Day 10

Day 10…really? Already? Wow. Crazy to think that I am blogging into the double digits when it seems as though we just got to the SA airport.

We were able to head back to the women's ministry this morning to have Patrick measure us for our skirts, shirts and suits AND learn how to make the paper beads! I was so looking forward to the bead making. I had my hands in so many beads re-making all my bracelets for my prayer partners, I could not wait to see the making of the beads! It was just as hard and just as time consuming as I thought it would be. Dang. These women rock and have so much patience to be able to do this stuff. My ADD kicked in, and 9 beads were enough for me. :) One thing that really got us giggling was when Judy B went to show one of the women's ministry ladies her newly rolled bead. Judy was so proud! The sweet woman took it, looked at it, and threw it in the bushes! It was no good! Good for us, but not good enough for them. Gave us such a good laugh! We decided we would not show off anymore of our beads just incase they were not good enough! Today was another day of finishing up stuff again, this time at Bulubandi. Finishing up the ambassadorship, finishing up the desks, finishing up passing out the mercy bags, and finishing up the pictures of the kids. I think we completed 2 out of 4. Not too bad. I was back on picture duty, and it BLEW my mind when Sue mentioned tonight at dinner that I took 1400+ pictures! That is a crazy insane amount of pictures. Still shaking my head on that one. 1400 beautiful shots of kids. 1400 different shots with personality. We made it through all the classes except for 1, thanks to the wonderful help from one of the English teachers, Bridget. She was a class picture prepping rock star and dang, did we wish we had her the whole time! She had some wonderful questions to for us, and was really hoping that we had brought an American English teacher to ask some questions to. As you can read from this blog, English is NOT my subject of choice, so I stayed way far away from that. Desk making was a success along with finishing up the ambassadorship. We had most of our team who wanted to go back to Kokombo. Pastor Stephen really wanted us to give out Mercy bags. Sue talked to him about wanting to go back to Kokombo, and Pastor Stephen was so sweet to totally understand, and wanted us to be lead to do what we were feeling called to. Love that man. I was also able to spend some more sweet time with both Gloria and Rigal again. Those 2. Gloria wrote me another letter and made me a basket made from notebook paper with 2 more pictures in it. Rigal held my hand so close to him I wondered if I would ever get it back. Geesh. I pray that I touched their hearts even a little bit, no match for as much as they touched mine. It was hard to leave today knowing that was the last time I would get to see the two of them. 

After our sweet time @ Bulubandi, it was off to Kukombo. We were greeted but the gift of life, a baby cow being carried by a little boy, with the mama chasing him! (I think he thought the mama was tied up like most of the animals here.) We also found a brand new baby goat, only being delivered about an hour before we got there. Between the baby animals and the sweet human babies everywhere, it's a baby heaven! More sweet time loving on kids and the adults. At one point I looked at Jaimie and said, if my arm was my neck, I would have been suffocated by now. These Kukombo kids latch on to you more so than the other kids. AND…I never saw a single kid wearing one of the t-shirts that we handed out on Sunday. Cracked me up! 

I remember Blake explaining some stuff to me to warn me about my trip, from experience from his trip 3 years ago. There was so much stuff he tried to warn/pre-tell me about, I remember almost getting lost in the conversations since I had not the slightest idea what to expect. One thing I remember pretty clear was the story about the days. The day or two when you get here and see it all. The day and day after you get here and think that the days will go on and on for you to be here. Then the day when you are getting ready to leave and you think, I can not believe it is over. I prayed pretty hard before I got here that I would not go through the first couple days of sadness seeing Uganda. That I would be prepared and ready to dive in for all of it. I have thanked God for my easy transition into this country. I never thought about the leaving part though. I did not pray for the end. I am starting to think about it now, and am starting to feel the sadness. Please join me in prayer for our team for the next 2 days as we finish up here in Uganda, the day and a half of travel back home, and the transition back into normal life. 

Babe, though I am sad at the thought of leaving, I can hardly explain the excitement of knowing I get to see you and the boys in 4 days. Love you. 

My first paper bead

Not bad for a Mzungu

Ugandan food...it's what's for lunch

This is Rigal who stole a piece of my heart and forgot to give it back. (and yes, that is a monkey sticker on my glasses. We bribe the children. HA!)

My awesome bed for the last 8 days, complete with mosquito net. :)

Day 9

Today is yet another day that I am again amazed at the Lord's handiwork. (squirrel…because I am a goofball and a terrible speller, I had to make sure I spelled handiwork right cause it had the squiggly lines. Is it with a y, an i? I was right the first time, thank you, but heres another look at how cool He is…the thesaurus look up for handiwork: noun - CREATION. Hello! Creation. His creation. Perfect description.)

Any-who…we were able to go back to Bulubandi again today. Guess what…those kids who greeted us with the most awesome greeting Saturday, did it again. Not because they didn't know us, but because this time they did. And were so excited to see us again. I wish I had that enthusiasm when I greeted my friends. Pure love and joy. There is a little girl there that has taken a front row seat in Jen Taylor's heart, Gloria. She is the one I talked about that took me in a couple of days ago. That sweet girl found me so quick. Sweet heart that girl is. AND, today she had a sweet picture drawn ready just for me. I asked her to write her name on it, and her face lit up like the sun. It was almost like I could hear her sweet self, so happy that I wanted her to write HER name. I told her I would keep that paper and pray for her. These sweet kids grab onto you with sweet love and affection. I pray that she has someone here that can love her as much as she has for others. I had to say goodbye to sweet Gloria for a little bit as we went down the road to the Women's ministry, where Pastor Irene pastors to these women. Some are widows, all are mothers, all are absolutely beautiful. AND one was named Jennifer. I gave a big whoop whoop for the power of the Jennifers, and she let out a loud "aye aye aye aye!!!!" Pure excitement in her name twin. :) We were able to gather in a circle with the women and hear their stories. These women care enough about their families to gather twice a week to better themselves so that they may better their families. Another beautiful picture of community. We were they able to see and explore their crafts that they make to support themselves. Beads, purses, hats, bowls and mats galore. All beautiful colors of our God's rainbow. Tomorrow we get to go back and see how the beads are made! Oh, I can't wait. 

