Last Thursday we made plans with Rachelle, a Missionary in Tororo. Her family has been here for almost 4 years serving the young adults in the area. Discipling them to become missionaries in their own country, very cool ministry. Rachelle has been so good to us, we have gone to eat dinner there, used the oven to bake and for an American family to chat with!
We all went over to their home and made Tacos! She had bought the seasoning in the USA on their home stay, praise the Lord! I was so thankful for these tacos, you don't even understand. It happened to be a very happy ending to a VERY stressful and frustrating day. No worries though all is good. We had a wonderful time cooking together. We made homemade salsa, guacamole, and I attempted to make homemade tortillas out of corn flour but they completely failed. Maybe I will try again some other day. So we went and bought chapati from the market, mmm, mmm, good :)
There are a few foods I have really missed while being here, just thought I'd share: Cheese (and dairy products in general), chips, salads, and just being able to cook my own food. However, Africans cook wonderful food! Pastor Ruth makes the best rice, I always love going to her house!
I titled this Christmas Parade because we were invited and attended 4 different homes on Christmas! We started the day by enjoying breakfast, then headed to prayers (that's what Africans call church), and then we started the parade. We first went to Nurse Grace's home for African pancakes and soda. We brought a couple small gifts for the children and a cake for the family. We then went to Cor and Grace's home. They go to church at PAG and run a primary boarding school for orphans, they are amazing. We have a good friend Nadine, who's 19 and from Germany, that works and lives with them. We had a wonderful meal of rice, chicken, chapati, smosas, matoke and gnut sauce, soda, pineapple, and I think that's all...alot! After their home we went to Bison (Beeson, the village next to Smile Africa where all the children live) to see Teacher Teddy! We had told her not to cook for us because we were going to so many homes, she listened and gave us necklaces. She said that was our dinner, haha! We were so grateful though because I don't think any of us would've been able to eat anymore. From her house we finished with Nurse Salima's home. We had milk tea and mandazis, they taste like doughnuts, mmm! We had a wonderful day filled with lots of fellowship and Joy!
Rhonwen with Nurse Grace's son, Jordan!
The girls excited about soda and African pancakes!
The crew in front of Nurse Grace's home:)
The Family:)
Holly and Rhonwen at Cor and Grace's
Rhonwen and Nadine!
House #2- The crew with Cor and Grace's Family.
Me, Sarah, Holly, and Rhonwen in front of Cor's house, its beautiful!
Simon (in the middle) with his sister and brother in their Christmas best!
House #3- Teacher Teddy's! The crew LtoR: Clark, Sarah, Meghan,Teddy, Holly, Me, Rhonwen, and Ronnie. In the front is a boy i don't know, Emma (Teddy's son with Christmas stickers on his face) and William a boy that comes to Smile.
House #4- Salima's- This is taken outside their home.
Guess who I saw when walking through Bison?? Yep, Jose! It was an added Christmas present! Especially when he ran to come see me, haha:)
Me, Holly, and Sarah outside of Sam and Salima's...all three of our expressions fit our personalities together! haha.
Christmas Eve was a fun filled day! When we arrived at Smile we gave bananas to the baby room, so they had an extra treat for breakfast! They had decorated the shed with flowers and greenery on the poles, so it looked extra festive! The day was a fairly normal day at Smile except for lunch they had received an extra special meal! White rice with beef or chicken, and a soda!!! Then when they left Smile they all got a sucker and the older kids of the families received a bag of beans and a bag of posho flour to take home to their families, so they can all eat well for Christmas day! Wow, thanks to Pastor Ruth for making this happen! I took SO MANY photos today so here are some to share the day! We ended the day by getting caught in the rain on our walk home. There weren't any bodas to catch because everyone is gone for Christmas so we decided to run in the rain and it even hailed a little. No snow but I got some ice, haha!
Kids enjoying the boxes from the storehouse!
They found a few rats near the storehouse, so the kids killed them and then the boys were throwing it in the air!! No Surprise there.
The 400+ children that came to Smile for Christmas Eve Dinner!!!
Washing their hands before lunch!!
The Main Event!
Look at all that sugar, soda.
The Smile Africa Futbol Team is in the Region Championship so they got special treatment. They sat in the shade and had lunch on glass plates!
Enjoying the meal!
Eric! He lives at Smile and he has the cutest Smile and high pitched voice!
Nurse Grace's daughter, Faith, all dressed in her Christmas best!
Modo and I. He's become a new buddy of mine:)
Grace. She's so cute!
Paulo. He is also one of the cutest babys I've ever seen, look at that dimple!
Of course, my sweet friend Jose!
This is the line for the kids to get suckers, beans, and posho!
The bags of posho and beans!
Pastor Ruth handing out the suckers :)
These kids all live at Smile and they sure LOVE the suckers! LtoR: Ollypot, Sundae, Moses, Joshua, and Eric!
Loving their Christmas treats! Lto R: Derek, Eva, boy, and Brenda
We are SOAKING wet after our nice run in the rain. It was very comical, I only wish it would've been recorded. LtoR: Me, Holly, Rhonwen, and Sarah.
