Friends and Family,

So sorry for the long delay for an update! We have been so busy, but it has been such a blessing.

So much has happened since our last post; visiting different areas of Africa and preaching, visiting orphanages, teaching in classrooms, and visiting churches. Basically, we are getting to experience all the pastoral duties of Pastor Hudson and his daily routine. We all were talking about how we never realized what being a pastor was all about. Here in Uganda, a pastor works so hard for his community, and the communities around him. There is a lot of driving from city to city, and a lot of unexpected preaching. You truly do always have to rely on God for the words He wants you to speak.

On Friday, the team woke up early to go to God's House of Miracles School and teach a Zumba class to the students, well Heather and Chloe taught, the rest followed along as best as they could. The joy this brought to the students faces is unexplainable. THEY LOVE TO DANCE, they shake, shimmy, and "twerk" their little hearts out! During class, a little girl named Miracle came up to Beth and gave her a note, which she tucked away to read later. We were all standing together about to leave when she decided to take it out and read it aloud. Our hearts melted when we heard the last two lines, "Mother and Father have died, will you be my new mother." This one note brought to life the realities of Uganda, and the many children who don't have families or homes. It made us think about how fortunate and blessed we were to have been born into a family, even if it is broken, most everyone is still healthy and a part of our lives. Each one of our hearts ached for this little girl and we started to cry over the life she had, but God has revealed to us that even though we are blessed in America by our families and the things we have, they are continuously in the presence of their Heavenly Father, and are more rich in love and kindness than we have ever known. Uganda is going to be in our hearts and lives far more than one month; the memories and what God has shown us will guide how we live for the rest of our lives. You always hear about lesser developed and impoverished countries, and you hear the stories of the children we are writing about; but we have SEEN it, and we will never be able to erase the pictures we have seen and words we have heard. They are engraved on our hearts.

Later that day, Pastor Hudson escorted "the ladies" to Ssezibwa falls in the town next to us, Mukono. We got a little history guide and scaled some rocks along the water fall in our long skirts and flip flops, but our favorite part was the High schoolers on their field trip who all wanted to take pictures with the Mzungus. :)

After the falls, we visited Faith Children's Home for the first time, and instantly fell in love! Beth and Missy got to experience Ugandan style volleyball with Papa Hudson and the boys in the orphanage, Corinna got her hair braided by the little girls, and Chloe sat and talked with the older women as they wove beautiful mats. This experience continued into the next day, Saturday, where we spent time with the kids in the early morning through the afternoon. There were many heart felt conversations with the older kids, jump roping, games, dancing, drumming, and acting as "human paper," and having the little ones give us many many tattoos. What was most shocking to us, again, was the love we experienced. Normally, when you think about orphanages, you picture kids angry and sad, but not here. The joy of the Lord really is their strength. They are a family, they take care of one another, and care for each other so immensely. We are merely visitors, but we already feel like we are a part of this wonderful family!

Sunday was such an amazing experience. We arrived at church, where we were honored guests, sitting in the very front (next to the loudest speakers we've ever heard in a church). If church in America was like church in Uganda , we're pretty sure everyone would be in church come Sunday. It's one big party! Worship is a dance party filled with body rolls, twerking, and booty shakes :) Ugandans know how to work it! Beth and then Corinna preached in the two services in front of the 300+ people who attend each service. After the 5 hours at church we headed to Jinja to meet The Suubi's oldest son, Godwin, who attends boarding school. While the Suubi's were in a parent meeting with his teachers, the Mzungus of course got into their typical trouble by starting an uproar with a HUGE game of duck duck goose, tag, and animal noises with a million little boys. We made the kids so excited that we were kindly asked to leave. OOPS. Bad mzungus… On the way back Hudson treated us to the best coffee milkshakes we have ever had at, surprisingly, a gas station. Starbucks doesn't know what its missing with this Ugandan coffee aka nectar of the gods!

Monday started off with heading to God's House of Miracles School where Chloe spoke at the assembly and then we all sang songs together with Mark and Heather. After, we headed to Hope Christian High School and ministered to the 420 kids attending there. Beth preached and we all sang songs again. There, we watched many kids choose to change from a Christian to a "born-again" believer. Still gives us goosebumps. God is so big here and we are so blessed to be a part of His plans for Uganda. We then started our road trip off through Kampala to visit one of Hudson's sister churches. He told us of how he sold his car to pay for the foundation of this church in a rural village past Kampala. It opened our eyes to the richer parts of Kampala and then to the very poor villages surrounding it including the slums. How grateful these people are for a building to worship God in! Corinna and Missy encouraged us all as they preached to the prayer meeting. After the veryyyy long trip back we crashed in bed and slept in the next morning.

Tuesday began with a short trip to a local high school where Chloe fired our hearts up with her message about the restoration of Uganda. "Can I get an Amen!?" After this short stop we headed to a village where a brand new baby home was being opened. We loved the beautiful ceremony and were blessed to meet fellow Mzungus from Minnesota helping open the home. The whole community came together to pray over the home and bless it. It is so neat to see how the people of Uganda come together to build up their community and support those without homes. We rushed home to make Tuesday night prayer church where Corinna ministered to the meeting about how following Jesus is not always comfortable. We experienced this first-hand as we found ourselves in a tiny little outhouse, trying not to breathe in the smell, shooing flies away, while simultaneously squatting/standing over a hole in the ground. Not gonna lie, we have bad aim… We'll wash our shoes when we get home ;) Even through there are very small trials we face here, it is nothing compared to the joy we have found living here. We really can't describe to you how much Uganda has stolen our hearts.

Both yesterday and today were adventures! 

Yesterday, we spent the day with Heather and Mark and their Indian friend Kumar, who own an Indian restaurant in town with amazing food. Kumar first took us to visit an orphanage and school in a village outside Lugazi. The area it was in was beautiful, and it was a school to almost 100 kids. It was run by an Indian man named "Dada," a great man who has dedicated his life to this school. In saying this however, this visit was a struggle for each of us. We have clearly declared our faith in Jesus Christ in this blog, and know that we have truth in our lives because of the love and joy we feel everyday. What the school and Dada taught was Spiritual Science, a mix of all religions; claiming that every God is the same, and we all believe the same thing. 

What was hard for us, was that we so badly wanted to speak our minds and debate with him about what we know is true. But we knew we were called to sit and be slow to speak and quick to listen, to show him the love of Christ by simply being his friends. 

After we visited the school, Kumar took us to a nearby village to try and show us some waterfalls, which was a fail, somewhat.

We hiked deep into the rainforest, which seemed endless, and never found the falls! But it was an adventure!

Later that night, we heard wonderful Heather share her testimony which touched all our hearts and let us really see her beautiful soul. 

Then....Missy got food poisoning!!!!

No need to be afraid, she is fine now! Corinna and her spent the day at home and rested while Beth and Chloe went with Hudson, Heather, and Mark to some more beautiful water falls in Jinja along the Nile River. Truly one of the most beautiful pictures we have ever seen! 

Now we are off on Safari at 4am, we are looking forward to updating you about our adventure!!! 

Love you all!

Missy, Beth, Chloe, and Corinna