Teaching a Village and Beyond

Hello again,

Well, last night was interesting! Before I headed off to bed, I kept hearing all kinds of noises. It sounded like someone knocking on the walls or windows.  I was honestly really freaked out.  I was too scared to go to the window and look out and it is completely pitch black outside the house so you can't see anything anyway. I know we have a guard, but all kinds of things kept going though my mind like people climbing over the walls of the compound and overtaking the guard and trying to get at the muzungus (white people) inside. It was completely irrational, but I couldn't fall asleep and I kept hearing things. Bob made sure all the doors were locked and there are bars on the windows, but it made for a pretty sleepless night. Bad dreams and wierd noises were my companions.  I admit I was not being very rational about it and I tried to pray through my fear, but morning was a long time in coming. Please pray that I rest easier tonight and going forward.



breakfast in Obule



Today was incredible! We drove about 15 minutes away to Obule to a grass hut compound where Josh Shaarda, one of the missionaries, was doing some Timothy Leadership training on what God has to say about marriage.  We were welcomed by Martin and John Peter, two pastors in the district of Soroti. They invited us into a brick, mud and grass hut that serves as their church office. We sat around and they shared with us their culture and traditions of courtship and marriage. It was very interesting to hear and they were interested to hear about our ways of marriage and dating.  One of the women came in with a basin, soap and pitcher of water and knelt by each of us, allowing us to wash our hands before eating. They served us breakfast of biscuits and black tea. We could add some sugar to the tea and it was really good. After breakfast and fellowship with the pastors we headed into the church building, another hut, but  this one open on one side and very large. We sang and then Josh began teaching from Song of Songs as it relates to marriage. It was so good to hear him tell the people exactly how God has designed marriage to be. Pastor Martin translated into Ateso for those who did not speak English. Josh had taught the first part yesterday and then finished up today. Many of the people had come from as far as 20-30 miles away to hear him teach. The goal is that they will take what they have learned and share it with others so that God's teachings and instructions may spread beyond just this village. It was such a blessing to be able to hear and see God's word being taught to those who have been brought up with a different view on marriage. It was interactive and some of the Ugandans opened up and shared as well which was fun to hear.

Josh Shaarda teaching and Pastor Martin
translating.

At one point Josh used the word emotion which translates as i-poop in Ateso. As soon as he said it I saw Josh, glance over at Jake and Jake glance over at Josh. Jake instantly started laughing. The pastor said it several more times and now not only were Jake and Josh laughing, but now Andrew, Bob and even Josh Shaarda were laughing. Josh Shaarda told Jake if he needed to head outside to compose himself he could. Jake and Drew were laughing so hard they were crying. In case you don't have boys, welcome to my world...this is my life and it is never dull. It was really comical and I'm sure it is a moment not to be forgotten real soon by either our family or Josh Shaarda. I'm not certain that the Ugandans knew what was so funny which was probably a good thing.

Church in Obule

 After the teaching we went back to the church office hut and had lunch, consisting of chicken, goat, rice and atopa, a unusual dish to say the  least. It looks like bread dough that hasn't risen and has turned kind of brown/gray. It is sticky, gummy and gritty. You are supposed to pour meat juice over it and eat it with your hands. I tried a bite and could not make myself eat more. Jake struggled as well and Andrew didn't even try. Josh likes it and Bob didn't think it was too bad either. I honestly thought it was terrible. Fortunately I could hide it under the bones from the chicken and goat. The rest of the meal was good, although the goat meat was a little tough. It was an experience like none before and we thoroughly enjoyed the time of fellowship and conversation. 

    Lunch in Obule. The big brown mass on the right is
 atopa, (ah-top-ah),then goat meat and then chicken.
The white bowls are the rice.

After lunch we headed back into the church where the pastors, elders and men played thumb pianos and sang for us. It was beautiful and the thumb piano is an amazing instrument they make and play with...you guessed it...their thumbs. 