After visiting with the women's ministry, we were able to take the red dirt road on foot to head back to Bulubandi. The people we pass along the way are remarkable. Some scream, some wave, some stare and some babies cry. Most all are fascinated with us Mzungu. I could only imagine it would be like people with purple or green skin walking down our streets at home. Back at Bulubandi, Gloria found me again as soon as she broke for lunch. This time beaming with joy as she passed me and showed me her lunch. She's awesome. Guess what…after lunch, another picture. She is an artist through and through, and I am blessed that she is sharing it with me. So…I had to give her something back. With my best block letters, since I can't draw worth a flip, I wrote out her name and a little letter to her knowing how much I will think about her and how much God loves her.

Then came time for pictures. This time, we were not quite as ready or prepared, and the kids smelled the fear. Goodness gracious, it was like herding kittens. Loud and crazy kittens. They don't do the finger over the lips and 2 fingers in the air to be quiet either. When mzungu does that, they look at each other and laugh. They also don't understand "shhhhhh…". Hilarious! They laughed and laughed, while most of the time our team looked at each other totally confused. But I can say without a doubt, Sue needs Lugandan lessons. She was a hoot! about 2/3 through the first (and only class we were able to get to), we finally gained control and were able to complete our task. Whew. We worked for our rice and beans today, let me tell you.

We left a tad early to hit the Iganga street market to find some fabric so that Irene's husband, Patrick, can make us skirts. Most everything here has been a new experience, but the market was in it's own category of crazy. People everywhere. Through my head "which one of us does not belong" played through my head as we walked through. I tell you what through, the fabrics were beautiful!! It was hard to pick one. I was a bit overwhelmed…especially when our friend Julie took us through a small & skinny pathway filled with shoes. We were on a mission to find some school shoes for some of the kids at Phil's. Praise God we had Julie with us, who was totally in charge! I wish I could have understood what they were saying! All I know is I walked out with 1 of the 2 pair I needed. We will be back to experience the market and finish up our shopping on Friday.

We were able to make a side trip on the way to the Mum back to the kids house with Hope Africa. Moses was there, and was so exited again. He did not know we were coming back today. He is just a regular teen age boy, not getting too close, but never leaving sight of me. Love that. He has been allowing me to love on other children who are not able to have someone here. One of them is Masiat, who I finally found again after about 15 minutes. The best I can guess (again with a language barrier) is that she went back to school when she saw up arrive to get her last math exam book to show me. Sweetness. I was able to sit down with her and we went over all of her answers she wrote. She told me the ones she got wrong, and if she didn't know the right answer, we went over then together. One question was a doozie, and I looked at her and said "girl, I'd need a pen for this one". She jumped up, and returned about a minute later with a pen. We were able to work through the remaining problems, this time with an audience! I felt as though I was able to be just like her sponsor, Julie, who is a teacher. I put on my best Julie Page hat, and went to work! She is a precious girl with a big 'ol heart. Her friends watch her and smile as she talks. She takes such pride in keeping her area clean in her room. She has beautiful handwriting. Her smile makes me tear up. I get to be a part of all of this, as my sweet boy Moses watches. I look over at him every couple of minutes and he smiles so big. My heart is so full.

I love our team of 12 + our remarkable driver Haji. I am sure this is the best team that has ever traveled to Iganga, and it is hard to think we will only be here for 2 more days until we head back to Kapala on Saturday to spend 2 days there. 

Babe, I was soooooo excited to face time you and the boys today, and am happy you got to meet our Haji. I don't remember if he told you he loves me 5 or 50 times. I hope Brandon had fun hanging out with buds with early out today, and that Camo runs super fast and makes his mama proud at his Cross Country meet this afternoon. I love you and miss you so.

Kids playing in the yard of the children's ministry. I have been trying to get a pic of a kid playing with a tire since we got here. I finally got 2. :) Kids here play with the darnedest things.

The beautiful colors of the crafts.

An unnamed, not talked about, and not photographed friend working hard at taking pictures. :)

One of my sweet pictures from Gloria.

Deep thoughts with Haji.

My sweet family, face timing at 6am their time. 

Day 8

Turns out, Iganga is kind of like home when it rains. Except that they have received a lot of it, unlike us back home. They get their own little road floods, that reminds me of my neighborhood. Except here, the roads are red dirt, not black top. With that, come holes, and ruts, and bumps. Lots of them. Makes for a super fun 1 1/2 ride to Top Hills!

