Day One

Lugandan Word: Oli Otia (O-li O-tea-ah): How are you?

This morning we had some time to meet with Uncle Abby, who explained how the street program words. We set off for “Breakfast Club”. We walked from our house through town into the slums. It was a very close community. Children were running around everywhere, people were milling about. Many of the women were outside washing dishes or doing laundry. The children often tagged along behind us. We finally arrived at the place where class was held. There was probably close to 20 boys there. JT told the story of Jesus calming the sea, with Chris, Austin and Luis acting it out. The boys really got a kick out of it. We got to spend some time just hanging out with the bys. Austin drew quite a crowd with an arm-wrestling tournament. All of our guys got nicknames. JT: Uncle Chuck Norris. Chris: Uncle Bob Marley. Austin: Uncle Jesus. Shane: Uncle Hulk. After class we headed back to our van. The boys followed us, and walked with us most of the way. Uncle Abby had told us that most people view the street boys as dangerous, but that really, they are very protective. This was evident when we were walking through the slums. They walked with us, often next to the girls. We always felt safe. We went out for an authentic Ugandan lunch. Some of us were feeling adventurous, and we got to try goat’s meat (which was delicious). We also had chapatti (Cha-pa-tea), which is like a fried tortilla. We had matooke (ma-took-ay), which is mashed plantains. After lunch we went to the Owino market. We were shopping for clothes and food for the boys. The marked was very big, and extremely crowded. We walked shoulder to shoulder, and had to squeeze through people to get anywhere. It was like a giant maze, with little shops everywhere. In total we got 70 pairs of jeans, and about 100 shirts. Several of us got the chance to ride on the back of bota-botas, which is essentially a motorcycle taxi service. JT even got the chance to drive one, in African traffic (which is way scarier than American traffic-sorry Cheryl). We headed back to the house after shopping. Morgan, Brittany, Alison, and Shane went back out into the city afterwards. Uncle Abby and Uncle Eddy bought us sugar cane. We got to chomp on chunks of it, sucking all the juice out. We drew quite a crowd of people watching and laughing with us while we munched on the cane. This evening, we spent some time planning tomorrows activity-another day in the street program.

Prayer List:

· The ability to start relationships with the street boys, to build trust and love.

· Being able to die to ourselves, and take on the full character of Jesus- we don’t want people to see us walking down the street, we want them to see Jesus in us.

-video coming soon weh

Ugandan worker

A vegetable booth

Children posing for the Muzungus

Eating sugar cane

Water running through town

Arrival Day

Lugundan Word: Webale (WEH-ba-lay): Thank you

We arrived safely in Entebbe. It was a quick flight to Uganda. Abbey and David met us at the airport. We went out for a beautiful lunch at a local café. Abbey, David, and a few other API staff members gave us a “culture orientation” The differences between the Ugandan culture and ours is incredible. Ugandans are a very humble and gentle people. We are so stoked to learn from them. After lunch we headed to Kampala. We are staying in a beautiful guest house. We got the chance to apply what we learned in our orientation by spending a couple of hours walking around the city. We often found ourselves being trailed by children. As you can imagine, we draw a lot of attention walking down the street. The most common word we hear, anywhere we go, is “Muzungu” which means “white person.” Many people will point and shout at us. The children turn it into a song, jumping up and down, chanting muzungu. We definitely have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We begin our first day of the street program.

Prayer List

· Energy throughout the day

· Complete faith for God to work through us.

We made it!

Culture Orientation

Walking down the street in town

Bota-Botas. (motorcycle taxi service)

Street of Kampala

Safe Travels

We have arrived safely in London. The trip from Springfield to Dallas was short, 55 minutes and 7 seconds to be exact (weh). JT had the chance to share what we were doing with his seatmate. Navigation through the Dallas airport was quick. We boarded the plane headed to London at 9:00pm Dallas time. It was a nine-hour flight. We all got to sit by each other, except for Chris. Leah and Morgan did not sleep. JT and Austin slept the entire 9 hours. Allison made it through an entire movie. Lewis bit his tongue. Shane attempted to sleep, but was mostly unsuccessful. Brittany learned some Chinese. Emily just want’s to know are we there yet. Overall, it was a successful flight. We board the plane to Kenya at 7pm. We’re halfway there. #ugandaweh13

Prayer Send-Off

Dallas to London

Boarding the plane