we moved 30 mins down the road to Kikatiti and our school leader Misaki's brand new house which was probably the first African owned house I've been to that i could actually live in, it had tiled floor and everything! However a lack of outside space did mean we were very much on top of each other!!
The first week mininsty was at a church 40 mins down the road and the walk in the mid-day heat was not fun! However we got lunch and we helped complile and distribute chirstmas packages of basic foods for the local people! We also ran crusades at the church and really got to integrate with the local boys dancing african style, i really had a WOW i love Africa moment that night as i lookde out over the plains towards the mountains as the sun set- some things you just don't get in england!
Christmas in Africa was certainly an experience, chirstmas eve we stayed up doing hair and playing christmas songs till 2am! Christmas day we got up at 6am to clean the house, sort rice, seperating out stones and chaff and doing our daily duty of collecting a 20 litre bucket of water and carrying it on our head! We then spent 2 1/2 hours in church at a thanksgiving (not Christmas) service and then spent the rest of the day at the ceremonial opening of the house! Boxing day however was way more Christmasy, we had presents under the tree and did our secret santa!! i got a scarf, necklance and earings as well as a load of biscuits and sweets :) thank you Peacey :) A few of us then went to a hotel and laid buy the pool and got lasagne and garlic bread!! That evening we watched movies and relaxing which added to the chirstmas spirit!
Our second and third weeks we worked with the local church in town, we joined with them for our weekly prayer and fasting and it was really good to take sometime to specifically prayer for home :) We spent a few mornings spiritual mapping/ prayer walking. During wich i watched a boy chase a chicken, visitefd a clinic to pray with mums and babies and visited a catholi8c priest's house and ministry. We also did seminars in the church during the afternoons and had some more film shows.
We had our first storm since being in tanzania, boy did it rain we were running around outside trying to fill up barrells to collect the precious water, it did save a trip to collect wateer the next day!
We also visited an orphanage twice, they have 6 kids there all pre-school aged yet they sang and recited Biblle verses for us in English and swahili. The orphanage was really nice and the children really had their own space with only 2 in a room and they had wall alphabet charts in english and swahili!
New years eve was spent in church, we had prayer, worship, a skit and dance upto 11 and then me, Katie and Becca celebrated the new year with mountain dew and biscuits! We had no power but still we stayed up in the dark talking and stuff untill 3am (english new year!!) And we were back up at 8 for church! I managed to bust my shoulder during the skit on new years eve and so water collecting for the last week didn't happen for me!
Outreach ended with a Safari :) a group of 6 of us went to Arusha national park for the day and saw giraffes, zebras, buffalo, pumba, flamingo's, water buck, buch buck and a few other random animals and birds, as well as LOADS of monkeys :) it was an amazing way to finnish outreach even though we did get battered and bruised from standing up with our heads out the roof when it was so so bumpy! But we did get to eat our PB&J sandwiches with some giraffes at lunch time so it was deffinatly worth it!!
Our jouney back went smoothly it took 17 hours which was pretty good and most of it was over night so we could sleep! I can sucessfully say that i managed to put on a lot of wieght during outreach so much so that my jeans don't fit!! haha, me and Tess and litterally going to be running our butts of for the next few months!
Debrief week has been relaxing we've just been getting oragnaised and chilling out as we prepare for graduation on saturday!
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Outreach weeks 3-5
After 18 hours of bumps, little sleep, only 2 toilet breaks, my visa being stuck in naomi's passport, some awesome views of tanzanian plains and masi villages we made it to Nemy's (our leader's) home in the region of meru near killalla villlage. The house was pretty much in the jungle which was pretty cool but there where loads of mosquito's!
Mama Nemy is pastor of the local church so most of our work was with the church, we did crusades and film showings most days this did mean that we (well the boys) built a stage out the front and i'm pleased to say this one was sturdyer than the one in kenya! We also visited a compassion international school's graduation and got a change to minister there in the form of the everything skit. We also visited anotheer church, after ariving 2 hours late we got breakfast, kate prached amazingly it was all about being friends with God and was deffinaly the preach that spoke to me most from the whole of outreach! We then got lunch twice and hiked a mountain and lost the window of the taxi bus! We also served at an oraphanged cooking, cleaning and decorating, me and Tess made posters of the kids rooms to give them coloura and make the rooms more homely! We also spent a bit of time going door to door with the church members and praying for them and their needs and just blessing the homes, it's one of the few things in ministry that you KNOW that even when you leave a mark will be left and blessing will continue to flow on families!