We headed to Top Hills school again today to finish up all the things we were not able to accomplish yesterday. God decided to go along with our plan today, thank you! We split up our team of 12, to finish up desks, teach a sweet man named Richard the guitar (and Glenn got to also add the school's headmaster Moses to the lesson too!), work on child sponsorship applications, and take pictures (ohhh…and mercy bags @ the end of the day). We were all on fire today! Our picture taking group was hilarious!!! Again, I have a WHOLE new respect for Lifetouch. Trying to get 55+kids in order for a group picture (WITH a language barrier to add) and get them to stand still and smile? It takes talent. Thank goodness our team was gifted it yet again today. These kids were cracking us up!! Some of them would not secca (Lugandan for smile) at all, while others looked like they were having a seizure they laughed so hard. I think we had over 1000+ pictures taken from Nursery (kindergarden) through P6 (6th grade). P7 lucked out today with only having time for their group picture. They will finish up a couple weeks later when the group of 4 who are staying for a month come back to Top Hills. We laughed, and laughed and laughed. Things I learned while taking pictures, 1. fart noises are funny, even half way around the world 2. 13 year old kids have somehow learned the eye roll too, half way around the world. Good times, friends. Good times! 

Today was also what was labeled "Goats and Chickens" on our itinerary. :) Tree of Life gave the sponsors the opportunity to sponsor their kids families with a goat, a chicken, or a combo of both. These are given to the child's family, to help bless and support their family. Not only that, but they are teaching them the idea of "first fruits" by asking for them to bless the school back with their first goat or baby chick offspring. What a beautiful picture of giving and giving back, even in hardship. We were able to be a part in handing the goats and chickens to the families and children, and letting them know of the blessing from their sponsor, who was not here. They were so grateful! It was one more way we were able to be hands and feet of Christ. 

Squirrel...I laughed today as I was reminded of the movie Groundhog Day. It is a little like that staying at the Mum and ministering during the day. Every morning, we walk into the hotel dining area. Quick cup of hot water for your coffee. Breakfast time…french toast please (or today I got real crazy and got a veggie omelet.) :) Time for devotion. Hurry people, we have 5 minutes till we need to be on the bus. Check, on the bus. Oh wait. We are not ready yet. Please hold your horses for 30 minutes (or maybe 60 if we are real confused. Ok, on the road. People, kids, people, boda boda here, boda boda there, laughter, bump, bump, more laughter, WATCH OUT CHICKEN CHICKEN CHICKEN, people, stores, laughter, oh goodness, we almost hit someone, ok...we are here. Love on kids…find the holy spirit…time for lunch. Oh yes, my bladder is full. Awesome. Hold a tissue under your nose…cough cough…and run out as fast as you can. (Bathroom breaks are NOT my favorite.) Lunch? Yes, please, I'll take rice, beans, cabbage, pineapple and chapati. Drink? Warm coke please. :) Sometimes I mess things up all crazy like and sit in a different place, or put the food on a different area of my plate. :) It is the most beautiful and life changing Groundhog Day ever though.

We were told to LOAD THE BUS at 4pm to head to the market. Well, that happened for almost half. Then we decided to wait 20 minutes to finish up the desks. Well, 20 turned into about an hour and a half. Totally OK! We had a box of chickens for the bus ride home, that were now becoming kid poking bags. So…we were able to teach the kids a new cheer "Chickens are friends… Be nice to chickens", as Liz pet the chickens. More laughter. That wasn't holding them, so then came the bubbles. That held the kids for a while, especially since Haji was bribing them with 1000 shillings to the kid who could bring him a bubble on their hand. Haji = 1 funny dude. I was able to teach the kids about some American stuff, naming everything on my wrist and head and what it was for (you know me and by silly bling). Watch, bracelet, mosquito bracelet, rubber band, another bracelet, sunglasses, hair tie, and head band. Also taught them all about my family, how old everyone we could see was, then we counted by 10's and 100's. They were so intrigued! It was phenomenal having so many children around and want to pay attention. Oh, PS, there was no market. Hopefully tomorrow. 

Another day of huge blessings, and prayers for a good night's sleep for our team. We need it. Also, please pray for our little ailments to be gone, so that we may all be 100%!

Babe…I love you and miss you and the boys so much. I pray everything is going smoothly. To all the people helping making life work while I am gone, I could not be here with out you, and I will never be able to repay you. Thank you.

Hi Mom. :)

Blessings,

Jen Taylor

Day 6 & 7

Man…to say the last 2 days have been a whirlwind is an understatement. Let me see if I can try and write.

Yesterday was Sunday, church day! We all piled in bus after another good breakfast to head to Kokombo for church service. Kokombo is a village where Tree of Life has a medical clinic and a place for worship. As soon as we pulled up, we were greeted by drums and people singing and dancing! So much that I was not sure that we would make it in the gate without running multiple people over. All loves were spared as we pulled in and were greeted by the most magnificent greeting ever. Well, they are all good, but this one was grand! Singing, dancing, drumming, shaking, smiling, on and on. The greeting lasted about 20 minutes before we headed into the church. I should also mention, that Jen Taylor got a pretty good case of car sickness on the way there. Boy 'o boy, it stinks. By the time we got into the church, I felt like I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I love to live by "fake it till you make it", which I still tried to live by here in Iganga. So, a lot of the church service is somewhat of a rocky blur, but I remember laughing when Pastor Stephen stood up and gave us the order of service. I can remember, "the women will lead us in a song, then another song, then another song, then another song, then the introduction, then another song," etc, or something to that effect. :) I tried my best to keep my head up and watch all that I could! It was incredible. The singing and dancing was nothing like I have ever seen before, and they worship with ALL they have, nothing held back. So cool. About an hour or so into the service, I had to be taken to the clinic. Sweet Sue said I looked terrible and that my face was as white as the little picture of Africa on my shirt. I was able to listen to the rest of the church service from the window, which was still beautiful. Not long after service ended, the meds finally kicked in, and I was on my swaying way again. :)

