Bye Mzungo

I have just spent the past five and a half hours sitting on the floor of a beauty salon while three women pulled at my hair and stretched my scalp while braiding it. I experienced pain I didn't even know exsisted. It was like some weird Vietnamese torture device.

And why you ask? Because this coming Sunday I will be going to place where the pathetic bucket and cup bathing method I'm using now is going to be an impossibility, and I will be walking 12 kilometers to fetch my water. This means that I will not be washing my hair for the next month.... hence, the braids.

Ladies and gentlemen you have entered the no comfort zone.

Uganda is very green. Tha is something I have been very suprised by. As the equator runs right through it is also very warm and very sticky.

We spent the week up in a village called Kikuuta (GE KOO TA). In the mornings we went from door to door doing house visits and in the afternoon holding services and childrens programs. Sylvia and I got put in charge of the childrens program and it was an absolute blast playing with the village children. We taught on David and Goliath and Daniel and the Lion's Den. They loved it and were all so smart!

One girl in particular really stuck out to me. Her name was Rebecca, she was thirteen years old. She was our interpreter for the teachings because she spoke, English, Luganda, and Swahili. (Luganda is most widely spoken here). She wants to be a doctor.

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning was definitely the highlight of the week for me. Godwin (the man in charge of the Youth Center we are staying at) took us to meet his pastor way, way up in the jungle, and to show us one of their ministries there. They took us to this little tiny village where their church has planted a coffee and banana farm. They came into this village two years ago, built a church, built the farm, and have completely transformed the village. What once was a place filled with drunkards and prostitutes, is now a proactive, entirely employed community all because of the farm there. It employs close to 100 workers and provides schooling for the workers children. The really cool part to me was that an American Christian businessman in California heard about this ministry and is buying the coffee to sell in his chain of coffee shops back in the states.

It was so awesome to me to see an entire ministry that is really being active and it wasn't based around the leaders ability to preach or evangelize. These people came into the village with a practical goal and by doing so have changed the lives of an entire community.



We leave on Sunday for Gulu where the camp is.
Please continue praying for us and if you get the chance watch the documentary, Invisible Children. We're going to be where this took and is taking place.

~Clare
Matthew 7

Safe and sound in Uganda.

No running water. No showers. No toilets.

Have been blessed with electricity, although power outages are frequent.

Hair is coming out by the handfulls because of my anti-malarials.

The people are beautiful. Can't wait to get more into the ministry.

I am very uncomfortable and I know that God is really going to stretch me these next six weeks.
Please continue praying for us.

Kampala/Mukono til Sunday and then leave for the camp
My cell number here is 0771674185.

- Clare
Ephesians 4