December Photo Project: Day 5

Tonight we had the youth over for supper and Bible study.  We were joined tonight by 7 young men from Karamoja who are in town for Eric's class this week and next.  We also were joined by men from the Committee on Foreign Missions.  They have been visiting our team here to see how things are going and to encourage us...and what a great encouragement it has been.  We've been thankful for their ministry to us and our team.

 

Youth Retreat in Karamoja

This past week, the youth from our PCU church here in Mbale went up to the OPUM Karamoja station in order to join with the youth from the church plant there (along with the teenaged children of the missionaries) for a youth retreat.  This is the first time our two mission stations have joined together to do something like this for the youth.  It was a very exciting opportunity and was a blessing to see.  Even though our two OPUM stations are only a few hours apart, the cultures of the two areas are dramatically different.  For our youth from Mbale, it really is almost like going to another country...so different than their normal life.

Some of the Ugandan pastors from our area did the teaching.

Prayer time in the evening

Our youth were so impressed by the food that the Karamoja Station provided.

During the afternoon, all of the youth broke into small groups to do service projects.  Some of the youth helped at KEO (the nursery school run by our team), some helped to build some houses for members of the church there, some helped to harvest millet and some went evangelizing in a local village.  This was probably one of the greatest blessings of the retreat.  In fact, a couple of the girls that worked at KEO loved it so much that they even expressed interest in coming back to help...kind of like a short-term missionary.  Wouldn't that be something?  The local church in Mbale, sending out short-term missionaries?  I think youth all over the world love to use their youthful energy for this sort of thing, it's simply a matter of opportunity and resources.  (Photo below is of the evangelizing team praying before they leave)

They also had some time for sports and games and to go for a hike to the waterfalls.

 And a late night movie...

And a bonfire.  Haha...Eric got started telling all the kids American fairy tales... Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, etc.  He had a captivated audience.  All these stories that most American children grow up hearing are actually quite shocking when you hear them for the first time as a young adult. 

 We are so thankful for all that our teammates in Karamoja did to help make this retreat a reality.  It was a real blessing to us and to the youth.  Praise the Lord for his goodness!

A Smattering of Pictures

Easter morning started bright and early with our traditional big Easter breakfast.  My big girls were so amazing this year.  I was pretty sick the day before and I didn't see how I could do it this year.  But the girls didn't give up so easily and did the whole thing themselves... breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and fruit smoothies.  So yum!

We had several baptisms on Easter morning.  Such a delight!

After church we had sodas and mandazis together.

Later in the day we still had all the kids over.  It was rainy, but fun!

Timothy helping to shelter his little friends from the rain:

School is carrying on.  We're having a lot of fun and getting a lot of work done.

The little kids and I are studying Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for science.  We started the year studying birds and are finishing the year studying flying insects.  We have quite a collection now.

Williams hen, "Chewbacca" had two little chicks...CP3O and R2D2.

Just an average morning run...

And speaking of runs, CURE hospital in Mbale hosted a 5 (ish) K race recently.  Most of our family plus a few friends from church participated in the fun.

We also enjoyed a visit from men from the OPC head office, as well as a URC representative.

While they were here we drove up to Karamoja for a day to meet with the rest of our team there.  It's always a beautiful drive.

PCU Youth Camp

Two weeks ago, our church youth attended youth camp put on by the Presbyterian Churches of Uganda.  It was held in Kapchorwa...just under two hours from here.  We had about 108 youth from our church and presbytery attend!  Our oldest five went too and had such a great time!  These pictures are mostly from Eric and Katelyn's phones.

Loading up a bus that they hired to get everyone there.  (They also used a smaller bus, plus our van)

Our Karamoja station also sent a group of guys to attend.  For many of them, it was their first time out of Karamoja!

The little guys and I had a great week at home, but we did make it up on Wednesday to visit everyone.

Some of our youth leading singing.

Some of the girls from our church doing a dance for talent night that Sarah had taught them.

They took a hike to some nearby waterfalls one day.

Sugared up and...

sleep deprived... ha!  Isn't that what youth camp is supposed to be?

Karamoja

Yesterday we drove up to our Karamoja station in order to deliver a vehicle and for fellowship with our team up there.  It's always a fun drive...far out of the ordinary for us Mbale folks.  This is the first time we've ever been able to make up in the rainy season because usually, the roads are a mess.  But this year, they are really working to maintain the road this year...what a blessing for everyone who lives up there and we who like to visit. 

Whenever we drive up the kids like to get on the roof and look out for any animals (actually, I think they just like an excuse to ride on top...haha!) in the National Reserve.

The only animals we saw though were the two ostriches that like the base of UWA in the reserve.  Still, fun to see!

This is a sketch bridge that we crossed to get there.

Hmmm...

This is the culvert right outside our station.  They saw a Nile crocodile in there last week!

The most exciting part of our visit was seeing the new clinic almost finished being built.  This has been a huge project and our teammate Chris Verdick has done an absolutely amazing job getting it finished and ready to begin using in 3 weeks, Lord willing!

The construction is high quality and Lord willing will be used to serve many people for many years!

Thankful for a night of fun and fellowship!