Wabiyinja and Fountain

I need to blog about the last 2 days or I am really going to be behind. Yesterday we went to Fountain to give out sponsored children's gifts. That went well and I got lots of pictures to share. From there we drove to Wabiyinja True Worship Center. They were having a conference, so they had different pastors that had been invited. We drove up and they welcomed us with much celebration! They started in with a time of praise and singing. Then each of the team members introduced themselves. They were all so happy that we were there. That we came all the way from America to their little village...such a loving people. One of the pastors stood and told everyone that we needed to pray for Colorado and the fires they have been having. We looked at each other confused that they knew about this and we did not. Then Pastor Robert gave a 45 min. talk about being determined and dedicated in your walk with Jesus, and not building walls that make your relationship unsuccessful. After his talk the ladies brought out lunch. It was a feast! The African people can eat a lot! We had rice, potatoes...irish and sweet, chicken, spaghetti, matooke, beans, pumpkin, greens, bananas, soda and water. After lunch Pastor Ken was going to give his talk and Todd was not feeling well so he stayed at the church. The rest of us went to do some outreach in the bush. We visited 4 households. Where ever we go we always have a gathering of the village children. So we had sweeties to give out to them. This is a very poor village and it showed in the children. In the clothing they had on...or barely had on....so dirty and torn. It breaks your heart. They are always so happy to see the mzungu's(white foreigners) and some were scared because they had never seen white people before. My mom actually had kids running from her crying and she was just trying to say hello. The people we visited...1. a blind older woman...she was so sweet and danced when she received her gifts...(we again gave, rice, beans, flour, sugar, a washcloth and an apron) She lives in just a little mud hut. All the households we visited lived in mud huts. The second....was a woman taking care of her grandchildren. Then we visited a woman who had no family, but did have a caregiver. The fourth was a widow who had bad feet and is just now healing, before she could only crawl like a baby. Sarah M. said a prayer at every house. The roads we traveled were actually trails and I can't believe the van could actually make it. Sarah thought for sure at one point that the van was going to roll over. When it was too bad, we had to get out and walk to the hut. We then went back to the church and they gifted us with a basket of avocados. The ride home was very bumpy. We ate dinner and then went to bed. Which brings us to today. We decided to tackle the shoes again. Oh, I forgot to say that after we were done yesterday we went back to the school and picked up the child Todd sponsors so he could spend the night. His name is Latibu. We found out he is Muslim, but he is hearing about Jesus everyday and we will be praying hard for him! He is a sweetheart. He and Todd had a great time, playing soccer, goofing around and watching a movie on Todd's laptop. Okay, back to the shoes...we went to a different shoe shop, found all the shoes and used the same method we did the first time. We ended up getting a little better deal then before, but not much. We are just glad the kids are getting their shoes. It was visiting day at the school. This is where all the families of students come once a term and bring them food to eat, visit with them, and find out their grades. Robert and Sarah take care of 20 students on visiting day. They make a bucket of rice and meat for them and bring them sodas. They also go around and speak with the teachers and find out all the grades. Robert was happy with some and not so happy with others. He let the kids know that he expects harder study and better grades. We got to meet many parents of sponsored kids as we gave out the gifts we had bought here...(school supplies...etc.) We came back to the house and had dinner in the dark...the electricity had gone out again. So, I am blogging in the dark as well...good thing Sarah had charged her laptop. Tomorrow we go back to Wabiyinja for church and there will also be baptisms tomorrow in the Nile River. I will close for now. God bless!


Beth