Uganda 2024 Day 10

Today I woke up early again to be in the kitchen at 5:30am. When we arrived at clinic, we did worship with everyone again. Today it was even more amazing. JoAnne also brought communion cups, so we were all able to take communion together. I think my favorite part is the same thing we did at the guest house. We were singing “I exalt thee” when JoAnne interrupted and asked people to sing it in their native language. We had Lugandan, Bulgarian, German, ASL, Karamojung, and English. It was such as sweet, spirit filled moment. I was sad it had to end. Before heading to the church, I helped Bruno put trash bags at the doctors tables. Church was packed and had people sitting off to the side. Jodie and Tony spoke and we sent them to education before the doctors as fast as we could. Because today was a short clinic day, we could only see that group and the full group in the waiting area. It was so hard to see people keep coming to the gate and want to see the doctors. I know they had traveled very far. During the break between services, I picked up a little boy. I danced along with the girls while holding him and he fell asleep in my arms. He was so sweet. I was going to hold him while I shared a message, but my interpreter told me I had to give him to one of the ladies in the front row. When I was done I invited Spencer to come up and share. I almost forgot to grab the little boy back from the lady. It was so kind of her to hold him for me. She was an older lady too. When Spencer was almost done JoAnne sent Lisa down to do the education part instead of sending the people there. This was because the doctors would not have time to see them. We had to leave right in time today because most of the team was flying back to Kampala. When she was doing that, I grabbed John Basco and asked him if we could get photos with his sister and Esther. I love Joyce so much and was very happy to see her while in Karamoja. She lives in Usuk and we did not do clinic there, so it was special to see her. I helped Ruthie clean up the kids church supplies and Jodie asked me to help hand out gifts to some of our interpreters. Then I helped with pharmacy clean up before we needed to load into the bus. I gave Esther a hug goodbye, but Joyce was at the door of one of the rooms behind a bunch of other girls. She is still very shy, so I just waved goodbye. John Basco started leading me to the bus and someone stopped him to ask a question. Next thing I knew, Joyce was by my side giving me a hug. I was struggling not to cry as this would be my last time to see and hug her this trip. I told her I love her as John Basco took me to the bus. We had an extra person or two with us in the bus because the team flying home already left. It was a tight squeeze, but we made it and I think only three people were standing. The party bus was tight, but still a party bus! We have so much energy when we are together. Well, maybe the Ugandans have that much energy anyway. Once at the hotel, we said goodbye to the interpreters that didn’t come with us from Kampala. 

After dinner, I gave Pastor John, the extra hygiene kits for the girls that him and his wife take care of. He kept telling me that I need to move to Uganda… Specifically Usuk. He was giving me a bunch of reasons as to why. He is so funny. And then he asked if he could pray for me. It was so sweet! He prayed for my future husband and children, and that God would provide for me financially so I could help people across the world and not just here in Uganda, but everywhere. after that, I had to prepare my carry-on bag for Safari and take my big bag to the lunch room so I could go back to Kampala with Ugandan team. When I had taken my bag to the lunchroom, three of the doctors were in there. When was Julius Bruno and I had already met him and I’m friends with him, but the other two were new to the trip this year. One is Dr. Martin the other is Dr. Samuel. I was talking with the three of them for quite a while and they are so encouraging to me. Julius was saying how I inspire him so much and how he is thinking about working in Karamoja because of me. And the other two were just saying what an amazing person I am and how I have such a big heart. I mentioned being a youth leader and being john bosco sponsor. They were just very encouraged and said that many good things would come out of me being a youth leader. They said that I would be an inspiration and good example for the teens. While we were talking, Julius even brought up a couple scriptures that came to his mind. The whole conversation was not serious though. At one point, Lolita was asking them when they go back to work in school. Martin goes to school on Monday and Julius goes back to work on Monday. Samuel is in between school and work so I jokingly said he’s retired. Martin laughed so hard at this! I thanked him for laughing at my dad joke. Then I got to hear a story about him. When he was younger, he watched a lot of cartoons and learned a lot of English from them. He also had the opportunity to tour with a group to the United States when he was younger and he learned English very well there. Apparently, he also became a food snob. Martin and Samuel are close friends so it was fun to hear both of them telling the story together! Martin was made fun of a lot because he started talking with a different accent once he was home from the United States. Been younger he just absorbed all the English and the accent. That is why he was made fun of by his peers. He does speak English very well and very fast for anyone that I have met. I had such a sweet time with these boys. Right before we went to our rooms, Dr Martin asked if he they could send messages to three of the teens in my church that I told them about. It was so nice of them to encourage and bless the girls in this way. Between the encouragement to each other and the laughter, I am so happy that I stayed in the lunchroom to talk with them.