The moment that spoke to me most at Nemy's was during a crusade when me and Becca we're sitting with 2 sisiters Happy (age 8 with learning disabilities) and Angel her little sister, as i sat with Angel i got to see how she craved attention and how she was a little bundle of fun and joy that just wanted someone to play with, so we played row row your boat and had tickle fights and she was a model in my sunglasses! My favourite ministry from the whole of outreach was putting together packages for 2 families which included food and clothes,this meant i spenf a few hours in the African market wheere clothes where all less than £1 and we got so much for the girls, it was crazy and packed but i LOVED it and it was so great knowing we were getting things for people when you know they are going to be beyond greatful!
Our worship and prayer times while we were there were also relaly encouraging, God really spoke of our days of prayer and fasting to our team and to indiciduals, we recieved directions and encrouagement, it was a real reminder that God is personal and intimate with us and that he has a plan for each on of us even during the challenging times that when we don't undertand why things happen or what will happen next God calls us for a reason and we just have to trust in him because as Jeremiah 29:11 says "For i know the plans i have for you, they are plans for good to give you hope and a good future" we knew that God has called each one of us to be there and so there was a purpose for it and God would protect us and teach us through everthing that was or wasn't happening!!! It's so easy to get caught up in the drama's of liife, thinking about when you will next sleep or eat that we forget about our relationship with God, but sitting in the scilence with God is so freeing and releasing, God can just speak to you and bring healing and forgiveness!!
Sickness hit again week 5 and Becca's sick bucket became my sick bucket, but luckly i didn't get it as bad as Becca who spent all night throwing up and ended up in hospital with dehydration. But PTL after 1 night in hospital she came home safe!
During our stay in tanzania we got to go into Arusha which was pretty crazy, lots bigger than Jinja town that we're used to and we did get lost once but we were pretty impressed with our getting in and out of town abilities considering that none of us spoke swahili and non of them spoke english!! we did however find a supermarket and some nice cafe's which made a nice reak from luch of posho and beans that we ate for a week straight!!
Mama Nemy is pastor of the local church so most of our work was with the church, we did crusades and film showings most days this did mean that we (well the boys) built a stage out the front and i'm pleased to say this one was sturdyer than the one in kenya! We also visited a compassion international school's graduation and got a change to minister there in the form of the everything skit. We also visited anotheer church, after ariving 2 hours late we got breakfast, kate prached amazingly it was all about being friends with God and was deffinaly the preach that spoke to me most from the whole of outreach! We then got lunch twice and hiked a mountain and lost the window of the taxi bus! We also served at an oraphanged cooking, cleaning and decorating, me and Tess made posters of the kids rooms to give them coloura and make the rooms more homely! We also spent a bit of time going door to door with the church members and praying for them and their needs and just blessing the homes, it's one of the few things in ministry that you KNOW that even when you leave a mark will be left and blessing will continue to flow on families!
The moment that spoke to me most at Nemy's was during a crusade when me and Becca we're sitting with 2 sisiters Happy (age 8 with learning disabilities) and Angel her little sister, as i sat with Angel i got to see how she craved attention and how she was a little bundle of fun and joy that just wanted someone to play with, so we played row row your boat and had tickle fights and she was a model in my sunglasses! My favourite ministry from the whole of outreach was putting together packages for 2 families which included food and clothes,this meant i spenf a few hours in the African market wheere clothes where all less than £1 and we got so much for the girls, it was crazy and packed but i LOVED it and it was so great knowing we were getting things for people when you know they are going to be beyond greatful!
Our worship and prayer times while we were there were also relaly encouraging, God really spoke of our days of prayer and fasting to our team and to indiciduals, we recieved directions and encrouagement, it was a real reminder that God is personal and intimate with us and that he has a plan for each on of us even during the challenging times that when we don't undertand why things happen or what will happen next God calls us for a reason and we just have to trust in him because as Jeremiah 29:11 says "For i know the plans i have for you, they are plans for good to give you hope and a good future" we knew that God has called each one of us to be there and so there was a purpose for it and God would protect us and teach us through everthing that was or wasn't happening!!! It's so easy to get caught up in the drama's of liife, thinking about when you will next sleep or eat that we forget about our relationship with God, but sitting in the scilence with God is so freeing and releasing, God can just speak to you and bring healing and forgiveness!!
