Saturday, August 24, 2013

Sunday Is Garage Time!

Today is the Day of Rest...

So its Church time I had been invite to go with the Amani Family to Worship Harvest.
woke up super earlier and finished packing and cleaning my room,then made my way to the front  were Lindsey, Jordan, and Paige came to pick up William, Enoch and I didn't catch her name but the dress she wore was beautiful.
The  Church was right down the road (in walking distance) we arrive just as worship is starting.It was new and different yet the same and exciting I love worship its the best part of going to a gathering were all believers come together for the same reason...To Worship the King!

After worship the Pastor gets up and starts going into the message, about half way through all these Muzungu's get up in the far side of the church and start moving around. I remember looking over and thinking "that's so distracting, what are they doing?" then they all ran out the door.

the church had a lot of Muzungu's in it that day!

anyways they all leave and its back to focusing in on what he is teaching, what the Holy spirit is say through this dude and take some notes. After Church it was around 12:30 when Danyne say hey Kellie called and asked if i would take you to Calvary Chapel to meet up with your team...(yea that's why i had been packing early this mornin. The BWO team was on their way in and i was to travel with them for 2 weeks.) it was bitter sweet.

I had said to Danyne that Shalom was going to take me into Masese yesterday but we got back from Badondo really late and so he is taking me today in fact right now in 30mins or so.
then proceeded to say that I had messaged the team lead and said I would be their a little later... She said well then go and be safe.will see you soon!

after catching a ride back to Amani Shalom pulled up in his cousins van(note to self..ah never mind it was a rare opportunity) so we packed all of my stuff in the van and headed down to Masese.after picking up some lunch and stopping for gas...NO Comment!

driving into Masese the first thing i saw was the dock where the fisherman moved their boats in and out hauling in fish and going to get more. It was the Port. a little down the road was the Rock quarry that Danyne had been telling me about. it was nice.(i love rocks) it looked like people were living all around the rock quarry and some were gambling right when we pulled up. we got out and walked around a bit. then got back in the van a drove off. (if i had the money i would buy the quarry from Sergio)



Shalom was looking for an orphan ministry called H.E.L.P. they were in Masese but he didn't know where.I was there because 2 yrs ago this is where my heart felt it needed to be. so not knowing where HELP was Shalom pulled over and ran to talk to some guys. then comes back and says this guy is going to take us there.
so we follow a boda driver down the road around a corner and up a hill to a ministry alright, but looking at it i said this isn't the place your looking for...the Sign with small lettering was a dead give-a-way that this for sure wasn't the place! but Shalom said well maybe they can help us. lets go in and see.

The gate guard didn't say much but he let us in..in fact he didn't say anything and come to think of it now I guess he just saw a Muzungu and figured it was OK, what ever the reason it doesn't matter.i remember feeling a bit hesitant to go in. i mean we didn't know who was behind this wall.I guessed i kind expected to see a pair of 90 year old white missionaries who have been here for 40yrs or something like that.
we hopped out of the van to find a bunch of people on the porch all looking to be elderly i could be wrong though. a young woman by the name of Chelsea came out to meet us. she asked how can i help you 2?
Shalom being the native and the only one who has heard of HELP I let him speak to her. she had said she never heard of it.but she made a few phone calls to see if she could help us. i believe she even called Renee the founder of this place and she had never heard of it.

Chelsea walked in and out of the house looking for people to call or something that would help us. She said she had been left her to watch over 2 little boys in their ICU room and continued to help Shalom.after what seem to be an hour maybe a little less.more like 30mins. and discovering that Shalom's phone is dead mine doesn't work here and well there was really no one to help us find this elusive place.
at some point during the searching Chelsea had said that the people she was with,they were all at church this morning but had to get up and leave early because one of here team members was very ill and need to go to Kampala so they left and headed there while 1st dropping her off at home.
this sounded kinda...then shalom said oh what church do you go to? she replied and said it was my first time but I think its called Worship Harvest.....(really!lol oh man now i feel kinda bad for the thoughts i had earlier and really God? you would bring us here!)

