Recounting September blessings & highlights

We had a GSF soccer game versus some street kids from Jinja. Those kids were BIG. They weren’t even kids. They were like…men. We had a little league and a big league. Those “little” boys were not little. They looked older than our teens! WE lost….haha we even had to call out some of our village kids tom play because their “kids” were too big!

Me and Megan, one of our missionary kids, made Chapati PLUS PLUS! Basically, we attempted a dessert made with chapatis (think of oily pita bread or a THICK tortilla or  Chinese pancakes—but without the green onions). We made it for one of our missionary game nights in Nyenga (where Corinne & Daniel and Katie & Cody live). We made caramelized bananas, packaged whipped crème, marshmallow fluff, nutella, bananas, G-nuts (think peanuts) and wrapped it in a chapatti. It was crazy.  

making chapattis!

corinne washed all our shoes because they were muddy

We had a couple other toddlers break out in measles. More isolation. I would ask them, “Do you have measles?!” and they would happily yell back “YES! We have measles”. Then they proceeded to sing songs about them being together forever. Unlike our previous case of measles a couple weeks before, I don’t really think these boys had measles…hahah but at least they had fun pretending they had measles. We will never know.

WE had some very sick children. Thankfully they are all better!

We had an Africa Inland Missions (AIM) Kampala Unit Retreat. I enjoyed the fellowship with these other missionaries. I also enjoyed my talks with Christa and Missy (both STMers) and Julie (a long termer). I have a lot to think about. More on that laterrrr.

Sunday School—I’m teaching my first Sunday School class ever. I teach the 11-13 year olds. They are a really cool bunch and I really enjoy them…although, seriously, I am not a teacher. Thankfully we are all surviving!

Rainy days are like HORRIBLE snow days.  Everything just stops. Everyone stops. I like ‘em.

I removed my first JIGGER! It was pretty….fun?! It was interesting seeing the eggs come out of the foot and then the Jigger itself! Wish I could’ve recorded it. The GSF girls teased me and predicted who I would go run to tell about removing my first Jigger.

When Katie and I picked up the team we saw Shaggy. I guess he came to Uganda. Surprise! He was wearing sunglasses at night…fyi.. He was on their flight but they didn’t see him.

We had games with tweens and teens after church. We bribed them with cookies and ourselves (of course). Usually Sunday is their movie day…but they came! The cookies worked. And having it at my house worked!  And I guess the team being there worked as well! Alton was able to share his testimony and then we played games with them! Amoeba tag and some Ugandan games! …and of course Soccer. Boys VS girls!

Ice cream social! The kids LOVED it! Some of them had ice cream for the first time! I took some ice cream to the babies and they were so shocked and scared! Our Chubs Chubs-Wayne LOVED it though! We had to convince some of the babies to try it by sticking it in their mouth! One baby kept opening his mouth then closing it when I tried to give him a spoonful of ice cream. What a tease.

his face after he tried ice cream

this one couldn't stop eating ice cream

he preferred a cup

satisfied

We did a prayer walk with our local pastor at the village church. I invited my Sunday School class—so they came with us. Prayer walk ended up being an evangelism walk. The two groups were able to share the gospel with 2 Muslim ladies. Pray that their hearts will be softened.

Mercy Ministry: We were able to deliver mattresses, basins, bibles, blankets to two families that were on GSF’s mercy ministry list. It was such a blessing being able to deliver those items to them and show Christ’s love to them! I think they came out to church on Sunday too (per Amy).

Charissa and Amy were able to follow me on rounds. It was fun bringing them around and kind of showing them what I did. The team was also just able to spend time with the kids. It was really cool being able to introduce them to the GSF kids and it was cool seeing the GSF kids and the team play and hang out with each other. That was SUCH a blessing.

My goal was to have the team try riding a boda! AND it happened! Amy even rode on one.

James helped us take a fake boda picture since we weren't able to take one

I was also able to show the team a brief tour of Jinja and Nalufenya –the Children’s ward. It was nice just being able to show people from the team 2 months of my life.

Murchison Falls! Enjoyed my time away with them! It was sweet! Still didn’t see a lion but we did get eaten by TseTse flies.

Also on a side note apart from the flies, Alton got attacked by a baboon. THOSE THINGS ARE CRAZY.

with george and william

Most people here in Uganda associate any Asian person here with people from China who are building roads and bridges. I was a little bit nervous thinking about how our team was composed of all Asian people.  I was nervous for all the comments like “Hey China!” or “do you know Karate?”"ching chong". Honestly, it’s been a struggle for me being one of the few Asians and always being asked if I was related to the only other Asian they knew or being referred to as a whole country (aka HEY CHINA). Self consciously  I feared what I would hear and what people would say when they saw for the first time (at least for GSF) a team that had all Asian Americans.  

I think my view changed after I told our driver that we were picking up a primarily Asian team. He told me that a lot of people don’t associate the Asians who come here as missionaries but saw them as road/bridge workers. I think God was showing me to be thankful for being the minority (even amongst the missionary community). He was showing me something better and greater. Being a missions group that was all Asian was a wonderful opportunity to show Christ’s love, especially since they think that the only Asians who come are ones to help build roads and such.  Our team was able to help me see what a great way to show that there are other ethnicities who love Uganda and it’s people and who also love Christ and want to do his work too! I think just realizing this has been super freeing and such an encouragement for us to show that we are not here to build bridges or roads but to build up God’s kingdom. That Ugandans or whoever will see us and hopefully not think “Road” or“Karate” but be encouraged in seeing the variety of people who are called to bring the Good News of Christ to those who don’t believe as well! 

