First Day in Nakawa - Whew....

Hello Everyone!

Well, it was a very good day. The comment heard most often goes something like this "How could tomorrow be any better than today?" And so with that, this is the day.....

We started with a great worship time, great music and team building time. Mike Caldwell set the tone with a devotion on Faith. We didn't even start the day until the bus picked us up at 11 for our City Tour. This took us around the city to see several sights highlighted by a trip to the Namirimbe Cathedral. This is a large cathedral where there were several weddings going on (like 20 or 30 of them!). It is also a tour type place, so we were able to walk in, take some pictures, congratulate a wedding party or two, see some beautiful African dresses and get a taste of personal African culture. Lots of fun to see and experience.

We ended the tour with lunch in the city which was an absolute adventure in a food court type setting. This didn't work like your typical food court though. We sat at tables and were immediately descended upon by multiple commissioned wait staff (at least 12 of them, menus in hand) all trying to make a better deal than the person next to them. At some points it was not uncommon to have 3 or 4 waiters, all with menus, from a variety of food types talking to one person! It was like a fast food auction right at your table. Sort of fun!

With that it was off to Nakawa for a very moving afternoon. We laughed and we cried, we talked and we sat in stunned silence, we listened and we played and most importantly we prayed and we worshiped. For the majority of the team the weight of what we saw hit very hard. Some felt great emotion about kids that were just like their own, some felt bad for not feeling worse, some wanted to go in and kick butt and DO SOMETHING!, and still others had very little to say, still taking it all in. Our experience made for a great team time tonight, with a lot of emotions being shared, some of them very raw. It was really good for the team. It is clear this is a team with a lot of people who love the Lord, not just some random missionary team that went to Africa because it was cool. We will go to church tomorrow to pray for the week and worship with our friends. We will pray for the sick, the poor, the church and our work. We will pray for the hopeless, the helpless and the unsaved. Most importantly we will worship one God that watches over it all, including our team and Nakawa.

Off to bed tonight. Thankfully we all have mosquito nets now, there are fresh bottles of water in everyone's room and we have full bellies from another wonderful meal of ???

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for Doug Schneider as he is unexpectedly preaching at church tomorrow morning. In our preparations the church had indicated he would preach on the second Sunday. We assumed the second Sunday we were here, they assumed the second Sunday of the month. We deferred to our hosts.

2. Please pray for the hearts of our team. Many experienced something very moving for the first time today with widely varying emotions. Pray that hearts would be open and softened to the need, but yet not be overcome by it. We need the ability to help one individual at a time.

3. Pray for patience as we are now fully experiencing African culture and the many changes one day can bring. Plans are changing often, and sometimes we are not sure how or why. The team is doing great, but we will need perseverance to make it 9 more days.

Thanks for following. Blessings to all of you at home!

Team Woodlands Uganda 2010

PS Marilyn, Wayne says if you are reading this that you should not tear out the kitchen cabinets.

PSS Don, Pizza Guy says you were right about the smell....