okay so i realisd i missed this week out, which is a shame because it was the best!!! we were in Mutwala Kenya staying on the banks of a river in a mud hut with the nicest family community, we did lots of school visits, which included skits, preaches, games and dances. I gave my first preach at a primary school, i talked about how Jesus is our healer and how he is the light of the world (from the story of JEsus healing the blind man) i was amazed at the response of the kids, so many of them decided on that day that they needed to lay down their worries and fear and trust in God! it was amazing considering i wa freaking out about what to speak about, but what can i say... the holy spirit really doe work thourhg you and give you the words to say!!!
Every evening we did crusades at the top of the hill and showed movies, unfortuanly it rained a few evening and got very muddy, trying to climb muddy hills in flip flops is the ultimate fail and many times i walked bare foot in the dark home having to be pushed up muddy slopes or caught at the bottom when i went flying!!!
Every moring we would collect water at 6 from the river, this involved more battling with mnuddly slopes whilst carrying a jerry can on my head, i am proud to say in true verity fashion i slipped and fell getting coverd in mud and busting my shoulder!!!! However the jerry cans of water were essential for washing and bathing (pouring a jerry can on water over your head!!!) clothes washing took place in the river (veruy african i felt)
and now it seems like it was so long ago i cant think what else to say right now, it seems so long ago!!
Showing posts with label outreach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outreach. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Outreach weeks 6-8
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!
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!
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!!!
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!
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Lets Blog!
So, i know it's been a while since a proper blog, so i guess lots should have happened but at the same time lots hasn't happened! Life goes on with bible reading (of which i'm behind) lectures, work duties (more cleaning the classroom) and cooking!!
Since my last 'proper' update i had a late birthday celebration during work duty- joel poured the water we'd been using to wash sheets straight over my head! apparently that's the tradition here in Africa when it's your birthday you get soaked! 9 i might have to bring this tradition back to england!) i also broke my toe (i think) by dropping a hoe on it whilst weeding! luckly it's doing much better now :)
lectures have been on prayer and intercession, praise and woship which was deffinatly on of the best weeks so far, and mission evangalism. During praise and worship week we did a personality test, i am a conscientious instigator (and no i didn't have a clue what that meant either) but bacially i'm organised and i like to get jobs done! however it also means i'm quiet pffffffffffffffffffft!!!!!!
We've also had Tess' birthday, she joined the 19 club and for her birthday we had a dance party which was so so much fun :) We also continued the clebrations with a day trip to Kampala as me Tess and Becca, it was muchous fun, we started of our day with breakfast (fancy coffee and pan au chocolat) and then wonderd around the 2 small shopping centers, got pedicures and a dreadlock (which is now half fallen out :( ) we got pizza for lunch at New York Kittchen which had these massive slices of pizza and cup cakes galore (i was to full to want a cup cake but nect time i'm there!!!) what was funny was that we all experienced slight reverse cultuer shock! everything was so western compared to base and we felt like proper tourists rather than missionaries- i can't even imagina how excited i will get over things when i get back to England!
During that week our small group (chosen generation) also had a meal which me and Katie cooked in true western style- we had grilled cheese and fruit slad with yoghurt and the crepes with lemon and sugar and butter an cinamon! It was such an amazing meal!
The week of the 17th saw lectures on spiritual warfare and the start of getting up at 5am! the point of which is to conduct spiritual warfare as we perpare for outreach so the timming was prettu good! unfortunalty my body objects to getting up at 5am and running on so little sleep and i spent 2 days in bed! At one point my staff thought i had malaria but PTL it was just over tiredness and now i am getting to rest more duing the day so hopefully i will continue to cope (however you can continue to praye for me!!!) Lectures that week ended on thurday because our teacher had his werdding introcuction at the weekend (wanna know what that is? read on!!!) so on friday we got a pretty chill day as we just had to clean the class room and then we got to go and relax in town which was needed after a long aand exhausting week! That day finnished in the awsome way- cheese fondu!!! I love having a swiss girl on our DTS!!!
