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Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Helping Widows
The team is actually on their way home right now but we still have some stories to share on the blog. One of those stories is about Sarah (Pastor Robert's wife) and her outreach to the community of Bukeeka. Sarah reaches out to anyone in need - Muslim, Christian, traditional belief, widow, child, father, it doesn't matter. Today, she took us with her as she visited a grandmother who life situation wasn't good. Typical of many grandmothers, this one was trying to raise grandchildren that had been left with her by her children. Sometimes parents die and leave their children with the grandparents other times the parents just leave the children and walk away to find a better life elsewhere. No matter the situation, these grandmothers are some of the toughest and strongest faith people I've ever met. Most often than not they do not have anything to support themselves or the children. Today was no different.
The team arrived at the small brick hut and greeted their first widow. She was incredible poor. The team had brought two mattresses as potential gifts and soon realized they would definately leave one here. The grandmother and grandchild had nothing more than a hoe, some clothes, and the brick hut to sleep in. They laid clothes on the dirt floor for their bed - they didn't even have a mat. The grandmother was welcoming to Sarah and surprised but happy that white people had come to visit her. After giving her the mattress, that she would share, she apologized to the team for not having anything to give them. Incredible. One of our ladies began crying.
Sarah shared with the team how she goes out to people's houses and blesses them with gifts whenever she can. One widow, a non-Christian, was one of the recipients of Sarah's visits. Sarah gave her gifts and never mentioned Jesus or tried to convert her. She simply loved the women and helped her out. After about the third visit and gifts, the women finally asked Sarah why she was helping. Sarah explained and the widow finally said she would like to have Jesus in her life as well. Sometimes actions sometimes speak louder than words. Enjoy the photos and may the Lord bless all the widows in the world, John
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
The new Fountain of Hope kitchen is officially open for business!
Two years ago on this same trip, Becca Klimper saw the primitive cooking conditions FOH was using to try and feed all the children. The cooks were cooking over open fires under a makeshift stick structure on a dirt floor. Not the cleanest conditions nor very appealing if you're the cook. Plus cooking outside without an efficient wood burning stove meant the 50% of the wood and heat was being lost - a financial drain. Becca went home and started to find ways to raise money. She submitted a grant proposal to the Northwest District of the Lutheran Women's Mission League (LWML). The ladies at LWML received numerous submissions but the Lord provided and when they voted on what project they would support they chose the FOH Kitchen. Fast forward to today, two years later. The kitchen if finally finished and open for business! This year's team purchased the final paint needed to complete the job, spent a couple days painting before turning over the job to a local man to finish.
We decided to have the official opening ceremony on the same day we cooked the bull the FOH girl's Netball team won in the Sports Tournament and feed every child at the school. The kids were excited as we gathered together to celebrate. The older students led the rest in praise songs as we waited for the official speeches. Pastor Robert opened and told everyone that FOH now had the nicest kitchen out of all district schools! Since Becca couldn't come with the group this year, we asked her mother, Martha, to address the school on Becca's behalf.
Pastor then led the student's in prayer before announcing the kitchen was open for business. Seeing the students praying was amazing. Not too long ago in the history of FOH, the Bukeeka community forbade the school to pray with students and was threatening the school and teachers with witchcraft. Today, the school openly prays, the students pray with all their heart and worship God and our Savior Jesus. It's amazing what the past seven years has done to this community. And when they pray they really pray. None of this polite 20 second dinner prayer here - they close their eyes, cover their faces, and pray out loud so that the chorus of prayers fills the air - it's praying from the heart, without care for what others think, unashamed prayer to the living God. Wow!
The eating began and with so many children to feed, the shortage of plates meant they used plastic sacks to give food to the smaller children - a true sack lunch! Many thanks go to Becca and her family and friends, LWML for raising the money, and everyone who has prayed for continued protection and advancement of the kingdom in Bukeeka. Today was a true celebration of what God has done in this community. Enjoy the photos.
