Life in Pictures

Hello Friends! I wanted to give you a little taste of what I see here in the beautiful city of Soroti.

Most of my days include a combination of these four scenes:

These are two of my housemates, Alibina and Julius. They have been adopted by a wonderful German lady named Stephanie who has lived in Soroti for about 5 years. She is a nurse by trade, and has spent the last few years volunteering at Amecet, the local baby home, from where she adopted Alibina and Julius.

A few times every week, I go to visit Amecet. I work a couple of shifts a week and stop in to visit as often as I am able. This is Rukia. When she first came to Amecet a few months ago, she was completely skin and bones, weighing only a few kilos due to neglet from her family. Now, after a lot of food and a lot of love by the "aunties" who work here, she is chubby and happy! The staff is hoping to send her to home to a loving member of her extended family. Rukia's case is quite typical of the babies who live at the home. The home is meant as temporary housing for children from families in need.

These are my preschoolers! Moses (far left) and Avalien (far right) are the son and daughter of our team leaders, Tim and Angie. Grace and Lydia (inside, left to right) are the daughters of some of our other team members, Josh and Mandy. Lydia has become a bit of a helper, while the others enjoy many fun lessons (many courtesy of Miss Kristi). I've been helping them to explore the different parts of an egg, the laying of eggs, the different animals who lay eggs, nests, and more. They are having a blast!

These are my wonderful students at Harmony Primary School, a school funded by Youth With A Mission. I have about 10 students from ages 10-15 who meet with me for help with reading. I have just started working on some writing with them. Typical Ugandan curriculum includes lots of recitation and repetition, and I want to help my students with some creative writing. We are going to start making a book this week! I'm very excited to see how it goes!

Thanks for reading and thanks for keeping me in your prayers! Lisa is now home safe and sound, only to be whisked off to her job on a summer camp stuff in Northern Michigan. Please continue to pray for her adjustment home and for continued health and energy in my last few weeks here.

Love, Thanks, and Peace,

Steph

It just seems normal now

When I spoke on the phone with Lisa last Saturday, the comment that stuck in my mind is, "it all seems so normal". Last time I wrote, I asked for prayers that she could settle in and be at ease with the lack of schedule. Those prayers have been answered above and beyond what I ever thought. As she says it all feels so normal, they are showing the movie "Up" to 100 ugandans in a single stall garage with the projector being run by generator. They have had an average of 2 hrs of electricity everyday since Sunday. No refrigeration and cold showers. No Internet on the compound since arriving in Uganda, and on the morning I spoke to her no water. But, "it all seems so normal now".

She had plans for the week that she was quite excited about and I hope to have the opportunity to call her again tomorrow before I go to work. She left message on my Facebook that said, "we have a lot to talk about"- I can't wait!

Please continue to keep Lisa and Steph and the rest of the team in your prayers. Please pray for the hearts of the people they come into contact with each and everyday.

Jane

Life Is Good

Hello All! Life in Soroti is grand! However, in the last five days, we've had about 15 hours of electricity... :)

We are finally finding ourselves in the swing of things. We've both got our own bikes now, which are helping us gain more confidence in getting around town. We can make it around market on our own, get to work on time, find choir practice, make it to soccer practice with the street boys, and find our own way into town to teach 15-year-olds their alphabet!

Lisa's been spending each afternoon with some street boys playing soccer. There are about 40 street boys in Soroti. Lisa and Bobby (another short termer) are teaching the boys American football! She's also been visiting some families that have children with disabilities. Children with disabilities (both physical and mental) are often ignored or mistreated here. There are a few organizations that offer support to these families, and Lisa and Jennifer (a long termer) are sowrking with some of these organizations.

Steph's been doing a lot of work being with the babies and teaching. She works at the baby home twice a week. One shift during the day, and one overnight shift. A few mornings a week, she teaches a small group of about 10 students who struggle with reading. She's working on preschool with two of the missionary kids, and working with Lisa on a Bible study for a group of girls who live across the street.

Both of us also got an interesting opportunity this week to lead a choir rehearsal at a local church! We'll probably be helping out a couple of times a week there.

Life is good. Thanks for your continued prayer and support! We would love to fill you in more stories when we get home!

Love,
Steph and Lisa

Doing well

How do go about updating your daughter's blog after you talked to her for 45 mins and discussed everything from peanut butter sandwiches to why people who have sickle cell disease don't have malaria? I know that during the time I was talking to her I was on cloud nine - she just sounded so good.
She said she was having an awesome experience. She said she was being stretched, she said she is not doing what she thought she would be doing. She told stories of street soccer, bible studies, game night, and movie night. She asked me to set up a TB test sometime during her 36 hour period home because she has been spending some time in the hospital (thankfully NOT as a patient). She has observed and participated in the work of living, the hassles of Ugandan Internet, the ins and outs of VISAs, and been exposed to the needs of the disabled. She purchased a bike to get around town with and is coming to the reality that she will not be able to take it home
Her biggest personal struggle? For those you who know Lisa, she likes to have a schedule for the week. When we were in Uganda last time, Tim had most of our 2 week visit planned. We knew what we were planning to do the next day. Lisa goes to bed at night and rarely has a real distinct plan for the next day. She knew that things would be a bit on the fly, but this is a real stretch for her.
Thanks for your interest.
Thanks for your prayers.
Please continue to pray. Pray for health, for safety, for opportunities, and for God's will to be done in Uganda.
Jane

A Typical Day in the Life...

From what you've gathered of the irregularity of our posts, we've been really really busy and internet has been scarce! Our key phrase around here has been, "a typical day in the life..." Angie always laughs when people ask her what a typical day on the mission field looks like. Lisa and I can definitely understand the humor in this! Every single day is different, with different people coming to the door, different opportunities knocking, and different adventures.

We've spent a day cleaning up a gravesite, played four hours of Uno with 135 sweet boys who have escaped the brainwashing of the LRA, attended an Indian party in the heart of Uganda, rescued a baby kitten with its umbilical cord still attached, bought bicycles, cleaned poop out of hair, prayed over broken vans, caught an "imposter" in the yard.... and so much more... all in the typical day!

Our teammates Tim, Beckie, and Lawrence are currently in Kampala (the capital) presenting at a HUGE conference. This opportunity popped up last minute, and Tim was given a very prestigious spot in the lineup (of course, he was told the afternoon before with a 6 hour drive seperating us from Kampala). He brought our friend Francis with him to talk about his time spent with the LRA.

On a regular note, I've been starting work at Amecet (a baby home around the corner from our house), beginning two normal shifts every week. I've also started teaching preschool to some of the missionary kids, which has been a blast thanks to Miss Kristi's curriculum. :) Lisa has been given a few opportunities to work with our teammate Bobby this week. Bobby works with street kids in Soroti. He spends a lot of time getting to know them and their stories. Tonight, Lisa and Bobby are heading into town to play some soccer with a group of street kids. Tuesday nights also bring "game night" with Bobby and his wife Rachel, so Lisa and I will be checking that out tonight!

Praises:
- a working van to head to Kampala this past weekend
- an energetic team
- an afterschool Bible club that's been going well

Prayer requests:
- open eyes, ears, and hearts of the people that Tim, Beckie, and Lawrence interact with in Kampala this week
- continued health and energy for the team
- continued conversation about positive marriages and relationships with the Ugandans we interact with (this has come up a lot this week)

Thanks again for all of your prayers and love! We are overwhelmed!!

Love,
Steph and Lisa