Wednesday Morning

So sorry for no updates yesterday - no internet access! What an amazing day we had though! I do believe it may have been our most productive - both tangibles and intangibles!

We started the day by heading into Jinja to exchange our money. Had a great conversation with our guard who was carrying the most darling little AK47 - complete with bayonet. :) Very nice man and they so love when we visit!

After that it was off to Nakabango - one of my favorite places on God's green earth! You can imagine the songs and shrieks of the women as we pulled up - children coming from every direction. Closest thing to a rock star we'll ever be - okay, except for Bill and Richie. What a joy to watch the faces of so many of the newcomers receive this greeting for the first time!

We played with the kids for an hour or so before we started planting the "green fence" (a hedge) that was about 300 yards total! We definitely got our hands into the red, Ugandan soil! Imagine a line of 22 Americans and 50 Ugandan kids all kneeling planting small bushes together - it was precious!

We also had the pleasure of helping paint the outside of the new church building - and what a building it is! Amazing to get to see what God has placed in that former field of not much! There is even stained glass -I wasn't expecting that and it is gorgeous! I'm not supposed to let you know, Shea, but Andy can really paint! He and some of the guys looked like Mark Twain and Huck Finn when they were whitewashing the outside of the church!

Lesli and I handed out 130 precious little dresses that had been sewn by some women at Salem Avenue Baptist in Rolla - what a sight that was! Not only did we have the pleasure of handing them, but I got to put each one on a precious little girl and tie her ribbons!

Building benches was also part of the day - hard work, but I think it was so rewarding for the guys. Todd Larkin had the cutest little guy helping him the entire time - probably 8 or 9 years old. Priceless.

Such an honor to watch EVERYONE engage with the people in this village - kids, women, men. The relationships formed yesterday may not be tangible, but the impact is huge.

A few sore muscles today - maybe not from hammering or painting, but from swinging so many kids around or holding so many babies. I got to see a lot of talents in action yesterday!

I'm off to be a part of our study of "The Hole In Our Gospel" - a great way to start our day together. Thank you for your continued prayers and a special thanks to each of our families for allowing us this opportunity! We love you all!

Off to Bufuula and Mufibira today!