Blessings, John
Photos: Old kitchen, new kitchen inside, Martha addressing the children with the new kitchen in the background, children clapping their appreciation, children praying fervently, close up of a child praying, lining up for lunch, happy children eating their bag of rice and meat.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Here's a post from Miles on his home stay.
As the school day drew to a close the rest of our party went back to Pastor Robert and Sarah’s house while for the night; John and I each walked home with a student to spend the night in their homes. I got to go home with Brenda and George. Brenda is the cutest little 10 year old, beautiful teeth and a gorgeous smile, she reminds me of Fivel from the Disney movie. Brenda had bragged about how her friend the Muzungu was coming to her house, but then she was too shy to hold my hand. She spent the evening peeking at me from around the corner flashing that beautiful smile. Her older sister Ida speaks fluent English though not as clear as you might expect, and she was my translator. Ida is an enthusiastic bubbly 22 year old with a big heart. Together with her Mama, they care for George, Brenda, Wilberforce and for 4 other orphans Judy, Sharon, Joshua and Brenda #2, all under age 10.
Ida gave me the tour of their place and showed me how they gathered food. We picked a pumpkin, casaba and some avocados. After she showed me how she and Mama had cleared nearly a half an acre of jungle by hand to make ready for a potato garden, her countenance changed as she told me how her daddy had died and left them all alone. I could hardly keep back the tears as she remembered how much she loved him. Later we picked up jerry cans and made the ¾ mile trek to get water. Ida was chattering all the way and George was close behind. I even tried to balange the container on my head as skillfully as Ida could... she just laughed at me and so did all the neighbors that saw it. As it drew dark I sat down it the little hut with Ida to eat. They put before me an enormous plate of steamed pumpkin, casaba and a green soup that had a flavor I cannot describe, it had a sandy texture. You know its going to be different when the best thing theycan say about a dish is, "its good for your gall bladder." Ida had told me earlier that when visitors don’t eat it is because they don’t love you …so I did the best I could. The food was bland but very hot, no spices to tease the taste buds. They all thanked God for his bounty ate it eagerly and quickly because there was much work to do with very little light left.
After dinner, Ida poured out her heart; she prays every day that God would bring her a good godly husband, that she can get money to fix the roof because they have to stand up all night whenever it rains and that she could get enough support to open an orphanage. It was heart breaking as she talked about how she has to travel so far each day for work to make a tiny amount of money to buy things like oil for the lamp and time for her phone which is indespensible, although I think they use it for a flashlight more than anything else. The children gathered round and we looked at pictures on my digital camera until Mama said it was bed time. They sang the most beautiful hymn and then everyone prayed … together… out loud. As I listened to their beautiful voices in song and heard them pray, I couldnt help but think that these are the ones Jesus spoke of when he said, "the kingdom of God is for such as these." The last thing Ida said to me before going to bed was that I shouldn’t be afraid of the rats. I kicked one off my feet about 11:00 pm and they could be heard scurrying across the tin roof throughout the night.
In the morning I awoke to the voices of the children and everyone in the house praying. When they awake each day they sit up and begin to praise God… all together… out loud. I was humbled by their faith, hard work and cheerful attitude. Truly, these people are the ones Jesus meant when he said, “blessed are the poor.” No Breakfast, the children and I were off to school by 6:20 am with Mama and Ida following just behind waving good bye.
Once the children arrive to school an hour early, they immediately pick up brooms and begin cleaning the school grounds. When everything is nice and tidy, they hurry to class 20 minutes before the teachers arrive and begin to study in preparation for the days lessons. So that’s how I spent the 4th of July.
Miles
Photos: Children getting their daily water and fresh gourd for dinner
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Home stay in the bush
Days fly by so fast that it's tough to keep up with the blog and get everything done! I'll share a bit about my home stay in the bush on Monday night and hopefully Miles will share about his adventure a bit later.
We offer home stays as an opportunity to experience the culture at ground level. Depending on how adventurous you are we set up a home stay that can range from brick homes with TV (the head of our PTA) or simple mud huts with mattresses and open fire cooking. For most Americans they go camping with more luxury than families living in the bush.
