June 20th - Electricity is back!!

Woohoo! Electricity came back yesterday afternoon. - 17 days without, but now we are IN THE LIGHT! Love it. One thing that came with it was the white ants. They come out after a big rain storm and are attracted by lights. So, this morning (early, when it was still dark), I turned on the outside light and went outside and within 2-3 minutes, there were dozens of the white ants flying at me - they seem to be kind of blind...or maybe they just like me :). They have huge white wings. The kids pull off the wings and either eat them right then, or fry them and eat them. At the orphanage we found a big pile of wings this morning when we went and the kids confirmed they had eaten them. Yummy!

We had chicken Saturday night - some of the chickens we are trying to sell are too small to sell, so we had the cooks fix them for dinner. The kids LOVED it! They always enjoy chicken. I have to say I love buying chicken in packages at the supermarket...so much harder to watch when they kill, pluck and gut (is that what you call it with chickens??) them before cooking. Oh, well, the kids got something out of the chickens anyway!

The first picture I have sent is one that is so precious - big sister, Natasha, was sitting next to Moses when I said we were going to pray for dinner. She turned and told him to close his eyes and what you see is what he did. The kids here who might "forget" to keep their eyes closed, cover them with their hands. Further things with this boy: he is now "saying" the verse from this week by doing the motions and occasionally saying a word. He also took 8 steps across our sitting room on Saturday. He is getting so steady! Praise the Lord for His work in this boys' life!

The second picture is of a cool butterfly I saw when we were in Entebbe with Mutwahiru a couple of weeks ago. It must be butterfly season here as there are SO many! And they are so different than ones I've seen in the States. God is so creative! Nice surprises in nature...

For those of you who guessed last week about the pictures - the first was a yellow butterfly on yellow Lantana. The second was us sitting with our leadership kids late at night watching the lunar eclipse. So amazing! And, such a great teaching time about the rotation of the earth and moon and all. We used large and small beach balls and a torch (flashlight) to illustrate before the event. When the kids came late, then, they sat on the veranda and then we put some plastic curtains (another whole story) on the ground for them to lay on, then covered them with blankets so they could watch it. Saw an amazing shooting star...I think all 11 of us saw it. It was like an explosion up in the air and then zoomed across the sky.

I want to ask you to pray for Natasha. She is the oldest of the 4 who came to us last July - she had been the "mom" for her siblings for at least 2 months after their mom abandoned them. We need wisdom as we raise her...in a special way right now. Thanks for praying.

One more story - last Sunday at church I felt the Lord say that He wanted to do miracles in peoples' lives. I shared this with those who had come forward during the invitation. This week people came back to share the stories of miracles. One woman shared that she wasn't sure what she was going to eat - she had no money and no food. Someone came to her door and told her she had helped them so much in the past, they wanted to give her something - it was Shs50,000 (about $20), enough to eat for more than 1 week! Then 2 more times last week, people just gave her money out of the blue. She immediately connected it to the promise for miracles.Others also got up to testify to what God did in a miraculous way this week. Praise God He is working in peoples' lives here in Budaka.

Thank you all for your participation in the Gospel! May the Lord bless you as you bless us so much! I'm "off" to answer all your emails. Thanks for keeping in touch!

Laurie