After lunch, we were able to take a hike up a hill. A big hill. And we were not alone. We were followed by several children, all making this big long hike with us, one little girl no older than 6 carrying her little brother on her back the whole…entire…way. I could not believe these children running and sneaking around us on this pretty tough hike, barefoot. Crazy. The top of what Sue named Lee Bowers hill (because his group did it for the first time with Tree of Life this summer, and we don't know the name) was breathtaking. Such a beautiful site. On the way back home, we were able to stop at a house where on of the elders of the village lived to give him a t-shirt. The man was beyond grateful, and offered each one of us some of his land on the hillside for us to build anything we wanted, because he wanted us to be his neighbors. For real. Land for a t-shirt. Judy handed the reusable bag that we were holding the t-shirt in to the sweet old lady, and she bowed down at Judy's feet and rubbed her face on them. Humbleness beyond belief. These sweet people love people more that we ever understand. When we got back to Kokombo, we were able to spend some time meeting a sweet lady named Jackie while 4 of the team members went back up the hill for a quick little trip to hand a mercy back to the sweet elderly man. By quick trip, I mean 1 1/2 hours. :) Uganda time…it's it's own mystery. Jackie was found by a missionary of Tree of Life about a year ago. She was very, very sick. Sweet Jackie is now healing, and will be able to go back to her own village in about 6 months when she is done with treatments. She is now able to go and tell HIS and her story of redemption and healing, all because someone said yes.

*insert a couple funnies here: Jaimie Piatnik and Josh Dean are stinking comedians I tell you. Well, we all are, and that has brought SUCH life to this trip!! While the group of 4 went back up the hill, Jaimie has another huge group of kids that followed them chanting "Jai-mie, Jai-mie, Jai-mie" and another time "Josh is weird, Josh is weird, Josh is weird". Another funny that Josh and Jaimie love to do is scream like a monster and chase the stinking kids. I can't imagine what they are thinking. Here are all these "mzungus" (white people), that they maybe have not ever seen before, and there's Josh, screaming and chasing them. No wonder the toddlers sometimes cry when they see us. Yes, I have made kids cry. Apparently waving is scary. 

Today was another wonderful day. We were able to go back to Top Hills, of course after making several stops. Our goal today was to make teacher desks, take group and individual pictures of each class from Nursery - Primary 7, and pass out mercy bags. Well, our plan is not always THE plan. We managed to I think make 1 desk, take 2 full class pictures and no mercy bags. Us = 0, God = + another one. Today was the day the rains came. And came. And came. So much so, they had to have the classes take a break because it was raining so hard you could not hear the teachers. So we sat inside and just visited. The rain was powerful and beautiful. It was loud, but peaceful at the same time. 

After the rain stopped, we started back up again with pictures. These kids…their faces. I was gifted the opportunity to be the photographer. These kids lit up at the site of the camera. They were so proud. Tucking in their shirts, and smiling. Just perfectly. You could almost see their story on their face. Precious stories that our God is redeeming by the day. Oh, it was great.

With the rain comes the red mud, and I was really looking forward to the roller coaster ride home. Our driver Haji is the best. I laughed as I was able to move to the front seat next to him today. Driving here is really like a big huge game of frogger and chicken at the same time. No traffic lights, no stop signs, just the person with the biggest vehicle gets the right away. Hilarious. I looked over after one of our stops today and watched Haji put on his seatbelt. I looked down, no seatbelt here! I pulled on his and asked where ours were?!? Hadi just let our a big 'ol belly laugh. (That was the time for a quick transportation prayer. :) )

We were able to stop in the rain on the way home to go by one of our Pastor's house, Irene and her husband Patrick. This was the first Ugandan house welcome party we have experienced. So humbling as we walk into their home, and instead of thanking them of brining us in from the rain, they thank and bless us for coming. I hope and pray I learn some of that from their culture. It was a precious time of singing and prayer for us, and us doing the same for their family and their village.

One more stop on the way back to the Mum…back to the kid's house from Hope Africa. It was for another walk we go, as the roads were too bad for the bus to make the trip down. Game time…this time more like a slip and slide. Laughs and more laughs. The kids are so sweet. They piled us all into their cooking area, which has a roof, so we wouldn't get as wet. There were about 40 or so us piled in a room no more than 10x15. We played some mean games of hand clap and "statue", where you stay as still as you can. Then someone laughs and everyone cracks up, until someone points and yells statue again. These sweet simple games bring so much joy to those kiddos.

I am filled every minute of each day with such sweet emotions. There are so many new things to see; I wish I was carrying around a camcorder. But like @ my own kids games, when I am video taping or snapping photos, I feel like I am not "all in". Here, I am trying to be all in. Because of that, I am going to share photos with Sue soon. Promise.

Don't forget to be checking Sue and Liz' blog over on the right. They give new and beautiful perspective from someone who has been and experienced this several times. AND sometimes between the 3 of us, we can almost get somewhat of a complete story. :)

Miss you all. 

Babe, please tell the boys I miss them so. I love you.

Blessings,

Jen Taylor

day 5

I really really do not even know where to start. When God said GO, I really had no idea that he would bless my pants off like he has. AND I know I can say the same for our whole team. Well maybe not Sue. :) I thought I was going to be the one ministering to His people. I am. But they are ministering to me soooooo much more.  

We started off the morning after a WELL needed good night's sleep, at the crack of 7:30am, again with breakfast and devotion time. Let me just tell you, french toast in Iganga is better than any french toast in the states. Period. 

