July 28, 2012

July 28, 2012      Ok, so this will probably be my second to last blog because I'll be writing about my goodbyes later this week.  Again, I'm sorry it's been a little while since I've blogged.  Everything here is coming to an end, and it's kind of hard to fully understand that right now.  I feel like I don't completely remember home, but I also feel like I just got here.  The children from school went on their holiday break on Thursday, so we got to be a part of their closing meeting with all the children, the few guardians that showed up, and the school staff.  Following the meeting, we had a very good meeting with the staff and Basco- the administrator of the school.  Amanda and I gave some more insight into different ways the teachers could continue to develop their school and teaching methods.  The teachers were so gracious and are just wonderful women that we were so blessed to have the opportunity to work with.      I wanna take this opportunity to sing Basco and Nancy's praises again because they invited us over to dinner last week for an absolutely AMAZING meal!  Now in case I haven't mentioned this before, the food here is somewhat lacking in versatility.  There aren't nearly the amount of options in food as there are at home, so anytime we get a chance for something new we get so excited!  Nancy cooked all day and everything was homemade- EVERYTHING!  Prepare yourselves because I'm sure you'll be drooling after I tell you what we had.  She made- homemade hamburger buns, homemade tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, passion fruit juice, sloppy joes, pineapple and banana salad, and a strawberry cake to finish it all off!  The hamburger buns were absolutely AMAZING! Needless to say, we stuffed our faces until we couldn't eat anymore.  The rest of our time here is pretty open, we will probably just be spending time with friends and trying not to think about saying bye :/- I'm not prepared for that yet.  Tuesday is Sarah's 22nd birthday, so I think we're gonna have a sleepover at our friend Christine's again on Monday.  As far as I know, we plan on heading to Kampala on Thursday and staying the night so we don't have to drive up Friday and be in a car for 4 hours then get on a plane for a day.  This is all I have for now, but definitely continue to pray for the ministry and sick people here-there are several sick people here rig now (typhoid and malaria are everywhere!).  Also start praying for our flights because I'm not looking forward to them! Love you all!

July 12, 2012

July 12, 2012            The past week has been full of my usual daily routine with school, AWANAS, and church with the exception of Monday.  Usually Monday's are our day of rest, but last Wednesday two new visitors, Todd and Roni, got here and so we ended up going hiking at Sipi Falls on Monday with them because Roni is only here until next Tuesday.  Last time I was here cara and I went to Sipi Falls so I knew what to expect and was excited!  I love hiking and the falls are on the top of Mount Elgon in a beautiful, cool, plush area.  As we got closer to the base of the mountain it started to look more and more overcast.  Last time we didn't get a drop of rain, but this time we were in for a very different, pleasant surprise!  As we got up to the first fall (not very far up) it started to trickle raindrops.  Well, we left that fall and continued up the mountain only to encounter the pouring rain as soon as we started up.  We were already pretty far up the mountain from where we parked, so the farther up we were hiking the colder it became.  Now believe me when I tell you at the top of that mountain the rain drops were huge and FREEZING!  At one point I'm pretty sure it was hailing.  Now I'm definitely not complaining because it made the hike so much more fun and exciting because we were trying to hike fast without slipping on the steep path in the mud.  It was hilarious watching everyone, including myself, trying to get down that mountain in the pouring rain using our walking sticks they gave us.  Long before we even got to the bottom we were literally soaked to the bone and freeeeeezing.  It was a great adventure and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I enjoyed myself a little more once I was home and showered in my sweatpants and sweatshirt under my covers, but it was worth it!      Wow, the three week point has come and I'm not sure how it got here so fast.    The days come and go so fast sometimes its hard to stop and catch my breath and remember to take advantage of every single opportunity i have here.  As i was laying in bed last night i couldnt get to sleep because i kept thinking about how im gonna say bye to everyone here.  Its amazing to me how many close relationships ive formed in the time ive been here.  I consider myself a friendly person, but at the same time at home its sometimes hard for me to get outside of my comfort zone and make friends.  Thats one of the most encouraging, genuine things about all the friends ive made here, they have no hesitations about making friends with someone theyve just met.  The biggest difference for me is that i dont feel like i have to mold to fit someone elses personality in order to be friends with them (not that i feel like i have to do this at home all the time but our culture is so much more physically and, for lack of better word, "popularity" aware and judgmental than the culture here and it's so refreshing).  Everyone here is so genuine and I can relax and just be myself.  Now if youve been reading my blog you know about Eva.  The main reason i couldnt get to sleep last night is because i kept thinking of what i would tell her when i leave.  With adults its somewhat easier because they understand the coming and going of missionaries, but with young children it's a whole different playing field.  The fact of the matter is I'm not sure when I'll be back.  How do I tell a 6-7 year old that?  How do I form this relationship with a child and become a trusting adult to her and then just leave her?  Sitting here writing about it is making me cry and i still have 3 weeks!  How in the world am i supposed to figure out how to do this?!  I'm sorry if I'm starting to sound dramatic, it just helps me to write things out in order to process them, and maybe somebody has some advice for me? That would be wonderful!  I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to realize but this is the catch 22 of mission trips, especially longer ones.  You're given the amazing opportunity to come and love a new culture and new, amazing people and then you have to leave.  I think I'm realizing this more this trip because of the consistency of being with the children everyday at the school and spending the evenings and weekends with the same staff people.  This has been my reality and life for the past 2 months and will be for the next 3 weeks.  Maybe that doesn't seem like a big amount of time but with the relationships I've made it's a HUGE amount of time.all of the relationships I've made here have also taught me so much and i haven't figured out how to thank them all for that yet either.  The lord is definitely using these relationships to help me grow and encourage me.  I was talking to Sarah the other day and realizing how far I have come personally since I've been here.  It amazes me how fast the lord has restored me (not that I'm completely restored but just how far I've come in so many different aspects of my life).  Ok, I think I've gone on long enough, so now for prayer requests and some praises!  Please continue to pray for some guidance for me and the other visitors when it comes to saying bye, even though it's a little ways away.  I know it's gonna be hard for all of us.  Also, I still need prayers for patience here please!  Also pray for becca and derek and their wedding planning, less than 3 months!Please pray for the ministry as well, they have some necessary projects coming up and definitely need help with the funding, so pray that the lord provides for them.  Please also continue to pray for Bryan and his family (our mzungu neighbors).  They've been battling different illnesses among the 7 of them and just pray that they can have a rest from all of that, but along with that comes a praise because Bryan is feeling better!  Mindy says he is still weak but healing, which is so good considering how awful he was feeling.  Lastly, my praise is that I'm feeling better also!  If you know me you know I'm a baby when it comes to being sick, so this is some stress off of me for sure.  Thank you always for your love and support and I hope you enjoyed getting caught up! Love you all!