I had thought the reason why I am standing here is because God wants us to be here and not there. So Shalom was like well lets keep on going as she said sorry but i don't know how else to help.I 've only been here for a week...(that's funny i thought me too)
shalom telling her its cool and not to worry turned to walk to the car.

So tell me please what is this place? what do y'all do here? Chelsea said sure I'd love to tell you about this amazing place!
she said it was a rehab,what kind of a rehab? its a malnutrition rehab for infants, babies and children

Chelsea showed me around the backside of the building were the mommas were washing cloths. and some kids were running around. she explain what the mommas did here and led me inside to what looked like the kitchen area.then pointed down a hall and said all of our babies are right down there,but here in this room is why I am here to watch over these to sweet boys both are on Oxygen she said the one on the left is doing better but still needs help and this one on the right is trying to recover from Cardiac arrest. both need help!

as i walked out I began to write down what she had said, she then led us into the living room where all over the walls where pictures of little ones.I ask so tell me about these kids? who are they?
she said all of these kids have stayed with Serving His Children over the years. every double picture you see are the before and after pictures of these kids.when they leave they are happy and healthy fat kids.their guardian who brings them here get educated on how to feed and take care of their kids.
how Posho has no nutritional value and how babies need more then just a filler.
The LORD God changes hearts in and through this program ever day.
i had permission to take the photo but im not sure about posting it here...YOLO

i asked about the single pictures. and she replied with the singles are pictures of kids who went to be with the LORD... as i looked around the room the before and afters far out weighed the singles.and this ministry is doing an excellent job of caring for and loving on His kids. Chelsea also said that its very rare for the same child to come back... the success rate  of this place is amazing! so in the end all i knew all I could do is pray for them. so I prayed for Chelsea and the start of her journey with Jesus in this Place,prayed for the kids and the 2 in ICU.for the team in Kampala and over Renee and the ministry here then we had left. Shalom really want to find this place just keep looking but I noticed that a storm was blowing in and that we didn't have enough gas to be gallivanting around. He started to head down the wrong road.I said the way out is back that way..he laughed and said yea but all these roads have to lead out...nope! dead end with many many eyes staring at us like who are you and what are you doing here.

Shalom realized that he made a mistake and tired to get out quickly.he drove the way we came and we made it back out to the main road. we i suggested that we go back to town, He insisted that we go further in.I said Shalom if we were to get stuck here. this could get ugly fast.our windows are not tinted,and I am like the only white kid in south central or Compton...he says whats Compton?(a very hard and bad place for white boys like me)( Now I don't care if some takes all my stuff but that day everything we had in the van belonged on the other side of Uganda for some kids over there.) again knowing that we were on E that we should turn around.we drove around the corner to a dead end and turned back around then headed to find another way in when I said Shalom we need to go. He said oh Sam don't worry God will protect us!(yea no doubt He can and would)(I've personally seen the hand of God protect me through all these years.) but out of my mouth came the bible also says Do not put the LORD your God to the test.
oh... he said...OK lets go back then... driving back in it began to rain, by the time we got into town we were on super E.so we pulled into a gas station i put what i had in the tank.it wasn't much but the we headed for the hotel when the rain turned into a trenchual down pour so much water falling out of the sky it was craziness! he pulled over and we ate are cold lunches then when it had cleared we made our way to the Hotel Paradise where my team was supposed to be at.
when we got there 3 large buses pulled in behind us and that was them.

while it started to rain again we pulled out all of my bags and put them under a covered parking lot. many members of the team I knew they all were shocked that i was standing their since they didn't see me travel with them we said our greetings,meet new people and had a few Ladies make comments about the stuffed animal i had been carrying around this whole trip.(haha yea i didn't share that part yet)but now you know! I traveled from my friends house to VA-London-Uganda carrying a plush stuffed dog! it made a great pillow in the airports and the idea behind it was when and if we ran into just 1 little kid in pain or hurting, sick of whatever i was gonna give it to him or her...


so after we all got settled in our room which was CRAZYiness (i wont even go into it)
at dinner i sat down to 2 guys i didn't know and my friend Joseph from Fort Worth,Texas.

