blistering sun and stubborn children...all in all-goodness

so its definately been awhile since i have written because the internet here in gulu is straight up shoddy. (i used to think that was kind of a curse word but its not because i just read it in jim elliots writing so i know it must be ok:) ) it has been a great two weeks!! angel is the wonderful girl who is my companion here and God has been SO tremendously faithful in providing her! she and i make a remarkable team and get along perfectly!! this community was just in time as i was missing some good girl time in kenya. she is 27 and from texas and just really balances me completely. we are already planning our next trip together.
as far as uganda itself is concerned...it is hot...like WAY hot. like i am perpetually sweating hot and my body cant adjust because every day its just getting hotter as they enter the hot, dry season. the poverty here is overwhelming. angel and i have had the opportunity to work in the camps some (internally displaced people's camps) and its heartbreaking. it almost feels silly to go in there with a bible drama and coloring and just play with teh kids when such huge socioeconimic changes are imperitive!!! reconstruction is a beast. for those of you who dont know Gulu, Uganda where i am has just emerged from a horrific 20 year civil war which left it traumatized, destitute, demoralized and impoverished. the monstrous task of reconstruction, resettlement and rehabilitation has begun but its a slow slow process.
during the day angel and i are teaching 5th and 6th grade english at a local primary school! i love it!! its seriously making think about moving back over here as a full time teacher. i should mention that 5th and 6th grade english means tht we have students ranging from 10 to 20 with boys far bigger than myself. its so frustrating sometimes as we have 98 students in each class (and dont worry thats a moderate sized class-many many schools have 200 to 1 student teacher ratio). i spend most of the class yelling, standing on desks, singing songs and thouroughly terrifing the students. its very fun-i am sure i do worlds for foreign relations with the us. we are trying to so more creative writing, critical thinking exercises as all the students have ever done are robotic grammar exercises. i mean dont get me wrong we are still teaching grammar we are just rapping it instead. hahahaha
in the evenings we work with the kids at the safe house-18 kids who have been rescued from various INTENSE situations to come live at this house where we stay. so basically we are with them ALL THE TIME. sometimes this gets exhausting. but we are working very hard to catch them up in school, we have done art therapy, lots of futball, games and songs galore. its so fun. we also do a devotion with the kids each night from this great book of angels that takes bible lessons from the animal kingdom.
we also have been working on drama's with the kids at the safe house which we perform in the camps.
today i kind of hit a wall of tiredness and general i-want-to-come-homeness so i really need prayer for strength and over whelming love for these kids for these last two weeks. i need sensitivity to the holy spirit to know how best and where best to serve here.
i will be praying for all of you this week as you will be travelling and spending time with family. i will pray that you would drink deeply of His love through your families and that it would be a time of rich refreshment rather than stress. take a lesson from the ugandans-there is no such thing as time or schedule so dont stress-its going to work out....i feel like americans need a good boost of that at the holidays!! i love you all deeply and sincerely!
shalom and a thousand blessings!

Last night in Kenya…
So this is my last post from Kenya. Tomorrow I leave for Uganda to teach high school and do an afterschool leadership program in Gulu. It’s a bit weird I must admit because I feel like after two months of building relationships and starting projects I now have to start all over. I kind of feel like if I am leaving I should be going home. These last few days/week have been very full. Full of practicing drama, dance, singing, games, crafts and bible studies with the kiddos (the kids had become very jealous of the older girls who I have been doing bible studies with so I found myself being begged to do more hahaha talk about fine by me ) I went to Narok last weekend with a group of 7 young adults from the Limuru area (all Kenyan). We met with 8 Masaai men and told the story of the bible in 16 stories with them. It really was a very cool experience- the bible being told in English, Swahili, Maasai and Kikuyo. They slaughtered two goats (don’t worry, like the pigs testicles I passed. luckily I am a vegetarian all the time so didn’t have to worry about fabricating an elaborate excuse) I got to see much more of the Kenyan landscape on the way including a good deal of wildlife including zebra. We went to a maasai church on Sunday and it was incredible. It was just such a testimony to how unbelievably multicultural our God is.
This week was incredibly busy preparing for the big inter-children’s home competition that happened today. It was an absolute blast. The kids performed very well and just had a lot of fun getting to spend time with kids from the other centers. The moms definitely had a ball and it was the social event of the month! Everyone worked hard and most importantly it was a step in uniting the children’s homes in the area rather than perpetuating this fragmentation and competitiveness between administrations.
I am very tired at the moment but its safe to say that I absolutely love the kids that I have gotten to work with these last few months-and side note-that’s not a given I don’t just LOOVE kids just because they are cute orphans. I will love on kids regardless but I have truly come to fall in love with these kids, with their hearts, stories and personalities.
The preschool sponsorship program is just about complete and that’s just straight up exciting so everyone should go to happyafrica.org and select a child to sponsor. Brian tropiano is a champ and designed the template…its adorable.
Chapter two of this adventure begins…