Sunday morning to Village traveling.

Sunday was a wonderful day. We had the opportunity to go to three different churches, so we split the team up and went our ways. Jordan, Chad, Brooklyn, and myself got to go to a lady's church who's name is Margaret. Her church is so on fire for the Lord and so hungry for more! During worship they have dancers the whole time in the back and the just hand off the microphone to the next singer. They also have the children come up and preform which you can only imagine how adorable they are! Chad preached an excellent message but before that Jordan and Brooklyn did music which was beautiful! I loved being at Margaret's church because she is a very passionate woman and has a very supportive husband. They are also very involved in the community. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, we tried to video chat with some of the pastors churches that are with us but wifi isn't the greatest here. So let's talk about today, today was a very beautiful day! We finally got to get out of the city and visit a village called Ngugulo. On the way over we got pulled over which was interesting how that all goes down. But all was good. All the people at the village were friendly, as always. We got to play with tons of children and even give them some gummies and crackers that our team member Brad had brought with him. The kids really enjoyed those! We also took a walk with the pastors wife of the church to go to different homes of the children and see what they look like. Of course it's very different than what we are use to it didn't really hit hard until we arrived to a specific home. We got to this one home and they invited us in but we insisted that we were fine sitting outside because we had already seen the inside of plenty of homes. So we just sat outside with them and talked for a little bit. The Brad wanted to go see inside so they said that was fine and of course we decided to tag along. We see the room where they sleep and we notice a child laying on the ground in the corner. I ask what is wrong and they don't speak any English so they just look at me. So we ask the lady who was translating for us and it turned out that the little boy was lame. He actually is 13 and his name is Jarred. I couldn't help but burst into tears to see a little boy just laying on a concrete floor and not having the chance to hardly ever go outside. Brooklyn and I had to leave because we also found out that he also goes to the bathroom there and it's just heartbreaking to know this boy has never even been to the doctor for this and he deserves plenty of love and attention. Later that day a team of us went back wth food for them and to pray for the little boy and even the family. That the little boy would be healed and that the family would have faith to see this healing happen! I trust God and I know He is our healer! Now we leave it in His hands. 

Brooklyn sleeping this morning. She had just woken up from people taking pictures. Haha

On our way to Ngugulo!

The children being silly, I think they were acting like ducks. 

Not sure what her name is but she just grabbed my hand today and became my friend! 

These are the little girls that also live on the same home as Jarred does. Their grandmother actually takes care of all of them. 

A lot of them don't have shoes and there is glass and sharp rocks everywhere! It's sad and very dangerous. 

Here's a house the I got a quick picture of. This is actually nicer than some of them you will see. 

Dirt roads and Chacos. 

Well I hope you enjoy! Got lucky and had wifi tonight. Probably won't tomorrow but we shall see! Love everyone! 

   

Africa living.

Well I didn't sleep the best last night, woke up about 3 times before 7am. So I finally just woke up before I had to, luckily my shower wasn't as cold as it was yesterday. But today I was much more exhausted than normal but I over came it and pushed on. We have a pretty normal routine with how the day goes but today ended earlier than normal because we had a few meetings. One for the guys and one for the gals. Today we did a bunch of crafts with the kids. They seem to really enjoy them and I think the teachers like having us there. Gives them some time to just watch and let others take lead. But my favorite part with them today is when we gave them the soccer balls and dolls. Their faces just lit up with so much joy when they realized they got one of their very own. Another highlight of the day was meeting with the women of the church because we got to hear all about the culture they live in. It's so much different than what we are blessed with because they literally have no help. Like a father doesn't have to care for his children at all, it's all up to the woman even with funds. If you can't pay for your children's schooling then they can't go, no one helps you pay for it. It's all very crazy and heartbreaking. But the women want us to bring stuff back that they've made and sell it so we can help them out! We all loved the idea and are going to see what we can do. I definitely see Kuandaa growing just as we have been here these few days, so many people want to get connected with the ministry and it's just a blessing to be a part of it. We were invited to a wedding so that's what we will be doing tomorrow. It's a very traditional wedding and I'm excited to see what it's like. Can't wait to post pictures for you guys! Here a lot of people actually don't get married because you have to pay a price to the woman's parents and it's whatever they want. Crazy, I know! So we went to dinner at another hotel and it was very yummy. But it was crazy because we had to walk to the hotel and with the drivers here you kind of fear for your life, it was fun and adventurous though! We are actually switching to that hotel on Tuesday because it has better wifi and it's nicer. So we are all excited about that. Since I didn't get to post yesterday I'll just talk about today (Saturday) as well. It was a very laid back day because we had no ministry plans just relaxing and hanging out. We had the chance to sleep in but for some reason my body didn't like that idea and woke up at 7am so I kind of just waited for everyone else to get up. Once everyone was up and ready for the day we went and exchanged money, had lunch in the city, and I also got to talk to my mom on the phone (completely made my day)! After all that we came back to the hotel to get ready for a wedding reception that we got invited to. On our way to the wedding there was a bug on the seat in front of me and I panicked, jumped on Jordan's lap, and next thing we knew it was gone. Bugs here are creepy. Everyone just laughed so I totally got Brooklyn and told her it was in front of her and she freaked out. So funny!  The wedding was absolutely beautiful! The cool thing about their weddings is everyone including friends and all family help pay for the wedding so the can have an extravagant wedding. It literally looked like a wedding you would see in the United States and it costed around 20,000 USD. But the highlight for me at the wedding was I got to hold a beautiful baby and she fell asleep in my arms. She was so tiny and so very precious. You will think the same when you see the photos below! 