My stay was arranged to be with a single father who was taking care of four children age 6 to maybe 12. It's unusual to find a single dad in the bush. There are many single moms as fathers have either died or left to find jobs elsewhere. In this household the mother died in child birth two years ago. The mother's death led the father to drinking and giving up on life. Pastor Robert came to his aid and helped bring him back to a positive outlook and responsibility for his remaining children. Today, the family would welcome a Mzungu (white man) into their house and they were absolutely excited about it.
I started my journey at Fountain of Hope where the three oldest boys go to school. Wilson, the youngest, has been sponsored for a year or so while the older two brothers, Esau and Emanuel, just recently received sponsorship. The youngest of the family, 6 year old daughter Christine, stays home as the father is waiting for a sponsor for her. Wilson and Esau waited for me at school to finish my other activities and then they walked me to their house. From Fountain it took one hour and 25 minutes to walk to the other side of Bukeeka next to the Nile River. The boys make this commute every day to go to school.
Passing through the dirt paths that few if any white people ever walk was exhilerating. Families were curious, little kids waved, and I felt excited. We arrived at the house and the father was waiting for us with a big smile on his face. He told us that he'd never imagined that a Mzungu would ever stay in a house such as his. Meaning that he figured I would only stay in hotels. The property consisted of a very old brick house, a small square 7' x 7' foot mud brick room that the boys shared with two old thin mattresses on the ground, a round mud hut with thatched roof that was the father's and daughters bedroom, and a mud room store house. About 20 yards away was a stick and mud outhouse. The rest of the property, about 3 acres was being farmed for corn, coffee, pineapple, potatoes, and a few fruit trees.
The father had purchased the land over 30 years ago during the reign of Idi Amin and has kept it ever since. Due to his age he know leases some of the land to others who will cultivate it. We walked out into the corn field and he picked a few fresh ears of corn and gave to Wilson to go and cook over the fire in one of the rooms of the old brick house. The brick house was also over 30 years old and the tin roof was filled with holes and rust. The plan was to tear down the house and rebuild a new one someday, just not sure when someday would come. In the time being, they had already built the pole structure for a new round mud hut to be a kitchen and then they can start thinking of tearing down the old house.
After touring the property we sat down to enjoy some warm ground nuts, tea, and fire cooked corn on the cob. I had brought a bag of rice as a house gift (rice is a luxury for most people) and they had already started to boil some along with beans. The boys and Christine helped cook dinner while I visited with their father. He couldn't help stop thanking me for coming to his house. It was as if the President of the United States had arrived he was so excited. Pastor Robert shared with us how our visits open so many doors and hearts that's it's simply amazing. My visit will be remembered for the rest of their lives. As we visited, two neighbor ladies stopped by to greet me and learn why I was there. I don't think they could even grasp the concept of a Mzungu staying over night in the bush. With the rice and beans cooked, we were
presented with heaping piles of food and I could tell the children were enjoying it.
By now the sun had set and the thin sliver of a moon had slipped behind the trees leaving us almost total darkness. I put my camping headlamp on the father's head and smiled as he walked around the compound with light shining wherever he went. They were amazed how such a small flashlight would work on someone's head. For them their nightly light consists of a kerosene lantern and small kerosene candle wicks. The boys took their candle into their little room and layed down on their mattresses and opened their school note books to study for the night. All three of them read by one candle while Christine sat silently looking over their shoulders probably wondering if she would be able to attend school.
The father then proceeded to take the boy's nice mattress away from them and put it in his mud hut room (Christine usually sleeps on a mat on the floor as she doesn't have a mattress) for my interpreter to sleep on. He then told me that I would sleep on his bed and mattress under a mosquito net. Since I was his special guest he wouldn't have it any other way. The entire family would spend the night sharing one 3' x 6' two inch mattress in the boys room and they were very proud that they could welcome me with such hospitality.
