Mission Uganda

Yesterday, we went to Bulabandi. I fell in love with a little orphaned girl there on the second trip that we took to the school, and yesterday when I went to say my final goodbye, she wasn’t there. I was heartbroken and cried on the bus ride back. As I got to thinking about it, though, I concluded that it must be a God thing: It just gives another reason to come back to Uganda next year!

                As I sit in the dimly lit Mwaana Highway Hotel, I watch the team say goodbye to our friends in Uganda (Julie, Wilson, Geoffrey, Festo, Irene, James, and Lovisa). It is such a bittersweet moment!

                This trip has been heart-breaking, but it is a trip that I will never forget.

                Today, we are going to Kampala to shop at the mall and eat pizza (!!!). We will also be visiting the source of the Nile where we will hopefully be seeing our first exotic animals!

                Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying for this trip and supporting our journey! I know that we could never complete such a daunting adventure without the help of our church. We love you, and we’ll see you soon!

As with each journey there are special memories that will be forever part of your life; today I experienced one of those treasured moments. We had learned of a ministry that was working with boys from the streets of Iganga from Team 1. Robert, the leader of the ministry was persistent in visiting us each day at the hotel to request us to meet some 50 boys on a soccer field.  

So today we took the bus to the soccer field in the slums of Iganga in an area we had not been to before. We departed the bus to see new smiling faces.   All of the boys gathered together and their leader Robert gave us an overview of the situation. He then asked if anyone of them would like to give their testimony.   Several boys shared with us why they were there on that soccer field.   One shared his parents were killed in Northern Uganda in the civil unrest and he was brought to Iganga and dropped off in the streets.   Another shared that he lived in the street and boozed everyday,  still another shared that he smoked cigarettes and ran the streets; all of their stories ended the same each praised God for providing “Papa Robert”. Although they were dressed in rags, each of these boys looked healthy, happy and they claimed Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  They sang for us “when God says yes, you can not say no”!

The boys were unaware that we brought chapote (a thick flour tortilla) and juice. Robert announced to the group that we had brought these goodies.  Their cheers, smiles, laughter and clapping was overwhelming.  They were so very, very grateful for such a small offering of love.

We ended our visit by circling up with the boys and Debbie closed us in prayer.   Please remember these boys and their leader Robert in your prayers through out today and tonight as you go to sleep.  

Tammy and Team 2!

                Today was rough to say the least. Forget what I said about us being all well and healthy… Vicky, Debbie, Sarah, Veronica, and Lee all came down with an illness (food poisoning or a virus?) and could barely get out of bed. Except for Lee, they were pretty much out all day long. We were all feeling really… low and defeated. Then Vicky told us something that Pastor Wilson told her: Satan was trying to attack us from the inside out. He was trying to make us sick so that we couldn’t complete God’s work. So today, we are praying for health and perseverance.

                Dana, Emily, Lee, Mason, Tammy, River, Rick, and I went to Top Hill Primary School and helped write sponsorship letters. Amy and Vicky went to the clinic at Kokombo and delivered shelves so that the nurses at Kokombo would no longer have to pile the medicine on only one shelf.

                The devotional that we had was written by Janet Buckingham and was called “Choices… Choices… Choices…” I personally learned that each person on this mission trip is not here by coincidence and was picked by God to do his work. That has helped me to see the value in my being here- I was becoming so overwhelmed by all the kids that needed love and support, that I began to see myself as unimportant and unhelpful in the big picture of what we were doing here. But when God picks YOU to fulfill his work, you are neither unimportant nor unhelpful. And when we submit to his calling, HE does the work through us, and we no longer have to feel the overwhelming pressure of failing or succeeding.

                Please continue to pray for our well-being and that we get rest in this city! Also pray for those that we evangelize to- that their hearts would open to the Lord and accept that Jesus Christ is their savior.

                Thank you for your prayers and support!             

-Lainey Muhlberg and Team

Hello from Uganda! Another glorious day in Africa… We spent the day in Bulabandi completing our assigned tasks- glasses; sponsorship; office organization- and growing our friendships. It’s heartbreaking to leave the children at the end of everyday when they grab your hands and beg for you to come back soon.