We then headed to Bulubandi, a school and orphanage here close in Iganga sponsored by Tree of Life. Blew me away starting when we drove in the place. If you read Sue's post last night, she talked about yesterday that the kids were in school when we pulled up @ Top Hills; there was not the "welcome line" like we always hear about (though they came out reAAl quick). Today, Saturday, the kids flooded us as soon as our bus stopped. Handshakes, hugs, smiles and more smiles, the kids loved on us from the first minute. We met, we shook, we learned their names as they learned ours. Pure heaven once again.

Today, I was gifted the opportunity by being loved on by 6 girls. Gloria, their little ring leader, took me by the hand and made me one of them. They first showed me the big painted tree on the side of the school, which adorns their hand prints as leaves and grass. The girls were so proud. They then showed me their school rooms and where they attend church. They told me about Jesus, and I reassured them that He not only lives pointing up, but in each of their hearts and through them. Yes, yes, yes, was their answer back. They then showed me their school garden, that they are learning to take care of. Judy B explained to me tonight, that the garden is not necessarily big enough to supply all the kids @ Bulubandi, but gives them the skills and life lessons to take the knowledge back to their families. Such beauty…give a man a fish vs. teaching. Brilliant. :) After my garden lesson, they then said, "We want to sing for you". The girls lead me to another classroom, where I had a concert I would have paid big money for. Their voices were so sweet. Indescribable. 

We finished up @ Bulubandi and then my heart went pitter patter. Da da da DA! It was time to head to Phil's to meet the kids I have heart so much about, including my sweet Moses Okere.

We pulled up to Phil's house with Hope Africa. Kids…kids…kids. Sweet faces. All different. All so excited to know you. Laughter and shyness. Perfect.

We stayed at Phil's for a while, toured his house, and met all the wonderful women who were so busy preparing our fabulous lunch feast. Pots and fire everywhere, getting ready to serve 150. I can't imagine! I get worried sometimes preparing for our home group of 28ish. One of the first kiddos I met and was around all day was Paul Losiya, who is sponsored by my/our associate pastor Linda and her husband Randy. I introduced myself and finished with telling him Moses Okere was my son. He answered back, "Really? He will be so happy to see you." After more greetings, we all looked at each other, giddy, and said, "lets walk to the children's house". It seemed like the way there was one of the longest walks of my life. Walking hand in hand with our kids, we finally made the turn to the house. We walked in and were swarmed with more precious smiling faces. Everyone here is SOOOO happy to see and meet you, where at home we run by people with our heads down sometimes trying to pretend we didn't see them. Here, they search for you. After meeting several kids, Paul Losiya comes up to me, grabs my hand, and says "lets go get Okere". Be still, is the only thing I could think of so that I didn't run out of my dirty chacos. There he was. Moses Okere. Handsome, tall, slender, and with a perfect and shy smile. I thought for sure it would all flash before my eyes, but the Lord had it. It was slow motion. Just what I needed to take it all in. Mama Jennifer was here buddy.

There is so much…my head right now feels like I am watching a movie in fast forward, backward, and slow motion at the same time. These kids. Oh. They are just perfect. Meeting all these kids that our church and our people have had so much heart invested in for the past 5 years…for real!! AND our sweet people who minister to them everyday. Getting to know them and the kids. Turns out, most of these kids are spitting images of their sponsors or one of their own children. Paul Losiya is sooooo Linda Marceau. Moses Okere could NOT fit any better into being a Taylor. Brenda Adaka, spit fire just like Jenny Rudd. Masiat Kaufko has a sweet and tender heart of gold, just like Julie Page, and is soooo competitive in dodgeball just like Owen and Aiden. There are so many, and I can not wait to return to figure them all out. Tina and Marvin Melson, your sweet boy told me over and over and over again to tell you that he LOVES you.  Jim and Lisa Fullerton, don't worry. Glenn and I assured your Christopher Pedo that you are an awesome drummer. :) Esther and Evans, your two…again…spitting images of each of you. Quite funny actually. All of these children are precious. Nicole White, Eliya asked me to take a picture of him for you, to pray for you. There are so many others. I had such pleasure by grabbing the each of them and tell them I knew all of you. I loved telling them how much you love and pray for them. They all love you so much. So much.

Praise God for all he does, including taking care of our team all all of His people here. Besides some lack of sleep, the blessings of health of flowing through each one of us. Keep the prayers going.

Meet Haji, the best driver and comedian ever.

Emily is right at home. The kids adore her.

Josh Dean…high five down low, too slow. The jokester.

Sue and our Pastor little Stephen. So blessed to see Sue use her heart here. 

This guy right here. Moses Okere. Nothing in the world could have prepared me for meeting him. And he's very tall. :)

Masiat Kaufuko, very very proudly showing me her room and bed. 

Babe, love you and hugs to you and my boys.

Blessings,

Jen Taylor

Today really counts as day 1!