With the darkness of night upon us, a few of the boys washed their feet and legs with water in a plastic bucket. There is no running water at the house and every day the boys go to the community water well and fill up their yellow jerry cans and bring them back to the house. I took photos of the proud family and by 9pm we were all retiring to bed. The night was still and warm and I was a bit restless especially when I heard the rats or mice scurrying through the mud hut looking for food. We had closed the wooden door and placed a one inch stick through a metal ring acting as a brace lock on the door. I prayed a prayer that night amazed at the family's happiness amongst such poverty and how my visit had generated such excitement. The morning sounds brought dish washing to my ears as the boys were washing the nights dishes by the light of the rising sun. The boys share two bicycles to make their daily commute to school much easier. They left the house at 6:30 so they could be at school by 7am to help clean the grounds and begin studying before the first class starts. American students have life so easy. I was treated to morning tea and ground nuts and then we walked down to the Nile River to enjoy the view before I started the long walk back to school.
The experience is something both me and the family will never forget. People living with nothing are willing to happily open their homes and offer everything they have. Amazing. We could learn a lot from them.
Blessings, John
Photos: Esau walking home with the bag of rice on his head, family photo in front of father's mud hut bedroom, appetizers, Children cooking rice by light of the fire and the candle, children studying by candlelight with flash and without flash
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
I hope you enjoyed Caleb's last blog update. He's keeping us all laughing. The sports tournament was a lot of fun but we did have a bit of tension as one of the boys team did have players that did not go to their school. After being disqualified they decided to protest and the coach had signs made up and they went to the soccer field and protested. After refusing to leave and delaying the tournament the police were brought to the field. The coaches were talked to and the players left allowing the fun to continue. It's sad that such behavior and cheating is common here in Uganda especially when financial gain is at stake.
The participation of the local Muslim school was a great sign that the tournament is accepted as a fun event for all no matter your religion. Miles and I befriended the Muslim girls netball team with a bottle of Coke and felt like we were making a commercial of how Coke can make friends. Before the tournament started I was able to address all of the teams, coaches, referees, and visitors with a message based on the Apostle Paul's analogy about sports and fighting the good fight for an eternal prize. The highlight of the tournament was the championship game for boys soccer between Fountain and the school from Kongo which was a rematch from last year's championship. After a 0-0 game the final was decided by penalty kicks with Kongo winning 4-3. Crowds surrounded the field and stormed in celebration ending in a dance festival up at the school. Like last year, the winning school took home a bull - yes a bull as in cattle. In this culture this is quite a prize and the team ends up having a big bar-b-que.
As for the part that Caleb stated was censored he was speaking of our events on Monday. We had arranged a meeting with a local witch doctor to better understand this aspect of the culture. The witch doctor's name was Emmanuel - yes that's a Christian name - and his son was the first convert to Christianity in Bukeeka from Robert's outreach efforts. Additionally, he lives next door to the school and his father sold us the land for the school. I then realized that Emmanuel was the son that attempted to forge land ownership documents and force us to pay him for the land. The issue was eventually dropped when police showed up in Bukeeka looking for him in conjunction with human sacrifices. He fled Bukeeka for two years and recently returned to his home. The interview should be interesting.
With all eight of us plus Pastor Robert plus Emmanuel's son Elisha coming to the interview we were a bit overwhelming but it was a privilege that foreigners would want to visit him. Knowing his background and previous dealings I wasn't surprised by the interview and personally feel he was lying quite a bit to make his profession and witch craft look good. In fact, he made statements such as the spirits he communicates with are good and the highest level one is actually the Holy Spirit. He see's no problem with attending church and seeking advice and offering sacrifices to the spirits. He claims that all spirits are good but had trouble explaining why spirits would torment people. He claims that only bad witch doctors do bad things but that the spirit itself is good. The more we asked him questions the more we realized he didn't know or wasn't as educated as we thought and the more he contradicted himself and his own beliefs. He also told us that the spirits were on the same level as Jesus. When Miles told him that the one sure way to cofirm that a spirit is from God and is good is to ask the spirit to confess that Jesus is Lord. He laughed and said that wasn't necessary as he knows they are good - basically he avoided the question and knew the spirits wouldn't confess Jesus.
