End of the Uganda trip.

This is Faith.  Another one of my followers.  She has a younger sister and an older sister and brother.  She could not speak english but her smile spoke enough to me.  I met her one evening at the crusade.  She was crying so I went over to check on her.  After that, she never left my side.  I noticed she had a really bad cough, but it wasn't until the last night that I realized she had tuberculosis.  I'm not sure what Faith's future holds, but I pray we can meet again someday soon.

Finally we're on a plane to the states! We thought London would never let us leave.  Back on the plane for 8 hours baby!  I love my travel mates.

Sipi Falls, Uganda



Roommates at Sipi Falls.




Little boy in the pool at the waterfall.







This lady is filling her Jerry can in the pool.



Activities in Uganda.



Brian killed 2 chickens.





 


Mercy taught us how to do laundry in Uganda.






The market in Busia.

 

700 students about to learn about Jesus Christ.



Uganda.

On Father's day we went to Lake Victoria.  It was a beautiful beach area.  Ugandan beaches may be as great as the North Carolina beaches!

These are some of the children from the crusade.  We developed relationships with many adults and children at the crusades because it was a nightly activity all week.  We got to spend a lot of time with the people.  We taught the children how to play duck duck goose.  They pronounced it "dog dog goosh".  Frisbee, soccer, jump rope, and limbo.  They taught us to dance African style and sing in Lugandan/Swahili (the local languages).

This is James.  He is 10 years old.  He's mean mugging in this picture but I promise he has the sweetest little smile.  Different children latched on to different people in our group.  James was one of my followers.  He followed Brian and I.  He would run back and forth between us during the crusades, always asking permission to go see Brian for a few minutes.  Every single night he would ask me if he could come home with me to America.  James didn't speak much English but I could make out "My mother is dying and my uncle beats me."  I'm not positive if all he said was true, but his tears seemed very real at the end of every evening when we left to go back to our hotel.  We want to work on figuring out where his home is to take his family food.  I love this little kid!  I can't wait to go back to visit him.  And yes, he did give his life to Christ last week.

Africa.

We got to visit a school that our friend Willy started.  We went around and spoke to each class.  I'd like to speak on behalf of the children and say Esther and I were the favorite visitors because we gave out jolly ranchers to our classes.  Haha!  The children ranged from ages 6-13 I believe.  They were learning subjects such as Mathematics, English, Swahili, and Spelling.

We walked around a very impoverished village in Busia.  It was intense shaking the hands and looking into the eyes of the people living in these conditions.

We stopped at a water hole where some of the local children had walked a few miles to fill their Jerry cans with water.  The water was muddy and probably had parasites.  This water is used for washing clothes, bathing, cooking, and drinking.  During the dry season this particular water hole dries up and leaves very difficult circumstances for the locals.

In Uganda it was very common to see babies taking care of babies.  I often watched 7 or 8 year old girls carry their baby brother or sister.

London.

The team at the Charlotte airport.

Finally after spending a night in Chicago and spending a night in London, we get to tour!

The London Eye and Big Ben

Progress.

It is June 10th.  We leave June 12th.  I'm a little in disbelief.  I left Camp Lurecrest yesterday in tears, but I'm happy to begin this African journey.  I'm really praying for enlightenment, perspective change, and new burning desires that bring clarity to my God given purpose.  I start my Malarone pills today.  My roommate Esther and I have been packing all day long.

I wanted to post the blog for i55 International.  Our team will be keeping that blog updated throughout the whole trip.  From now until the end of July.  I have created a prayer schedule for our team and it is posted on the blog.  Please follow the i55 blog during the trip because I'm not sure I will have access to internet, but the i55 blog will be updated constantly.  Thanks!  http://i55international.org/blog/