Mission to Uganda: Uganda Recap: Day Seven

It's orphanage day today!!

But before we could get there, we went out to many different village churches in our small groups of two or three. Matt, Amy and I went to Pastor Stephen's church this morning. When we arrived, there were a few people inside the church building singing. Pastor Stephen came to the bus to greet us and said, "I knew that someone would be coming to my church, but I didn't know who would be sent. I'm so happy that it is you!"

(Sidenote: The night before when we had learned that we would be split up among various churches, our team leader told us that some churches have a Sunday school hour and a main service and some don't. He also told us that we could choose whether we wanted to do anything with the children or not.)

Matt had prepared his message for the people of Pastor Stephen's church and, after introductions were over, Pastor Stephen called Matt up to begin. Preaching on John 16:33, Matt did an awesome job at encouraging the people to take heart and find their peace in the midst of their troubles in Jesus. After Matt was finished, Amy and I gave our testimonies. Amy did a wonderful job of facing her fear and standing up in front of the crowd, speaking about the mistakes she made, but finding and placing her hope in Jesus. In response, one lady told Pastor Stephen that they thought Americans were perfect so Amy's testimony brought great encouragement to this congregation. When Amy was finished, I spoke about becoming a Christian when I was young, but recently learning how to really obey God and say yes to Him in spite of my fears.

Thinking that we were done, and just waiting for the bus to come, Pastor Stephen turned to me and asked me to take the children outside. Not being prepared for that, I said yes and Amy and I took the children for a time of stories and games. It was now time to fully rely on God to come through because we had no plan. And since I'm mostly a type A person, not having a plan does not sit well with me. We would have to fly by the seat of our pants.

Inside the building, Pastor Stephen asked Matt if he had another word for them. Matt said yes, thinking that this was the part where he would thank the people of the church for having us and for being so welcoming to us. What Pastor Stephen really meant was did Matt have another word from Scripture to share with the group! Remember that note about some churches having Sunday school and a main service and some not? Yep. This church had both. And we should have known because we were the first dropped off, which meant we'd be the last to get picked up.

So, Matt, being the champ that he is, said yes and asked for a moment to prepare. He quickly came to a devotion that he read recently and settled on that message to share with the group.

Back outside, Pastor Stephen's wife was translating for us as we told the story of Jesus and then proceeded to play any game that we could think of like Simon Says, Red Light Green Light and Tag. They taught us a game where they blindfold one person and then that person has to tag someone. Much like the game we play in the pool, Marco Polo.

Finally, we were called back in to the building for a time of testimony and offering. With a big sigh of relief, our part was finished. We sat as we listened to testimonies of the people in this village. A village ridden with poverty, famine, sickness, demons and envy. We watched as a basket was passed around to collect an offering and I was humbled by what I saw. In spite of the fact that these people having nothing, they were still placing something in that basket. We learned that they are in need of a project they can do to bring money in to their village. They would like to make bracelets to sell. They are praying for soccer balls to be sent, not so much for their own use, but to draw children to them. They figure that if the children come, the parents would too. As the bus was pulling up, we passed out sweeties and toys for the children and said our thank you's and good-byes. It was at this point that I realized how amazing our morning was, plan or no plan. Stepping onto the bus, our team leader asked how it went and all I could say was "awesome". I was very thankful for that experience, even if it did drag me out of my comfort zone and left me hanging in the unknown!

Giddy with excitement, our next stop was the guest house for lunch and then it was off to the orphanage. In just a few hours, we'd finally get to meet Hilda! Of course, we were on African time and we didn't end up leaving for the babies home until shortly after 2 o'clock. With a drive of about an hour and half, our visiting time was getting eaten away. All I wanted to do was to be there.

We finally pulled up to the orphanage set in the beautiful mountains with a view of Lake Victoria. This was it! We made it! Lugging bag after bag of donations off of the bus, we walked around to where the children were and they were singing for us. What a beautiful sight. 50 children in front of us, welcoming their visitors with songs of praise. And there she was. Hilda was standing right in the front. I wondered if she would recognize us from a picture book we made her at the beginning of this year. Would she know who we were? Would she remember us from our picture? Would she run up to us? Once they were finished, they came to greet our team and every child latched on to an adult. Hilda found our friend Kate. I was so happy to see her. As soon as greetings were over, those on the team who sponsor an orphan began to pull gifts out of their backpacks. Matt and I did not immediately pull out our things for Hilda or my parent's sponsor child. I did not want to take her away from the person she latched on to first. I didn't want to bombard her.

Bukaleba Babies Home

View from the house

This is where the story gets a little funny. See, we had been told before we arrived that Hilda was a sweet but dramatic little girl. At the orphanage, when she wants a lolipop and doesn't get one, she turns on the tears and then gets what she wants.

And so, when all the children were receiving their gifts right away and she hadn't received anything yet, she turned on the tears! We found her and asked her to come with us. I opened my bookbag and handed her the gifts we brought and she reluctantly accepted. It wasn't until one of the Aunties (that's what they call the women who work at the orphanage) told her to smile that her tears went away. She was finally coming around. She took her bear and the rest of her things and brought them inside to her cubby. A few moments later, she was back and she never really left my side the rest of the afternoon. Which I was fine with, of course!

In the meantime, I asked which child was Sandra and gave her the gifts that my parents had sent for her. What a beautiful, sweet child Sandra is. One of the older ones in the home, she was missing her front teeth. We learned that Sandra shares everything that she receives, even when she isn't asked to. And, she too, stuck by my side for the majority of the afternoon.

Sandra

Once we got the gifts out of the way, it was time to play. We played on the playground. We played with play dough. Hilda sat in my lap and taught me a hand clapping game in their language. Her laugh is infectious. She giggled hard when I tickled her. Her cheeks are incredibly chubby. She is full of attitude and loves the camera. I wanted to take her home.

Sandra sat close by coloring in her new book. A little girl who is HIV positive climbed up next to me. She can't be older than 3. Children were everywhere, our team was happy, heart strings were tugged. Our only goal was to come and love on these children. For three hours that afternoon, we simply got to play. I loved every single moment of that time.