Jambo!

Jambo! The last few days have been spent settling into life here in Uganda.
The team has had a great time interacting with all of the staff and students here at the base in Jinja. They have been singing songs, playing volleyball, soccer and other games with them and have really enjoyed it!

On Thursday we had the opportunity to walk through the village and local market sharing the gospel with the shop owners and different people along the way. The team members came back sharing story after story of the conversations they had and how awesome it was to go out and talk to strangers about the Gospel of Jesus.
While the team was out, they got to buy some fruit from the market. It is so fresh here and all the team members loved it! Pineapples, mangos, apples, tangerines, and watermelon galore!

One delicacy that the team got to try was fried termites with onions! Many of them thought that it was pretty delicious!

These past few days we have also been working on the team presentation. Their singing is sounding beautiful. After individual introductions, Liza steps forward to introduce the team, Cora and Jaxon share their salvation testimonies, Allison plays ukulele while the rest of the team sings, and performs a drama (Lauren, Seb, Lando, Rainan, Liza, Ivana, Fiona, Jake). It is such a blessing to us leaders seeing them give their all and encourage each other with where they can improve. They’re doing amazingly!
Yesterday, the team went in groups to walk around the property picking up trash. They made it into a competition to see who could fill the most bags. There was never a clear winner but they did a fantastic job!

Before our lunch, the kids did a Bible quiz. Second debrief is going to have some competition from the Uganda team! They are doing great memorizing all of their memory verses.
This (Saturday) afternoon, the team will be able to put into practice what they learned at Bootcamp as we will be holding our first eyeglass and medical clinic for the staff and students here at the base. The team will also do a presentation for the children that come for the weekly Sunday School program. They are excited!
Our 4th of July lunch was fried chicken and French fries and the team absolutely loved it! They went up for seconds and thirds and Naomi and Nelson on KP even had a chance to make cookies.

The two team members on KP everyday have been an incredible help to the lady leaders in the kitchen! They wash all the dishes, help prep the food, set up the dish line, and help sweep and mop the floor and clean the bathrooms! They are certainly kept busy and they work HARD. They have been so proud of themselves and we are proud of them too!! So far we have had Cora and Sierra, Seb and Allison, Naomi and Nelson, and today we have Lauren and Rainan serving on KP.
Our morning Bible study is on the book of Genesis, it has been amazing hearing all the team members’ perspectives on Scripture and having discussions. Please continue to pray for the team, that they will grow through their personal devotions and Bible study, and for their hearts to be open for the Holy Spirit to teach them.
The team members have also had a lot of fun playing with the coordinator’s son Joash, and the leaders’ kids, Jedidiah and Lazarus. The three of them are so silly and energetic!

It has been 3 full days without our duffel bags. Our head leader, Mr. Jahswel Mpagaja, has made phone call after phone call trying to track down where and when our 43 bags will be in our hands! He has worked tirelessly to locate them and get them to the team, as they have all our evangelism supplies, food for the team, all the team’s personal items such as clothes and toiletries, the eyeglasses for our clinics, and much more! We have been praying everyday for the Lord to sort it out. Then yesterday morning, Friday, Mr. Jahswel received the news that all of our bags arrived at Entebbe airport! He left around 8am and didn’t get back until 11pm! It was a whole fiasco convincing the airport security people that these bags were nothing to be suspicious about, they are only kitchen items, personal items and medical items for our whole team! Long story short, he eventually got through to them, and had help getting the 43 duffels into two hired vehicles to make the 4 hour drive back to Jinja. We all stayed up waiting to welcome his return with the duffel bags! The team cheered as the vehicles pulled in. Most of the team members slept with their sleeping mats and sleeping bags for the first time last night in their tents. Needless to say, the team is in high spirits and so thankful to wear more than the same two outfits over and over! We praise the Lord for His provision, even as we were waiting our bags, and now as He has brought them to us. Glory be to God!

Thank you all for praying for us!

Blessings!