Hey all!
It's Sonora reporting to you for the first time since the first post. We are here one more week....oh my goodness. Where did all of our time go?? We've been having such a great time here every day. Today, I can truthfully say that I am thankful for calluses. We worked for maybe two or three hours at Faith Children's Home, mixing cement, sand, and rocks together to pave the common area in the FCH compound. We shoveled endlessly, and I wheeled the wheel barrow back and forth countless times, weighed down with sand and rocks and wet cement. But you won't hear any complaints here. It was so great feeling like we were really working hard. We always have a great time speaking at churches and loving on the children at Faith when we go there, but actually doing physical work was wonderful. I felt like we were tangibly serving these amazing people here. And it was also nice to prove the assumption wrong that us "mzungus" don't know what it means to get our hands dirty and build up a few calluses. All the children gathered around, and the older boys who were helping out with cementing, laughed when we first started working. We were told that they thought mzungus (whites) don't get calluses. But, oh! Did we prove them wrong. I watched as they stopped laughing after the first hour or so of work and looked surprised that we were still going strong. We did some hard work, and it was nice showing the children at the home that we are made of tougher things. And it was such a fun time! We laughed and sang and encouraged each other the whole time. We go back tomorrow to finish the paving, and though our muscles may be complaining in the morning, I have no doubt we'll all be excited to do more productive work!
This evening, we went to another church before our usual fellowship at Pastor Hudson's church. It was such an amazing place. If you just walked up to it without the congregation in it, you would not think much of the place. It is such a simple place, set far back off the main road into the countryside. Probably no bigger than your typical living room. But let me tell you, when the church is assembled there and the music is going and the children are laughing, you feel more joy in that place than in the most beautiful building you've ever seen. We arrived before sunset and joined the congregation of no more than twenty people, as they rejoiced at our arrival and the opportunity to meet new sisters of Christ. We sang and danced with them, and the energy that these beautiful people exemplified just made me a witness to the wonder and love of our Creator. The music they made was beautiful, and they did it all in praise to our God. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole service. I spoke there, as well. I gave a message on Matthew 11:28-30, on rest for the weary. I am usually a wreck up in front of churches when I have to speak. I think if I had been given the option of doing something else rather than giving sermons to churches full of people, I would have taken it all too quickly. But I have had to speak, and each time I become nervous before I go up to the front. I worry that I am inadequate and that I won't say what I want to say the way I want to. But tonight, I really prayed and asked that I say not what I need to say, but what I am meant to say by God's grace. And I was the calmest I had ever been, praise be to God. Sitting in a pew before I got in front of the crowd, I felt so at peace...the weather was wonderful, and I heard thunder in the distance off to one side and a cow repeatedly mooing nearby on the other side. If you know me at all, you know that I love an approaching storm, and that cows are so much a part of what I associate with home...so it just seemed so right that I should be speaking right then. Coincidence? Nah. It was wonderful, and there was a moment after I had finished speaking, when Pastor Hudson asked the congregation if they felt like God spoke to them through us (Kati Paye spoke after me) and they all put their hands up. Woah. Praise be to God, and not to us at all, but it just felt like I was really doing something right. So many times I wonder if what I'm saying is even reaching people, or whether what I bring to the front of the church is relative to the lives of people here or not. But today, I felt like God was really using me for a purpose...and it felt GOOD. So yay!
One week. That's seven days. I'm trying not to think about the upcoming conclusion of this amazing and unforgettable chapter of my life, but it's hard not to. I see the faces of the people I have come to love so much every day, and every day I feel like I become even closer to them and love them in a whole new way. And that's not something that you can just turn off because you know you'll have to say goodbye in the near future. But I do dread the day when I see them all for the last time before we get on the plane. The kids here have stolen my heart, and the Suubi family has made me a part of their own. I consider Mama Mercy and Daddy Suubi my parents here, and all their beautiful children and the children at Faith my siblings. Goodbyes are going to suck; plain and simple. But I rest easy in knowing that we were put here for a reason, and these goodbyes won't be forever. I hope so much that I will be back here next summer through Emmaus Road, and maybe for more than that, as well.
We'll be seeing you all real soon (too soon)! This Friday, we are having an "overnight" at the church we attend here, where we will worship and dance and hear wonderful messages from amazing people. All. Night. Long. I'm determined to try and stay through the whole night, but we'll see how that goes! On Saturday, we celebrate Kaly's 21st birthday! And we also spend the day shopping around in Jinja to get gifts and such, and do the tourist thing one last time. Our days are numbered, but I know they will all be filled with more beautiful and unforgettable memories. Just looking back on the time we have spent here already, I feel so incredibly blessed to be here with the people I came with and to have met the people I have met. I have gained so much from this trip and it blows my mind that it has only been three weeks of our lives. Pray for health for us, as we all seem to be reaching that point where sickness comes easily. And pray for us and the people we have come to love, that our goodbyes and transitions go smoothly with minimal tears. We love you all and can't wait to see you soon!