figured sit with someone new instead of someone you knew.anyways so the first guy i start to talk to is a dentist from USA here to find a ministry that he and his wife had been sponsoring for years he says they work with malnourished kids in the area.the next thing that came out of his mouth shocked me. he said the name of it was Serving His Children! WHAT I said NO way! that's so crazy i was just there like a few hours ago. he got happy and started asking question that i didn't know the answer to. so i had shared with him what i saw there.

we swapped more stories and i got to know a little bit about the other dude to.he also way a doctor.
that night i really felt the impression to start praying for these 2 little boys. of who i didn't get there names.


i think the beginning of this post it says the day of rest? well yea not the kinda you would probably expect...it was good for me!

----------------------------------------------
Musia and Musazi

(I had been debating on weather or not i should just finish this story or mention it throughout the trip).
 during that first week as a corporate group we had gotten together a few times apart from or meetings ,times to gather and worship the King and pray for whatever. in a couple of those time i had mention to the Group the 2 little boys so we prayed over them.
I got an impression to invite the small group of people who was praying for me on this trip to invite them to pray for the boys as well. in fact stop praying for me and start praying for them.


every where we went I invited people i didn't know that well to lift up 2 little boys in prayer that God would heal and restore them. all over Jinja and into Masaka people prayed for 2 little boy they may never see until we get to heaven.
but it still amazes me that complete stranger would say yes and join in. at some point i got an idea of i know at least 500 people on FB and 450 of them are saved.so i sent out a mass group message and after a ton of them started leaving i to left the group and abandon the thought that everyone in the world need to pray for these kids and just go after it on my knees with everything i had. its not the amount of people perhaps,its weather or not its in his plan to save these little boys.

before we left for Masaka and friend of mine said that all the doctors were going to SHC on the free day and that she would get the names and an update on the 2 children.for some reason i thought that 1of the 2 was a girl.but when her report came back that night it was 2 boys, one was Musia and the other Musazi.
now Musia was the one who was getting better or the 2, Jen had said that he was off oxygen and was put in a normal room.but he lost one of his arms.the infection he had was so bad that the doctor had no choice but to amputate it to keep the infection from spreading. Praise God i said at least he is living you know. sure he lost an arm but God still came through.

as for Musazi he got worse. he had severe Pneumonia and the doctors were expecting his heart to fail.they expected him do die....
when i heard this it didn't sit well with me. immediately rejected it i could not agree with that and that when the pray got more intense.

In Texas at our church we have a service called Habitation,and in it we here about people all the time getting bad reports from doctor who say their not gonna make it much long or the cancer is to big we can't do anything and other things great and small.but then getting the reports back from after we prayed and God did what only He can do, they come back and say the doctors couldn't find anything wrong!

 and last year when God healed James in Masaka from all the disease he had!!! 
nope I won't accept that idea that this kids heart is just going to give out and stop working!

 we went to churches and other places were believer gather and prayed. it wasn't until maybe 3days before the team left that i got an idea to email Renee and see how he was doing. so i tried and the as soon as i hit send the wifi/Internet went out... we found out the next day it was the whole east side of the country.that next day wifi back up so i tried and again.and BAM the power goes out...come on then goes out in all of Masaka....really????
next day it comes back on but guess what my phone will not send out emails....so after trying and trying my friend Jen said we could use her computer. and we did....that next morning i got an email from Renee that read :

 Hi Samuel,
Yes I was informed of your visit to our center.I am sorry that I missed you...But thank you so much for coming, and for joining us in prayer for all the little ones that are here!
Musazi is doing MUCH better! Yes, he was in cardiac failure at the time. As well as having Pneumonia. He was is rough shape and we were very concerned about what the end result might be there for a while. but God is the Ultimate Healing and he is doing so well now! He is off oxygen and has moved back into a normal room. We are praying for continual healing, but God has already shown Himself faithful in the life of that little boy!

we are so glad you stumbled upon our ministry! Thank You so much for praying with and for us! Thankful,So thankful
Renee Bach
Founder and Director

 I cant really express with the fullness of what or how it felt to read those words. I jumped,leaped, danced ,shouted for joy and hooted with everything Praising Jehovah Rapha God our Healer!

