Stateside!

Upon arriving at PDX (Portland, Oregon), with just my carry-on, I had a 9 hour wait for my mother. When she arrived, we together walked down to baggage claim. Mom brought me a change of clothes and my cell phone! My Uncle Forest (Mom's oldest brother) so happened to be having a plane serviced at flight craft, whose runway is "shared/at" PDX. I was then able to fly from PDX to Aurora, which is minutes away from Uncles Forest's house. The best part of my little flight...I was sitting in the co-pilot seat! Spent the day trying to stay awake--success, and slept quite well that night.

My luggage made it to San Antonio and Dad was able to pick it up. The following day he packed me a bag and then flew out to PDX. Mom and I picked him up at the airport.

Airlines

My flight from Chicago O'hare has been canceled. I am now flying directly to PDX, because United cannot route me to San Antonio, before my American Airlines flight from SAT to PDX leaves. I am very tired, as I have been up for 2 days now, with three great flights. I have been bumped up to something plus, and I will be in Portland at 1:30 or 2AM. I will meet up with my mother at 10AM. Oh well. I will continue to update pictures and more as I have time. It is about time for me to board at O'hare to go to PDX.

Letters 1

John

Today on my way to dinner one of the little guys, John, came running up yelling, “Auntie Faith, Auntie Faith” and jumped into my arms. I was quite surprised, and did not expect to have him run at me. That was fun; he’s quite a cute guy. He then gave me the honors of putting on his jacket after dinner and giving him a goodnight kiss.

Independence Day

As my time here is winding down, I continue to keep busy. Today was a very rainy 4^th of July! My understanding is that this is odd. Oh and get this, I was cold! Put that in the books! Oh and another thing to put in the books, I was so cold that I drank a cup of coffee!

I am spending my mornings tutoring with five kindergarten girls in penmanship. Their behavior is somewhat like high-schoolers, let’s see where our limits are. LOL! I have enjoyed working with them, they are quite good—I have not had the problems the other people here have had. My girls come in and do as asked, usually on the first request. I work with them for 30 minutes on penmanship, and then read to them for 30 minutes.

This afternoon I scrubbed bad sealant off of the floor in the dining hall. I had plenty of time to think and pray during that hour in a half.

Net Ball

I have been officially introduced to the game of netball. Must say, it was a blast! I played with Momma Alice, Momma Anna, Auntie Claire, Auntie Cindy, and about five or six of the girls. My knees are nice and scratched up, as Auntie Claire and I play a hard game with each other. I am sure she enjoys having me on the opposite team, as when she came up to join the game she said, “What team is Auntie Faith on? I will be on the opposite team!” =) This is always a good choice; we both play tough games and enjoy fighting for the ball.

Net ball is a cross between our basketball and soccer in my observations. I laughed and ran hard, and can honestly say that I have not had as much fun as I had playing against Claire as I have had in quite a while. Some good ol’ competition always feels nice. Seriously, I had dived for the ball, as I was not going to get it otherwise. Later on in the game, both Claire and I took a run and then dive for the same ball…I landed right in between her legs, with the ball. =) We were both laughing so hard, it was great!

Dancing in School!

On my last day at the JSS (Junior Secondary School), during study hall, the girls and I read, sang out of the hymnal, and they attempted to teach me to dance their native Ugandan dance—for those of you who do not know, FCD—Faith Can’t Dance, and that is no joke! I will only have dancing at my wedding if my husband to be desires this act as part of his wedding. I will have live music, that’s for sure! No…there is no young man prominently placed in my life right now.

I really enjoyed singing with the girls, as they sang some of my favorite hymns—Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded, There is a Fountain, Be Thou Oh My Vision, All Creatures of Our God and King, and many more. Oh and I am borrowing a keyboard from the library, which is great fun for me here. I can push my headphones in and be in my own world for a while.

Back to the dancing, they tied a sweater around my back, so that it looked like I had a bigger bottom. They were then trying to teach me how to swing my hips. Clearly, I do not do it right. They just laughed and laughed and laughed at me. One girl would show me, and then the next, continuing to laugh the entire time. I felt kind of odd, constantly being laughed at, but I know how bad I am and oh well. The girls decided that when I go home, I must show my Mom my new Ugandan dancing skills. Really mom, my skills are awful! =)

It was my last day seeing those girls and one of them wrote me a nice little letter/note. I will post the letter when I have my memory card for the camera with me. I enjoyed my last day with the older girls and I will miss them, they were quite joyful and a whole lot of fun!

Painting and Scrubbing

For the past week I have had the opportunity to take a wire brush and scrub the floors in the dining hall and to paint fascia board around the homes, here in the Rafiki Village. I like to do this, as I enjoy working with my hands, and when I am busy, I am not left bored with little to do. The floor was sealed with some kind of sealant, quite a few years back, which it should not have been sealed with. This special sealant attracts dirt, so as we are taking the sealant off, the tiles are becoming much cleaner, thus the room so much brighter. What an amazing concept!

I enjoy painting, it allows me to listen to my IPOD, and spend some time in thought and prayer. The children are surprised to see a female paint, as painting is a man’s job. I find it interesting that my painting opens the possibilities and the minds of these young children that feel certain jobs are “man” jobs and other jobs are “woman” jobs. I am not feminist by any means, but do not see a problem with me as a female painting—I am here to help in any way possible, albeit painting, scrubbing the floor, or playing with the kids. Did you hear that Mom? It’s a man’s job, guess my mother’s in real trouble, she has been remodeling my bedroom, including painting it. =)

Thick Book

These kids are amazing, and they know that they belong to Jesus Christ. I was in the Kindergarten class and we were looking at pictures. There was a picture of a thick book. When Teacher Ruth said, “What is this a picture of?” Jesca answered, “Yes, teacher, that is a bible.” Clearly I was proved wrong, it is not just a thick book, it is the Bible.