Saturday- susan and charles' introduction. This is a ugandan tradition and is the official engagement of a couple, it's hosted by the girls family and the boys family turn up and there's a big joke running throughtout and they pretend that they don't know what they're there for! But then the girls family all parade and dance round as a welcoming thing and they choose the boy out of the crowed of the boys family! It was very colourful and fun even though it was long and lots of talking in luganda which we didn't understand! It ended with the boys family bringing gifts and gifts there were so many at leats 50 fruit baskets and then other gift boxes and a sofa and arm chair and a cow and chicken and lots more! unfortunalty i don't have many pictures because my camera broke- bit after many hours or praying and a nail file it's fixed! :D we had to wear traditional wear of a chicoi ( i think i spelt that wrong) i cant describe it so here's a picture:
Then this past coming week has certainly been a different one! We stared the week preparing for our adventure (keep reading!) which involved a zulu dance- not for mzungu's! and lots of skit rehursals! Then on wednesday we had a love feast to say farwell to some people on the base so we got some amazing food and then headed of on our adventure to lingera island! we took a 2 hour boat ride to the island which has to ben the most crazy journey i have ever had! First the bus got stuck driving down the the lake edge, we ended up leaving 2 hours late and so and hour in to the jouney (at 7) it got dark, and then the storm hit! No joke we had wind and thunder and lightning and ouring heavy rain and iour boat- basically a canoe with a motor on the back! we got drentched without any jumpers or coats- but being typical chirstians and YWAMers we didn;t let this dampern our spirits and the second half of the journey consisted of lots of praise and worship songs!!!
Our stay on the Island way just as exciting, the base there is tiny! we had smaller rooms and so me Tess and Dama shared a room, me aand Tess shard an almost double bed- which was so so comfy! :) lessons continued as normal in a md hut! how crazy is that and then in the afternoons we had a crusade- basically we set up speakers in a field and preached and did our dances and skits and saw so many people get saved :) i got to spend this time lust showing love to the little kids although i couldn't understand them it's amazing how God can just promt you to meet there needs and so it was amazing to see and 7 year old girl light up when i held her baby sister so that she could join in the dancing! the whole experience was great and then when we went back the next day the kids came back and found us and we played games and sang songs like the hokey kokey with them- unfortunatly the crusade didn;t actually happen because the rain hit and it hit hard!!! we ran to find cover and eventually hid on a tin hut which turned out to be the police station! Me and tess then went back ou in the rain to watch the local football match- the school kids beat the community, but it was the craziest match the whole 'pitch' was a puddle and most of them were playing without shoes! Saturday was our last day on this island- we got up at 6 and climbed the hill of the island- the view was beautiful you could see so far and the other islands in Lake victorian and just miles and miles of water! our time ended with a talk from Aunt Catherine about the YWAM base on Lingera, the base does such an amazing job in administeing health care to the island and surroundithen ng islands and giving immunisations. However the base needs prayers they are lacking in staff (only 3 of them) and they also need provision of things like a computer and photocopier! so pray people! We left the sunny island and travelled back in the day- i finally have a watch strap tan and got back on the bus just and the rain started to fall!
and now? we are relaxing in flavours as base internet still isn't working but i just had a bacon and egg sandwich so it was worth getting up early to wash all our muddy clothes so we could get into town early :)
Since my last 'proper' update i had a late birthday celebration during work duty- joel poured the water we'd been using to wash sheets straight over my head! apparently that's the tradition here in Africa when it's your birthday you get soaked! 9 i might have to bring this tradition back to england!) i also broke my toe (i think) by dropping a hoe on it whilst weeding! luckly it's doing much better now :)
lectures have been on prayer and intercession, praise and woship which was deffinatly on of the best weeks so far, and mission evangalism. During praise and worship week we did a personality test, i am a conscientious instigator (and no i didn't have a clue what that meant either) but bacially i'm organised and i like to get jobs done! however it also means i'm quiet pffffffffffffffffffft!!!!!!
We've also had Tess' birthday, she joined the 19 club and for her birthday we had a dance party which was so so much fun :) We also continued the clebrations with a day trip to Kampala as me Tess and Becca, it was muchous fun, we started of our day with breakfast (fancy coffee and pan au chocolat) and then wonderd around the 2 small shopping centers, got pedicures and a dreadlock (which is now half fallen out :( ) we got pizza for lunch at New York Kittchen which had these massive slices of pizza and cup cakes galore (i was to full to want a cup cake but nect time i'm there!!!) what was funny was that we all experienced slight reverse cultuer shock! everything was so western compared to base and we felt like proper tourists rather than missionaries- i can't even imagina how excited i will get over things when i get back to England!
During that week our small group (chosen generation) also had a meal which me and Katie cooked in true western style- we had grilled cheese and fruit slad with yoghurt and the crepes with lemon and sugar and butter an cinamon! It was such an amazing meal!
The week of the 17th saw lectures on spiritual warfare and the start of getting up at 5am! the point of which is to conduct spiritual warfare as we perpare for outreach so the timming was prettu good! unfortunalty my body objects to getting up at 5am and running on so little sleep and i spent 2 days in bed! At one point my staff thought i had malaria but PTL it was just over tiredness and now i am getting to rest more duing the day so hopefully i will continue to cope (however you can continue to praye for me!!!) Lectures that week ended on thurday because our teacher had his werdding introcuction at the weekend (wanna know what that is? read on!!!) so on friday we got a pretty chill day as we just had to clean the class room and then we got to go and relax in town which was needed after a long aand exhausting week! That day finnished in the awsome way- cheese fondu!!! I love having a swiss girl on our DTS!!!
