tour the children's home grounds including the boy's and girls homes. Then we headed back to the guesthouse to sort through donations which we will give out on home visits tomorrow and Friday. We had hundreds of pairs of flip flops and lots of clothes! What a blessing this will be to the people. Thank you to all who donated!

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Awana in Africa!

Awana in Uganda was amazing! Children walked excitedly to church for Awana. We had a thousand kids for Awana! We were told to expect 500, we were amazed with 1000!

Game time!

Children singing!

The little church was packed, children squeezed onto benches with smaller children sitting on the laps of the older siblings. The stage had over a hundred children sitting on it also. In America children go from one event to the next...dance, soccer, play dates....the list could go on and on. Or toy after toy to play with, here church and Awana are the highlight of the week. What a humbling thought! Their joy and enthusiasm is wonderfully contagious and convicting.

After Awana we headed to a nearby town to walk through a huge market. It was a large building with four levels. Venders come to sell their produce, fish, beef and chicken. The produce was quite a sight, huge bunches of bananas, loads of pineapple and watermelon. We also went to a textile market where we could buy fabric to have made into dresses or skirts. The afternoon was quite a taste of the local culture. We loved it!!

Today has been amazing!

Africa!

We are in Africa! ...and very busy already. After three days of travel we arrived at the guesthouse in the village last night. Our team is amazing! It's amazing how God knits together a team from all over the U.S. and we all come together to serve Him....only God!

On our drive out to the village we saw amazing sites! We crossed over the Nile River, ate lunch on the banks of Lake Victoria, past bustling villages, shopped at street venders, met joyful Africans and saw lots of vegetation. We saw fields and fields of tea plants, corn, sugar cane, more corn, rice, potatoes and more. The country side is beautiful, interspersed between busy towns. 

Next up Awana!!

Africa Prep!

Carrie Anne and I are headed back to Africa! We have been counting down the days and can't believe the day has arrived! Yesterday was very busy with lots of prep work and packing. We will have the opportunity to work in orphanages, a local school and make home visits through the ministry in Africa that we will be helping. We will also get to help with AWANA in Africa, I am so excited for this privilege!!

We so appreciate prayers that God would go before us and prepare the hearts of those to whom we will be ministering, He would give our team safety and that we will be used by Him to help the people and share His love and gospel!!

Congratulations Taylor!

Good job, Taylor!

We are proud of you!

Jonathan and Taylor have been friends since birth and now have graduated from college together.

Taylor with two good friends who graduated last year who came back to see him graduate.