FROM SUE-

Hi everyone,

Today really counts as day 1! I have to say of all the trips I have been on I think today was the best! We spent the morning getting errands run (not a lot of fun, but necessary) and then headed out to Top Hills (a school UTOL sponsors). We had nothing on the agenda but to build relationships. No projects, no time frames, no nada. I wanted everyone to get their feet wet and to sink into the culture at their own pace. First, I had told the team to prepare for the airline to spray the plane when we landed in Kigali and that didn't happen. Then I told them to be prepared for the kids to be lined up to meet the bus. Well, that didn't happen either. We drove right into Top Hills and the front lawn area was empty. Not a soul. But then it happened. The kids came around the corner in mass. It was awesome and so the greetings began. From a personal standpoint I got to see Rashidah and my day was made. She hasn't grown hardly at all since last year, and she is much shyer. I took her hand and took her onto the bus and showed her all the pictures I had of her from last year that I keep on my phone. Little by little the smile came back. Then the shrug. Then before my eyes she was back. Grinning from ear to ear. Meanwhile Glenn had pulled out the guitar and he disappeared beneath a gaggle of kids. You could barely see his eyes above the crowd. He was amazing. If he has a single callous left on his fingers I will be surprised. He played and played and played to the point that he was reduced to playing "Old McDonald Had A Farm". I bet you didn't know there were so many animals on this planet! He had their full attention. In fact, many of them (and I mean many) sat and listened right through lunch. We finally had to leave and eat just so the kids would do the same. Emily was immediately attached to a group of girls. I think she was really happy to have some kids to play with. She was certainly in her element. Paige's heart is definitely for the kids as is most everyone's. Today was just so neat watching everyone fall into their niche.

After a really good meal of rice, beans, vegetables, chapati, and chicken (which Jaimie had not yet made friends with), we broke into teams of three and went into the surrounding area to meet the people and give mercy bags. We filled the mercy bags at the school and had a group of girls help us. As we walked off the school property each group had many kids holding our hands and going with us. It was a really sweet moment. My team consisted of Jen, Emily, Pastor Wilson and myself. What an experience we had. In the last house there was a mother with a two and a half week old baby. As we were finishing up (five of people today accepted Christ) the mother handed this baby to Jen. I thought we would never get out of there. Actually, I could see Jen trying to figure out to sneak the baby out without the mother noticing. I do give Jen Kudos. She did leave the baby and we made the trek back to the school promising all the new believers we would bring them a Bible on Monday when we return to the area. One of the ladies told us that she use to have a Bible but then she married a Muslim who refused to let her have one. He recently died and she is now really excited to be getting a new one!

Then we returned home and Phil, Susan and her two kids, Scovia, Kenneth, Ken and Kevin (both from Huntsville) came and joined us for dinner. Phil talked about his ministry. Tomorrow we head out to Bulubandi in the morning and then we plan to spend the rest of the day at Phil's. The Riverside folks are all excited to see the children they sponsor.

On the plane ride here from Amsterdam we ran into a medical mission team that works outside of Kampala and then in a village close to Iganga. The leader was a wonderful woman who I spent quite a bit of time talking to. Her team is actually staying at the Mum next week so I am hoping we get to talk some more and share information about what they do. It continues to amaze me how many people come to this country and fall in love with it.

Thank you all for your continued prayer. The team is tired but continues to go strong. 

Love you. Sue

Day 4

With day 1 & day 2 being travel days, I was soooooo excited to wake up this morning and GO!

Saying that, I was up last night from 1am-4:30am, so I can't promise much for this blog post except that it might not make sense from the lack of sleep.

We woke up (again) to get ready for breakfast with our team. Up and eating by 7:30am. Goodness, gracious. Thank goodness for coffee and some reaLLY hilarious people in this group.

After several cups of coffee and what was a confusing ordering non-menu ordering system, we ate. Then came the waiting. Waiting is very popular here in Uganda. You hurry up, and wait. Then wait some more. Coming from someone who is most times a little busy, (HA!) waiting does not come easy. It is humbling. I am starting to love the peace that is coming from it. 

We went through the town of Iganda, this time during the day. Totally different that at night. There are people. Tons of people. Everywhere. Beautiful people. People full of life. People with the biggest smiles you have ever seen. Not like American smiles, totally different. Gosh. You know, I prayed for something that people who have been here talked about. They said the first couple days of ministry you are heart broken. That it takes a couple days to figure it all out...that you can not be sad for the people here because they do not have anything. They are so happy and joy filled because they have it all. They get it. 

After what seemed to be like 8 stops, getting this, picking up that, dropping off so and so, picking up one person and waving at another, we made it to our first ministry day. We went to a school sponsored by Tree of Life called Top Hills. Good night nurse. I can't describe it. The beauty in these kids faces. Our team had ants in our pants trying to get off the bus!!! The biggest and whitest smiles you have ever seen. Laughter and concentration, as they introduced themselves and asked us for our names. Again. and Again. Over and over. So much I can not put into words. Just pure Heaven really. Greeted over and over again, like you are the most important person they have ever met. Hand holding x 250. My name is...what is your name x 250. Laughter x 250. Oh gosh.

Turns out that I am terrible at chicken, chicken, dog, but the kids loved it. I was dog in the middle many many rounds. Then came the singing, the laughing, building the mercy bags, me making a small human cry, the fabulous hand made lunch, the bathrooms (terrible, terrible), more laughs, and just being. Being God's hand chosen people to love on his people. If you send a girl to Iganda to be a missionary, she will get blessed more than she ever knew. It's only day 1ish. 

We then got split up into different groups to go evangelize. Oh goodness....the main thing I am NOT looking forward to on this trip (that and the bathrooms. Ugh!). We were team Wilson, whoop whoop, and Sue was amazing. She has a gift straight from Jesus to tell his story, to people who do not understand our language (blessings to Pastor Wilson for being able to translate!). It was sooooo fun to see her in her element, witnessing to women and their children. Ohhhh. We were able to bless 3 different families with His word, and mercy bags filled with sugar, salt, soap and tea. Again, if you send a girl to Iganga to be a missionary, she will have a woman that she just met hand her her 2 1/2 WEEK old child to hold, love on and pray for. Come on people! HELLO! I can't make that stuff up. Me & a baby. Love me some babies. 