Saturday- susan and charles' introduction. This is a ugandan tradition and is the official engagement of a couple, it's hosted by the girls family and the boys family turn up and there's a big joke running throughtout and they pretend that they don't know what they're there for! But then the girls family all parade and dance round as a welcoming thing and they choose the boy out of the crowed of the boys family! It was very colourful and fun even though it was long and lots of talking in luganda which we didn't understand! It ended with the boys family bringing gifts and gifts there were so many at leats 50 fruit baskets and then other gift boxes and a sofa and arm chair and a cow and chicken and lots more! unfortunalty i don't have many pictures because my camera broke- bit after many hours or praying and a nail file it's fixed! :D we had to wear traditional wear of a chicoi ( i think i spelt that wrong) i cant describe it so here's a picture:
Our stay on the Island way just as exciting, the base there is tiny! we had smaller rooms and so me Tess and Dama shared a room, me aand Tess shard an almost double bed- which was so so comfy! :) lessons continued as normal in a md hut! how crazy is that and then in the afternoons we had a crusade- basically we set up speakers in a field and preached and did our dances and skits and saw so many people get saved :) i got to spend this time lust showing love to the little kids although i couldn't understand them it's amazing how God can just promt you to meet there needs and so it was amazing to see and 7 year old girl light up when i held her baby sister so that she could join in the dancing! the whole experience was great and then when we went back the next day the kids came back and found us and we played games and sang songs like the hokey kokey with them- unfortunatly the crusade didn;t actually happen because the rain hit and it hit hard!!! we ran to find cover and eventually hid on a tin hut which turned out to be the police station! Me and tess then went back ou in the rain to watch the local football match- the school kids beat the community, but it was the craziest match the whole 'pitch' was a puddle and most of them were playing without shoes! Saturday was our last day on this island- we got up at 6 and climbed the hill of the island- the view was beautiful you could see so far and the other islands in Lake victorian and just miles and miles of water! our time ended with a talk from Aunt Catherine about the YWAM base on Lingera, the base does such an amazing job in administeing health care to the island and surroundithen ng islands and giving immunisations. However the base needs prayers they are lacking in staff (only 3 of them) and they also need provision of things like a computer and photocopier! so pray people! We left the sunny island and travelled back in the day- i finally have a watch strap tan and got back on the bus just and the rain started to fall!
and now? we are relaxing in flavours as base internet still isn't working but i just had a bacon and egg sandwich so it was worth getting up early to wash all our muddy clothes so we could get into town early :)
Thursday, 20 October 2011
mini update!
So internets still down and i i don't have loads of time to give you a full on update right now, i'll get there at some point. But i have some prayer points:
Internet is still down because they need to get some more cables in, pray that this happens quickly!
This week we started getting up at 4:45am to pray for outreach for an hour before quiet time, i'm starting to understand why this is so improtant, we need to be eqipped and it's an awsome way to show God how serious we are about serving him. BUT i need more grace and understanding, i also need to me physically cabable, my body responds to early starts and lack of sleep y being sick (not very helpfull) in order to get abough sleep i also have to go to bed really early, this makes getting other things such as Bible reading done very difficult so i can feel myself starting to get stresses about it. So please just pray for me about all of this!
For me you can also pray that during this time of tiredness and illness i continue to seek and find God, it can be very difficult to lose focus and just get angry rather than remebering why i'm here! After tha amazing breakthrough that i had i really don't want to fall back now!
Outreach , comes in 3 weeks now, we have lots to do and as a DTS we are all struggling with the tthings we have to learn and prepare, we never seem to stop! so we all just need peace and rest and strenght during this time. We also need saftey on outreach and god just to show us where he wants us!
As a side note, i am doing really well, i have been ill but am recovering now, it's not all negative here honest! We took a trip to kampala on sunday which was really good and we got to sit in a proper western coffee shop and eat pan au chocolate and pancakes and have pizza for lunch! So as life goes on it's hard but it's good and i know everything i am doing is worth it even on the tough days!
Internet is still down because they need to get some more cables in, pray that this happens quickly!
This week we started getting up at 4:45am to pray for outreach for an hour before quiet time, i'm starting to understand why this is so improtant, we need to be eqipped and it's an awsome way to show God how serious we are about serving him. BUT i need more grace and understanding, i also need to me physically cabable, my body responds to early starts and lack of sleep y being sick (not very helpfull) in order to get abough sleep i also have to go to bed really early, this makes getting other things such as Bible reading done very difficult so i can feel myself starting to get stresses about it. So please just pray for me about all of this!