other couldn't figure it out until i shared with them the email stating that We prayed and our God heard our cries.I am thankful so thankful to be apart of this little boys life war for him through prayers

Prayer works! it always has and it will continue to do so. Because we serve a God who cares,who is a loving Father who hears our cries,pleas and petitions,He is concerned of our well being and of every detail of our lives weather we choose to believe it or not.
the bible says :

I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And Heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

I cried out to God with my voice- to God with my voice, And he gave ear to me. Psalm 77:1

I Love the LORD, Because He Heard my voice and supplications. Because He has Inclined His ear to me,Therefore i will call upon Him as long as I  live Psalm 116:1

also the Bible tells us to keep Asking, Seeking and knocking read Matt 7:7-12

Thank You Jesus!



Serving His Children really is a great Minisrty I'd encourage you to check them out

http://www.servinghischildren.org/

http://servinghischildren.blogspot.com/


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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Into the Weekend!

Well Friday had come fast,
we the normal wake up, devo'd then started work at 8am, lunch at 1pm then after lunch Danyne bring her friends up to see the tile and upstairs, then Charlie come up later to see as well to. but then stops and says instead of $15 a night were gonna drop it to $10,
she said something about the accommodations weren't all that so they decided to bump it down.. OH MAN what ever they excuse that doesn't matter to me..Its all about Thank YOU PAPA!!! that's a huge blessing for me!

Friday night was chill after work I had gone over to Danyne and Sergio's for dinner there we had Pasta and All I can say is it was in the top 3 meals best meals of thee entire trip.I'm thankful for everything that we got, yes i know its more then most people ever get..but I'm just sayin Hands down yup! pasta at Danyne's.

that night the Colorado team was over at the house to and all us guys were talking about different things as Sergio was going in and out. and I am not totally sure how this convo started but Serg jumps in and says what are you going to do? or when? next question was If you came(back to Uganda) you could pull up side jobs to pay for living here but still have time for ministry...Dave says "like Tent making"...... OK so we started talking about fundraising and how i hated asking people to fund the mission trips.then it lead into coming back to Uganda and then tent making. the room goes quiet as people get up to get food and just then I think OK wait a minute God what are you saying here?

- Tent making last/first time i heard that came from my friend Kisa, Kisa is from papa New Guinea and is here in the states as a missionary, I remember asking him what he was doing looking for work and he said "do you know what Tent making is?" i replied with making tents? he said its what Paul did and if i didn't to then to look it up. yea Kisa is like that, if you don't know he want tell you. its cool though. anyways i pushed that off it didn't apply to me at the time but now it makes sense.

- so its a great idea, specially for staying over there long term...
- wait wait wait I can't even believe I'm seriously considering "Long Term"
honestly I've had a lot of time to think about it since that conversation. and have decided not to jump into a long year commitment. for many reason and one being to stay in Uganda I believe you need a work permit to be in the country its a 2yr deal. and when i had talk to Uncle Dusty, because that's what He and his wife have to be in country he said.work permits are hard to get,because even though you are working for free. the Ugandan government is like why are we giving you the green light to live in our country and do this work when our own people should be doing it?
God would have to make away.
if anything I'll go for 3 months next year but not any longer then that just yet, not really gonna go into it much further then that. I mean yes there dreams and desires, and vision but the timing is not here yet


- Saturday June 15th,2013
Proverbs 15:15  - All the days of the afflicted are evil,But  he who is of a merry heart has a Continual feast.

(I think that applies to the day to day walk,finding the good in every day and finding it in every situation)

about 7:30 i ran up to install more tile. 8-8:30 Bob and John the morning gate guard and a new guy came up stairs to look at what I've been working on all week.They always say "well done Sam"
to them it looks good but to me i see the flaws... flaws in the tile the way it was made a little off causing the grout lines to either come down to nothing or be big in some area..but i cant control or change that so just gonna have to deal with it...Although you couldn't really tell unless you inspected ever inch of the whole room..unless your an artist to...

