10/16
The pastor had told everyone who was going to be singing or dancing in church to be there at 8am. I showed up at 7:58am, and literally 3 people were there. Patrick, Gum, and Denis were getting the sound system ready. I greeted them and they said, "Wow, you kept time! You are cheery today!". It is always funny when I arrive somewhere on time because nobody here does 😂. People are more surprised than expectant. We sang Glorious Ruins first, which I was thankful for, so that I didn't have to stand up in front for the rest of the songs that I didn't know 😂. I was pretty nervous, but I think it went well. The girls next to me carried, so I wasn't too worried 😊. The service started with a handful of songs and then went into the introduction and a few other announcements before the message was given. A huge part of Ugandan culture is the welcoming of visitors, and this was no different in church that day. They made all the visitors stand up and wave, and then said that anyone next to the visitors must give them an "RG hug". Another announcement that is given each week is a big happy birthday for anyone who had a birthday during the week. If the video below loads, you can see part of the birthday song.
The message that day was about delighting in the Lord. Psalm 37:4 reads, "Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart". Pastor Emma talked about how sometimes when we read that passage, we skip over the first part and think about the second part and how God will give us what we want. But, the most important part is the first part! We need to delight in the Lord and yield to his ways and what he says in his word. We must serve him with our emotions and our whole being. What's more is that we do it all cheerfully! When we are so attuned to God's will, then the desires of our hearts fall in line with his. Pastor Emma also shared with us the words from Proverbs 16 verse 3: "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." This means to consult God first when beginning something or making decisions. However, when we commit our ways to him, we must not just expect him to say yes to what our plans are. We need to be ready to bend - not break - but bend. He knows us best! Let him lead!
The younger kiddos liked to sit on our laps, and this cutie was playing with Mike's glasses 😂.
We came back from church, and some of the younger girls brought us letters. It was adorable, especially some of the spellings of words and questions that they asked us. The letters were loaded heavily with the phrases "I love you" and "You're my best friend". SO CUTE 😊. None of them got Bryn's name quite right and addressed the letters to Brain, Brainy, and Brenda 😂. Robert took Molly and I for our first boda ride just so we could experience it for a few minutes.
After we ate lunch, I walked to the big boys' house to see if I could get a picture of the whole house. That was one job that Bryn and Molly had during the week. They had to get a photo of each kid and then one of the whole house with the mama. The only house photo that they still didn't have was one of the big boys. We didn't end up getting one because tracking them all down was a challenge, but I did get a nice picture of five of them. I also wanted to document the name of their house. IdRaHaJe is what the sign read, and if I remember correctly, is the name of a camp that stands for "I'd Rather Have Jesus".
From left to right, pictured above is Joseph, Hosman, Jacob, Patrick, and Denis. They had just finished making posho and beans when I arrived at their house, and they told me that they were going to make me up a bowl of it. Like I said in the last post, posho is just maize flour and water. The posho and beans are cooked with no seasonings. I had just eaten lunch, but...I wasn't going to be rude and refuse. So, I told them that I just ate lunch but would eat a little bit. It wasn't terrible, but it is not a meal that I would want to eat every day 😬😅.
A vast majority of the household duties are done by hand, such as doing laundry, washing dishes, and sifting through maize and beans.
Below is a picture of Bryn with Daniel, who is the Durrill's sponsor kiddo.
Just some more joy-filled pictures of kids who are loved by the Lord:
That afternoon, I went to play volleyball with the kids. Denis wanted to learn how to spike and overhand serve, so I gave him a brief lesson. It wasn't the usual volleyball clinic that my team might have lead in college with proper equipment and gear, but the tattered net, worn out ball, and crocs made it that much more enjoyable 😊. After teaching Denis a few things, patron Patrick also wanted to learn, so I taught him how to pass and set. We started a big game with some of the kids and staff, and we had a blast! The part that I loved most was when the kids would make a mistake or have a really big mess up, and none of the others would be angry or annoyed. They would all just start laughing. They didn't care about keeping score but just thoroughly enjoyed playing with each other!
We had Daniel over for supper that night, so that the Durrills could spend some quality time with him before heading home the following morning. Diana asked him if he had family that he was going to go home to see over Christmas. Most of the kids have relatives that they will stay with over the holidays, even though most do not have parents. Daniel said that he would be seeing his extended family but not his parents because they were killed by the LRA. Being at the orphanage for a little while, I had heard many stories about the LRA from Tim and Experito, but it really doesn't make hearing a 12 year old boy talk about his parents death any easier 😕.
Francis and Winnie came over after dinner to chat and look through prom pictures. It was so cool to connect with them and talk to them about my life in the US and their life here in Uganda. Going to sleep that night was bittersweet as I knew that my new family was going to go home. But, I was feeling so grateful that I got to make so many memories with them!
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