July 5, 2012

July 5, 2012      Goodness how the time has gone by! I'm so sorry, especially to you grandpa, that it's taken so long for me to blog!  I've been so into my routine that I haven't thought of a specific event to share, but then after thinking about it I realized I haven't shared updates from school yet!  Amanda and I have been teaching at the primary school run by the ministry every morning from 9-12.  During this time we pull out small groups of children that are struggling and need extra help.  Unfortunately, it's not in their curriculum to teach phonics, so unless the kids are smart enough to just pick it up along the way, they end up really struggling in class.  They are taught to copy stuff from the. Lard in class but not letter recognition or sounds at all.  Luckily for me, I've been able to get tons of help from mom AND my exposure in preschool and kindergarten classrooms subbing has definitely given me some direction in our teaching.  We've also been fortunate to get supplies from mom through a team that came in June, which has helped develop our teaching methods here as well.  We start each group by going through alphabet flash cards and do letter and sound recognition.  We then break off into smaller groups and I work mainly with phonics through some great iPad apps that I have while Amanda goes over colors, shapes, and counting with them.  Halfway through we switch so every child is exposed to both teachers and both types of curriculum.  The kids have jumped leaps and bounds since we've started working with them, which is really encouraging to me.  They have come to recognize letter and letter combination with sounds and everything!  The most encouraging part for me personally is little Nora.  I talked about Nora in an earlier blog, but just to remind you she is a 13 year old girl who was severely malnourished as a child so her brain didn't develop like other kids and she suffers from mental impairment as a result.  At first I wasn't as optimistic as I should have been with her progress, but the weeks have proven me so wrong!  She can recognize almost half of her alphabet now and can do sounds and everything!  I have an app on my iPad where the children have to spell out words by picking the letter after hearing only it's sound and she does amazing at this game! She is really progressing and not only am I excited but she gets so tickled when she gets it right, which is precious! in a couple weeks another team will be bringing more supplies for the school, which will help build up the school and it's resources that much more because it's still in the very early stages of development.        As for me, unfortunately i haven't been feeling so hot lately.  Sickness is coming and going for me and I'm not exactly sure what it is, which is the most frustrating part.  At first, I went to the clinic and they thought it was worms so I took deworming tablets and they didn't have the effect they should have had if I had a parasite, so that has been ruled out.  After talking it through with one of the new visitors from the states who is a nurse, we have come to the conclusion that it's a protein deficiency paired with a high starch intake.  At home I eat so much protein and not so many starches that now after a month and a half of exposure to very very low protein and very high starch intake (as a result of the availability of foods here) my body is low on nutrients and it's making me sick and somewhat weak.  Luckily, I can start here and try and focus on taking in as much protein as is available and cutting down on carb/starch foods.  Right now it's more of a frustration and annoyance for me than anything else because I don't have tons of energy and have to lay down almost every day after I eat lunch, but other than that things are going well.        Ok so now for prayer requests!  A new mzungu family moved into our compound a couple weeks ago (a couple with 5 children under the age of 9 and their brother in law who is from Uganda) and since they've been here their 2 youngest have developed a staph infection and now the dad is very very sick and they're not sure what it is.  Please pray that they can figure it out so that it can be effectively treated, that the kids stay healthy, and that the mother will stay strong for the family.  Also please keep praying for the development of the school and the children.  Please also keep me and the other mzungus here in your prayers for our health as well because there is always some sort of sickness going around here (lately its been typhoid), and we have been fortunate so far to have steered clear for the most part.  Luckily, we have been immunized against most of the sicknesses that are very prevalent here.  Also please continue to pray for all of our patience in every aspect of our lives here. Again again thank you for your support and encouragement it is doing awesome things here! Love and miss you all thank you for keeping up and being patient with me! :)