We ended up the afternoon with more dropping people off, transporting this, grabbing that, to have a whopping 15 minutes before we were to report for dinner. Dinner was with our team, our wonderful driver Haji, our missionary Phil, Susan, Scovia, Kenneth, Kaith and Raith (Susan's babies). We were also joined by 2 Elpis people that are up from Huntsville, Ken (who is adopting one of the kids from Hope Africa) and his friend Kevin. Very nice dinner with a great group of people. More laughter than one could ever expect from a group of church people. :)

That leads me to now. Time for a shower and hopefully a better night's sleep. Please pray for that. AND pray for a continuation of pure heaven as we get to go to Hope Africa tomorrow and I meet Moses and his 114 friends.

Look at these kids. No words.

 

This is the mama that let me hold her little bit of honey. 

We are finally at our destination...

FROM SUE-

Hi everyone... Yes, we are finally in Iganga. Seems like every year it takes longer and longer to get here. I do want to give a thumbs up to Delta. They were excellent from the start. They were so good to us all. Well except for one tiny detail. After arriving in Entebbe all our luggage arrived...except one of Liz's bags. Sadly, it was the one with ALL her clothes. It stayed in Kigali, which I'm not sure is any better than if it had remained in the States. So we went to baggage claim who told us there were "many" flights from there to here and it would be hand delivered to our hotel. Well as of tonight it still remains in Kigali! We did go into town today to buy her some undergarments (a highly non-spoken about item in this country). One of our Pastors took us and though I had told him what we needed he misunderstood and thought she needed a skirt. So his only question as we stopped at the first "shop" was if she wanted long or short! Needless, to say, this brought a few chuckles to our faces. When he finally understood what we were looking for he turned a few shades of red. I think we know each other better today than before!

We arrived here safely and have to say we are all exhausted but eager to go to one of our schools at Top Hills tomorrow to see the kids. It was so good for me to see Haji this morning and then be greeted by the Pastors this afternoon. I felt like I was seeing old friends.

I promise to blog more tomorrow but after a little more than five hours sleep since Tuesday I am too tired to think. Love you all. Sue

We made it!

After getting to the SA airport @ 10:30am Tuesday, a flight to Detroit, flight to Amsterdam, flight to Kigali, we are now about to land in Entebbe at 2:15ish SA time, 10:15pm . We will be staying at a place called Banana Village tonight in Entebbe.

Flights were nuts-o. I'm not a big traveler, probably been in a plane 5 times in my life. Big 'ol airport in Detroit, there was one section that I called club Detroit. It had a colorful crazy colored ceiling. I danced all the way through. :) the next flight to Amsterdam can only be described as L. O. N. G. And cramped. And long. No sleep. We tried to sleep on the floor of the Amsterdam airport. It didn't work, but we did manage to get some Starbucks, for $13 for a coffee & a muffin. The next flight to Kigali was much much better. Not as crowded, and by then, exhaustion set in and I think I slept for a couple hours. I've seen more movies in a day that I ever thought I could, but can't remember since it all has flown by. :)

I am a little sad to be getting here @ 10pm so that I will have to wait till tomorrow morning to get to see Africa.

Till then friends. Please pray for a good nights rest tonight in Entebbe, as I bunk up with 3 others.

Airport in Entebbe-we did well with luggage. Just lost 1 for now, and it was even a carry on! Sorry Liz. They made us check in at last minute and her bag is still in Kigali. They promise it will be here sometime before she leaves in 28 days. :)

The ride to banana village was an easy introduction into what we will see today. It was pitch dark, not much electricity around. People were everywhere. Since there isn't much electricity, people stand out side & visit. Some right on the street!

We got to Banana Village and found our rooms and headed to bed pretty quickly. It was after midnight, and we were all a little delirious. I don't remember much except for using Sue's deodorant. :)

We woke up to the sound of roosters in the distance at about 6:30am. I missed the call to prayer that most others heard @ 6. I was still in dream land. The hotel is beautiful. We started with a devotion from Sue, and a sweet song from Glenn. Breakfast was some star instant coffee, which was pretty good, scrambled eggs, a banana and passion fruit juice.

Oh goodness...about 8 hours later and we just arrived in Iganga! Too much to write and will write more soon!

Blessings,
Jen

-sent from my iPhone

1 day...

1 day...

1 day, I thought, "hey, I want to go to Africa...".
1 day, Blake looked at me and said "I want to go to Africa".
1 day, I watched my husband board a plane with several of my friends to go to Africa.
1 day, I knew my time would come.
1 day, my husband came back with a changed heart.
1 day, I heard about another trip coming up to go.
1 day, I very peacefully heard the Lord say it's not your time.
1 day, I longed and prayed for my time to come.
1 day, my friends Sue and Liz did a Mission prayer/poem for Uganda.
1 day, my heart will still. Still in prayer knowing He said it is time.
1 day, I had to figure out how to manage the next 9 months in preparing.
1 day is here.

I am 1 day away. 

1 day away from boarding a plane in SA, and landing in Entebbe, Uganda many, many, many hours later. 

1 day to settle my heart and prepare for the total unknown.

I can hardly think straight. So much on the brain.