Sorry, this was a really long post. I also failed to post it in September….does it count if I say it’s for the month of September?!  Until the next post!

Thank you, come again

I usually hate goodbyes. I usually try to protect myself from the inevitable sadness of goodbyes. I tried it and it didn’t work. The Lighthouse/SFBC team has left, and despite probably what they think, I am sad and really miss partnering with them at Good Shepherd’s Fold.

After dropping them off at the airport and heading back to GSF it was hard for me to return alone (well technically not alone because Katie, another missionary came with me) to GSF knowing that they weren’t there at GSF’s guesthouse or on the bus coming back with me.  

To console myself I went and did my nursing rounds and stole hugs and cuddles from the kids. THANKFULLY one baby was having a HARD day and wanted to be held and hugged!

I wrote and shared this on the team’s blog (I think they have yet to put it up...not sure) but I wanted to post my blog post here as well—so here’s a repeat:

It’s been a blessing having Amy Ho.  I am so thankful she came even when she knew it would be uncomfortable for her. She’s a trooper…even if she said she screamed when bugs and bats flew at her. Talking to her late into the night to verbal process (late as in 930pm) was a blessing and encouragement. It was a blessing seeing her teach my Sunday school class the Two Ways to Live and taking goofy pictures with them. It was a blessing seeing her take selfies with the kiddos and babies even when one had snot coming out of his nose. It was a blessing being with her even though she made me discontent because being around Amy made me crave Korean BBQ and sushi. She was like a walking piece of sushi or bulgolgi on legs (I don’t know why…)!

It’s been a blessing having Helen here.  I watched her (not in a creepy way) hold hands and love on Lily and Cathy (2 of our children with special needs) and they were so so happy. It was encouraging seeing her do last minute teaching with different Sunday school classes as well! It was also so refreshing seeing how Helen willingly immersed herself in the Ugandan culture (eating with her hands when she didn’t have to, wanting to try all different kinds of food and even talking with a slight Ugandan accent the other day (I heard it Helen when you were talking to some of the kids)! It was also really…interesting listening to her about her love for taxidermy.

It’s been a blessing having Charissa here.  It was a joy spending time with her even if it meant her riding on a boda with me in the rain into town (she gladly accompanied me to get more groceries).  She even tried to save our lives (or maybe hers...) by smashing the TseTse flies (aka VAMPIRE flies) in the car with her water bottle but instead she whacked me in the eye with the water bottle. It was encouraging to hear her preach the Gospel to my Sunday school class—making sure she articulated it well to help them understand the Gospel and look into their lives. But most of all it was a blessing having family and one of my closets friends here who was willing to serve and encourage me by listening to me share my crazy thoughts and stories anytime and lending me a listening ear as she bore some of my burdens and also bore bringing my 5lbs of salami from my parents and some chau siu bao and bolo bao!

It’s been a blessing having James here. It was encouraging to see him take time off of his summer plans to serve on this trip. It was encouraging seeing his willingness to serve in any way—when it meant joyfully enduring the toddlers saying “you talk like a woman” (FYI he DOESN’T talk like a woman) and when it meant sharing/preaching his first message to a room full of teachers he didn’t know (I would’ve been intimidated)!  It was also a blessing playing Speed with him….even though he won 5 times (in a row) but he was so gracious he tried to let me win once (until I realized he was holding back)! He’s a cool guy….the younger GSF girls think so too!

It’s been a blessing having Alton here. It was a blessing having Alton preach the Word of God to the missionaries during our Monday morning devotion, to the GSF men workers Tuesday morning (a missionary who was there told me what a great job Alton did), to the local pastors on Tuesday evening, to the missionaries on Wednesday evening, to the villagers on Wednesday morning, and to the local church Sunday school Sunday morning. Alton was constantly serving us by proclaiming the Word of God and I thank him for that. I was deeply encouraged by our Wednesday message on Isaiah 6:1-8 from Alton and I know all the other missionaries were refreshed and encouraged as well. It was also encouraging seeing Alton’s intentionality. His intentionality with sharing with our driver the gospel, his intentionality with talking with one of our older kids on our day out in town even when he could’ve done other things—that was a blessing. I’m glad he gave up milk tea and those HK cafes and chick fil-a for a week!

It’s been a blessing having Brian here. Like Alton, it was a blessing having Brian preach the Word of God to the local village church during Sunday service, to the GSF children during their Monday devotions, to the local pastors on Tuesday evening, the villagers on Wednesday morning. Like Alton, Brian was constantly on his toes preparing messages and encouraging us through the Word of God too! It was encouraging when a guard from GSF came up to me to tell me, “That young boy, that young boy can preach! I can listen to him preach every Sunday for a year!” (Guess they want you to stay!). It’s also been encouraging seeing the respect some of our GSF boys had for Brian (I could tell they adored him) and seeing Brian serve with these boys by playing worship on the drums with them during their house devotions. It’s also been a blessing seeing him lead the team here in Uganda in such an awesome God centered FLEXIBLE way and even in the midst of leading a team, encouraging me---even if it meant him telling me to “chill”. 

trying to carry brian

SO THANK YOU and COME AGAIN! The children LOVED LOVED the team and the missionaries were very thankful they came! 

You can read more about their trip on their TUMBLR here. I just wanted to share on here what a blessing they have been to me. They have been a blessing here at GSF. ALSO, thank you for all the goodies, supplies, encouragement, and LOVE. THANKS THANKS THANKS! (times a Million!)

Sorry! This was my September partial blog update! I’ll try to share more blessings and highlights from September soon!!