thankyou!

Dear Friends,

We have come to the final day of our mission trip to Uganda. We have had an amazing time and God has grown and challenged each one of us in unique ways.

The last few unexpected days in Kampala have been a significant time for all of us. We said goodbye to Pastor Francis and Maggie yesterday morning as they returned to Soroti in the midst of a rain storm.

We had the opportunity to visit an orphanage on Monday. This was a significant experience for many as we saw the hope and peace on the faces of each child and young man or woman, because they knew God.

We want to say a massive thankyou for all your support, prayers, love and faith and we ask that you continue to pray for us always - as the team travels today - some in the direction of home; others onto new places and also for our return to Australia. You are all really precious to each one of us. Thankyou.

God bless,

Nai for Team Uganda
xoxox

Now that the malaria scare is over...

... we thought we'd tell you what we got up to in Soroti.

When we last blogged, we'd finished 4 days of building. On Saturday 20th, we spent some time ministering to members of Pastor Francis's church. We broke into small groups and some of us spent time ministering to the children with songs, games and a bible story, some men led a men's bible study and some women led a women's bible study and others led a youth bible study. In the afternoon we spent time in the village around the church evangelising. We met some christians and were able to encourage them. We also met non-christians and were able to share the gospel with them. It was very different to door to door evangelism in Australia as we were welcomed at every house we came to and people listened to us as we explained the gospel. We prayed for several people and a couple of them came to church the next day! Please keep praying for the people we spoke to and for the church as they continue to evangelise and disciple new christians. We were invited to lunch at Susan's house. She prepared a feast for us and we were made very welcome and treated like VIPs.

On Sunday we went to church and once again participated. A few of us spoke and sang in the service. We returned home and had some free time in the afternoon (including cleaning!) and then were invited out to a good friend of Pastor Francis for dinner.

Monday we returned to building and after 4 more days of building, we left with all the walls that we worked on completed! The builders were left a few small things to complete. In total, we built half the walls of the bible school (Jane posted a photo in her previous blog).

Since our malaria incident and the great news of us now all being well, we've adjusted to the hustle and bustle of Kampala. It is such a big and busy city! We've caught the local transport to get around. We went to All Saints Anglican Cathedral for church on Sunday and then had some free time in the afternoon. Church was very African, with Anglican familiarities! It was packed, with 3 overflow tents outside and a gospel choir. The Bishop passed his greetings to us, we were quite easy to spot!

Today we went to An Open Door - an orphanage for abandoned babies and street children. The boys enjoyed a game of soccer (and won!), the girls played with the younger ones. We then spent the afternoon navigating Kampala on local transport on the back of postie bikes (boda-bodas) and doing a bit of shopping. Most of us prefer to keep our eyes closed as we weave between the traffic on the boda-bodas. It's either that or continual screaming (or nervous laughing in Adam's case!) Ok, slightly exagerated...

We are all well and thank you for all your prayers.
Love,
The Uganda Team
(Sarah and Chris)

at Kampala... safe & sound

Hello to all...

this is my first blog, so please be patient with me, i hope it works...

We left Soroti at 6:30am yesterday morning in a van and a ute heading for Kampala. Was weird to leave our house knowing we weren't going back. After a long day of bumpy travels and sore bumped heads, we got to Kampala at about 3:30pm, dumped our stuff in our guest house and headed to 'the Surgery' to find out our Malaria verdicts... and i am pleased and excited to tell you that we got the results this morning and it appears that NONE of us have malaria, or show any evidence of EVER having malaria... God is good, and there is no way we can not give him credit for this, whether the tests in Soroti were wrong or we were miraculously healed, God has most obviously had his hand on the steering wheel and led us here to Kampala... and i know i'm looking forward to seeing what he has in store for us here... so big note to parents: WE ARE ALL OK!!!!

To the IT staff: you have a good one with Adam, he has handled it so well and led us through it all amazingly, and i know he has appreciated your help and we have too, so thankyou for your encouragement and prayers!

Thanks to everyone everywhere praying for us... we have felt them, and appreciated them greatly...

Keep praying...

I'm going to try attach some pix for you, hopefully they work...

Love Jane xo

Kids program at the church

Father Abraham has many sons...

A night out in Soroti...

This is Alex... however you might know him better as the "Wobbly Boy" (refer to previous blogs)

Saying goodbye to the work site... Good work team!!!

That's it from me... Catchya later xoxo

Just a quick note...

