My journal entry for day 3 in Uganda begins, "Wow, what a whirlwind day!" We began themorning early and made our way to "M" (in order to protect the interests of the organization we visited with, I will refer to our day 3 ministry site as "M").
Almost as soon as we arrived, a leader from Sixty Feet, an organization that ministers to the kids at "M", gathered up the large group of kids and began leading worship. As I listened to this group of children pour out their hearts in praise to God, raising their hands in worship, I literally got the chills. Tears poured down my cheeks as I continued to listen to sweet, small voices call out praise to their Almighty Father God. As I looked around the room, many of my team members had the same awed expression and the same alligator tears welling up in their eyes.
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After worship, a couple of the kids got up to tell us about how much Sixty Feet as done for them. It was so awesome to hear the testimonies of how God is working through the staff at Sixty Feet! The men and women who work for Sixty Feet have made such an impact on so many lives.
Then, we initiated a healthy dose of t-shirt making mayhem with hundreds of t-shirts and some good 'ol fabric paint. I'm not sure if you've ever seen 200 Ugandan kids loose in one dining hall scrambling for shirts and paint, but it was crazy, and oh so fun! They absolutely LOVED getting to create something with their name on it. It also really made my heart smile when they asked me to write "I love Jesus" and "Jesus loves me" repeatedly all over their shirts. I was morethan happy to oblige them; after all, any reminder of Jesus' unfailing love is monumental.
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After t-shirt making, we all went outside in a couple of the giant fields the complex had. We had brought things like bubbles, jump ropes, soccer balls, and chalk. I spent a lot of my time playing in the bubbles with some of the smaller kids and drawing chalk with them. When some of the smaller boys were too small to reach the bubbles, I lifted them up to pop the ones that were out of reach. Check out the joy on this little guy's face...
I also became the "tickle-monster" for about a half hour, chasing my little buddy Addi around. He had the most contagious laughter!
After playing with the kids for awhile, we had to leave. Sad day. We headed back to Namirembe to grab a quick lunch, and then from there we drove to Rebecca Sorenson's school Royal Hope Academy. We were enthusiastically greeted with a song, shouts, drums, and claps.
The choir got up to sing and dance for us. They had such beautiful voices! After the "show," we just hung out with the kids. I think at one point I had about six kiddos fighting for my arms and hands. Some eventually just had to settle for my legs! Rebecca had invited us to come over for dinner at her house, dubbed "My Father's House" because her house has become home to a number of orphans. It was really hard to leave, especially since a lot of the kids crowded around our bus and even tried to get on the bus with us! Once we arrived at Rebecca's, we were treated to a delicious (candlelit, because of a power outage) dinner and great fellowship with the team.
Since I've been home, I have been able to process a lot more than I could while we were incountry. God has really shown me that He is so much greater than any man-made cultural or social boundaries. His love unites believers all across the nations. We have brothers and sisters in Christ who will happily praise His name through song with us, who will gladly enjoy fellowship over dinner with us, and who will delight in the Father's love with us.
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