Tammy and I went back to the school in the late afternoon so she could do some work. This allowed me to spend time with the older girls. It’s amazing the differences between their life and mine. They still have alot of the same concerns that I do, but a large amount of their thoughts are spent on survival and caring for the younger ones. They are more focused on the necessities of life rather than the luxuries of life. I feel blessed to have gained insight on how hard life can be and how girls across the world are dealing with their struggles.

I don’t think Ugandans ever sleep. At least not on the street our hotel in Iganga is on. The street vendors and shops seem to be open all hours of the night, and the disco behind our hotel must have a concert going on from 9 P.M. – 9 A.M. Every morning at 5 and 6 A.M., the Mosque across the street has someone on a microphone reciting a prayer for the world to hear. As noisy and restless as this city can be, God is providing us with enough sleep to get us through the day and keeping us all well and healthy.

Tomorrow we’re off to Geoffrey’s school. This will be a new experience for the Ugandan team since we have not been there for at least five years. We’re excited, and Geoffrey seems thrilled to have us coming.

Well, we’re off to sleep in the city that never sleeps. I hope that these posts are keeping our friends back in the U.S. updated!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave comments!

-Lainey Muhlberg and Team

Driving in our bus through the town is quite an experience. Every person that makes eye contact with you stops what they are doing and stares at the bus until we are out of sight. The kids that we see run out of their houses and wave and yell, “Mazoongoo!” (white person).

The next day we went back to Bulabandi and tested the children’s eyes to see if they were in need of glasses. There is a beautiful and sweet albino girl at Bulabandi who was being tested. We were using the “E” chart (in which the person being tested needs to indicate which way the E is pointing) and we didn’t know if she understood how to use it. Then, Jana saw her little hand moving by her side, drawing the letter the way it was pointing. It was a moment that we’ll not soon forget.

Today, we started the morning in an assembly line making mercy bags- plastic bags filled with sugar, salt, tea, soap, a handmade cross, and a scarf. We went to Kokombo and participated in a lively and joyful church service. Greg Lewis and the group that is traveling to the islands also joined us at the service. We gave t-shirt dresses to little girls at Kokombo who had been wearing rags.

Dana led a women’s bible study about making strong friendships through God and gave out her hand painted crosses to the women.

We went out into the village to evangilize and give out the mercy bags. I can only speak for myself, but it was heartwarming- people who had never heard of Jesus Christ wanted to learn more about Him and go to the Kokombo church.

I have been talking about what we have been doing in these peoples lives, but I haven’t really explained the impact they have made in ours. Seeing the way they treat eachother (with such friendliness, patience, and compassion) truly convicts me and challenges me to act in a more Christ-like way.

This adventure so far has been eye-opening, challenging, rewarding, and way out of my comfort zone, but it is a trip that has brought more joy into my life than anything in a very long time.

I have only God and the people of Uganda to thank for that.

-Lainey Muhlberg and Team 

Jambo!

Our travels were filled with smiles and laughter!  We were greeted by our faithful Hagi and are now at the Adonia in Kampla.  We will travel today to Iganga.  Please pray for Amy’s luggage as it was delay. 

love the 14 of us!  Tammy, Rick, Mason, River, Lee, Vicki, Debbie, Emily, Dana, Lainey, Amy Jana, Sarah, Veronica

Today the team  had a sweet, sweet reception at Rakai School with the choir, dancing, drums and a play in native language that depicted the white missionary’s idiosyncrasies perfectly.  From what I was told the school looked awesome from a few years ago and the children looked very well.  Family visits were part of the work that the team accomplished, giving gifts to the families of the sponsored children and receiving special gifts from them.  The Kelly’s received a live rooster from one of their families and a beautiful mat from a neighbor for sharing the love of Christ.  Delaney said Roger would not have been so apt to hold the rooster to snap a photo.  The rooster was a tremendous honor and many others received matooki, pineapples, avocados, baskets and mats. 

Stephens’s family (Fred’s brother) hosted lunch for many people other than the team.  The food was the same but prepared differently and was very good.  The team then split up into 3 groups to continue home visits, evangelize and play with the children.  The Lord blessed the visits with several coming to salvation.  The school requires sponsors’ children to come to church there and once a month the parents attend a class that also bridges the gap between Catholicism with residual of witch dr. practices.   Some of the youth later went to visit Haji’s aunt’s house who played a big role in raising him and we had the honor of meeting two of his cousins, sadly we missed his aunt. Haji was so proud and we all are sadly going to miss him and singing his favorite song “My Father’s House”.

