Uganda Trip - Day 6

Today's notes from my girls...

Sunday, Dec. 5 -

It's been another long, but great day! This morning we had the most amazing experience! We attended a church in Lira! I would guess there were close to 300 people there, mostly orphaned children. The service was so cool! The church was pastored by Bob Higgins who also runs a very well-developed orphanage right across the street. Bob and his wife, Carol, left their life in Oregon to begin a ministry called "PATH Ministries" and to start an orphanage, called Otino-Waa. They are an amazing couple and their first 75 orphans were actually rescued child soldiers from the LRA! Otino-Waa is such a blessing to the Lira community and it's the very orphanage that Project Hope's orphanage, Calo Me Lare, is modeled after.

The service began with singing songs. Just hearing all the African voices praising Jesus brought tears to my eyes. It was a very spiritual and holy experience.

After the praise and worship time, Bob's wife, Carol taught a lesson about responsibility. Then Bob preached a sermon on "The Lord's Prayer". When both Bob and Carol taught, they spoke a phrase in English, then an interpreter said the same phrase in Luo, their native language. It was refreshing hearing them break down the Scriptures in understandable, simple terms. I think often times, Christians tend to complicate the Bible and we end up overlooking the basic truths that God is trying to teach us.

The thing that amazed me the most is that the kids sat very still and quiet the entire time and listened intently. I don't think you would ever see that in the United States! And the teaching lasted for well over an hour - I was even getting a little "ancy" myself, but the kids just soaked it all in. Most of them even had their own Bibles and knew right where to turn when it was time to look up a particular verse.

The last part of the service was reserved for Offering. The orphans are actually given "play" money that they can use at the orphanage to "buy" things such as a new spoon or a pencil for their school supplies. It teaches the kids responsibility and gives them a feeling of ownership of their possessions. They are also taught to tithe their money which they gave at Offering. Those that didn't have money to give gave some of their "first fruits" - often times maize, peanuts or potatoes they recently picked. Women also gave nice dresses they had sewn and made themselves. After Offering was taken, they actually conducted an auction with the items that were donated! Derk bought a large tub of peanuts. He also bought a child's outfit then gave it to a little girl that was sitting in the audience. Kelley also bought a sweet little outfit and plans on giving it to a girl sometime this week. It was fun watching the auction and I thought it was a very clever way to raise money for the church.



After the service, we walked across the street to take a look at Otino-Waa. It was so super nice and well-planned - it almost made me want to live there :-)  They had an outdoor cafe that made you feel like you were at a tropical retreat! Carol served us homemade, delicious pumpkin muffins and cinnamon rolls. Then Bob gave us a tour of the compound. We followed it up with lots of questions to help us (Project Hope) lessen our mistakes while building Calo Me Lare. His advice was invaluable to us and gave us great encouragement to keep moving forward.

Project Hope hired two Ugandan men a while back to help build and manage Calo Me Lare. They are pictured here, Tony on the left and Dennis on the right. They are two absolutely honest and upstanding God-sends! Calo Me Lare would not be where it is today if not for these two men. Tony has mostly overseen the building of the orphanage and Dennis has sought out the orphans and house mothers that will live at Calo Me Lare. They both have a great love for God and a passion for orphaned children.

Tonight, Tony gave us the great honor of having us at his family's house for dinner. It's a huge deal to welcome guests in such a way because of the time and money it takes to prepare the meal. They also invited a large portion of Tony's extended family, as well. I would guess there were over 30 family members at the dinner.

They welcomed us by singing us songs. It was so sweet and humbling.

After the songs, Tony's family introduced themselves by name, age and birth order. Our team then introduced ourselves with a brief introduction about families back home. Then we "ceremonially" washed our hands and the food was brought out on trays. I think there must have been at least 10 different kinds of food served - everything from chicken to rice to beef to some other "unknown-to-me" varieties of food. It was so good!

The dinner was served family-style in bowls and it is a cultural tradition that the food be served to the guests first. Then, after we were done eating, they finally got to fix their own plates and eat. It was also cultural for the adults to eat together and the kids ate together away from the adults.

After dinner, we sat around and visited and watched the kids play jump rope :-)

Tony shared with us tonight that he is actually running for the next mayor of Lira! We are so proud of him and we know he can bring about great positive change for his community. Yea, Tony!

We ended the night with Tony showing us the grave of his father who passed away this past summer. Tony said he was a great man who had 4 wives and 28 children! We closed with prayer, said our goodbyes, then went back to our hotel. The dinner was a very humbling experience and something I will never forget.