Passion: Kampala

It was a crazy night last night, but so incredibly amazing! I was blown away multiple times in thinking that this was actually happening here in Uganda and that we were in Africa and not the States. I've never been to the Passion conference in Atlanta, but i know enough to share some differences of last night:) First up, it was in the middle of a futbol field at a university in Kampala. Me being the ignorant American I sometimes am, was half expecting the football stadium at UVA, and I don't know, maybe even inside?! Silly. It was literally a big dirt field, with some grassy patches, and maybe two sets of rickety bleachers on one side. But it was incredible! They brought a huge stage that the set up and everyone was crammed right in front of the stage and extended wayyyyy back! I thought we were a little far back but I didn't realize that we were so close to the front and there were thousands of people behind us! I heard this morning at church that there were close to 30,000 people there! Can we talk I about crazy!? Then, not only was the whole atmosphere worth being blown away by, but worshipping with Chris Tomblin and Christy Nockels, and hearing Louie Giglio speak, was all the more awe inspiring and so powerful! The whole event lasted from 7 to about 11 and we got home around 1, so a very long night, but so wonderful! I'll definitely be trying to go to the one o Atlanta this year if I can:)

And what a week even before yesterday!  I feel like it could take me forever to explain everything and all that we have been up to and doing! But it has been great! First, as of Friday, I left the states exactly 1 month ago, and as of today I have been in Jinja for 1 month:) This seems absolutely crazy to me because it does not at all seem like this long at all - which I'm not really sure is a good thing or bad thing haha! I think I'm just going to list things that have been happening, because I doubt it will flow very logically.

- Tuesday on my way back from town, I burnt my leg on the exhaust pipe on the boda boda. Not my brightest moment and will probably have quite the scar to show for it - it's about three inch long and an inch wide, and blistered/bubbled like crazy

- Wednesday morning most of us went out for breakfast at a little place in town called Ozzie's, which is owned and operated by this little Australian missionary woman named Jude, who i think has been here for 20-30 years. It was a fun morning and good time to spend with the other volunteers and coordinators! Later that day, Mary Grace, another volunteer, and I went over and shot basketball at our pastor's house, which was fun to get outside and do something besides run haha. Also, side note to Dad - apparently they have Thursday night basketball (similar to your Friday nights) and they invited us to play one week:) I'll let you know how it goes! 

- Thursday we had Special Olympics at our house for the kids with games such as a three legged race, an egg toss, balance an egg on a spoon, a tire race, and finished it up with silly string and water balloons! Such a cute day and so many laughs and crazy moments! Two of the best stories of the day involved the eggs - one, being when Rachel thought she could eat it (for whatever reason) and bit straight into it, and two, Zeke took an egg right up to Paul and cracked it on his head, not very appropriate but we all couldn't help but laugh:) 

- Thursday night there was an encouragement night hosted by an organization, Mercies for Mammas, for the women serving in Jinja, or close to, where they had a catered meal, then worship, and time for prayer in small groups, just so we could meet new people and make connections with others in the community. It was a really sweet night and fun to see what a community there really is here, as well as continue to meet new people. Then when we left they had goodie bags for us with lots of American goodies!

- Friday, we had a team come to Ekisa of about 20 older women from Australia, who were absolutely precious, and they came to pamper our Mammas! They said that often places will have teams to come play with the children, but rarely is there attention given to those who care day-in and day-out for these very kids! They set up in different areas of the house and yard foot massage, hand massage, facial, and back massage stations and the Mammas took turns throughout the day going through them. Then at the very end, they invited us to go through too, and it was wonderful and so encouraging. Every lady you talked to was so interested in your story and took the time to just listen and encourage. Then at the end they would ask to pray over us and the work we are doing - whether it be for three months, like me, or kind of indefinitely, like Emily. I just felt blessed to be able to be a part of it!

- Friday night we made fajitas, with homemade salsa and guacamole, and Emily had downloaded the new Grey's Anatomy, which aired Thursday for those of you who don't know, and we watched it on a projector (we may or may not have invited a guy friend over to bring the projector without telling him what we were watching). It was a great night haha. 

- And then, yesterday, as I already explained was amazing in and of itself! I feel like I'm running out of positive adjectives to really describe the joy that is filling my life right now in both small day-to-day activities, like the kids progress with learning letters in school, to the big things, like being able to go to Passion. I am so thankful for having the support behind to come here and follow God's plan for my life right now. I am so happy!