Uganda 2025 Day 16

Uganda 2025 Day 16

Today I woke up at 9 AM so I could say goodbye to the part of the team that was leaving. This morning, Ross, Chloe, Josh and Ethan left. This one was hard for me. I have grown to love Ethan so much! He is such an amazing young man that I hope to visit him and his family when I am home. He has grown so much in the short time that he has been here. He also gained many big sisters, including myself. It was hard to say goodbye to all of them, but saying goodbye to Ethan was the hardest. I did my best not to cry. Even though he told me that if I ever need a manly shoulder to cry on, he has two. The sweetest part of him leaving is that he went out to the van and then he ran back to give us all one last hug, even though we had already hugged goodbye. Did not realize how hard it would be to say goodbye. Really it was more of, I will see you later instead of goodbye. Arianna, Sydnee and I went to sleep after they left. I slept for two more hours so I could get up, shower and watch the sunrise. While I was watching the sunrise, a troop of monkeys were in the trees next door. I decided to stop my time lapse of the sunrise and take photos and videos of the monkeys instead. I don’t remember seeing them before. I noticed that one of them had a tiny baby, but I was not able to get a good video. It was very fun watching them run around on the trees and the roof next door. Today was more of a relaxing day as people needed to pack. Immediately after eating lunch, the next group of the team left. This was Dr. David, Bethany, Jodie and Shanna. I think it is harder when the group slowly leaves then when you disperse at the airport. Because at the airport, you’re too busy to think about everyone leaving. So far this is our third group to leave. I would be the next and then the rest of the team goes at 2 AM. Tony set up black seven upstairs and we played a few games. Then we had some visitors. Patti and her husband Spencer showed up to say hi. We met them last year. They are missionaries that live in Uganda. They are working on starting a trade school. I told Patti that I am staying with my cousin the next two weeks. She invited me to go with her family on Tuesday (today is Sunday) to the mall. I got her phone number and told her I would let her know if it worked. After some conversation with the two of them, I went downstairs and Mable showed up with her three daughters. The oldest is so tall and my first trip to Uganda Mable was pregnant with her. I can’t believe how much they grow every year. As Mable was leaving, Shakirah and Jackson came in. We were meeting with them in a couple of the other world changers. I walked out of the room to throw something away and when I came back in Pastor George and Paul were there. JoAnne plan to have a meeting with them and Papa Moses. She told the rest of us that we could sit in on the meeting or do whatever we need to. I decided to sit in on the meeting. They were talking about plans for their futures. They are in need of sponsors for school, but they are trying to figure out what they can do for now and how they can get them through school. Also, they were talking about what the plans for their futures were. I am so proud of these kids. They are in a much different place now than they were when they were younger. God is gonna use them for big things. The meeting lasted quite long and when we were done, we took them to quality. We went to the coffee shop and ordered food for dinner and drinks. While we were waiting for the food to be made, all of us girls went into quality for shopping. I bought each of the world changers, the other young man with us and John Basco (who met us there) a jar of Nutella and a can of Pringles. I really enjoyed my time with all of them! We took photos before we left. I was not ready to leave. When we arrived back at the house, we all said goodbye. The world changers were leaving and I was also heading to my cousin’s house. This was really hard. Jen Grace was already crying and then she got me going. I was going to try to hold back the tears, but because of Jen Grace could not. After saying goodbye to everyone, Ivan drove me to Jeff’s house. Along the way we picked up his cousin, Moses. We also did get a little lost. At one point, Moses got out of the car and asked some boda boda drivers for directions. They know how to get everywhere and we were very close. I made sure to say goodbye Ivan and give him a big hug in case he can’t come to my birthday lunch. He’s such an amazing big brother and a very important in my life. Before going to bed, Jeff gave me a tour of the house and instructions.