bout 8:30-9am Uncle dusty comes to pick me up and run me into town for a money exchange.just as we were leaving A guy by the name of John Honeycutt came by. John works at Water Mission International, He came by to see Uncle Dusty and check on the water filtering system Amani has.
one of the ones at the cottage is an old style. Basically its a concrete tube with sand in it to act as a filter and clean water....Sounds a bit sketchy to me.I bought bottled water by the case.(however if I were to stay longer I'd do it the way he is about to suggest)

John and Dusty talked for a bit and then John took us by his place right down the road. as we walked in the building he introduced us to his volunteer who has been and will be there for a total of 3months for now. She helps with all the paper work and what ever else. next john takes us to the kitchen area where there are many jugs of water and a water cooler the kind u would find in U.S office buildings and spaces..."The Water Hole" you know where you and your buddies gather to drink a bit and converses about non work related issue before returning back to the slave driving task you hold..(lol J/K J/K)(or it could be true........)
anyways John leads on to explain about how they used to do it then on to how its being done today. well not everyone is doing it but he learned this from how the Baptist do there clean water in different areas they are in with Horrible water conditions. tabs yup 1 tab for your 5 gallon jug and 30minutes later presto change -O. clean water!also they use PH testers if its doesn't get a certain level they hit it again.




Behind us were these machines that I have been dying to ask him about. I saw one in a fishing village last year and thought that was Amazing!
when I asked John said that these are installed in villages all over they have been doing this recently with a few years or so.I had mentioned that when i had first seen one I thought it was neat and cool that it only charge about 100 shillings per jug. He said they cost 500 shillings and the only reason there's a cost is if and when the machine breaks down that money goes to fixing it.
but really in my opinion its a little more then that. Its letting the people have some dignity with the feeling that they can pay for some water and provide something clean and good for their household.
+ (a pastor i look up to once said that when you are out Helping the poor and homeless you need to be careful because what you think might be helping could indeed be destroying them further. Meaning giving free food to people constantly they begin to rely on it and feel they don't have to work to feed themselves or their families but just wait for some "richer" person to come along and feed them.)

So there different sides to the issue or poor people buying water...but think whatever you are going to..HA HA if you don't like it then Next time Your in Africa or a 3rd world bring a bag full of coins so that you can buy their water to put in their jugs. while your at it it would be nice to carry their water home for them to.
( this year before i ever left for Uganda I had a bag full of coins to do just that if we were to come across one of those tanks.I had no idea the LORD God was going to direct me to the source of the water ministry.)
As far as getting a crew or having a crew at the ministry they do but its not what you think as John says me and my helper are the only White people or Muzungu's here in this facility. all that is done in the field is done by Ugandans, They survey for water,dig wells, install piping then hook up the machines and do the maintenance when and if it breaks.
That is really cool  to of taught the locals how to run the ministry and giving them work experience  and learning a trade that they can use else where.
reminds me of something that happen in GUA last year. more like something said.


the women on the right is Maria is works their in the office a native to Uganda. John is on the Left.

Maria had told me when I asked that there are 15 different Dialects of Ugandan mixed in with Swahili all over.

so Uncle Dusty and I got some tabs from him to start out with and headed on out to Jinja town.run a few errands then back to the cottage. When exchanging money for Uganda it is best to do it with 50's or 100's and in Uganda if your currency is below 2006 it is worthless. funny right? well that's just the way it is.
so back at the cottage I didn't get to work for too much longer. after lunch I hoped in a van with Charlie,Emily,Cory,Lindsey,and Leah along with Arron,picking up Johnson and john on the way.
We set out to go to Badondo. its an area not to far from Amani where Charlie had started a program out there with the kids a lot of kids! she and Arron go out there every Saturday.its kinda like a VBS.
most of the Amani Volunteers will go somewhere on Saturdays to serve in the communities. Some go to a feeding program done in Masese others got to Badondo.
OK so its more like 20-25mins away. when we got there it is just like every other place you go where kids are expecting you to show up or wondering if you every will come back. they kids charge down the hill from every direction as they see 2 vans pull up into their slice of paradise. many are playing in the very large green grass filled  field,as they get closer to stopping there is now a mobbed of children around both vans. most of them laughing and giggling some calling out Muzungu (which means White person)
others eagerly assisting us with our things pulling out many tarps used to sit on. They spread each one out and continue to sit on them one side is all the girls and the other side is all the boys.
Arron and the boys are getting ready to to run the show this week. Charlie has expressed to Arron that it is going to be all on them that she will be there but is not leading it. they need to learn!