Dian reading to the kids. They listened so well! 

Craft time! They were learning how to weave. 

Coloring was probably one of their favorite things to do. 

Dian and Barry brought dolls to give to the girls. They absolutely loved them and couldn't believe they all got their own gift! 

All the boys got soccer balls. You can tell they loved them! 

This is the precious baby I got to hold at the wedding. She was so sweet.

Not many people can say they've been to a wedding in Africa, but we can!! 

I love him and love that we get to be on this adventure together! 

I'm sure I've missed so much stuff but I can't wait to tell everyone about how wonderful this place is and how God has been working! 

Kireka is filled with beauty, love, and the Lord!

Kireka is very beautiful in a different way than what we normally would think to call beautiful. The streets are very crowded, lots of shops, dirt sidewalks, and plenty of people taking double takes when they realize we are white. I love sitting in the window and just looking at how much different the culture is. We as Americans love much different but the people here are so passionate about the Lord and hungry for more. Today we went to Kireka Methodist church. It's the one we were at yesterday and will also be at tomorrow. The church isn't very big but they are in the process of building a much bigger building. The school is on the same property as the church and that's where I spend most of my time during the day. We usually have two speakers each day and and they talk for about 3 hours each. It's a lot of time but these people are so eager to learn more. Today Chad, Jordan, and Dewey spoke. They all did great for the time that I was in there. Today was much warmer than yesterday. I felt like I was dying as we were sitting in the church, of course there is no air conditioning. But I survived. Haha I wish everyone could meet the children here! They are so wonderful. I met a little girl today, her name is Shalom. She is so beautiful and just loves us white people. Her mother is on the worship team at the church. I also met Shalom's big sister Maria and she was a precious as can be, all the children are! A few of us on the team got to do VBS with the children at the school, there's about 29 students there at the moment but they would love to have more if there was the funds to do so. I met this girl yesterday at the school, her name is Katie and she stole my heart. One of my best friends name is Katie and it's nice to have a little piece of home here in Afirca, she lit up the room as well just like my friend. I told her instantly that my friends name was Katie and I would never forget her name! Also, most of their names are very hard to pronounce. The women at the church cook lunch for us and its amazing! I was very worried about my stomach coming over here but I honestly haven't had any problems yet! Praise God! It feels better with the food I've been eating here than I do at home. They don't use a lot of flour it seems so I don't have a lot to worry about. Their rice and beans are the best! I could eat them everyday, not even kidding! It's just a huge blessing to be here, I am so overwhelmed with joy that I don't even know what to think. Tomorrow will be another wonderful day of ministry and I'm all ready for what God is going to do! Sending much love back home! 

Here's the children in the class room. We were doing crafts with them.

More of the class.

Here's their playground. It's not very big and the swings are literally little wood pieces stuck between a square piece. It's very old and rusted. Would love to see them get a new one! 

But they still enjoy it!

This is the church they are building. You can see where the two little windows are, that's where they have church now. 

Jordan speaking today. 

Jordan, Brooklyn, and Kathy( who you can't see) playing music today. 

This is Shalom. She loves to smile and she loves taking pictures! 

So here's some of today! Enjoy! ☺️

Jet lag, plane food, and overly joyful!

