Sooooo clearly my procrastination skills from high school/college have carried over into other aspects of my life, such as blog writing. So since I have successfully made it through the past month and a half without posting anything, I suppose I'll give you guys a brief update. And I mean brief!
Camping in December and Wishing for AC
For four weeks our team took 12 of the secondary school boys from the New Life Homes to four different Abaana schools for week long camps. While camp certainly varied somewhat from day to day and from school to school, a basic day included having 50-100 primary school kids, and even babies, showing up bright and early in the morning, splitting them up into four groups, playing games within the groups, having a drum circle, making arts and crafts, making baking soda / vinegar volcanoes, memorizing Matthew 5:6, learning about the woman at the well, worshiping, and just hanging out and forming friendships. Each week dozens of kids responded to Wednesday's lesson about Jesus being Living Water and while we do not know how many truly accepted Him into their hearts as a result of camp, we rejoice in the seeds that were planted and that God allowed us to be a part of the planting. In a single word, camp was... exhausting. Being able to teach, play, and laugh with the children was so good and so rewarding, but by the end of the day I was definitely ready for bed. Unfortunately, the dozen high school boys we had around were still there, still shouting and laughing, and still texting and blaring music at 3am. Let's just say my patience was running a little thin by the end of the 4 weeks of camp, but the beautiful heart to hearts and the amazing friendships we formed with the boys over those weeks, as well as the opportunity to watch the boys take on leadership and responsibility was certainly priceless and well worth the lost sleep.
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Christmas was obviously different for me this year. As Christmas approached I feared that my entire day would be depressing and I would simply be wishing I was home. While I certainly missed having my family around me, it was such a good Christmas! We woke up early in the morning to head to one of the slums where we spend a lot of time. Upon arriving I made an "American breakfast" (pancakes and hashbrowns) over the charcoal, while the girls unpacked the peanut butter banana muffins that Mallory made and cut some pineapples. After a great breakfast with 8 street boys and 2 uncles, we headed off to church. Church, as always had an amazing praise and worship session and it was so cool to know that the people 5 floors below us could hear us praising just as much as we could hear them scurrying along the streets. The rest of the day (and the next 3 days) can be summed up in one beautiful word... rest!
14 Crazy Muzungus!
Last Thursday we met the American Team of 14 at the airport to bring them back to the guest house. The house has been 14 times louder, 14 times crazier, has had 14 times as much laughter, has been 14 times more full of the Holy Spirit, and has just been 14 times better than it has been in the last 3 months with the team around. It is crazy at how encouraging and uplifting these guys have been and it is going to be bittersweet to see them off this Friday.
So yea, short and sweet that pretty much describes my last month and a half. Obviously there are a lot more details, funny stories, and heart breaking moments, but I will save those for when I get home to share. If details are your thing and you really want to read more about what all goes on in a single day rather than my sparknotes version of the month you can follow the American team's blog at http://edembe.tumblr.com/. A different team member(s) updates the blog daily and shares how God has been moving in their lives, the team's lives, and the street boys' lives. Thanks so much for the continual love, support, and prayers and Happy belated New Year's from Uganda!