Sickness hit again week 5 and Becca's sick bucket became my sick bucket, but luckly i didn't get it as bad as Becca who spent all night throwing up and ended up in hospital with dehydration. But PTL after 1 night in hospital she came home safe!
During our stay in tanzania we got to go into Arusha which was pretty crazy, lots bigger than Jinja town that we're used to and we did get lost once but we were pretty impressed with our getting in and out of town abilities considering that none of us spoke swahili and non of them spoke english!! we did however find a supermarket and some nice cafe's which made a nice reak from luch of posho and beans that we ate for a week straight!!
Outreach week 2
our second week in kenya was spent in Rhiad which is about 30minuits out of Kisumu up the mountain so from the pastors house we had some amazing views out over the city and lake victoria :) The house was really lovely which i was greatful for seeing as i spent 3 days bed (well matreress) ridden with malaria!! you might ask how that happened, and honestly i don't know because i took my doxy religiously but 4 of us got malaria in the same week!
The trip to thr clinic was an adventurre, i've never had my photo taken in thr hospital by the doctor before, or been asked to sign the guest book, however the docotr did manage to find a cure for my hic-ups, a mouth full of sugar! i think i must have been the starngest patient- i laughed when they told me i had malaria! Fortunatly malaria is quite easily curable, 8 pills a day for 3 days with some horrible side-effects (the headache pills i got made me crazy!!)
On the ministry side of things it was a good week, we went to a muslim school where 90% of the students went to church- no i don't understad the either!! I spoke in a school about HIV/AIDS and relationships with each other and Jesus which i was nervous about because once again it was a muslim owned school and i was sure the kids would know more about HIV than i do! but we were accepted really well and even got to pray with the muslim school owner me and Joel rocked the session we ran with the P6&7 kids :)
Our crusades this week were in the middle of the village and we had a wooden stage that looked like it would collapse at any moment, my one brave ventre onto the stage during the skit got rained out (like most nights!) and we ended up hidding out in the opub with samosa's and the carrying chairs back to the house on our heads, 1. because we're in Africa and 2. because it was sitting raining! After another crusade we had our first (and only) incounter with demons, this poor high school age girl had been suffering for about 7 years by being haunted with spirits of death, however afetr 2 hours of praying she was delivered and since the images that haunted her mind have stopped!
One of the main difficulties we had this week was the approach to ministry, the pastor and culture had a somewhow agressive and forward approach to ministry which is deffinatly what i'm used to or necessarilty agree with but it is acccepted here, however trying to balance what i feel is right and culture is challenging!
We prepared to leave Kisumu on monday 28th of November, we spent many hours in the box sized Kampala coach office as the bus was in African style 3hours late! but we did walk down to lake victoria to watch the sun set and we saw some hippos!!!
The trip to thr clinic was an adventurre, i've never had my photo taken in thr hospital by the doctor before, or been asked to sign the guest book, however the docotr did manage to find a cure for my hic-ups, a mouth full of sugar! i think i must have been the starngest patient- i laughed when they told me i had malaria! Fortunatly malaria is quite easily curable, 8 pills a day for 3 days with some horrible side-effects (the headache pills i got made me crazy!!)
On the ministry side of things it was a good week, we went to a muslim school where 90% of the students went to church- no i don't understad the either!! I spoke in a school about HIV/AIDS and relationships with each other and Jesus which i was nervous about because once again it was a muslim owned school and i was sure the kids would know more about HIV than i do! but we were accepted really well and even got to pray with the muslim school owner me and Joel rocked the session we ran with the P6&7 kids :)
Our crusades this week were in the middle of the village and we had a wooden stage that looked like it would collapse at any moment, my one brave ventre onto the stage during the skit got rained out (like most nights!) and we ended up hidding out in the opub with samosa's and the carrying chairs back to the house on our heads, 1. because we're in Africa and 2. because it was sitting raining! After another crusade we had our first (and only) incounter with demons, this poor high school age girl had been suffering for about 7 years by being haunted with spirits of death, however afetr 2 hours of praying she was delivered and since the images that haunted her mind have stopped!
One of the main difficulties we had this week was the approach to ministry, the pastor and culture had a somewhow agressive and forward approach to ministry which is deffinatly what i'm used to or necessarilty agree with but it is acccepted here, however trying to balance what i feel is right and culture is challenging!
