God's blessings in Uganda

It's amazing to see how dramatically God has changed my heart during the last few days. I can't begin to describe to you how AWESOME this last week has been and how HAPPY I am to be here. I'm finally at the point where I get excited about each day and feel like my heart is here and not a thousand miles away. I will miss these amazing kids and friends I have made while here. I can't believe how quickly these last few days are flying by. What a blessing. The slum program has been so much fun lately. The neighborhood kids have been coming arund so there are a lot of little ones to play with. That's what I love. It's a disappointment that not more of our street kids are coming yet but, with time, I believe they will.

I have become especially attached to one little girl at the slum program, Martha. She's probably about 4 and she lives in a house next door to the church. She latched on to me riht away on Friday anmd I sat with her and colored with her and carried here around all afternoon. She even fell asleep on my lap towards the end, which was the most amazing moment. It made me want to be a mom someday. At the end, when it came time to leave, I went to put Martha down, and he said, in english, "No". She grabbed on to me so tight, it was hard to get her down. Once I did, she wrapped her arms around my legs and wouldn't let me go. She held on to me so tightly, that I had a really hard time trying to get away. By then, the whole team had left and I was having such a tough time getting away. It was the most traumatic goodbye I've ever experienced. She cried and cried. Finally, George came back to get me and tell her in Lugandan that we had to go and would be back on Monday. I cried. It was incredibly emotional. On Monday, she found me right away and we still spent most of the afternoon together but \I me much more of an effort to spend time with lots of different kids at the same time. It helped ans she actually played with the other kids this time. She was more involved with others and when it came time to leave she was able to wave goodbye to me, rather than cry. She is in the pictures below. The one where I am holding her, I am standing next to Martin, one of the leaders of Voice of Hope, an organization that works with African Hearts to get kids off of the streets.


We have experienced so much in the last few days that I can't begin to describe it all to you. We had an awesome church experience on Sunday. We went out to Ssenge to go to church with the boys. It's in a rural area, so the building has four walls and a roof but no doors and open windows. We got there a little late and everyone got up and gave us their chairs. It was embarrassing but such a friendly, welcoming gesture in their culture. There were maybe a hundred people crammed into the small space. They had awesome worship. They sang acapella, except for a drum, and they DANCED the whole time. I had such a blast. It was fun to be with the boys there. They sang a song and I felt like a proud mother. I just look at where they are now and am amazed at what God has done. They are the sweetest, smartest boys I know. At that moment, I knew that this is why we came here. These boys didn't need money to be saved, they needed love, a safe place to live, healthy role models, and lots of hugs. When I look at the incredible role models they have in these men who call themselves their "uncles", I see how blessed these boys are. These guys don't just take care of their physical needs like food and beds. They sit down on the floor and color with them, they play soccer with them, they hug them, they talk to them, they show love to these boys that is rare. These boys adore their uncles and I can't think of better men for them to look up to. They show these boys who Jesus is in every sense. Although, Raquel and i play a small part in this, I can see so clearly how only 6 months of love has built the self esteem of these kids. Giving them worth and showing them that do have so much to offer is huge! Being here and showing them that is so important If I can reach one boy and Raquel another, and so on and so on, as volunteers come, that is something to praise God for!