After two hours of talking, Pastor Robert finally told us that Emmanuel was getting tired of our questions and should go. Afterward, Elisha thanked us for talking to his father and said that this was the first time his father had publicly stated he loves his son. Elisha also shared with us that his father is blackmailing him by offering to help pay for college only if Elisha comes and worships his spirits. In the end, Emmanuel has been taken in by demons and he's chosen to follow a false God.
In the end, people here use the services of witch doctors for two things: either to ask for advice or help with things such as healing, financial success, marriage issues, etc. The witch doctor consults the spirits and then tells the person what to do and then to offer something to the spirits for their advice or help in making things come true. The second thing a witch doctor may be used for is to affect a situation or do something to someone else - such as something bad. This was what we found with our second visit of the day to Shamimu's house. The witch doctors act as the intermediary to the spirit world.
Shamimu is a sponsored child who had withdrawn from school while in 6th grade because "the demons had not allowed her to attend school". We had told her father we would like to come and talk to her and see what could be done with the situation. We arrived to find that her family was a Muslim family and her father had posters on his wall addressing how a witch doctor should behave. According to Pastor Robert the father was actively involved with witch doctors as well. We were welcomed into the family's house and Shamimu came in somewhat shyly. We spoke about her situation and she explained that she'd rather go to technical school to learn how hairstyling. I asked her to look my in the eyes and found that she had something bothering her and she couldn't keep eye contact for long without looking away. She was also the only person in the family who had accepted Christ and been baptized. She stated that the demons attacks had become worse after her baptism. At school, when she would try to read school books her eyes would water and she couldn't focus and read anything. She felt ashamed.
Eventually, she requested to speak to Sara, Robert's wife, alone. Afterward Sara shared with us that Shamimu wasn't comfortable talking in front of her father because he was the one behind her troubles. He continually gave her chores to do that kept her away from coming to church and had his brothers (Shamimu's uncles) cast spells and send the demons to attack her. She wanted to come back to school but thought that coming to the boarding house would be the best to keep her away from her family's influence. Sara will go back and speak to the father without all eight of us present. For now, we're praying for Shamimu and that she'll be able to overcome the difficulties she's facing both spiritually and physically with her family. While her father spoke the words we wanted to hear such as supporting Shamimu's decision to go to church and that she should be in school, Robert felt that he was outright lying to us. Again, cultural accepted actions especially for Muslim who use witch doctors.
Monday night Miles and I headed out to spend the night in the bush with a local family. That story will have to wait until the next blog as it's time to go to bed! John
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
“Pull up a chair and sit on the floor”
-Martha Goodfellow
If you have never heard this saying before, you are in the same boat as six billion seven hundred ninety nine million nine hundred ninety nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine other people on this planet. If you have heard this saying before you are either crazy or know Martha Goodfellow, who after saying this to a Ugandan man named Bosco, received the same “are you crazy?” stare as she did when she told twenty children that she was sixty – eight years old (people here to not live nearly that long). It is harmless faux pas like this one that has given me the power to force through a week and a half of the exact same breakfast every single day. Don’t get me wrong, Pineapple and toast with passion fruit juice is great, but I dare one of you people
to eat it for twelve days straight.
Saturday
“Tournaments are great… if you are the winner”
-Muhammad Ali
The start of the tournament brought a great deal of frantic commotion to the grounds of Fountain of Hope Junior School. All Star teams from across Bukeeka came together to participate in the biggest tournament of their lives. Cleats were tied, jerseys were adorned, measurements were made. The noisy silence of anticipation reached far above the scratch of the speakers and the scream of the megaphone. Sweat trickled down the faces of coaches, referees, and players alike as the clocked ticked closer and closer to the opening match. As my stomach achieved the weightlessness of someone cruising down a rollercoaster I turned to my fellow comrades and mouthed in slow-mo, “I’ll see you on the other side.” A cheer erupted from a crowd of two hundred children as a man announced, “HIGH SCHOOL VERSUS TEACHER GAME ON FIELD ONE.” I realized that I had forgotten about the dreaded high school vs. teacher game and I had to resist a sudden urge to run and hide. You see, I had been asked to participate in the high school vs. teacher game and I have no experience in soccer (or football as they call it here). My only hope for getting out of this game was to make sure that the teachers knew how bad I was, but it was too late for that. I just had to hope. Luckily, the teachers here are intelligent, and realized that employing the skills of inexperienced and rule-ignorant American was not their best bet. I landed the job of referee and that was almost as bad as actually playing. I had no idea what I was doing and ran around waving a yellow flag like I was announcing the arrival of the Roman army. After a brief scolding from the head referee I pulled myself together and just stood around doing nothing. The moral of that story, if someone asks you to try something you have never done or that is outside of your comfort zone, don’t do it.
