Heading Home

Sorry we didn't get to blog yesterday.  We were hanging out with the missionary families.  Yesterday morning we finished up with the last day of VBS.  The children put on a performance for us yesterday afternoon.  There are many talented people here and God used them to bless us.  We ate supper in the kids' homes last night and we hung out with the missionaries and their families after that.  Phase 10, Spoons, and some loud game that you play with cups has been very popular around here.  We had a wonderful breakfast at Claudia's house this morning.  Mark had a final meeting with us and we are fixing to eat our last helping of rice and beans and poscho.  We will have our final farewells after lunch and then load the bus and head to Entebbe.  It is a 3 hour drive.  We are going to eat supper tonight at a pizza place overlooking Lake Victoria.  Our plane will leave at 10:50 p.m. tonight which will be 2:50 p.m. Jones County time Saturday.  We will fly to Brussells, have a 5 hour layover, and then fly to Chicago.  Our layover in Chicago will be 1 hour 20 minutes.  Our plane will land in New Orleans at 4:54 p.m. Jones County time.  Please pray for safe travel and friendly stewardesses, especially on the way to Brussells.  We did not experience the friendliest attendants in Brussells.  This is our last post.  We will see you back home.

We started off the day going into one of the many villages on the mountainside and delivering some items to a family of one of the children at the orphanage.  Her name is Jennifer and she is the child that the Reed family sponsors.  We drove up the mountain through the village up a narrow road and then we couldn't go any farther so we walked carrying the items on our heads African style. Jennifer has many other siblings and all of them are very malnourished.  It was a very humbling experience for us.  We had a tour of their house and we presented them with the gifts.  Claudia was telling us that they can relate to different truths if they are in a story format.  So Shauna and Liza came up with a story on the spot that made sense and was very applicable for the children and parents.  We led them in a prayer of salvation.  We don't really know what God did in each of their hearts but He had us there for a reason today.  We did day 4 of VBS this afternoon.  Liza taught the youth tonight.  Mark and Charlie have been painting all day and Shauna and Liza came in between their other duties.  The girls and I have been working the VBS and hanging out with the children.  Tomorrow we will finish up our VBS and hopefully finish up with the painting.  The children are going to put on a program for us tomorrow afternoon and then we are going to be able to eat supper in the different children's homes.  Our kids have also been hanging out with the other missionary kids today.  As a matter of fact, they are playing spoons right now.  Please pray for our physical strength.  Just like any other mission trip, as we get to the end, it becomes very tiresome. 

Ryan wrote the blog tonight and he looks like a grown up Dennis the Menace who has been awake for 48 hours! Until tomorrow!  The Africa Mission Team says goodnight!

Over Half Way

We are a little past the half way point and we still have a lot of stuff to do.  We all started yesterday painting in the new babies house.  The ladies and Dr. Mark are diligently working at putting the texture on and making it look nice.  That's beyond my imagination.  There are only so many people who can paint at one time so the girls and I have found other things to do.  Today was pretty amazing.  We painted this morning, we went to Bujagali Falls this afternoon.  We paid a guy to get in this bucket that the ladies carry on their heads and ride down a  huge rapid.  It was pretty intense.  It was also his idea.  They will basically do anything for a schilling over here.  Please take note that this is not like the Ocoee.  Shopping in Jinja was next on the agenda.  We had a drink in a coffee shop and Claudia took us to a store that one of her friends owns.  She is a believer.  Let's just say that she could probably come close to retiring after we were done.  Items are so inexpensive over here and they are very nice.  I didn't think we were going to have to worry about the 50 pound weight limit on the way home, but I was wrong.  Tomorrow we will be going into a local village to help a family out and then we are coming back for day 4 of VBS in the afternoon.  Tomorrow night, Liza, Charlie, and the girls will be doing a youth devotion.  Shauna and I will lead a devotion for the missionaries.  Dr. Mark will continure painting.  On a side note, Dr. Mark has seen all of the children at the orphanage, the missionaries, and the missionaries' children in the past 2 mornings.  He will see the house moms tomorrow morning.  This is approxamately 125 people in 2 days.

One neat thing that happened was on Tuesday.  Dr. Mark put the glider rockers together at Claudia's house.  A man who works at the shop here at the orphanage came to see them.  The gliders have ottomans to go with them but we had to leave them at CrossPointe because we had no room for them.  Claudia asked the man if he could look at the model of the glider, which they didn't even know existed, and see if he can make an ottoman similar to that.  He is going to practice on hers and then he will have a similar model that he can use in Africa to sale.  So these gliders were not only used to bless the orphanage, but also this man, because he will be able to sale them, and to Africa, because the people here have never seen one before.  God is Good!!!!