We prepared to leave Kisumu on monday 28th of November, we spent many hours in the box sized Kampala coach office as the bus was in African style 3hours late! but we did walk down to lake victoria to watch the sun set and we saw some hippos!!!
outreach
okay you're about ti get hit buy 3 long blog posts on outreach after 2 long months we're safely back in uganda, enjoy reading, and if i haven't said something you wanna know, just ask so mich happened i'm bound to have left something out!! :)
Monday, 19 December 2011
So this is chirstmas....
well it will be in 6 days!!! and do they know it's Christmas time at all???
well i've ben asking myself that for a few weeks now! it's crazy to think that at home the carol services willl have happened, the tree is up, (some of) the presents wrapped the lights are up not to mention that it is cold and everyone is wrapped up in coats hats scarfs and gloves! Right now for me i'm in that state when you're in July trying to remember what it's like to feel that cold or that Christmas vibes! Now don't get me wrong, there is a hint of chirstmas in the Air, and for the locals and the Africans i get the o,pression it really does feel like Christmas, and when Christmas day come around who knows what i'll feel?!?!?!?
Now i know some of you are asking, how on earth can you stand to be away at chirstmas, and i'm not going to lie, it's gonna be hard and it's gonna suck and i'm gonna miss people.I can imagine some of you thinking- what kind of a God would lead you to a place where you're going to be away at Christmas, where you're going to be working right up to Christmas eve and it's busy and you're tired!?!? But when i ask myself these questions i think about my life and my year and i consider the amazing adventure that God has taken me on! i think about the joy of the children's faces when you take some time to play with them i think about the fact that Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus so why shouldn't i be telling people about him on Christmas Eve, i think about how (hopefully) i will have another 70 years of chirstmas' and for once don't other people deserve to receive something special this chirstmas, this year we are providing 1 family with a house, 2 families with food and clothes, moving 1 church a step closer to completion and telling hundreds of people about the love of God and the hope and freedom in Christ Jesus- and they need that a whole lot more than i need my roast dinner on chirstmas day (although i would quite like it) and i think about the amazing things i have learnt and done how i'll be able to tell people for year to come about the chirstmas i spent in Tanzania and the joy that filled my heart when i prayed for a child i knew from that moment that God would be protecting them for the rest of their life! I think of the adventure of having malaria and the time my throw up was pink! and i am so greatful for this year i'm not afraid of what will happen to nme because i know that God is with me and he is going to protect me for the next 7 months, that i know that no matter how hard chirstmas is God will be my comforter, i think about my amazing friends here and how at the end of this year i will have many a good reason to me visiting America! and although i do miss my family and my friends so so much i know that i have next year and the year after, but this year it's all about giving hope of next year and life in the year after to many others that fear what next chirstmas will bring.
i love you all, Happy Christmas and have a blessed 2012 xx
well i've ben asking myself that for a few weeks now! it's crazy to think that at home the carol services willl have happened, the tree is up, (some of) the presents wrapped the lights are up not to mention that it is cold and everyone is wrapped up in coats hats scarfs and gloves! Right now for me i'm in that state when you're in July trying to remember what it's like to feel that cold or that Christmas vibes! Now don't get me wrong, there is a hint of chirstmas in the Air, and for the locals and the Africans i get the o,pression it really does feel like Christmas, and when Christmas day come around who knows what i'll feel?!?!?!?
Now i know some of you are asking, how on earth can you stand to be away at chirstmas, and i'm not going to lie, it's gonna be hard and it's gonna suck and i'm gonna miss people.I can imagine some of you thinking- what kind of a God would lead you to a place where you're going to be away at Christmas, where you're going to be working right up to Christmas eve and it's busy and you're tired!?!? But when i ask myself these questions i think about my life and my year and i consider the amazing adventure that God has taken me on! i think about the joy of the children's faces when you take some time to play with them i think about the fact that Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus so why shouldn't i be telling people about him on Christmas Eve, i think about how (hopefully) i will have another 70 years of chirstmas' and for once don't other people deserve to receive something special this chirstmas, this year we are providing 1 family with a house, 2 families with food and clothes, moving 1 church a step closer to completion and telling hundreds of people about the love of God and the hope and freedom in Christ Jesus- and they need that a whole lot more than i need my roast dinner on chirstmas day (although i would quite like it) and i think about the amazing things i have learnt and done how i'll be able to tell people for year to come about the chirstmas i spent in Tanzania and the joy that filled my heart when i prayed for a child i knew from that moment that God would be protecting them for the rest of their life! I think of the adventure of having malaria and the time my throw up was pink! and i am so greatful for this year i'm not afraid of what will happen to nme because i know that God is with me and he is going to protect me for the next 7 months, that i know that no matter how hard chirstmas is God will be my comforter, i think about my amazing friends here and how at the end of this year i will have many a good reason to me visiting America! and although i do miss my family and my friends so so much i know that i have next year and the year after, but this year it's all about giving hope of next year and life in the year after to many others that fear what next chirstmas will bring.