Thought for the day comes from Isaiah 53:11. When Jesus Christ sees Himself in you and me, He is satisfied. The idea of God being satisfied paints a beautiful picture in my mind, but even more amazing is that at times Jesus is satisfied with me.

Whoa!

I help out with Kindergarten. I see the Kinders, Monday through Friday for half of the day. I was quite surprised one evening, when I was eating dinner with Sandra’s family, one of the Kindergartners, to have discovered that she had lost a tooth. She had lost it that afternoon. And it was a prime tooth too—top, front, center, left.

All school students (boys and girls) must have shaved heads. Imagine my surprise, when the students that I had been working with for 15 days, came in and three of them were bald! And I was just figuring out who was who, and they had to go change their hair on me! =) The following day, two more students were without hair. My understanding is that someone will shave all of the children’s hair, going from cottage to cottage, one cottage per night, for eight days, until all children are clean shaved.

In Lugandan (a dialect used in Uganda) to say Goodnight, you say “Sula Bulungi” (prounounced sue luh boo loon gee). The children say this to me after supper and playtime. I am very slowly learning a few words of Lugandan, which is fun.

Signs of LOVE

I have been teaching the kids “I love you” in sign language by shooting them love signs. The children, as young as two and three are excited to learn this and to tell me, “I love you,” as I also tell them that “I love you.” The young ones will put their hands out so that I can help them put their fingers in the correct order, the older ones, they just flash it back. This is quite fun for the kids, and I must say I rather enjoy it. As the children flash me love signs they yell out, “I love you.” (That is when we are outside.)

The mothers are also catching on and enjoy flashing signs of love. In the mornings when I run, I will see the kids as they go to breakfast, and they will shoot the love sign. This can be quite fun during dinner, as it is a very quiet time. I will flash a kid at my table, or even another table a love sign, and all of a sudden I receive five more love signs right back at me. The best part of this is that the children can do this while remaining quiet, yet be reminded of the love that people have for them.

I have also taught this sign to the Junior Secondary School (JSS) girls. I was running a couple minutes late on this particular day, I had ran to the guest house to grab my vitamin, and when I walked into Study Hall, each and every girl had their hand up, and was flashing me a sign of love. I flashed it right back. I cannot tell you how amazing it felt, to walk into a room, where every girl there wanted you to know that they loved you. What an incredible way to start your afternoon!

Funny story and Thought for the Day

We were discussing the word fat in Kindergarten. I had grabbed my stomach and said, "fat." I then grabbed my love handle and said, "fat." I then had three or four boys that touched their breasts and said, "fat." "You have a lot of fat up there." I said, "No, women's body..." Although, technically those boys were correct.

On a much more serious note, my thought for the day.

It is not amazing, or even astonishing, that Christians are extremely diverse in culture, tradition, race, lifestyles, ideas, etc. We see the excellence of Christ in the singularity of Godhead, who chooses to reach down and out to every people of this world. Consequently, Christs singularity is what is amazing about Christian people in every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Sundays Sermon

Church was good today! I went to New Life City Church, here in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa, and was able to hear the pastor from Maranatha Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas, Reverend Dr. Rander Draper. Who woulda thunk? =) I came all the way to Africa just to hear a native San Antonion preach. Since the sermon was quite good, I thought I would share some of my favourite parts.

In response to cell phones and self glorification Dr. Draper stated it well… “Have we become so important that we come to church waiting for a call from man, instead of listening to God?” Even in Africa, we have to remind people to turn their cell phones off; this is not just an American problem.

“You cannot keep stuff forever; you won’t see a U-HAUL behind the hearse.”

“My pleasure is NOT God’s priority, nor should it be mine.” This does not mean that God does not want us to enjoy and be fulfilled; rather our priorities should be that of Christ…Kingdom priorities.

“When you are serious about Jesus Christ you are serious about that which is valuable to the Lord.”

“Do you keep ready? Ready or not, here God comes!”

“We should not look like we’ve been baptized in lemon juice! We need to have the ministry of face!”

Luke 12:20—“But God said to him, ‘You fool!...’” In response to this piece of scripture Dr. Draper said, “Now when God calls you a fool, you must be a fool!” =)

“I have eternal security, that’s why I’m secure. God gave me something to keep…eternal life!”

So there you have it, those are my favourite quotes from today’s sermon.

My revelation for the day…worrying about my job in the fall is not glorifying to God, my time here is, and I should not encapsulate it with worry. I woke up at a minimum 15 times with multiple different dreams of utter worry. Please pray for good sleep. This morning I did wake up and go for an 8K jog, which was nice and well needed.

At church I saw Lewis, a good friend of my brothers. Fancy seeing an FPC’n (First Presbyterian Church) at Gerald’s church in Uganda. Lewis left two weeks ago to minister with EMI as an architect. The other people from FPC, on my team at Rafiki, were also there—Naomi, Abigail, and Virginia. The rest of the FPC team working with Food for the Hungry are in Northern Uganda and have a very different ministry. Half of the Rafiki people attend church at Gerald’s church, the other half at another church. We were invited to attend New Life Christian, thus we went. Gerald spoke at FPC for the global mission’s weekend—he is excellent.