Prayers Answered

I just wanted to let everyone know that Emmanuel, who I talked about in the last post, is at the orphanage now. He had not eaten anything all day and he said he wanted some rice.  They are going to be able to hire a sitter for him during the day to help lift him.  Labor is fairly inexpensive over here which makes it easier for the orphanage to pay someone.  GSF director, Mark Gwartney, has a men's Bible Study every Tuesday morning.  Dr. Mark and I were able to go and Mark spent the whole time sharing scripture that backs up "once saved always saved."  This leads to our second request from last night.  The men had questions and it is completely different from what they have been taught but I could really tell that some of them were really wanting to search this issue.

Our second day of VBS is over and it was a success.  We were able to be a part of the men's and women's Bible Studies this morning and afternoon.  Now, some of the ladies went on a hike and Mark and Charlie are sketching out murals in the new babies house.  We are all going to meet up and start painting the sketches.  That will be on the agenda for the rest of the day.  Tomorrow we are going to be able to take the day off for sight seeing and shopping in Jinja.  This will be a lot of fun.  Please keep the prayers coming.  Everyone is healthy and no one has gotten sick which is a huge blessing.  We are all having a blast, but I know that we will be ready to see our families when we get back. 

Delirious

We had our first official day of VBS today and it was crazy, wild, and fun all in one, with a little stress added as well.  We had roughly 60 kids aging from 3 years to 15 years old. Our story was about the miraculous catch of fish.  It was a great time for us to nail down the truth of obedience.  It was really cool to see how some of the kids were really listening and soaking the Word in.  There are two prayer requests from the orphanage:
1.  There is a little 9 year old boy named Emmanuel who is in need of a home either by way of an orphanage or adoption.  He has cerebral palsy.  The orphanage has been asked if they would house him, but they are filled up to their limit.  They really want to bring him to GSF, because if they don't and if no one else takes him, he will end up on the streets.
2.  The other request that we have is that the children are being taught that they can lose their salvation.  If they sin and die before they ask God to forgive them, they will go to hell.  This teaching is not coming from the GSF missionaries.  It is the Ugandan culture and they are having a problem with some of the house mothers teaching that. 
Dr. Mark went and toured the two hospitals in Jinja today with Claudia and the orphanage nurse, Millie. He has also been treating some of the patients here at the orphanage.  Today has been a very refreshing day.  We have had some down time which has been great.  We are all a little delirious at this point.

Each day a few of us will take a turn having the priviledge of eating lunch in one of the missionary homes where they host lunch every day for the 7 children here that have HIV/AIDS.  And after lunch Shauna, Charlie and Liza will spend an hour with one of the missionary women here for a time of prayer and encouragement.  We are all so blessed so many times each day with this Africa experience!  So much laughter and so many tears...praying for God's purpose to be fulfilled and not a minute of opportunity is lost.

We All Fall Down...

This morning started out with the most SPECTACULAR sunrise! Well, apparently, Summer DeLoach decided to bask in the wonderous glory of a new day in Africa! As she started her journey down the hill right outside of the guest home, her pace quickened, and she began running faster than her mind or body could register. As Summer neared the bottom of the hill, a chunk of rocky, red clay presented itself in her path. Just as Charlie was saying,"Oh! Take a picture, take a picture," Summer tripped over the rock and tumbled down the rest of the hill! Luckily, Summer got up laughing, however, she has scratches from her foot to the top of her knee now!

After Summer's Tumble, the crew headed down for Sunday School! We all split up and spent half of our Sunday morning in different classes with the kids.

Once Sunday School was over, everyone walked down to the Chapel for praise and worship and preaching! Before praise and worship, a few of the younger boys took out drums and amazed us all with their ability to keep rhythm and beat. After this amazing show, a few of the missionaries along with some of the younger adults got up on stage and began singing "I Am a Friend of God" along with other African worship songs. This was truly a moving experience!

While Ryan was preaching, Shauna, Liza, Charlie, and all of the girls took the children out to the pavilion for the first day of VBS.

For dinner, we ate potato soup at Amanda's house with Claudia and her girls and the two other missionary families. Amanda is one of the interns who is serving here at Good Shepherd's Fold for two years. Following dinner, we had a small devotion lead by Ryan.

On our way home from Amanda's, Summer and Shelby were walking together when they came upon a ditch. Just as Summer had said,"Be careful, Shelby, there is a ditch there," Shelby jumped, tripped, and slid on the ditch. She apparently wanted to follow in Summer's footsteps!

Liza and Anna were behind, so Ryan, Shelby, Summer, Lindsay, and Maggie came up with the idea that it would be funny to hide in the bushes and pretend to be Hyraxes to scare them. Hyraxes are strange animals that live in the trees beyond the grounds that make the most disturbing, screaming noises that can ever be heard by human ears! Unfortunately, Anna Reed saw them running into the bushes, foiling their scheme! Luckily, Mark DeLoach came through for us; he was hiding behind the house and when Anna and Liza were approaching, he jumped out and yelled in their faces!

While Liza and Anna were crossing the same ditch that Shelby fell off of, Anna tripped as well. Are you noticing a pattern?

