Home at Last

The four of us who flew into California arrived around 1 pm this afternoon. The flights were all very long but pretty smooth and easy. Our stay in London was great! We got fish and chips and saw some of the famous London hot spots, including Big Ben, the Parliament building, the Westminister bridge, and several others. Aaron parted ways with us in London and landed in Minnesota some time this evening. Thank you all so much for the prayers while we were travelling and on the ground in Uganda. It was a very successful trip, and we definitely could not have done any of it without your support!!

Off We Go

Yesterday was great but very emotional! We had to say all of our "goodbye's" at the Agape Children's Village. We were able to spend only a few hours with everyone before we had to part ways. Many hugs were given and tons of tears shed. We are up very early this morning. We have to be at the airport at about 6 am Uganda time, and our flight leaves at 9. We will have an overnight layover in London and then arrive around 1 pm on Wednesday afternoon. Aaron will leave us in London to head back to Minnesota. I believe he arrives a little later than us after a six-hour layover in Chicago. Thank you all for the support while we have been here. Please pray for safe journeys home.

A Sunday in Africa

Church was great yesterday. The kids choir performed three songs for us. Then they did a fourth song which included some traditional Ugandan dancing. The pastor got in a boda-boda (small Ugandan motorcycle) accident yesterday morning before church, so he was not there to teach. There was a lady in the road and he honked at her to move, but he was forced to swerve to avoid hitting her. He fell into the large ditch on the side of the road. He's fine, but his face got pretty bruised. The woman in the road came out with only a broken arm. James, one of the Compassion workers at Agape Village, taught in Pastor Tom's place. It was a nice service, a little long compared to what we are used to, but it was great to worship with fellow believers all the way in Uganda. We just stayed at the orphanage until around 7 pm. We just love it there! We spent some time with the leaders of the church. We were blessed to get more time with the mothers and children also. It has been a blessing to be at Agape Village so much.
Today, we are doing a little shopping and then heading back up to the orphanage. It will be our last visit there for this trip. We have to be at the airport early tomorrow morning. Thanks again for all you're doing back home!

Compassion Project Day

Both of the projects yesterday were a success! We sang songs and played games with the children. We didn't get much time at Agape Baptist, but we were still blessed by the kids. At the Agape Village project, we even got a chance to feed the children their meal. We were there until about 7 pm last night. Then we went to the Masiko's house for dinner. Best meal in town! I don't have much time to post picturs right now, but I will try to do it soon.
Today, we are going to church at Bukererre Baptist, also known as Agape Basptist where the orphanage is. We will probably stay at the orphanage untill later this evening. Thanks again for all the prayers! Sorry, I don't have more to update all of you on. Hope all is well back home!

Great Day!

We went to the park today and played with our sponsored children for several hours. We sang songs, played games, ate lunch, and gave them gifts. It was a great time. We were able to make the children feel very loved and special. We then headed to the Agape Children's Village and spent the rest of our day/evening there. We had a fantastic time with everyone at the orphanage. We made a lot of progress today and found out some important information. It was a very productive visit. We were given a lot of insight into what is going on there and what their specific needs are. All of the leaders and mothers at Agape truly love those children and will do anything for their well-being. It is so sad to see them suffering and in such great need, but their dependency upon the Lord is being greatly expanded. Praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy! We believe He is going to do something big at the orphanage, and we are just willing vessels ready to help in any way that we can. We went out for a Mongolian dinner with the Masiko family today. It was a nice way to end our evening. We are looking forward to tomorrow and all that is in store for us. We will be going to the Compassion project at Agape Baptist and then heading to the project at the Agape Village. Thank you again for the prayers and inquiries about the orphanage. All is going well but we still need much prayer. There is still a lot to be done before we leave and miracles that have yet to happen. God is so good and worthy to be praised!

More pictures to follow...

A Long Journey

Yesterday, we travelled to Busia, and we arrived around 5 pm. We went straight to a school and then three different homes to check on their water projects. We slept in a hotel there, and we sat in on the Water School's conference today. Jacque Masiko did a great job leading the conference, but we had to leave a bit early to go minister to some children at a school. There were many of them, and they gathered very close around us. We did a few songs, a short teaching, and a couple of games with the kids. We enjoyed our short time there. It was great to be able to love on children who have never really been shown much love. We then went back to the hotel where the conference was coming to an end, and we had lunch with them there. We then travelled here to Kampala and got back to our hotel around 7 pm. We learned a lot of great information about this new water project, and the Lord really opened up the door for us to minister at that school. We had a very nice dinner at David and Sarah Masiko's home tonight. We are now back at the hotel ready to get some good sleep after all of our journeying. I am sorry it has taken me so long to update, but the internet was not cooperating while we were in Busia. I will upload some pictures as soon as possible. Thank you for all of the prayers while we were outside of Kampala!

Not Our Will but His Be Done

We went to the Uganda Compassion office yesterday and delivered about five boxes full of Compassion packages. We still have four suitcases full of packages left for your sponsored children at the Agape Village project (143). We will be bringing those to them on Saturday. After stopping by the Compassion office, we came back to the hotel and waited for someone to bring us to the orphanage. Well, needless to say, our driver did not arrive back here until about 7:30 pm. It was too late to go to Agape Village, but we were able to go out to dinner at Nando's with Pastor Tom from Agape Chapel, three of the house mothers from the orphanage, Moses and Joan's real mom, and Daniel Masiko. It was not what we had planned, but we had a great evening! Today, we have already packed up all of our stuff and gone for a nice little stroll. Now, we are just waiting around for Jacque Masiko and the rest of the crew. We should be heading to Busia. It is about three or four hours away. We still have internet access while we are there, but it might be limited. We should be back tomorrow evening. We ask for prayers for safe journeys and for guidance and direction while we are there. Thank you for all your support! We pary and hope all is well with everyone back home.