It's a fairly cool day both in Budaka and here in Mbale today. The rainy season has begun and things have really cooled off. My room gets down into the mid-70s at night now...quite refreshing! The days are only in the low 90s.
This week has been full of baking (8 loaves of banana bread, 1 pan of brownies, scones, pineapple cake and something else I can't remember now), speaking (3 church services, 1 Bible study, 1 staff devotional), having 2 kids (Brenda and Mutwahiru) to my house as a reward, and many other little things that add up to a full week! (For all of you who have said you think I only work all the time, I did watch Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Rings this week on my computer. Thanks, Tim, for getting that one for me!) Here are some of the highlights:
- Margret, one of our girls who is about 5 years old now, told us she wanted to use the cup of one of the day scholars. This day scholar is Pakistani - her father runs an NGO in Budaka. When asked why she wanted to use her cup, Margret replied, "If I drink from it enough times, I will become a muzungu (white person) like her!"
- Rogers' son, Prosper, who is 6 years old, got a pretty good size bump on the head. I asked where he got it, and he said, "I ran into the wall." I asked for specifics and he told me he was going for his 3rd helping of tea (he's supposed to only have 1!), and "Jesus was annoyed with me, so he made me run into the wall." Ha! So much to teach about God's love...and about only taking what you're supposed to!
- The children have been studying patience as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) this past month - thanks, Abby, for writing the lessons - and the reward promised was whoever was noticed being especially patient throughout the month would get to spend 2-3 hours at my house playing with legos, and other surprises. Well, 5 children were recognized, but 3 of them got in a lot of trouble from fighting with others this week, so they missed out. But, the 2 who got to come were Mutwahiru and Brenda 1. Their picture at my house is attached to this email. We played legos (with the animals the Hesperia team brought - the kids built an ark!), I taught them Concentration with cards, let them choose one treat from the bakery (they chose a scone and an oatmeal cookie), and then I read 3 children's books to them. It was a great afternoon for all 3 of us! And, of course, when they went back they told about all of it and now everyone is working on the next prize, hoping to come to Pastor Laurie's house!
- We added a couple new things the kids can "purchase" from the allowance bag this week. One was a Spirograph type thing. In the picture, you can see Monicah showing 4 of our boys how it works. They were mesmerized (well, except for Junior, as you can see). The boys are, from left, William (behind Monicah's head), Junior, Dovico and Johnson. I am thinking about getting a couple of the larger Spirographs when I'm in the States in a few weeks - seems like a great thing to use in math class as a supplemental learning aid. If any of you have one you'd like to donate, just let me know. If you know a good place to purchase them, let me know that, too.
- The other picture is from church yesterday. I walked to the back as we were worshiping the Lord, and saw this little boy. What expressive eyes! I don't know him...his dad was with him and they were visiting Cornerstone. By the way, we had 264 people yesterday - it seems to be growing every week steadily. There were 98 adults in the first service - that seems to be the service to be at these days! The church is raising money for a plot of land in town on which to build a church. We are about 1/2 way to being able to buy a plot after only 4 months. So exciting for the people to see themselves doing this!
- The children's home and school building is "setting" right now. They say that the foundation needs to have time to set - at least a month. We are waiting on the Lord for the further resources necessary to continue the work. We will build as we can to finish. About 1/2 of the first floor is done to the interior walls being up, and the ground ready for the cement slab to be poured. Both Rogers and I are SO thankful to all of you who have prayed, given and worked here and in the States for this building to get built for our kids. THANK YOU! We know God will help us in finishing it in His time and in His way. Please continue to pray with us.
Remember, I will be in the States in late April for a few weeks. I am hoping to see as many of you as I can. At this point, my travels will take me to Idaho, Washington, California (both north and south), Oregon and Texas. Let me know if you're along the way and can have coffee...As always, I will be bringing Ugandan arts, coffee, and even some new things this time... If there is anything in particular you would like, let me know!
God bless you!
Laurie
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