Prayer partners, here are some things to keep in prayer:
-pray for peace for all of us as we wrap things up on this last day
-prayers for my sweet friend Charis' friend Reagon, while she is waiting for her lung transplant. 
-prayers for the now 12 of us who are preparing and going: Judy B, Sue, Liz, Jaimie (who are all staying for 1 month total), Glenn, Judy H, Vicki, Emily, Paige, John, Josh & I
-prayers for my husband as he becomes ALL for the next 2 weeks
-prayers for my kids, for them to remember what they need to do, and for them to have peace while their mama is gone
-prayers for my family and friends who are all taking parts of my life to help while I am gone
-prayers for smooth and easy transitions in the kids schedules
-prayers for easy mornings with the drop offs
-prayers for fun Dad evenings and weekends
-prayers for the basketball games, gymnastics classes, cross country meets, etc that I am missing
-prayers for my nasty cold/sinus/allergies to be gone in the name of Jesus before I get on that plane
-prayers for sleep and supernatural rest while I am gone
-prayers for the Lord to show me and guide me to His people. To be His hands and feet.
-prayers for all of you, who will keep me lifted up these next 2 weeks to go and be the best Jesus servant I can

I will be trying to update this blog while I am gone. We will also be updating Riverside Around the World and My Team Leader Sue's blog A Heart for Uganda 2013. 

Lastly, I wanted to share my Africa letter again. I am soooooooo excited to say that I was way fully funded, and even have some project money once we hit the ground. 

This tug on my little heart strings is singing praise this morning for every step. So many songs running through my head, I couldn't sleep past 3:30am. I can not wait till that is replaced my the songs of hundreds of children worshiping with all their might. 

1 day, friends. 1 day. 

To my dearest family and friends,

Wow. I don’t even know where to start. But guess what? I am going to AFRICA!

I am going to try my best to explain how God changed my heart for Africa. Several years ago, our Church was able to partner with another local church and bring in the Mwangaza Children’s Choir. Wow. Then, our church’s first visionary mission group went to Uganda. Tug...I wanted to go, but was not my time. Our church was able to build a well for a new school in Iganga, Uganda. Here we go. Not long after that, one of the missionaries that was on that first vision trip decided to sell all his belongings and move there. Bam. Phil, that missionary, was able to get a house and start an orphanage. What? The numbers grew from 20 children, to 60, to 100. How? Our church started partnering with Phil’s ministry to find sponsors for these beautiful children...to send them to school, give them a place to live, clothes, and food daily, to love on them from several thousand miles away. During one sponsorship weekend, Blake picked up a card of a 10 year old boy, named Moses Okere, filled out a sponsor form, and this sweet little boy became part of our family. Holy Moly. People started going...to visit these kids and act as short term missionaries there. Was it my time then? NOPE. It was Blake’s, and he was able to go 3 summers ago. When was it going to be MY turn?
Well, God has opened the door for ME to go this year, to share HIS love to HIS children in Uganda, East Africa, and to live out this dream I have been having for several years. I will be traveling September 17th- October 1st with a new group our church is partnering with, Tree of Life Ministry, who support schools and medical clinics in and around the community of Iganga, Uganda. (More info about their ministry can be found at www.utol.org.)

I will be traveling and working with an awesome group of people, from several churches and communities around the Boerne/Spring Branch area, whom all share a similar heart for ministry. We will spend about 11 days there on the ground in Uganda, doing a VBS, evangelism and discipleship training, and most importantly loving on these sweet kids, who come from totally different backgrounds. We get to work very closely with the Tree of Life Pastors and the children. A group of us from our church also get to spend some time with our missionary, Phil, and visit and love on our kids at Hope Ministries there as well. I am so excited to get to go love on kids (which you know I love to do) and let HIS light shine.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

I truly believe that we ALL have a purpose and part in this. Some of us go, some of us pray, while others of us send. Up until know, I was the one in prayer and the one at the airport waiving and crying as they left and holding signs and cheering as they came back. I am still in awe thinking that it is MY time to make the trip. This is where you, my sweet family and friends, come in. It is only by support from others that will make this opportunity possible for me. The most important need for our team is PRAYER, while we are preparing, on our way back, and especially while we are there. This is a huge step outside my comfort zone, and I can not do this alone. Please pray that I remain healthy, so that I can be a willing disciple while I am there. I have NO idea what awaits me, but I know that God has some exciting stuff planed.

Please join me in praying this scripture for me and our trip...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

Lastly, we rely strongly on financial support from family and friends. The total trip will cost each of us $3000. The first $2000 is due to Tree of Life by June 30th, with the next $1000 due by July 30th. This is a LOT of money, and any and all contributions would be greatly appreciated. God willing, if I surpass the cost of my trip, all additional monies will be put towards projects and supplies for these sweet kiddos. Checks should be made out to Tree of Life Ministry, with “Jennifer Taylor” in the Memo line. Please mail the check to me (address below)and I will send them on to Tree of Life. All contributions are tax deductible.
I know that for many of us there are difficult times (including the person writing this letter). Please know from the bottom of my heart, if you can not help at this time, I totally understand. The Lord has had our own family in situations where sometimes we could help financially and other times where we could help only through prayer. I am trying to live in obedience and am so excited about this opportunity. The thing I most appreciate is your thoughts and prayers as I prepare & GO. If you would like to receive updates on my trip, please let me know and send me your email address! I can not thank you enough for supporting me in fulfilling God’s promises to the nations.

One last thing...let me tell you that this now 15 year old Moses (pictured below-loves the Astros and THAT I NOW GET TO GO MEET-WOOOHOOO) is now a Taylor through and through. Our boys love that boy and pray for him daily. Our Moses has no parents in Africa and was living on the streets, but is thriving in school and in LIFE! All because someone went on a mission trip and said YES to the tug of his heart strings to love on others.

Blessings to all of you,

Jen