 Lunch is scheduled for 1pm at the equator tomorrow and we decided against going to Tanzania because the Queen’s Highway is dreadful.  It will be a travel day and time to wrap up our relationships that the Lord has developed and strengthened in a mighty way. This trip has healed a part of my heart that I didn’t realize was hurt by breaking it for the people of Uganda through relationships that were built with the team, the children, the teachers, pastors, and the translators. Thank you all for praying for protection for our team, the family we left in the states, and the favor of the Lord to do the work that He set before us to accomplish.  Kim and Stacy did an incredible job preparing for the trip so as to ease the apprehensiveness and coached us on being flexible.

The team is currently outside Kokombo on a 25 acre farm that has been recently purchased by the ministry. The objective for this farm is to grow crops to support the ministry with food supplies as well as with surplus food to sell for income. The land is very fertile, as it is all over Uganda. We look forward to the time when the farm will be producing great crops! One of the big projects for this trip was installation of the solar panels. The team was happy to report that all solar panels have been installed and all three Tree of Life villages, Kokombo, Top Hills, and Bulabandi, have electricity!!! Praise God!! This is a major milestone!!! Another project for the trip was to administer eye exams for all the students, and this project has been completed. Overall, the eyesight was good, but there were a few candidates for phase two, which is determining their required prescription. Phase two will be done by the next team which will come later this year. Danny talked about a man named Robert, who we have mentioned in previous emails. Robert takes care of about 50 homeless kids. The team has been ministering to these children this week. Robert has been coming to the team’s share and prayer time each night. Very precious time. For those of you who don’t know, Danny has a heart for the homeless. He goes out each Friday night with a group of volunteers and feeds the homeless in Boerne/San Antonio. They give them food, love, and present the gospel. Tomorrow the team will leave for Rakai, a four hour bus ride. Rakai is part of the Africa Renewal Ministry which supports the Mwangaza Choir that has traveled to the USA and who many of you have seen. Many in Boerne support students in Rakai and our ministry has a very special relationship with the students, teachers, and administrators there.

Today the team went to the precious school at Bulabandi. The youth are proving to be strong leaders as the time goes by. We basked in the reception that these precious children gave with palm leaves, singing and drums. We were introduced to the 15 teachers and the headmaster and quickly counted 506 children to share the evangibooks with. Each class has its own class motto from “education is the key to success” to “no gain without labour” or “forward never backward” which is chanted upon the arrival of a visitor “that is very welcome to be here”. The team working on the solar project began quickly and completed the work for the Tree of Life Office. The team played games and spent time with the children loving on them and them loving on us. We were invited to the government office to meet the Representative to the President who has a good working relationship with Pastor Wilson and Stephen. The abandoned orphanage is heavy on Kim’s heart and you can pray for clarity of ownership so as to utilize the building for children. Haji once again attended our share time in the evening and his salvation is important to all of us. We had a special prayer for him. The team is catching their second wind and you can pray for a refreshed spirit and endurance for us and the heart and salvation of the people that we will come in contact with in the next week. Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. The nonbelievers are noticing our presence and in the market some have thanked us for sharing our faith; we feel safe and protected among so many.

We took another hour bus ride to Top Hills School and the countryside is still so beautiful, but not as beautiful as the welcome that we were given by the children singing and waving mango or banana branches as our bus drove onto the property.  The presentation that followed was precious, Ugandan style with drums, dancing and singing.   Bill, Jarrot, Mark, Hannah and Chandler joined in the dancing.    Next the children went to their classrooms and the eye exams began.  All the youth conducted several hundred eye exams and made the children feel comfortable with the process that also went smoothly with the interpreters and teachers help.  Will and Quinn took a break from the solar project to play tag with the children. 

Once the solar project was completed Ted Palpant related the solar project and the light that would be provided by the sun to the light that Jesus the Son provides us.  Then we sang This Little Light of Mine and the time came for Linda to flip the switch to light the room.  The cheers will forever be embossed into our memories as well as the drums and xylophone and dancing.  The highlight of the evening, if you could top solar powered electricity, was when Haji the bus driver came to our sharing time and Hannah was delighted to sit next to him.  Delaney led the time and showed a little bit of her cute sense of humor.  Kim is letting us all sleep in an hour if we promise to make it to breakfast on time.