i love you all, Happy Christmas and have a blessed 2012 xx
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Bye for a while!
Okay so this is my last post for the next 8 weeks!!! I will be vannishing off the face of Uganda and vthe world of the internet to go and spread the good news of the gospel of Christ!
You might think its going to be really hard for me to be in a technology free wold for 2 months, but actually I'm really excited about it, i feel like i spend so much time checking facebook notifications i could have saved many spiritual lives in that time!! Don't get me wrong, i love catching up with people on facebook and e-mail so don't stop talking to me! But I'm excited to see how much God can use me when I'm away from these distractions!!
We leave on tuesday (hopefully) the date keeps changing but i know we'lll get there eventually in God's perfect timing! However not knowing what's happening (in true frican fashion) is something i do struggle with regularly!
and now some last minuit prayer points for the next 8 weeks:
Saftey as we travel and stay in new places
Good health and freedom from illness
Unity in our group
freedom from cultural difficulties
open hearts of us and the people we minister to so that we hear God
that we really reach peopl with the word of God
Peace as we minister in new and maybe challenging environments
for God to work in our lives
That we don't get homesick over chirstmas!
For a fun, joyfull and blessed trip
Thanks! SSpeak to you in 8 weeks!!!
You might think its going to be really hard for me to be in a technology free wold for 2 months, but actually I'm really excited about it, i feel like i spend so much time checking facebook notifications i could have saved many spiritual lives in that time!! Don't get me wrong, i love catching up with people on facebook and e-mail so don't stop talking to me! But I'm excited to see how much God can use me when I'm away from these distractions!!
We leave on tuesday (hopefully) the date keeps changing but i know we'lll get there eventually in God's perfect timing! However not knowing what's happening (in true frican fashion) is something i do struggle with regularly!
and now some last minuit prayer points for the next 8 weeks:
Saftey as we travel and stay in new places
Good health and freedom from illness
Unity in our group
freedom from cultural difficulties
open hearts of us and the people we minister to so that we hear God
that we really reach peopl with the word of God
Peace as we minister in new and maybe challenging environments
for God to work in our lives
That we don't get homesick over chirstmas!
For a fun, joyfull and blessed trip
Thanks! SSpeak to you in 8 weeks!!!
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Week 11!!! DTS lecture phase nearly over!!
Happy Bonfire Night!!!! (i hate that i'm missing it!) Welll this week has been quite quiet, what's starnge is that it was our last full week of lectures before outreach, we have 3 days lectures and 2 days prep next week and then it's off to kenya which is crazy!!! (please pray that our visa's get sorted as we have no idea what is goin on with them right now!!!) This week base has been 'soaked' in worship thanks to the Precious Jewels team from the Philipines (they work with children who suffer trauma) It's been an amazing week and we've just been really submerged in worship (except wednesday night when i was so tired i fell asleep) but friday night (which was meant to be a bonfire and would have been perfect timing for fireworks night but it rained!!!) God really spoke to be though the lyrics "i'm tradin my sorrows, i'm trading my shame, i'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord" that just really struck me, we accept the forgiveness of our sins because it makes God happy, we may feel unworthy and like we don't deserve it (which is true) but that souldn't stop us recieving freedom in Christ because that's what God wants us to have it!! If we don't accept it then Jesus died in vain- which quite frankly sucks!!! Aside from that this week we had prayer and fasting for our outreach for our unity and God's provision! Lectures this week have been on world view which was pretty interesting and extremly useful for outreach! I think thats about it for now! We leave for Kenya in 7 days which is crazy but hopefully i'll get one more blog in before i leave!!! Be praying for our preperations and that we get everything sorted with peace!
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