so the Men begin by singing some song to Jesus then enter into a story of our beloved King. after the message is delivered they split the kids up by age group. all the really small ones sit in 1 circle and they get an activity to do like coloring, another group is for kids about 1-6grade i suppose and they play a game that involves getting a sweetie. the last 2 groups is for the older kids 1 boys and 1 girls, there they are allowed to ask any questions they may have about the message or ask about anything else they may be going through.
 This young boy was watching his younger brother and trying to get him to stop crying during the message.
Arron leading worship

They have Moo Cows!

you can't see the hoop but this is Basket ball rim

form a circle to play a game
getting ready to here the message


here's some more picture coming your way,man i miss being in the place with these kids!
little ones waiting for the activity

Coloring with Jesus!





that boy's face is priceless
so they played this game that had to do with how many large marshmallow's they could stick in their mouth.


the winners got to choose a prize
Next came the fun part as if all of what already happened wasn't fun already! we had filled up and brought with us water balloons and was going to let the kids have a water balloon fight but many balloons had popped in transit and Charlie realized that we were all about to be very very wet.
So she and Arron decided to do something a bit different.

I wonder what Charlie is Planing here

Arron get the kids to form a group and be ready


when all the balloons are gone its time to empty the water on the kids to.
as the water balloons flew across to the kids some caught them and flew them right back, every one had a blast and all the popped balloons got picked up so that no little kids choked!


a few days after taking this pic i sent it to a friend who 2weeks before we were all joking around saying the exact same hand signal of this boy was the Discipleworks gang sign!



after they water balloons we only had about 15mins left with the kids when Charlie remember she had told the kids last week that we'd bring soccer ball this week so they could play. so we dropped the balls and they were off. i stayed upside for a bit to take a few more photos and that's when i saw it.

there was one little boy with a paper airplane who was actually sharing that plane with 6 other kids. i ran over and began to fly the plane with them.it was cool to see them all taking turns throwing it up and all watching as the plane glides around before falling to the ground... man insta memories filled my mind as my friends and I would make planes and fly em. ah to be a kid again. i am reminded to be a kid when I am in Africa the real child come unleashed. next off to play soccer then back to the planes. then finally we here TIME TO GO. we all sigh as all kids do and say just 5 more mins Pleaaaassssseeeee!!! or as my nephew would say pease pease pease
but that 5mins is us playing as we run up towards the vans.

I love being a kid!  being a kid with other kids.mostly being a Kid in Africa!

we got hugs and gave hugs for me it will be a while before i can come back but for the team they'll return every Saturday!


Thursday, August 1, 2013

Africa 2013 pt2

Day 2 - 4

Been up for 2 1/2 maybe 3hrs with the morning creeping up i wait on edge to get out there and do something...7am...7:30...finally 8am, walked outside and was greeted by David and his wife Mary.(they are there at Amani with the Pastor an a few members of their church from Colorado.)
we walked for a bit when Uncle D and Danyne came around the corner with Uncle D saying"theirs the Men for the Job."
Awesome sign me up lets go work i thought. We then went up stairs(Amani has a 2 story building on the bottom floor is where the babies and the mamma's stay,The upstairs is the new living quarters for the volunteers that come to work at Amani from 3weeks to 3months. It is unfinished so today we measure for tile. Next Dave and I joined them in going to the store to look at different tiles threw 2-3 different tile stores. we also went to a few hardware stores. I noticed that all of them are run by east Indian people and they speak Swahili and some English. We went into one hardware store looking for a tile saw and saw this 2 things.Danyne points out the theirs not enough water pressure for the items.


