Spaghetti

Leah and I have been working hard these past few weeks. What we could usually get done in about 4 hours in the US takes us the better part of daylight to get done here. We finally created a calendar of events and are ensuring we take one day off a week for personal things like laundry, running, writing on this, and sleeping late! Here are some highlights...

Wednesday-- Each week we have a staff meeting for about 3 hours (it would never fly in the US). We spend about an hour singing praise songs, then have a lesson that a different person gives each week. This week, an elderly man, Mzee Lukewa, was asked to come to the meeting. Mzee is Swahili for a wise person. This is a well earned title. His talk was on, "Having a vision and mission in life." A vision is what you see into the future while a mission is the road you take to get there. His point, is that God has a vision for each of our lives formed from many of the teachings of Jesus. This vision becomes unique through our relationship with God. Humans have self awareness, conscience and free will. We are called to exercise self-awareness with the guidance of conscience to use our free will to worship and glorify God. Wow. The lesson continued, and if you would like more information on, I have typed up my notes. Leah and I both plan to meditate on these words during our time here. His wise words and unabashed love for Jesus reminds me so much of my grandfather, Papa. I told Mzee that they will meet in spirit, and he was so interested and intrigued by this connection I made. He asked for a picture of Papa so I am getting him one!

Thursday: We told the boys at the Makerere house we would fix them an American meal sometime last week and they were REALLY excited. We decided on spaghetti, or "Super-getti" in Uganda. We bought minced meat, noodles and tomato sauce at the supermarket and fresh carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, onions and garlic off the street. They LOVED it! The best part was that they ate it with their hands, it was hilarious.

Friday: We spent the morning at the Kibuli boys home again and really wanted to get to know them better. The first game we thought of was two truths and a lie. For a group of street children in a culture that does not approve of lying, it was fun to see them understand and get excited about the game...After touring their neighboring slums and a few hours of asking questions about thee States, Leah and I went on a trek to get to our next meeting. There was a down pour of rain. Rain in Uganda is just like in the US. Walking in the rain in Uganda is nothing like in the US. The open gutters immediately fill with trash carried by water...and this trashy, mud-water flows in the street. We were covered in mud splashed on us by the trucks...Words can't really describe the circumstance, but you get the picture. We finally made it to our meeting where we got a ton of educational material on 'healthy choices' for the kids. They even have a training program we hope to send the nurse we hire to. Currently, we are cooking dinner for two of the cstone staff that have helped us so much thus far! Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and encouragement. Have a blessed day!