Uganda 2015: Day 9

We got to sleep in a little today! Well, I did not because I wanted to see the sunrise. There is no better way to start your day that to see the amazing things God makes! The sunrise/sunset is probably one of my favorites!

We went back to destiny school and orphanage. We were able to celebrate the birthday of one of the world changers. I believe he turned 12. They call him Pastor George because he leads the group in bible times. Or so I gather from the bits and pieces I heard about him. When we arrived at the orphanage, they gathered all the world changers so they could join us in celebrating Pastor George’s birthday. All of us went into his classroom to surprise him with a cake. Us and the kids in his class sang happy birthday. Pastor George was grinning from ear to ear! It made me feel so good that we could bless him like that. We gave him a soccer ball that we all signed as his gift. Another thing I loved was that when Joanne cut the cake he passed it out to everyone else first. At home it is usually the birthday person that gets the first piece of cake. About that time a class of the little kids walked by.. Kinda. They yelled, “Muzungu” and ran to us. About half of us went out there to love on them while also trying to keep them from running into the classroom for the rest of our team. Oh, and before we went into the classroom to surprise Pastor George, Jodie’s sponsor son, Peter was with us. She had met him for the first time the day before. Today he looked very sick. She asked him if he was ok and he said he was in a lot of pain. It turned out that he was having a lot of pain from his hernia. Peter was diagnosed with a hernia about two years ago. Moses made some calls and was able to find someone to do surgery for Peter. If Peter did not have a sponsor this probably would not have been possible.

After the birthday party, we went on groups of two to each classroom. We said a little bit to them and gave each one a new pencil. I was trying to look at the pencils they were already using. Quite a few were about an inch or two long. They were so happy to get new pencils!

The whole group got to visit the baby house next. Once again the babies came out in a herd running to us. In an instant we each had two babies hanging on to us! Of course I searched for my babies again, but I could not find them. They look so different with their uniforms on. I love watching our group with children. Someone (not on the team) had a grandma and her friends who made dresses and a couple shorts for the kids. We were able to give each girl a dress and a couple boys clothes too. One of the baby moms found my three babies again so I could spend a little more time with them. While I had Kirabo, I just held her close and rocked her in my arms. That moment was so precious to me. Just to put my cheek to hers, close my eyes, and rock her was the most wonderful thing. The baby house mom actually had to got get Tina out of class. She got a big smile when she saw me again. The only time she got off my lap was to get a dress. I also saw Frederick again. He did not stay with me long because there were so many of us. When it was time to leave I was so sad! I made sure to tell the girls I love them and kiss them on the cheek before I left.

The team’s next stop was the children’s prison. There were a bunch of kids there. Mostly between the ages of 7-18ish. The team did a worship service there. Thanks to the help of Ivan, our band had equipment so we could play with speakers, microphones, and electric instruments. Last year we just had the ukulele. The band did music and then someone would speak. The speakers were Jessica, Elena, Kelsey, and mason. Mason also did the salvation prayer with the kids. I would say about 30-40 gave their life to Christ! During the service the adults watching them came and got them by groups to eat. They got extra and special food compared to usual because any extra money we made went to giving them a special meal. some of the kids missed their chance to get a meal because they wanted to hear all the testimonies. Most of these kids gave their lives to Christ. These kids are amazing! We gave each of them a piece of candy and they were so happy! God is doing good things here!