So traveling has truly been an adventure. So far there has been no troubles but very exhausting. We started our journey at 8am with a 2 hour drive to meet with our team. From there we headed to Chicago, which was about another 3 hours of driving but we stopped at this little diner for lunch. We finally arrived at the airport around 1:15pm which gave us plenty of time to unload all of our luggage (which was a lot), get our boarding passes and luggage checked in, and get through security. Our flight didn't take off until 4:10pm so we had plenty of time to kill, so we all just relaxed before our 8 hour flight to Amsterdam. Boarding is easy as always, I got an awful seat with this horrible metal block in the way of where my feet should be able to stretch out but I made it work. Let's just say flying for 8 hours wasn't exciting and struggling to sleep on a plane is just as hard as it's ever been. The time differences have me all confused because when we left it was 4:10 pm in Chicago but we arrived in Amsterdam around 7am. We didn't get to leave the airport at all because our layover was only 4 hours but on our way back we will get the chance to venture out and explore a little of Amsterdam, which is very exciting! So the airport to me was just another airport. We relaxed, I peopled watched, and enjoyed not being cramped on the plane. We then boarded our flight for Uganda at 11am, we had to go through security again which took forever! But we made it onto our flight, this seat of mine is way better than before, I have amazing leg room. Laugh if you want, but I prayed for this and it happened! So the plane will have one more stop before Uganda to drop some people off. We won't get off the flight, only the people who need to will. Then we will be finishing our flight. This flight is 10 1/2 hours which is crazyyy!  Pray that the Lord gives us come crazy amounts of energy because from the airport we have a 2 hour drive to get to our hotel. So we won't be getting to bed until like 1am and will be waking up first thing tomorrow to start our first ministry day! We are 7 hours ahead of you guys so I'm sure by the time we get really use to that we will be on our way back home. Haha I'm so ready for this and all that God has in store for us and these people! Many blessings to you back home! xoxoxo

P.S. Airplane food isn't the best and it looks/smells weird and people from other countries dress way cooler than us. That's all. :) 

KML is who we have been flying with this whole trip. They have been wonderful and taken care of my gluten free needs which has been wonderful! 

Caramel Crunch ice cream. Yummy! 

They had a Starbucks!!! We were happy about this. 

Somehow they really butchered mine and Jordan's names though.

So we didn't have wifi last night upon our arrival so I will just continue what all has happened on the same blog.

Let me start out by saying that the people in Africa drive crazy! They don't have a lot of driving guidelines and a lot of wrecks do happen. But it's all fun and exciting. While driving to our hotel from the airport last night we didn't get to see a lot from our vehicle because it was dark out but the people here were out and about doing things. Our hotel is pretty nice. Most of us have our own rooms which include a bathroom. Which is nice to have. I slept well since a lot of time went by flying and no sleeping. But today we had to be up and ready to go by 8am for our first day of ministry. Which was a fantastic day. We got to go to Kireka United Methodist church which also has a school. Some stayed while they taught the pastors while others played with he children. I went with playing with the children of course! They are so very fascinated with our skin color, which makes sense, we are the only white people I have seen since we've been here. The children know English very well and they are very smart! They sung us lots of songs and we got to play games with them. Today as we were leaving we drove by a few children and one starts yelling "white people, white people", not in English though. It was so funny! Everyone stares at us so that's how you knows it's very rare for them to see white people. But this is amazing and the people here are as well! Everyone is so welcoming and they are so hungry for more of God! It actually feels like I have already been here, must be because I've dreamed of it for so long! 

This is the type of van we will be riding in while we are here. They are very roomy and actually pretty comfy.

My comfy bed. 

The bathrooms are small but it's a bathroom. 

This is the view from our hotel. The higher up on the hill you get the nicer the houses are. 

I took most of my pictures on my camera so you will have to wait for them. Can't wait to tell you how tomorrow is!

Love you all! ❤️

Dreams become real in Gods time.

I remember when I was 15 I went with my youth group to Aquire the Fire. Being so young sometimes you aren't really ready for God to rock your world but oh is God always ready to. I remember it was our last night of the concert/conference and God just really began speaking to me. I remember feeling a sense of boldness to go down to the alter and just worship Him but also listen to what He had to say to me. He began speaking to me in a way I've never experienced before and told me that He created me for much greater things than I could ever possibly imagine. But the thing was, I would have to live differently than others and never forget who created me. In this moment I made a few promise to God, which I have kept until this day, and He made a promise to me. He told me that I would go to other nations loving His people and teaching of His amazing love. No other nation stuck to my heart in that moment other than Africa. So here I am 7 years later finally fulfilling a promise God gave to me. Tomorrow as I board a plane to head to Uganda, I will be thinking of you, yes you! Those of you who have supported me this whole time, who never stopped believing in me even when satan tried taking this dream away from me, and those of you who have helped me fulfill this dream whether it was financially or through prayer. Please don't stop praying for me and my team. I will try to keep everyone updated daily and post pictures along the way. Below are some pictures of my lovely time before heading out. I love you all!!! God is so good!!! 

Becca helping me pack! 

Love my sisters! 

April making sure I have pretty nails before leaving. 💅

Card time!!!

My baby blade! 

And my traveling partner! 

Goodnight everyone! Talk to you tomorrow! 😘😘😘😘