I'm sure you may be wondering how something like that even ended up in Uganda.I wonder the same thing my friend.

so in one of the stores Danyne asked if I could install a tile with a pattern on it?  Sure no problem I say. even this one?
                                                                     Piece of Cake

She gets the tiles for the bedrooms and picks out another tile for the living room.both Sergio and Danyne ask how long would this take?(OK my answer purely came from the experience i had in Guatemala installing tile and working in Hawaii/Texas. although 3rd world is a different then stateside)
they had asked about installing the living room tiles.so I said about 3-5 days,if i had the right tools for the job.(next time my answer is 1month) so they got all the tile one time.after a couple of hours in Jinja we went back with some of the materials to start with and they had decided it was better to start in the farthest bedroom first.they had brought out a box with Tile trowels before we had left to go to the store so I thought this is great it will get done in know time...when i took a closer look at the trowels it was just the blade.the handle had been removed and lost..(OK no problem it gonna work.just lemme fashion my own handle!) After unloading and Moving ALL the materials we had upstairs Dave and I began to work on the lay out.Serg came up and helped to find the best lay out possible. He noticed that the handles were missing from his trowels and was sad.The were giving to him by his friend who came to visit.(i had tried to contact a friend coming the next week to bring me some new ones.)
you'd be surprised by the amount of tools you can find in Jinja, but what they do not have is Tile Trowels.(We looked all over.)
first came the sweeping of all the rooms.we started laying out tiles and making the final floor lay out using chalk lines.next was the issue of mixing the mud.Yes mud it looked like it ha ha.
the Ugandans mix cement like how they do in Guatemala. On the ground with a Hoe and shovel.
(the next morning i found a wheelbarrow and brought it upstairs,used it for the rest of the week)
basically you make a mound with the materials (tile mud and cement).next make a hole in the center and add water.pulling everything from the edges into the middle and making sure it doesn't spill out from 1 side. Ha we made a little more then i wanted to. we proceeded to start laying tile.(I want to tell you this was easy but I'd be lying)
So in my cockiness I slapped down some mud (a lot) and began to spread it on the floor....as spread it out it would roll up on its self due to the concrete floor. the concrete was flaky and dusty.it instantly sucked out all the moisture in the mud. so we had to wet the floor and make the mud soupy for it to go down properly(basically I laid (1) 12x12 tile every 10mins)
it was a slow very slow process but we didn't lose hope, we pressed on and finished up all the mud.Cutting tile was fun.remember that saw we got? OK so it kinda worked. but for the small cuts i used good old tile snipes.

after day one of tile laying i realized it was going to take longer so i made adjustments to the trowel in hopes that tomorrow would go better(unfortunately it went slower before it got faster)
 I spent all week in 2 rooms from 7am to 1pm for lunch by which if Ive not said it before Momma Sarah is the best cook!


 then from 2pm til 6 or 7pm.
for me I was disappointed that at least all 3 rooms weren't done and I really wished i could of stayed until i left Africa.

That night I took the Volunteer ladies up on their offer of dinner. went over to their house.we sat at a large table able to seat 12 people,there i met and talked with 11 Ladies from all over USA. and out of 10 i remembered 6 of there names the next day.Lindsey - serving 3months,Mariah - from Iowa, Jordan - right after dinner she claims your family now!, Paige - 1 1/2 month and works outreaches on Saturdays, Malina - serving 3months, and Leah also been serving for 3months.
the other 4 of who it took at least another day to get their names down Cori,Jennifer,Mary,and Aubrey. all of them were super chill and had a heart from every baby at the Cottage. They get to take care of the kids by helping the Mamma's daily and some if not all taught preschool on site.
We had French Toast,Pineapple, and eggs with water.
then a boda came and picked me up to take me back to my quarters at the cottage..i thought we were going to pile a few times as we drove off in the dark.(yes he had a headlight but still)

The rest of the week i continued on with the tiling,my helper David got sick after the second day so i continued on solo.which is no big deal.but we prayed often during the day that Dave would get better so that he could enjoy the rest of the time he had here.

every morning i had been reading a psalm and proverb a day sometimes 3 or 4 psalms is good because there are 150 of them so its easy to read 1 day and proverbs there are 31which fits with for every month except the 28day month just gives you a few extra reads.