 Yesterday was a busy day as well.  Bob, Josh, Drew and Jake went to the school for the blind to repair beds in the girls dorms. Some were so broken they were unusable. They spent most of the day there working and some of the day goofing off as some of the pictures on my facebook will attest to, but it was enjoyable and productive and very much appreciated by the school. I went to Josh and Mandy Shaarda's home and spent the day helping Mandy homeschool their daughter Grace. I've never homeschooled before, so that was pretty fun. Gracie is a good student, just learning to sound out letters and read words. We also worked on some Christmas crafts which was another adventure. While I was stitching up some Christmas ornaments the girls, Lydia, Grace and their cousin Avelien decided they wanted to play church. It was amazing! You should have heard those girls preach! They would tell me to get out my Bible and turn to a particular passage and then they would pretend they could read it and they would quote scripture and preach it! Preach it sister, preach it! Then they would tell me to get out my song book and turn to page___ and they would start singing. It was incredible. My boys gave me grief about not spending the day working, and while Mandy attested to the fact that I did work, I must admit I enjoyed myself immensely and hope to go back to "church" again soon. Girl Preacher Power!!! I should have video taped it. Maybe next time.

Did I write about our day on Wednesday at the sports tournament? If I did, I don't think I wrote much. Bob stayed home sick in bed for the day. Bad stomach pains and needed to be near the bathroom. The rest of us went by van 2 hours away to a sports tournament for children affected by the rebels in the LRA. All 300 kids had all been kidnapped and either and forced to be child soldiers or child brides for the rebels or somehow traumatized by the LRA.The roads there were terrible, but Jake and I had taken our motion sickness pills and we did fine. Not too much for Jake and I to do there, but Josh and Drew were linesmen for the soccer games. It is sometimes hard to talk to the children here. They stare and stare at you, but when you try to talk to them, they either laugh and run away or they look down at the ground.  They seem to be intimidated by us. Jake and I did start playing with a soccer ball and soon a lot of kids had gathered around. We started playing catch with some of the kids and that broke up the long day for Jake.

They had already started cooking the food by the time we got there. Cutting huge chunks of beef into small chunks. Everything is cooked over an open fire in really big pots. We thought lunch would be around noon, but it wasn't ready until about 4:30pm so we were extremely hungry. They served Josh, Drew, Jake and I, along with David, a former child soldier we knew prior to coming to the tournament, at a table with real plates and silverware. Everyone else had to eat sitting on the ground, eating with their hands. It was quite unsettling to be the only ones served like this, but we are definitely treated differently at times and it's actually quite uncomfortable to me. I want them to treat us as equals, and it seems like we are a novelty instead. Maybe that will change with time. The food was AWESOME! We had rice, beef, port, cabbage and a sauce that looked like broccoli soup. Even Jake liked everything. He was going to take a second helping of the pork until he saw the hair still on it...then he was pretty much done. Overall he had done very well. He has tried everything and been very polite and gracious. Maybe there is hope after all.

Andrew with David, former abducted child soldier of the LRA

We were able to hear David's story today. He is 17 years old and was abducted by the LRA at the age of 9. Later they took him back to his village and made him watch them kill his parents. They forced him to carry supplies for them and help raid villages and steal other children. He escaped at age 15 (I believe) by leaving during the night while the soldiers were sleeping. He has no home left to go to. People here look down on the abducted children when they are able to escape and believe them to be rebels from the LRA, when in fact they had no choice. They have tried to poison him through his drinking water and they burned down his home. Yet despite all this, he is an amazing young man who loves the Lord and believes God has a plan for his life. Andrew and Josh have really connected with him and have really been impacted by his story. He is less than 1 year older than Andrew and has been through so much. It really has made them both see how blessed they are. One young woman I spoke with had been abducted at age 16 and forced to marry one of the soldiers. After many years she finally escaped while out searching for firewood and now is a mother of a young baby. Such tragedy, yet hope resonates from them as they tell their stories. It is amazing to see and hear.

Well, it is late again and I still want to try and post some pictures on Facebook.  Sorry this was so long, but we have much to share. So many people have supported and encouraged us as we prepared to go and we want them to be as much a part of our journey as possible. 

Again, thank you so much for your emails and comments. It is so fun to open emails from friends and family back home. We miss you all but love it here! The team here is amazing and have been so kind and gracious to us. We've eaten with them, prayed together, gone on ministry tours with some of them and spent time in their homes. We feel blessed to be a part of Team Beyond on a temporary basis. They have been so good to Josh for these past months and we are thankful for each one of them!

Blessings from Soroti, Uganda.