Hello Everyone!
It is so crazy to think it has been over a month since the last time I updated anyone on what the Lord is doing in my life…sorry. So many experiences and changes have happened over the last month. I feel like the only way to give you a glimpse into the last month of my life is to explain nine different beautiful and wonderful experiences I have had. Also, I will explain more at the end of this blog, but I feel you all need to know that the Lord has opened up an amazing door where I have the opportunity to teach at a school called Greater Love Nursery and Primary School. The sad thing is that the school is about two hours from Another Hope Children's Ministries, so this past Thursday, the 16th of January, was my last day at Another Hope. I am currently staying at an orphanage called The Hoffman Home in Jinja. For now though I will explain to you all that the Lord has done over the past month at Another Hope and at the end I will explain all about this new chapter here in Jinja.
1. Soccer! As many of you know I love sports. I love to play sports and I love to watch sports. I just love sports. What some of you might not have known was that I never used to enjoy to watch or play soccer. Over the past month and a half I can now proudly say that I thoroughly enjoy watching soccer. The big boys at Another Hope play in a league with the other members within our village and they face other villages in a competition where the winner receives a goat! This was one of my favorite parts to my week, I got the opportunity to go out in the village and just love on the children while we watch our boys play soccer. Some days we would bring sweets with us and give them to some of the children near us, lets just say that they were extremely happy! It was awesome to watch the boys use their gifts and talents that the Lord gave them while having fun doing it!
2. Movies! I get the awesome opportunity to watch a movie every night with the children. We set up the projector in the dining room and twenty of us gather around the screen to watch the movie. There was one night though, Christmas Eve, when Prea (a volunteer from Australia/South Africa) and I were wrapping presents for the children when 11:57pm hit, Wasswa (one of the older boys) came into our room and said "the cinema is ready." Not knowing what he meant we ventured out to the dining room only to find the children were not there. We walked outside to then find the boys had set up the projector, along with their bed sheets to make a massive screen to watch the movie. The BEST part of this was that as we were sitting and watching the movie you would just look up and see the beautiful stars that the Lord created. Knowing that we got to spend the first two hours of Christmas day watching a movie under the stars with some of the children was amazing. I could not have thought of a better way to start Christmas Day than that.
3. The Well! Everyday the children would have to make about three trips to the well. They would use this water to cook, bathe, clean and drink. It was about a fifteen minute walk which normally ended up taking an hour round trip because we got so distracted by so many different things. There would be days where we would race to the well, have water fights, play board games, learn how to make bubbles from plants and all of these were on the way to the well. I feel extremely blessed to have seen how conscious you have to be with the water you have, every bit of water you use at the house was carried from the well. From flushing the toilet, to bathing, to cleaning, to cooking, all that water had to be fetched from the well. The Lord continues to amaze me in all that he is teaching me. Each bit of water is so precious, and the thought that the well is only a fifteen minute walk, I can see His work in my life by Him showing me that the simplest things in life are the most incredible blessings.
4. Prayer! Prayer time is one of my favorite times in the day! This is a time where the children, myself and any other volunteers would gather together to worship our good Lord. We would sing praises in English and Luganda. I also got the awesome opportunity to share a little devotion every evening. Sometimes we picked a book of the Bible and go through it together, otherwise some nights the children and I would study something different or unique that the Lord had placed on our hearts. It was one of my favorite experience to be able to grow in our Lord together!
5. Kampala Markets! Seriously I have never seen anything like these markets. They are dirty, disgusting and packed with a lot of people, but I love them. Being able to walk around outside and be able to find everything from food, to clothes, to crafts and pretty much anything else you can think of. The only thing is that there are no aisle markers, nothing to indicate where to find what you need. I could be lost for days in the market if I went by myself. As you walk down the dirt filled, sewage infested, people yelling "lakumi, lakumi, lakumi" (which means 1000 USH) streets I cannot help but get lost in the thought of how blessed I am. In America I am able to walk into a supermarket with aisle markers, clean floors, and set prices to find all the items I need. Sometimes we as humans get so caught up in our daily lives we don't think about how good we have it. The Lord is continually teaching me about how much we take things like the supermarket for granted. To have all the food we need under one roof, with clearly marked ailes…we are blessed to have that. Each and every one of us in America is blessed.
6. Brick making! Everyday for the past week I have been helping the older boys make bricks. They have to make about 6000 bricks by hand for the fencing around the perimeter of Another Hope. They are able to make about 200 in a day. These boys are extremely hard working with such servant hearts. I loved spending time with them laughing and goofing around while making bricks.
7. Chapati! Chapatis are one of my new favorite foods. I have had the awesome opportunity to make them for Christmas in the Community (which was the weekend before Christmas) and for Christmas day. Elvis, Issac (both older boys at Another Hope), Prea (the volunteer from Australia/South Africa) and myself woke up at 4:30am to start the Chapati making for Christmas in the Community so they were ready by 9am when we had to leave. I seriously enjoyed every minute of making them with these wonderful individuals.
8.Painting! Over the past month and a half Prea, Wasswa, Elvis and I (aka the Art Team) painted the babies playroom , the dining room and one of the babies room. In the babies playroom we painted the alphabet and numbers up to 20 across the top of the wall. Then in the middle of one wall we painted a tree and we made the leaves out of the children's handprints with their names in the middle. This was one of my favorite projects we did. To be able to spend time with those three individuals would just bring a smile to my face no matter the mood I was in. Also we were able to start a mini mural in the dining room with a couple of the disney princesses. All of these projects turned out great thanks to some amazing artists!
9. LOVE! Always love. Sometimes its hard to love, sometimes it means to give up the protection of your heart. One thing that is not lacking in the children at Another Hope is love! Their love for the Lord is contagious and their love for each other is so beautiful to see. They are one big family. They always watch out for one another and listen to their 'brothers or sisters' if they need someone to just listen! I seriously love the children at Another Hope with all of my heart! They have became like family to me!
This past Thursday I moved from Kkona to Jinja. Its crazy to think how everything just fell into place. I miss everyone at Another Hope so much, but I felt called by the Lord to teach at a new Christian school here in Jinja called Greater Love. School starts on Monday, where I will be teaching P4 and P5 mathematics. These classes will have students ranging from 8-12 years old. I feel completely blessed to have the opportunity to teach these children. For the duration of my stay I will be staying at an orphanage called The Hoffman Home, which is sponsored by True Impact Ministries. They just opened up this home in December and there are currently 49 children ranging from five to twelve years old. They have so much love joy and laughter inside them it brings me so much joy. Over the past month 18 children here have committed their lives to Christ. I get chills every time I think of the work the Lord is doing in this place and in the lives of the children here! I am overjoyed to walk with them in the beginning of their faith journey with the Lord. The Hoffman House is situated about a five minutes from the Nile river and about ten minutes from the city center in Jinja. Over the past three days I can already see some of the awesome things the Lord is doing here. His presence is felt. I enjoy waking up every morning and receiving 49 hugs from His 49 beautiful children! I love them all so much! All the children here at the Hoffman House will also be attending the new school Greater Love, so not only do I get to love on them at home, but I get to love on them at school. I cannot even begin to describe the excitement I have for my last eight weeks in Uganda!
With love from Uganda,
Nicole