Love,
So-narwhal and the team-team
It's Sonora reporting to you for the first time since the first post. We are here one more week....oh my goodness. Where did all of our time go?? We've been having such a great time here every day. Today, I can truthfully say that I am thankful for calluses. We worked for maybe two or three hours at Faith Children's Home, mixing cement, sand, and rocks together to pave the common area in the FCH compound. We shoveled endlessly, and I wheeled the wheel barrow back and forth countless times, weighed down with sand and rocks and wet cement. But you won't hear any complaints here. It was so great feeling like we were really working hard. We always have a great time speaking at churches and loving on the children at Faith when we go there, but actually doing physical work was wonderful. I felt like we were tangibly serving these amazing people here. And it was also nice to prove the assumption wrong that us "mzungus" don't know what it means to get our hands dirty and build up a few calluses. All the children gathered around, and the older boys who were helping out with cementing, laughed when we first started working. We were told that they thought mzungus (whites) don't get calluses. But, oh! Did we prove them wrong. I watched as they stopped laughing after the first hour or so of work and looked surprised that we were still going strong. We did some hard work, and it was nice showing the children at the home that we are made of tougher things. And it was such a fun time! We laughed and sang and encouraged each other the whole time. We go back tomorrow to finish the paving, and though our muscles may be complaining in the morning, I have no doubt we'll all be excited to do more productive work!
This evening, we went to another church before our usual fellowship at Pastor Hudson's church. It was such an amazing place. If you just walked up to it without the congregation in it, you would not think much of the place. It is such a simple place, set far back off the main road into the countryside. Probably no bigger than your typical living room. But let me tell you, when the church is assembled there and the music is going and the children are laughing, you feel more joy in that place than in the most beautiful building you've ever seen. We arrived before sunset and joined the congregation of no more than twenty people, as they rejoiced at our arrival and the opportunity to meet new sisters of Christ. We sang and danced with them, and the energy that these beautiful people exemplified just made me a witness to the wonder and love of our Creator. The music they made was beautiful, and they did it all in praise to our God. I don't think I stopped smiling the whole service. I spoke there, as well. I gave a message on Matthew 11:28-30, on rest for the weary. I am usually a wreck up in front of churches when I have to speak. I think if I had been given the option of doing something else rather than giving sermons to churches full of people, I would have taken it all too quickly. But I have had to speak, and each time I become nervous before I go up to the front. I worry that I am inadequate and that I won't say what I want to say the way I want to. But tonight, I really prayed and asked that I say not what I need to say, but what I am meant to say by God's grace. And I was the calmest I had ever been, praise be to God. Sitting in a pew before I got in front of the crowd, I felt so at peace...the weather was wonderful, and I heard thunder in the distance off to one side and a cow repeatedly mooing nearby on the other side. If you know me at all, you know that I love an approaching storm, and that cows are so much a part of what I associate with home...so it just seemed so right that I should be speaking right then. Coincidence? Nah. It was wonderful, and there was a moment after I had finished speaking, when Pastor Hudson asked the congregation if they felt like God spoke to them through us (Kati Paye spoke after me) and they all put their hands up. Woah. Praise be to God, and not to us at all, but it just felt like I was really doing something right. So many times I wonder if what I'm saying is even reaching people, or whether what I bring to the front of the church is relative to the lives of people here or not. But today, I felt like God was really using me for a purpose...and it felt GOOD. So yay!
One week. That's seven days. I'm trying not to think about the upcoming conclusion of this amazing and unforgettable chapter of my life, but it's hard not to. I see the faces of the people I have come to love so much every day, and every day I feel like I become even closer to them and love them in a whole new way. And that's not something that you can just turn off because you know you'll have to say goodbye in the near future. But I do dread the day when I see them all for the last time before we get on the plane. The kids here have stolen my heart, and the Suubi family has made me a part of their own. I consider Mama Mercy and Daddy Suubi my parents here, and all their beautiful children and the children at Faith my siblings. Goodbyes are going to suck; plain and simple. But I rest easy in knowing that we were put here for a reason, and these goodbyes won't be forever. I hope so much that I will be back here next summer through Emmaus Road, and maybe for more than that, as well.
We'll be seeing you all real soon (too soon)! This Friday, we are having an "overnight" at the church we attend here, where we will worship and dance and hear wonderful messages from amazing people. All. Night. Long. I'm determined to try and stay through the whole night, but we'll see how that goes! On Saturday, we celebrate Kaly's 21st birthday! And we also spend the day shopping around in Jinja to get gifts and such, and do the tourist thing one last time. Our days are numbered, but I know they will all be filled with more beautiful and unforgettable memories. Just looking back on the time we have spent here already, I feel so incredibly blessed to be here with the people I came with and to have met the people I have met. I have gained so much from this trip and it blows my mind that it has only been three weeks of our lives. Pray for health for us, as we all seem to be reaching that point where sickness comes easily. And pray for us and the people we have come to love, that our goodbyes and transitions go smoothly with minimal tears. We love you all and can't wait to see you soon!
Love,
So-narwhal and the team-team
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