Todd played on the teachers team, but despite their best efforts, the teachers lost horribly. I cannot stress enough how badly the teachers lost. I would tell you the score of the game, but even that would not encompass the utter disgrace that teacher’s team brought to the entire teaching staff. It was like a basketball game between the L.A. Lakers and my little sister’s soccer team. It was just bad. Ever seen a burn victim?
As the real games began, it became clear that Fountain of Hope had a leg up on the other teams. The scores for the girl’s netball games ranged from 10-3 (Fountain of Hope won) to 20-1 (Fountain of Hope won). I can tell you first hand that the girls are good at netball because I dressed up in a uniform and scrimmaged with them. I scored all of our goals, but it turned out that my lay ins should not have counted because you are not supposed to jump when you shoot the ball. The boys did not win as easily, but by the end of the day, they had clenched the number one seed for Sunday’s finals. Suddenly, towards the ends of the day, rumors about two teams hiring players to be on their football team started flowing. At first it was no more than a trickle, but soon enough we had the Niagara Falls pouring outside of our scantily clad office. We had to investigate, but the myriad of leads posed a problem, where to begin. Locked and loaded, I charged blindly in every which way striking at everything that walked on two legs (metaphorically of course). In the end my strenuous efforts were in vain, for Robert Sityo used his superior intellect to best our opponents. A quick trip to the opposing schools’ records showed that they were in fact hiring players and we knew the only solution to this problem was capital punishment.
Sunday
“Losers are the ones who have trouble walking away”
- Theodore Roosevelt
An early breakfast of (you guessed it) toast, pineapple, and passion fruit juice fueled us up for the long day ahead. Little did we know, the turtle we stared at was a bear, sleeping in his den, hungry for the taste of meat… human meat. We arrived at the school to witness a strike. The
cheaters who were disqualified were running drills on the field and refused to leave. This did not sit well with me or the rest of the staff, but we held ourselves together and walked out onto the field in an attempt to come to a consensus. We tried psychology, reverse psychology, reverse reverse psychology, and a little bit o’ black mail, but the men in green were not swayed. They marched their troops across the field like Adolf himself and forced these kids to do things that can only be described as child abuse. Cops were then called, guns (AK-47s, seriously) were drawn and the men and women and even children in green were given the “VIP treatment”. In the end the F.O.H. netball team won the championship 24-3 and the boys lost the championship in a shootout. I throughout this day amassed a posse of about 30 children. I taught Helen how to thumb and arm wrestle, I taught Job, Helen, and Miriam how to play tag and hide and go seek, I taught Helen how to play rock, paper scissors, and I taught Helen and Miriam how to fist fight. Overall, a successful day.
Monday
“Family should come first”
-Brittany Spears
MOST OF THIS HAS BEEN CENSORED DO TO CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
"jfakljf lkajfkdsj fldjsfkljdslkfjdshiwgnahgiunvkdfnfuewjfl jilofue ifjsdkfhiweoe fklsaeshguisafjklasdnfkwejdiowejflkeawjflisaj fksdahfioreajglkenafasdjfasjiofjaeslkefmkasdlfhisaefk,sdahfkisadfseafijesaflkseajfoiaesj flk"
After John and Miles had left for their home stay, Helen, Rita, Mary, Janette, and Charles came over to the house to receive their suitcases of gifts. I had the chance to watch Helen prank call some guy which was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time (Helen is around 4 or 5 years old by the way). We played netball and met my new sister Maleb who is a doll and
according to Sarah, “Has the same hair as you.” They all had a good time as did everyone except Miles who was somewhere in the bush of Bukeeka forcing gruel down his gullet.
