Uganda 2014: Day 12

Today is our last “mission” day here. We were split into teams. Two groups of four went to two different schools each and everyone else cleaned trash and invited people to church service that night. I believe the trash crew split into groups as well. All of these projects were done in one little community. I told Joanne that I would like to go to the schools and she let me! I was so happy! When we got to our first school the other group split off of us and went to their schools. My group was Yelena, Algena, Jody, and I. Elite was where we went first. It is a school of little kids that are maybe 2-10 years in age. I am not totally sure on that one because I did not see the big kids much. They were in the back of the room. We sang and danced to the songs “Jump into the light” and I think the other one is called “follow.” They loved the songs! We has the sheet music with us and one of the teachers asked if she could photo copy it for the school! We, of course, were happy to let her. I was so impressed by these kids and how well behaved they were! There were probably more than 200 kids there! So many of them raised there hand when they were asked if they wanted Jesus in their heart. There was one little boy that touched my heart! He sat in the front row and had his legs almost curled up to his chest with one arm on them and one arm raised. His eyes were squeezes so tightly shut that you knew he really wanted this! He is such an inspiration! We should all want to know Jesus as bad as he does!

The next school we went to did not have as many kids, but they did have older kids too. Because they did not have a big enough room for them all to be in, we did it outside. The kids were split into two groups that sat under the trees for shade. We tried to do the music together, but I am not sure if the little kids group could hear it. Yelena did the message for the older kids and Algena did the message for the younger kids. These kids were as well behaved as the other group. One of the teachers even taught them a song to have them sing for us! It was so sweet. I recorded them singing it, but don’t know if you can hear them. They were singing so quiet and Algena’s group was still going right behind me.

This Evening we went back to the same community for worship. When we arrived at the church there were already about 20 kids there. Spencer taught them a couple songs while the rest of the band played along. The kids were good at the motions and a couple of them had their own amazing dance moves. They were jumping, dancing, and singing so well. Some of our group joined to show them the moves and just dance with them.

During the service a bunch of the girls in our group and JB stayed with the kids in the front. Most of us had at least one kid that we were holding hands with or had in our arms. I watched one little boy fall asleep on the step while sitting up. One of the church ladies grabbed him and put him on the mat to sleep. This happened with three more of the boys. They were so sleepy. They did not sleep the whole service though. The boy I picked up was so sweet! I held him for a couple songs, but I put him down because he was getting restless and I thought he wanted down. When the songs in the first set were over the pastor talked for a couple minutes. Then I grabbed the boy’s arms, that I held before, and did the motions for the next song with him for a minute before letting him do it himself. When the two fast songs were over he stood right in front of me and I put my hands on his shoulders. He grabbed them and put them on his chest and would not let them go. I picked him up not long after and would look at him every once in a while. I noticed that he was starting to fall asleep, so I sat down. He fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep for the rest of the service. This was at least 20 minutes. He was sweating so bad. I did not think about it while I was holding him… and am glad I didn’t… but other people from our group said he probably had a fever. When his mom came and grabbed him he would not wake up. He did open his eyes a little, but not for long. She slung him over her back to carry him home. Thankfully, before she left I was able to put two bracelets on his wrist that we were handing out. I pray that he will get better fast. I feel so bad for him.

Once again, when we got back the power was out. We ate dinner by shining flashlights (real ones or cell phone flashlights) on the ceiling. When I was done eating, Joanne made an announcement for the next morning. I asked her if we were still able to shower. She said only a couple of us could and it was first come first serve. I went right away because I had not showered in three days. We have been going through to much water and did not have enough for showers. Even on the days none of us showered the tank could not always fill because the power was out so often. We are also at the top of the hill. That means it takes even longer for the water to get here. It was amazing to wash my hair and kinda wash my body too. We could not leave the water running, so I just got my washcloth wet a couple times and scrubbed. I went back out to everyone after and played a little bit of cards, but was so sleepy that I snuck off to bed at 11 or 11:30pm.