Days 8, 9, and 10

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been able to post in a while, the Internet went out at Red Chilli so we have to fight for the computers. I actually had day 8 all typed out and I went to post it and then the Internet didn't work any more so it didn't post, haha.

So day 8 was another traveling day, not much going on. I was able to spend some time with one of the girls here and just get to know her a lot more which really good and we even got to talk about Alive a bit and hopefully I cleared some things up for her. We went to the equator shops again and then headed to a crocodile farm where we saw some man-eating crocodiles! They were pretty cool. Emily O got sick for a bit so they had to bring her to the hospital in Kampala. Some intestinal problem but she is fine now so now worries!!! You can read her blog for more information.

Day 9 was a very encouraging and very challenging day all wrapped into one. At breakfast, I got to sit next to one of the MUBS students and we got to talking about God and I found out that she is a born-again Christian! We talked for the whole day pretty much (around the activities of course - we went to listen to a talk about gender issues and we met the principle of MUBS) about anything and everything and it seems her church here is very similar to ours. She leads a small women's bible study and attends a large group bible study a different day of the week, she reads every day, and she shares the gospel with her friends. It was soooo encouraging to talk to her - praise the Lord!
Also at breakfast, I got to give the muslim MUBS student that I had talked to a few days ago a track and let him know that if he had any questions about Christianity that he should ask me (and I know he read it because he was actually talking to another Drake student about it later that day)
At the meet the principle dinner thing, we got to meet a lot of the faculty and see the traditional Uganda dance. Then the dance music started and it got hard. I have some convictions about dancing in the mosh-pity kind of style to music with ungodly lyrics so I was set against sitting out when everyone from Drake started to dance. I dont think that it shows us as being at all different from the world when we participate in things like that (even if we aren't actually the ones doing the dirty dancing) and I take seriously the verse that says to not show even one hint of immorality so I want to run from the line of hinting at immorality. The world says that's crazy but that is what God has put on my heart about it. It was just me and one other girl from Drake, the one in the graduate program, who sat out a first. So I kept second guessing myself and my convictions, wondering if it was legit and I was overreacting. So it was really hard for me to stick to that and not join in but I did get to hang out with that girl a bit which was good. So I learned a lesson in sticking to my convictions even when I really really dont want to and also a lesson in not pushing my convictions onto other Christians who dont share the same ones. Disclaimer: I dont have anything against all dancing, I love dancing! it's just the way it was being done that I didn't want to participate in for various reasons, ask me about it sometime if you want to!

Anyway, after this whole episode, we headed back to the cabins and the Christian and the muslim girl from MUBS came to hang out with us in the cabin. It was really nice just being able to be with the two of them. I got the chance to give Michelle, the Christian, a bunch of tracks and New Testaments that I had brought because she wanted some to give to her non-Christian friends, and we even gave the muslim student a tract. I know Emily has been hanging out with her a ton and she heard the gospel when I was sharing the the Muslim guy from MUBS so you can be praying for her heart!!

Today, we got the privilege of going on one of the most looked forward events from the trip - the rural visit. We left straight after breakfast to drive about an hour and a half to go into the very rural part of Uganda. We arrived in the town center to the welcoming of probably about 30 children. Then we split into two groups so that we could visit two different farming family homes. One group walked to their destination; my group got to ride boda boda's (which are like the taxi's of Uganda, motorcycle style). Don't worry parents, the drivers made sure to go a slow and safe speed on those things.

We got to meet Henry Lwanga who taught us all about his cocoa farming and family life. Before we had arrived, I was expecting a town that was very lacking; a town full of sad people who would do anything for some food (like they show on the commercials all the time) but I am very happy to report that that is not the case at all. The town is thriving! There is more food then they need and they have access to health care (there is a pharmacy and health clinic in town as well as a hospital 10 kilometres away) and education without too much hassle.

Henry got his Bachelor's degree from Makere University and came back to farm, something that is actually rare. Most farming families don't have that much education, children usually stop after primary school so that the kids can help out on the farm. Henry's family, however, is exceptional and all of the kids attend school. He has 10 children by the way and the ones that aren't yet at university help around the 50 acre farm that the family owns.

So here is what Henry tells us the typical rural Ugandan day looks like:
He wakes up around 5 am and plans everything out so he has a "mission for the day." Then he actually begins the work around 7 am with the help of his children. The kids usually can only help out for a little bit since they need to get to school. He works out on the farm all day while his wife stays home and works on general upkeep, cooking, smaller plants, etc. The kids help out more on the weekends and on holidays but even afterschool there is always some sort of project to do around the home. On a cocoa farm, there is never lack of something to do - they have to harvest every 14 days. I asked about who inherits the farm, expecting to hear the usual "eldest son" answer, but Henry says that's actually something that is put in the will and is kept a secret until the father passes away, and this is not always (or even usually) the eldest son. But no one will know until the time comes; I found that very interesting.

After seeing some of the cocoa plants and learning about the agriculture aspect of their life, we had to retreat to the pourch of the house to get out of the pouring rain - bad timing huh? But we got to ask more questions and hang out for a bit so it was cool! When we were on the porch, I was talking to Henry and I brought up God and he said that he actually used to be a Muslim but the his grandpa shared the gospel with him so he accepted Christ, got baptized, and is now living a very repectable Christian life, how cool is that!??! He also showed me these daily bible verse text messages that he gets everyday and he was very impressed when I was able to finish saying one of the verses before he finished reading it, haha. That was awesome!

Then I got to talk to a few of the Drake students about our papers and some research we were doing for it so I got to give a track to one of the girls and she read the whole thing right there standing on the porch while the rest of us were still in the middle of the conversation and she looked fascinated by it! So please pray for her heart!

When the rain stopped, we headed back into town to have some lunch. The wives of the farmers who had been showing the two groups around had cooked us a feast; there was so much food there! And most of it was very different food then we are used to eating. What I liked most about the feast was that, according to Dr. Senteza, all of the food came from within a 5 kilometer radius. It was all home grown. Well, this is excluding the soda that we had to drink of course. But the food was pretty good and there was more then enough there, which is a great testimony to how the town is thriving.

The people are so happy there; it was wonderful to see! Also, there was an overwhelming sense of community. One of the staff members from MUBS was telling me that while he was growing up in a farming community, he was able to disappear for the whole day and no one would worry because in those town, everyone knows each other and no one needs to worry about being robbed or kidnapped or anything. What a great place to be!
By the time we went to tour the town, there were about 100 kids (no joke) following us and watching us "muzungus" (they dont see white people that much). Two 13 year old orphans came up to me and we got to talking and they are also born-again Christians so we got to talk about that! wow, God is encouraging me a ton, despite how hard it is here!

Prayer requests:
-boldness!
-soft hearts
-mission minded hearts
-sharpening and encouragement
-that we would stand out!
-that we will all stick to our convictions

love love love

ps. send me a message on facebook! I want to hear from people!