the first few days we weird sleeping schedules I'd go to sleep for 2hrs but then be wide awake.pop a few natural sleep aids and wake up 2-3hrs later.then back again then up again.
Some time during that week so travelers from Austin Texas came by. They had just landed in Uganda and were to stay for a week or two. 2 of them got sent to help me upstairs but quickly bailed out..(Oh that reminds me the tiles we had to soak in water for a few hours.it helped a lot with setting them.and the very first 8-12 tiles that went down  I had noticed that the pattern didn't line up. the tiles were lined up square but the pattern was off.I struggled with this for at least an hour trying to make it look as good as possible.) later i found out that all the tiles were different sizes.this jammed me up later down the road where some grout lines would taper in to almost nothing then open up again.(Yes i removed and reset a lot of tiles)
every morning I ate ramin noddles like chips(my friend Nuku back in Hawaii taught me that one)
I didn't know about the fruits available until my last day there.
I trip out because the plants they have their are the same you will find in Hawaii and Guatemala except this one



My Daily Journal reads - "The LORD God is good no matter what it is your going through,In the moment even if its bad the bad will be used for good and adds experience for the next time you arrive in a similar situation." my tiling job there wasn't exactly what i had expected it to be.it was hard but it was good.for the next time i can look back on this and all the other international jobs and know what worked and what didn't.

- Strong As an Ox, Soft as a lamb...to be strong as an ox is to defend and fight for your family...to be soft as a lamb is while you are as strong as you can be you can still have a lovable side a playful side.

- The amount of stories i have in my personal archive is a good chunk, I rather not come to the end of my life and say this is it,I'd rather say I remember that one time I saw the LORD move in Africa. didn't know the plans of getting there or little detail but then the LORD showed up and BAM this happened...
Or remember that time in Russia,GUA,Washington,Virgina,Texas,Fort Worth... or where ever!
- I would like to have enough stories to share on hand to entertain my grand kids without having to repeat the same old 2 or 3 stories over and over again..because that's all I have.
This can be achieved by continuing to follow Jesus and take every day as an adventure with God the Creator,the 1 true God and just letting Him lead into the next thing.

- You to can achieve this by not loosing the gaze of your attention on Him.letting Him lead you into your day.Finding the good in EVERY situation.you don't have to go on a mission trip to a different country to have an adventure with God.to collect these stories of look what God did here.
you just have to be Available.

some of the coolest stories this year/last summer happened right down the road in Ft Worth and Dallas Texas... because i was available to talk to a homeless guy.

Early Thurs day morning I had only gotten 2-3hrs of sleep.the rest of the time all these things started to flood my mind..thing I've not thought about since Aug 2011 when God first broke my heart for Uganda,the street kids,kids in prison, another fatherless nation.(i wont go into detail just yet but it was a lot.)

Proverb 13:7 There is one who makes himself rich,yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor,yet has great riches.

later this morning i felt like something was about to go down and try to take me out. Uncle Dusty drove me into town to look for some kind of cough/throat meds...we ended up at a pharmacy where the Dr and his assistant tried to sell me something i didn't really need..but then later sold me Uganda's version of a cough drop...(honestly I didn't try it..in fact i still have them)
that night into the next day i developed 24hr flu...when i left home that's another thing i forgot to bring.dayquil or NyQuil. every trip i take some but every trip i don't have to take it.wish i had some then. but thankfully it didn't worsen and it went away.

 Uncle dusty and I went out to have some coffee next door to that place. at that time Uncle Dusty said "You will not finish the tile work"then tried to assure me i wouldn't. personally I hate it when someone tells me you wont or can't do something...I take it as a challenge to push harder and try to finish.(ultimately i knew he was right.there's no way it could be completed)and that made me sad.

I wanted to finish.to be able to help them out with a project...during the week so many people came by and said "well done" or "it looks good" they thanked me for the little bit that was done,but i felt bad because i would finish...

don't quote me but:
 The bible says to do your work with excellence.also it says you work for the LORD and NOT a man.






  David came back on his last day and help make all the cuts so he and I got 2 of 3 rooms complete.

Thank You Jesus for allowing me to work along such great men and women.for everyone i met during that week.



To be Continued...