Hello all our australian families!
Well I have to first of all say that everyone is continuing to have great time on the trip, but are all feeling a little worn out from the building. But today after some tests we have found out that 8 people on the team have malaria.Don't panic, all of those with malaria have medication and are resting now. Shelly,Matt,Phil,Naomi t,Naomi W,Chris,Sarah and katie are all just trying to rest and recover. Please pray for all the team, both for recovery and also for those of us who are still well to maintain good health.

Thankyou for all your prayers and we look forward to seeing you soon
God bless (iserereng edeke)
Steve G

Just a quick note...

Hello all our australian families!
Well I have to first of all say that everyone is continuing to have great time on the trip, but are all feeling a little worn out from the building. But today after some tests we have found out that 8 people on the team have malaria.Don't panic, all of those with malaria have medication and are resting now. Shelly,Matt,Phil,Naomi t,Naomi W,Chris,Sarah and katie are all just trying to rest and recover. Please pray for all the team, both for recovery and also for those of us who are still well to maintain good health.

Thankyou for all your prayers and we look forward to seeing you soon
God bless (iserereng edeke)
Steve G

Uganda Post- 19th Janauary 2007

As you all know we've been hard at work building. The girls have done such a great job carrying mortar on their heads African style as well as being a part of a team building exercise in trust. We form a line then throw and catch bricks in order to relocate them. It's been great fun but also hard work. However, many of us have been using the opportunity to learn the language. We've learned many words and terms needed when we build, such as 'more', 'enough', 'go quickly', 'I don't want to go quickly' and 'I made a mistake'. I think we need to learn the latter term better… well for me (Gill) anyway.

 

When we finish building we come home to a cold but nice shower. The dirt just seems to run off you, turning the bath water into what looks like mud. Dinner is often cooked by our wonderful hostess Maggie who serves us with an authentic African meal which we all enjoy. There are always fresh fruit readily available. We have bananas and pineapple every day. I can't remember the last time I had a banana in Australia but the ones in Uganda are great (just to rub it in!).

 

As we arrive home from building there are always children on the side of the road waiting to greet us. One boy, in particular likes dance for us. We call him the 'Wobbly boy'. Yesterday, even though we worked hard at the building site we still had enough energy to take 'Wobbly boy' and about 100 of his friends (truly, I think it was 100) to a near by soccer field. The Aussie girls were taught African games by the girls including one were we had to wiggle our hips African style, while the boys played soccer until the ball popped. The kids were so disappointed when we finally had to go home that Pastor Francis had to scare them away.

 

For those Mums out there, we are all safe and well and if that's still not a comfort, we'll be home soon. However, for many of us we are enjoying ourselves so much that the time to leave will be too soon. Hugs and kisses too you all! XXOO

life is brautiful

As you all know we’ve been hard at work building. The girls have done such a great job carrying mortar on their heads African style as well as being a part of a team building exercise in trust. We form a line then throw and catch bricks in order to relocate them. It’s been great fun but also hard work. However, many of us have been using the opportunity to learn the language. We’ve learned many words and terms needed when we build, such as ‘more’, ‘enough’, ‘go quickly’, ‘I don’t want to go quickly’ and ‘I made a mistake’. I think we need to learn the latter term better… well for me (Gill) anyway.

When we finish building we come home to a cold but nice shower. The dirt just seems to run off you, turning the bath water into what looks like mud. Dinner is often cooked by our wonderful hostess Maggie who serves us with an authentic African meal which we all enjoy. There are always fresh fruit readily available. We have bananas and pineapple every day. I can’t remember the last time I had a banana in Australia but the ones in Uganda are great (just to rub it in!).

As we arrive home from building there are always children on the side of the road waiting to greet us. One boy, in particular likes dance for us. We call him the ‘Wobbly boy’. Yesterday, even though we worked hard at the building site we still had enough energy to take ‘Wobbly boy’ and about 100 of his friends (truly, I think it was 100) to a near by soccer field. The Aussie girls were taught African games by the girls including one were we had to wiggle our hips African style, while the boys played soccer until the ball popped. The kids were so disappointed when we finally had to go home that Pastor Francis had to scare them away.