Written by: Summer De Loach with editing and proofreading done by:  Lindsay Thompson and Shelby Reed

On a more serious note, we had a chance to hang out with some of the kids and get to know them better.  We dont't know how blessed we are to have access to many basic things that these children do not have or cannot afford.  The GSF missionaries are doing all that they can to take care of these needs.  This afternoon, Liza, Shauna, and Charlie had a chance to visit with one of the girls who has HIV.  Her name is Noraah.  She is 15 years old.  She has a beautiful voice.  She was singing to the ladies and of course you know that they were very much moved by this.  Noraah is in the late stages of HIV.  We found out tonight that she gave her life to Christ a little less than a year ago.  Praise God.

We also had a chance to have a devotion with the missionaries at GSF.  We set it up much like our small groups at home.  They had a chance to share their hearts and concerns with us.  They are really awesome people whom God has ordained to be at GSF.  They have struggles just like anyone else.  Our ladies are going to take an afternoon each day and spend some time with each of the ladies and pray with them.

I wanted to share with you a really neat testimony about the beginning years on this particular land...This land was purchased by Samaritan's Purse and donated to the orphanage several years ago.  The people of the surrounding villages told GSF that they would not be able to put up the water towers needed for the orphanage, that they were sure to fall because the place upon which the towers needed to be was the place of rituals and sacrifices and that this land was cursed.  They moved forward and built them anyway, and twice they fell.  Claudia and the entire orphanage at that time came to the land and had a prayer walk over it...they rebuilt the towers...exactly as before...and they have remained!!!  It has been such a testimony of our God to the surrounding villages!!!!  You can truly see the work He has done...and over and over today we have talked of how God has orchastrated our every move to be here...we have repeatedly gave testimony today of what an incredible day it has been!!!  Thank you ALL for your prayers and support to get here!!!! And the week has only begun!!!!!!

Written by Ryan Smith and Shauna Stockstill

WE ARE FINALLY HERE 48 HOURS LATER

Well, we are here and it is absolutely AWESOM E!!!  We got to the New Orleans airport Thursday around noon.  We had a very nice guy to help us unload ALL of our luggage.  Our biggest obstacle was the 2 glider rocking chairs.  The day before the trip, it took many hours to get those rocking chairs under 50 pounds.  Though we thought we had it under 50 pounds, when we got there, it weighed at 53.5 pounds.  The nice gentelman let us go on through with it.  We flew to Chicago and had an hour layover. During which time, Summer "realized" that she had left her phone on the plane. So she and Charlie ran all the way back to our first plane and asked the flight attendant to check and see if she could find it, but she was unable to. When Summer and Charlie arrived back at our gate, Summer found the phone wedged in between her pillow and teddy bear. After the Cell Phone Fiasco, we got on the plane to Brussels, it was an 8 hour flight.  It turned dark and some of us slept just fine were as others could only dream of getting just an ounce of sleep.  I would have slept better but I was SO lucky to get to sit by Shauna the whole 8 hours, and since John wasn't there, she needed a shoulder to rest her head on.  When we FINALLY made it to Brussels, we had to go through security, yet again (which took Forever) then we had to go through customs.  After that, everyone had to pile up in a shuttle that would transport us to our gate.  We had a bag of cheese that we had been hauling throughout the entire trip, known as Claudia's Cheese.  Everyone had to take a shift carrying the cheese.  Well, it was Anna's turn at this time, and she left it on the shuttle.  So Maggie ran back to the shuttle to grab the cheese for Claudia.  As we literally ran through our gate, they were calling out, "Last Call."  We ran and got on the plane and got seated when then the pilot came over the loud speaker and said the plane had a minor problem.  The "minor problem" took 2 long hours to fix. Every so often the French pilot with a terrible American accent would come over the loud speaker and give us "comforting" words that went along the lines of, "Excuse me, Umm, we are having minor problems and actually, it should not take long to fix them, they are working on it and well I don't know, maybe it will take a while, I will keep you informed."  Then, AT LAST, we were on our 2nd 8 hour flight.  We made it to Entebbe at 9:30 Friday night.  Claudia and Mark were there to meet us along with some of the children.  They took us to a hotel where we stayed for the night.  We got up this morning, and ate breakfast, which consisted of freshly squeezed orange juice and toast. Then we all loaded up our things and headed to Kampala for shopping, lunch, and money exchange.  One of the security guards  saw me sitting in the bus and called me "Big Man."  The team really loved that. 

So now we are here and it is extraordinary.  God is so amazing.  We had an awesome greeting from the kids and the staff as we drove up on campus.  We were able to get out and do a little dance with them.  Dinner was actually edible! The missionaries made us spaghetti with the options of tomato sauce, meat sauce, and alfredo sauce (made with fresh milk squeezed this morning). For side dishes, we had warm bread, cookies, and brownies. It is going to be an AMAZA ZING week here!

Written by: Ryan K. Smith with MAJOR help from Summer De Loach