Before I left for Africa I had my co-worker’s friend Jessica pray for me. Her and her husband do prophetic ministry in Montana. Prophetic Ministry meaning that they hold conferences, classes about prophecy, and are gifted with the gift of prophecy. Prophecy being an encouragement to you, not a prediction of the future. So I had asked Jessica to pray for me because I was in a place of not know what to do or where to go when I was finished at TreeHouse. While Jessica was praying she had a vision of me. it was a picture of me surrounded by children of all ethnicities and that I was the heart of these children. Wow! It took me back and I didn’t know what it really meant other than I really love kids and have a heart for them to see the potential they have. With that while in Jinja and shopping around I saw a painting with a Mzungu women in the middle of all these children and Sarah said “Leah, that’s you.” So I talked to the artist and asked why he had painted that picture. He said,”It is a way you show love to our country, by loving on our children.” I was just blown away. God is cool. This is the reason for purchasing this painting. Enjoy!!
This is not meant to sound "preachy" just think about it.
(And if you happen to like this song, check out his others, and pass them on to kids! They LOVE Lecrae!!)
I was talking with Holly yesterday morning and somehow we got to talking about our life stories and rebelling. It reminded me of the song “Rebel Intro” by Lecrae. (The Lyrics are below) Lecrae is a pretty well known Christian rapper and amazing influence to young people today! You may not be a person who normally listens to rap, or even can’t stand it but, do me a favor. Listen. Take a step out of your comfort zone and turn your ear to this song and its lyrics.
This song talks about how much of a rebel Jesus was. That is why he was persecuted, mocked, but still continued on. This song explains it well. Being a rebel is being different than conforming to what everyone else is doing, going after Jesus and reading your bible that’s different. That’s being a rebel. Don’t take this the wrong way and get defensive if you have been apart of these things, so have I. Just open your eyes, ears, and heart to what it really is saying about who God truly is and if you REALLY want to be different, Follow JESUS.
Lyrics:
Yeh, just wanna die with a beat, Swim around in it, lets rebel.
I am a rebe-llion
Yeh, to all my Rebels out there.
I am a rebe-llion
Rebeling against the culture, being transformed.
I am a rebe-llion
Not conformed to the ways of this world, or this age.
I am a rebe-llion
Welcome to the Revolution.
Verse 1:
Jesus was a rebel(he was,) a renegade outlaw
Sanctified trouble maker, but he never sinned naw
And He lived His life by a different set of rules(that's right)
The culture ain't approve so you know they had to bruise Him(murder!)
That's the way they do, man they swear they so gangsta(So gangsta~)
Everyone the same, everybody do the same stuff
Tattoos, piercings, smokin' up and drinkin'
Money, sex, plus them extravagant weekends.
Man if that's the high life of puff puff pass that,
You live evaporated like missin' a gas cap (that's evaporated yah)
I guess I'm passed that, I'm a rebell-yon'( I'm a rebell-ion)
Rather have a dollar in my pocket than a milli-yon'(Jesus
Scared of a bunch of money(yeh,) I wants mo' of Elyon
I remain a rebel while the rest of 'em just carry on
This is(come on) what I live for(come on,) its the hill I'm burried on(Lets go!)
If Jesus is the Truth(lets go!), that means one of us is very wrong
Think about it!
I am a rebe-llion
I know in are day rebel means sinner.
I am a rebe-llion
But everyone is sinning, so it’s no longer rebellious to sin
I am a rebe-llion
Jesus was a rebel, who was counter cultural.
I am a rebe-llion
Verse 2
(Yeh!)No glory in me(uh-ah,) all glory's to the King of the throne (Jesus!)You either love Him or you leave Him alone
But you can't do both, yeah I know you heard that once in a song
I pray you hear it ten more 'fore your(ten more times) gone
Hey listen up homes, the stage is the corner the crowd is the streets
And I rap the bread of life 'cause they dyin' to eat(they hungry man!)
Yeah I'm a rebel, you know the kind that die in the street
'Cause you refuse to conform won't eat the king's meat
Yeah(yeah!), Christ rebelled by shunning the culture
He eatin' with the sinners, givin' Pharisees ulcers(uhnn!)
He never got married He was broke plus homeless
And yeah that's the God I roll with!
Your boy got a wife, and no I never cheated
I'm prayin' for humility whenever I get heated
Forget about the drugs, rebel against pornography
This ain't how is ought to be homie its how its GOTTA BE
A REBEL!
I am a rebe-llion
You’re just a conformist, if your drunk and naked and driving around on a loud motorcycle smoking cigarettes and breaking commandments and getting pregnant out of wed lock. Everyone has done that. That’s so tired. If you really want to be a rebel read your bible because no one is doing that. That’s rebellion that’s the only rebellion left.
A couple weeks ago we were invited over to Nurse Grace's home for lunch. It was DELICIOUS!!! When we arrived we had African milk tea, and African pancakes. They tasted like homemade doughnuts, mmm! Then while Grace cooked lunch we chatted, played with Jordan, and taught Felix and Faith (Nurse Grace's other two children) how to play UNO! They LOVE it! They remind me of myself as a kid when we got (well when I still get) a new game and then we play it ALL THE TIME!