In other news:
My hair has grown from a mop to a main
Some guy asked Miles if I was his daughter
I am in charge when John leaves on Friday
Live from Uganda, Caleb
Photos: Caleb playing netball (in a skirt), Muslim team checking in for netball, ice cream man on a motorcycle, Fountain of Hope girls (black uniforms) playing netball, Fountain of Hope boys soccer team preparing for Championship game, the blocked shot that lost the game for Fountain, the celebration begins for all, Bukeeka Muslim school accepts 3rd place soccer trophy and 100,000 shillings.
Friday, July 1, 2011
We continue our daily job of visiting and blessing families around Bukeeka. The physical blessings such as mattresses, food, shoes, soap, towels, blankets, shoe polish, school books, and storage lockers obviously help the child and family but the intangible blessing of taking time and sharing a smile with the family is something that is cherished in their hearts and ours. We're traveling in areas that rarely see while people except for trips like ours to assist with Pastor Robert. For a "mzungu" to visit their home is a special treat and boosts their self esteem that we would take the time and effort to come and visit them. I'm sure you'll see from the photos below the happiness they experience.
We've also experienced the spiritual side of life again after returning to the school for lunch. While standing outside the classrooms, one of the rooms started screaming and running out of the room. My first thought was that a rat had entered the room and the children were running out afraid of it. Not so. Before all the children could exit I walked toward the classroom to see what was going on and then I heard - a demon had began to torment a 3rd grade girl and she had gone into convulsions. The teacher was directing the children out and had started to pray for the girl. I walked to the back of the room where the girl was still mumbling and in pain but had stopped shaking. We escorted her outside and into an unused room to be away from the other children and sat her down. I knelt down in front of her along with Emily while Miles, Caleb, and Todd and Samuel a FOH teacher surrounded the girl. The next ten minutes were intense for all of us as this isn't something we encounter everyday! I told her to look into my eyes and we kept her looking into my eyes the entire time to confront and demons that remained. Say "Jesus" I told her. No response. Say "Jesus is King". Still no response. Look into my eyes. Her eyes were so tired and half closed and dazed like. She looked into my eyes and after numerous commands she final started to speak Jesus name. Demons will not glorify and honor Jesus. We prayed over her and continued to have her honor and submit to Jesus. I've never done something like this but I focused on Jesus and continued to hold her eyes to mine. The entire scene was also playing out in English and Luganda language. Eventually, her eyes began to open more and become more focused. Her speach switched from Luganda to English as she began to repeat exactly what I said. "Jesus is my Lord and Savior."
After she was calm and it was clear the episode was over we learned more about her story.
She lives with her mother and amazingly she has had demons attacking her for four years. When I realized that she was also very tired, I asked her if she had slept last night. She answered no and said the demons and kept her awake. My heart was so sad. We instructed her on the power of Jesus name and that she can cast out the demons herself by invoking Jesus' name. Something must be in her home and/or with her mother that allows the demons to continue to attack her. After talking to Pastor, we'll go and visit the home and mother on Monday to see if we can rid the home of what ever charms, idols, or other items that the mother may be using that allow the
tormenting to continue. For now, please pray for this girl (I don't know how to spell her name)
that she may sleep well in the arms of Jesus.
Later in the day, I spoke with Pastor and another student in first grade whom was telling Pastor another interesting tale. At approximately the same time that the 3rd grade girl was having her experience, the 1st grade girl saw a tall man dressed in a white robe with a sword coming at her in the classroom. She yelled in terror and the man disappeared. No one else saw the man. For now we are assuming it was the same demon that was tormenting the other girl. We have our work cut out for us.
Tonight, Todd and I are watching women's World Cup on TV at the guest house as I write the blog. Tomorrow we help with the Fountain of Hope soccer and netball tournament and then the Jesus Film showing in Bukeeka at night. It will be a long day! Blessings, John
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