Uganda
Summer 2013
Newsletter
#5 / June 4, 2013
Cole’s
observations & thoughts…
Today
started with waking up at around 2:00 to the sound of a rooster crowing then
falling asleep again, and finally waking up to the sound of that dumb rooster
and the amazing sound of Henry playing the guitar. I was pretty sluggish but I
then snapped out of it when I ate the French toast and cheesy eggs made by the
greatest cook I have ever met (next to my mom): Maddie. The time flew by after
that because Justin had a really good devotion on patience and endurance. We
could have used that lesson yesterday during field day when the kids were doing
everything we kindly asked them not to do, but I’m guessing he did the devotion
because through all that chaos everyone was stressed and we needed more
patience and we did endure through the long day.
My
grandma and I got the kindergarten class and I have to say they are officially
my favorite class at Sanctuary of Grace. The kindergarteners are fast learners
because they have never done stickers before until Friday last week and now
they are experts on Monday. One thing that touched me was during the kid’s
g-nut break I was walking back to my grandma after putting stuff in the hut for
her, but one of the kids in our class walked up hugged my leg and said “Thank
you.” I asked for what and the answer I received was “For the stickers and
sweeties.” But back to today; we had an Easter egg hunt and inside the Easter
eggs were two jelly-beans and the kids loved it. Then they were done with
school, because kindergarten only has a half day, but skipping ahead a few
hours the school had their class presentations and that went well.
Amos
and I then went over to the Rieger’s house and watched movies with them and
played with the water balloons. Most of the people went to the market and Mrs.
Cindy got me a Mountain Dew, which was the highlight of my afternoon besides
the presentation, which I am savoring and/or have savored for three hours.
Dinner was cheesy potato soup, made by Maddie, which was out of the park. Now
I’m doing this and I’m sorry about 413 words isn’t that much. I could have done
more but the day flew by, and I’m about to go watch another movie with Henry
and George.
------------------------------------------------
My calling to Uganda was under attach this
year. Every time I started to work on
the plans for my trip it was like Satan was standing behind me making me doubt
my commitment to God’s work. Problems
with my mother’s health made me question if my decision to travel to do God’s
work was valid. After talking with my
family we decided that I should come and do God’s work. As I prepared to teach my P1 (1st
grade ) class at Sanctuary of Grace school I would pack, then pray, then cry
with frustration that at times overcame me.
This was Satan working as hard as he could to make my trip a not so good
idea.
When we got to Sanctuary of Grace and started to get
the supplies together I was able to finally feel that the things that we were
doing was the will of God. I walked into
my class on Friday and saw a sea of young faces looking to me to teach them the
word of God. My teachers, Jeremiah and
Vincent were wonderful to work with.
They helped with translating concepts that the children were not grasping. My first story was about Daniel and the Lions
den. We talked about how God protected
us from Satan throughout our lives. We
also talked about health issues that the children faced at home with unsafe
water; poor wound care and using the bathroom in the bush toilet that polluted
the ground where people walked and lived.
We learned new songs for the students to sing at a
campus wide presentation for chapel on Tuesday afternoon. The songs included “This little light of
mine”, “The B-I-B-L-E”, “Jesus loves the little children” and “My best friend
is Jesus”. The children were very
enthusiastic in their learning and singing.
We decided to use the song, “This little light of mine” to present at
the chapel on Tuesday afternoon.
Monday morning I went back to my P1 class with great
expectations for God’s work through me.
My stories for this day talked about Noah and the Ark story and
completed our color pages that went along with the story. We talked about nutrition and how it affects
us by eating good food and drinking good water.
My helpers, Amos and Hank worked with the children doing outdoor games
that the children really enjoyed playing with parachutes and relay races.
In the afternoon, I worked with the Teachers talking
about the importance of reading with the children every day. I made a challenge to the teachers to use as
a project to get the children to go home and talk with their family and bring
back a story that was important to the family and then use the writing of the
story in their Reading and Writing classes.
When the stories are collected, I will ask Miss Lisa to e-mail the
stories to me so I can create a book for the school that is representative of
their community. We worked with a
flannel board with the story of Noah and the Ark for each teacher to use in
their class for Bible stories and to use the animals to teach math
classes.
During our workshop two of our
classes were found to be misbehaving during the field day activities. They were told by the Headmaster that there
would be consequences for their misbehavior, one of which meant they were
unable to give their presentation at our closing chapel. This was very
disappointing for the teachers who had worked so hard to plan for the children. Our teachers were very embarrassed by their
children’s misbehavior, but stated that it was providence that they now are
aware of the behavior problems that need to be addressed in the school. -- There
is always a reason for everything that happens and we may not understand what
the reason is, but will be made known in the future.
I look forward to traveling to Jinga to complete
more of our challenges for God.
Deborah
*I am sitting here in the dark with a torch i.e. flashlight, posting tonight's update. The power is off - everyone has turned in & I think I am going cross eyed LOL...so please forgive me for not posting any pictures. Will try to post some tomorrow. Have a wonderful day!!! I am going to sleep now - Cindy
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