We had a lovely lunch of Matoke (similar to banana, tastes like potato) and Gnut sauce (similar to potatoes and gravy, mmm. Then rice, beans, meat, chapati, and fresh passion fruit juice! A normal African meal.
I forgot to take a photo of their home but it is very lovely and the area around it is an open corn field so it kind of felt like home, the farm aspect anyways. Grace even learned how to play UNO after lunch and it was so fun to watch the kids get so competitive about the game! They even told me to bring it to Smile so I did and have been playing it everyday, all day.
There is also a photo of us at Sam and Salima's house that we ate at the day before. Just thought I'd add it in.
While in Kampala Cassandra read a devotion from a Beth Moore Missionary Devotional. The devotional that day was a story that went a little like this:
A woman had decorated her home for Christmas and like most people put her nativity set up on the mantle of the fireplace. While at work, her housekeeper had moved the figurines into a circle around baby Jesus. When the woman came home she moved the figurines back into their “right” positions. The same thing happened the next day when she came home from work her housekeeper had moved the figurines into a circle around baby Jesus. This went on for about a week or so.
Finally one day the woman asked her housekeeper “Why do you keep moving my nativity set into a circle?”. The housekeeper replied, “Because the Kings, Shepherds, and everyone came to see Jesus, He is the center.”
That was such a short but powerful story. Jesus is the Center. He is the reason for Christmas, its His birthday of celebration. Put aside the normal craziness of the holiday season, the crazy amount of gifts we buy for every and anyone, the parties, etc. and think about Jesus being the center. Without Him you wouldn’t have Christmas. Without Him we wouldn’t have eternal life. Without Him we wouldn’t be saved from our mistakes. Without Him our purpose would be gone.
Jesus is the Center. Is He your center, is He where all you are and do come from? (these were good questions for me)
Jesus is the Center. (My new African Nativity set)
Saturday=laundry. Today I stayed back at the hotel to rest, do laundry, and relax a bit. I’m having some back trouble so it was a better decision to not be in a vehicle on a 5 hour bumping ride to Sipi Falls. I will go someday. Anyways while being in Africa I have been introduced to, (drum roll) .......................
‘Washing my clothes by hand’. I wanted to share this with you so I took some photos of where the magic happens! It seriously is an art and I have a lot of respect for everyone who does this normally. It also makes me VERY THANKFUL for a washing machine which I will definitely greet with open arms. Seriously, I will probably give the washer a hug! Here’s what I’ve learned about the process. -I started with liquid detergent, powder detergent works best. -Soaking your clothes too long makes them smell like dirty water, even with detergent. -Using a bar of detergent for the arm pits and collar works great to get out the African red dirt, and the smell of sweat! -My fingers get raw from scrubbing the clothes together. Building callous though! -I don’t wait too long to do laundry because it wears me out. -Hand washing jeans is a real pain.
-Each time my clothes get cleaner and cleaner, I'm improving!
A few weeks back I went to a prayer morning with a team who was in Tororo from Kansas with the International House of Prayer (IHOP). And as we worshiped I had written this in my journal:
As we worship I look to my right and I see a wall, boarded up and an empty blue chair with the light shining down on it. But its empty. Who will sit down? Who will pay attention? God calls us to come and listen!! Why are all the chairs empty? I feel an urgency for people to FINALLY throw away their own ways and come and listen to what God is telling you and calling you to! He has placed gifts, talents, strengths, people in your life specifically for you to know Him more and to glorify His Kingdom!! Please. Take a seat, just for a moment, and listen.
So I believe I’ve mentioned this before but I am living at a Hotel in Tororo and it is called ‘The Crystal Hotel’. Our room reminds us of my college dorm and so its cozy but a lot more western than I had expected. The staff here love us and treat us like family. They greet us everyday and chat with us while we eat etc. Martha, Fred, Robena, George, Mildred, and Mustafa are the main workers we see and I’m thankful for them.
We eat the majority of our meals at the Crystal and that consists mostly of toast, eggs, hot water (tea/coffee), sausages, rice, and beans.
I took a photo of the back courtyard area because I wanted to show you all their security system. All along the top of the wall there is broken class sticking up so that if someone tries to jump/climb over the wall they will definitely get hurt by the glass. Ouch, that would hurt! There is also a guard that is by the gate at night.
Other than the loud African bar music (on the nights there is power) the Crystal is a pretty quaint place. Its nice to have a steady place to live and people you see regularly. We are definitely making relationships with the workers here and have been able to share with them and connect with them. So its our ministry outside of our ministry! Praise God!
We said goodbye to our American friends and teammates Anna Nieman and Marie Pasiliou :( They were a joy to have around and a blessing to our team here in Tororo! We are going miss them very much, its already a lot quieter around here! Despite our sadness of saying goodbye we have welcomed Rhonwen from the land Down Under, Australia!!! She has been a joy as well and has jumped right in to the world and life of Tororo!!!