For me you can also pray that during this time of tiredness and illness i continue to seek and find God, it can be very difficult to lose focus and just get angry rather than remebering why i'm here! After tha amazing breakthrough that i had i really don't want to fall back now!
Outreach , comes in 3 weeks now, we have lots to do and as a DTS we are all struggling with the tthings we have to learn and prepare, we never seem to stop! so we all just need peace and rest and strenght during this time. We also need saftey on outreach and god just to show us where he wants us!
As a side note, i am doing really well, i have been ill but am recovering now, it's not all negative here honest! We took a trip to kampala on sunday which was really good and we got to sit in a proper western coffee shop and eat pan au chocolate and pancakes and have pizza for lunch! So as life goes on it's hard but it's good and i know everything i am doing is worth it even on the tough days!
Saturday, 8 October 2011
Week 7
I'm currently sitting in the source cafe in Jinja with a chocolate chip cookie and an iced mocha :)~ so you could say i'm doing pretty good, internet on the base is still down, I think they got it back for a few hours before the wires got stolen again!
Well this week my small group leader Nehemiah told me that I’m getting louder, I guess that means I'm officially at home here now! Tuesday was an exciting day because we finally found out where we're going on outreach! Kenya and the Tanzania! Not sure exactly where in those countries or what it is we'll be doing there but it's good to know now where we are headed, it's going to be a good yet testing time for us, no less because starting next week until the end of outreach we have to get up at 5am to spend on hour praying for outreach before quiet time! I am excited for going on outreach though but I know we are going to be stripped back to basics even more than we already are and I know that these experiences e.g. sharing a mattress with 2 others will be challenging but will really grow me!
This week I also started reading 1 of my books for my DTS, “it is really you God?” by Lorren Cunningham- the founder of YWAM, it tell s the story of YWAM and how it started but it's also really encouraging so I would recommend that you find a copy and read it!!!!!!
Thursday we had a day (morning) or prayer and fasting, which is funny because this weeks ;lectures were on orayer and intercession, so we got to prectice what we had learnt! I think the most important thing I learnt this week was to pray with expectancy and faith that what you are praying for will happen, I mean sometime we don't have faith because we don't want to be let down when our timing doesn;t fit with Gods, but i've learnt that this week we just have to have faith and more faith and more faith and continue to have fait that our prayers will be answered when the timing is right! I feel it was a very productive morning and am excited for some things, but I cant tell you about them yet.... hehe
Friday, ah yes Friday, I think I broke my toe..... I know I need to stop cutting. Hurting my feet, thus time it wasn't hitting a rock or falling over. I dropped a hoe on my foot whilst weeding for work duty! My foot is now steri stripped and plastered, partly to stop the dirt getting in, partly to stop me trying (and failing) to bend it and partly to stop the nail falling off! I'm fine tho! :) I was even fine enough to (stupidly) try and run during boot camp- that failed but I did get a good ab work out :)
I think that's about it for this week! Although one last strange thing this week I have been homesick for lakeside- typical Essex girl I know! Hahaha! So if you wanna pray for me about that then please do, and also that I have a very clear instruction about what God wants me to do at the end of this year! Missing y'all ( in the words of Becca) have a blessed week!
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Week 3!
This week has been pretty buys, emotionally and physically exhausting as well, or teachings have been pretty hard core! We've been looking at rejection/ acceptance and the father heart of God
Monday we started small groups which is a group of 5 of us- we meet 3 times a week to chat about how we're getting on, how we are finding the speaker and things like that. We also had work duties, this week I was cleaning the kitchen and had to spend 2 hours cleaning cobwebs off the ceiling- there were some HUGE spiders!!!
Then Tuesday was food heaven! We got pasta and beef at lunchtime and then went to a hog roast at Tim and Jackies in the afternoon! It was amazing :) we also had a social event in the evening where we played some games I beat Christian in seeing who could chew along a piece of string to the sweet first! We also got popcorn and did some crazy African dancing!
Wednesday morning we got banana pancakes which made a very nice change from bread rolls! We also had a massive downpour over lunchtime I don't think I have ever seen it rain so hard and the rain drops were MAHUSIVE!
What else? Friday we went out with the evangelism team to do some door to door teaching- I was amazed about how welcoming people were to here even f they didn't want to make a commitment right then we defiantly got the chance to sow some seeds- well at last I think we did everyone was speaking in Lugnada so I had no idea what was going on half the time!
In other news our bathroom light now works and we nearly killed Joel when failing to kill the rats- well actually it wasn't poison that made him ill but for a while we thought it was!
we had a thunderstorm last night, it lasted for hours and the claps of thunder lasted like 20 seconds1
I feel like i've forgotten to say something important but i cant think what!
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