For those Mums out there, we are all safe and well and if that’s still not a comfort, we’ll be home soon. However, for many of us we are enjoying ourselves so much that the time to leave will be too soon. Hugs and kisses too you all! XXOO

We've meet the government officials and started construction

On Monday Pastor Francis took us to see the government officials. We visited the police Commissioner, the Deputy Mayor and the Chief of Internal Security. They welcomed us and encouraged us in the task we have ahead of us - the start of the building of Bethel Bible College. They greeted each of us individually. The Cheif was particularly interesting as he spoke about the LRA attacks on Soroti in 2003. 

We have really enjoyed getting to know Pastor Francis and his wife, Maggie and three young children. They have a wonderful attitude of praising God and often will lead us in an African Christian song (so much soul in it!). 

We went to Pastor Francis' church on Sunday and were greatly encouraged that in a small shelter made from sticks people were praising God and giving him honour and glory. Our team sang three songs from the front (with Steve's guitar - they were very interested in this as they had no musical instruments, but they certainly did not need it for timing or tune)

 

There is poverty here but lots of warmth and friendliness. People are constantly walking along the road with loads on their heads or riding on the back of bikes (they are the most popular taxis here). When they see us white people (mzungus) they look and stare and when we say 'Yoga' (spelling?) (hello) they wave and call back 'Yoga'.

 

Work on the building started today. We are building like people have been building for thousands of years - all manual and no machinery. This means we are carrying small loads of mortor (like concrete) around the site to the brick layers in mortor pans, and passing hand made bricks along a long line from the pile to the brick layers. We enjoy the interaction with the local builders. It is unusal to see girls building so they get a kick out of joking around with them. We made much progress.

 

More building tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.

 

Our love,

 

The Ugandan Team

(Naomi Tondl)

safe in soroti

hopefully this works, because we really dont know what we're doing when it comes to blogs. But we'll give it a shot!

 

the rest of the plane trips were uneventful, and we arrived in Entebbe on Friday afternoon. We were warmly received by Frank's bacpackers for our first night and even woke up to a tropical thunderstorm on Sat morning. Very loud thunder!

 

From Franks we set out on the road adventure of a lifetime to Soroti, it was at this point we relised we weren't on Australias well kept roads anymore with pot holes the size of small swimming pools and cyclists as far as the eye could see and even in blind spots. The road rules are ... different... but praise God the team arived safely to a warm welcome from the members of a local church. After breif introductions we were treated to a great home cooked meal by the pastors wife, Maggie. That drew us to the close of that night...

 

This morning we went to our first Ugandan church service. What an amazing experience that was. We were again so warmly welcomed even though we think we made it start an hour and a half late...(but thats the beauty of African time) We sang praise songs with the Ugandan people - with the language swapping often between English and Eteso, the local language here. Some members of the team shared their testimonies and we also sang some Aussie worship songs.

 

We were treated to a lovely morning tea and had time to bond with some of the members of the congregation, particularly the many children.

 

Thankyou so much for all your prayers, we really do feel that we are being held in his mighty hands.

 

Team Uganda :)

Flight to KL OR is that flight to Khell

ok we are in KL air port, and it's about 3am oz time...

we made it safely after a colourful flight here where we exprienced turbulence that was generally conceived to be the worst any of the team members have ever seen.

to describe it in full, the orange juice of the girl in front of us left her cup to head straight for the roof, where it remaned for a least a full 5 seconds, time enough for the girl to pick up her pillow and cover her head so than when the orange juice eventually fell she was able to catch it.

The whole plane was screaming apart for those of us on team who for them, this was their first flight.... Thats right Matt and Steve, who were also stoked that the food was 'free', were too confused by the screaming to regester the severity of the turbulence.

Mum's and Dad's
none of your childrens are damaged and will all be returned to you in perfect working order...we hope.

final thought on the turbulence...
it was preceded by a good half an hour of hard core laughing, mostly initiated by those of us who's reaction to shock is laughter....
thinking about it now is still making us laugh

we are about to depart for Dubai, and then Uganda - still with another 12 or so hours of travel ahead of us, we are feeling tired but verymuch in high spirits.

Blog to you soon
Team Uganda

Summer Teams Training

The team is having a blast getting equipped and prepared for heading overseas!

Welcome to the Uganda Summer Team blog!

Welcome to the International Teams Uganda Summer Team blog. Here we will be sharing our experiences, updates and prayer points whenever we get a chance to jump on the internet. There might not be heaps of opportunity to update this whilst we are away, so if you don't hear anything we're fine... it's OK Mum - I'm fine!!!!
Photos coming soon...