A Busy Week

A lot has happend this week and we have been very busy. The big news....we are in our house! We are not completly settled, but at least we are in.

Last Wednesday we had a meeting with a government official of Kotido about Shalom (Orphanage). It was very informative and this gentlemen was very kind and helpful. We were able to find out what the orphanage needs to be able to be up and running according to the government standards. Lots of work that needs to be done, but it is coming along, and great improvements have been made already.

I also got a chance to tag a long to the village for a visit. It was really amazing to meet some of the village woman and the challenges they have. It was very humbling to see their joy inspite of their circumstances. We even got to see some warriors, and they did a dance for us before we left. Rainbow Mike and some of the team members were able to go back to provide them with some food, and medical care.





Toward the end of week we went to School visitation day for the sponored children with Shalom. There are 11 sponsored kids that go to Secondary School (high school). When you go to High School here you stay on campus 24/7. They don't have family to visit them on visitation day so it was fun to be able to go on behalf of their sponsors back in the states. Their sponors also gave a little extra money so that we could purchase them a new outfit, and take them out to lunch at a restaurant. They really enjoyed having a change in their diet from the normal beans and posho (not sure that is spelled right) to chicken (our kids did too :).



Last but not least today I went to the cattle market with some of the other girls on the team. It was a cultural experience that is for sure, but fun to get out and see more ways of the Karamojong.

I can't express how much your prayers have all meant to us. There defiantly have some challenges we are facing, but we feel God's grace, and your prayers through it all. We are so grateful for your comments and emails of encouragement.

Michaela

Some Interesting and Not so Interesting Things About Kotido

We have been here over a week now and although I am not well versed in the culture yet I have made a lot of observations.

1. Roosters here are not on Ugandan time. They crow in the middle of the night and early in the morning. 3:00 a.m. early.

2. Mice like having parties on your roof at 5:00 a.m.

3. Hand washing your clothes is really hard on your clothes, but good exercise for your arms.

4. If you are 5 and under your favorite thing to do is yell "Muzunga" (White person) and giggle, then follow you.

5. Cold showers are not so bad....ok maybe they are.

6. You may not have a flushing toilet or running water but you can have internet :). (Thank goodness for that, so I can keep in touch with friends and family)

7. Mosquitos nets at night keep out all sorts of critters other than mosquitos. Maybe they don't keep out mosquitos at all. I wake up with all kinds of bites....unless maybe we have bed bugs. Who knows....however the mosquitos here are very clever and smart.

Ok, ok, in all seriousness......we are doing pretty good. We have seemed to pass around a cold and our bodies are all adjusting to the food here, and the different bacteria and such.

We are not in our house yet which is a bummer, but we are optimistic it will be soon. Hopefully it really will be soon and not "Africa" time.

Our team is amazing and we are so thankful to have them. We have learned a lot about how God is speaking to them, and we feel Him saying a lot of the same things to us. We were able to visit the orphanage and see what work is going on there, which was nice to see in the flesh. We are excited to make a trip to the village soon to meet some people that our team mates have been helping.

I think that sums it up...in a nut shell at least. A small one. Sorry I don't have pictures. Maybe next week. Hope all of you are doing well and remember we would love to hear from you and see how you are doing. Drop us an email when you can.

Oh and Cody actually blogged (it has been since June). You can check it out at our website www.FollowingJesusToUganda.com. Then click on "FulkTales." He is going to try and blog more often, and he is a much better writer than me, so enjoy!

Love From Uganda,
Michaela

The kids were really tired of sitting in the car, but found some time to sleep. This is Samuel and Ezra Williams.





Crossing a small river. It was low don't worry. One of the kids said, "Wow how exciting." They really enjoyed all the new things we experienced while driving.




And last...our house we staying in until our house is ready....

Thanks for reading, we would love to hear from you all when you can, and send your questions.

Michaela

We Made it to Kotido and we now have internet! Hooray

It has been almost a week since we landed in Uganda and it seems like we have done so much already. We left Kampala headed North to Kotido, with a night stop in the middle. Our stay with missionaries in Namule was a great blessing. They moved to Uganda 10 years ago, and their youngest was 1 at the time. It was great to see their family 10 years later and to pick their brains with all the questions I had. They also took us to a village, where they were going to be doing a bible lesson for the kids. It amazing and humbling all at the same time.
So here we are in Kotido, learning all the ins and outs. We are more than thankful for our team already here. They have done so much for us alreaday and have been there to help us with lots of questions and to give us guidance. We are not in our house yet because they are doing some work to it but we got to see it yesterday and we are excited that it should be done soon. I am anxious to get settled in and into a routinue. In the mean time we are staying on a compound. Again it is a huge blessing to be able to have somewhere to stay. It may not be the best accomadations in our eyes but it is all we need, and God has blessed us.
It has been very humbling to see how He provides and blesses us. The living circumstances here are not what we are use to, but we feel blessed because of His love, and the people He has placed in our life.
Ok everyone wants to know how the kids are doing. They continue to amaze me, and they are my inspiration. I would say that Joshua seems to be fitting in the best. He seems very relaxed here and his heart for God and his obedience is contagious. He wants to serve the people here, and wants to give everything away. He has also been a great leader, and protector for his siblings. The other kids are doing really good too. Samuel is really interested in learning the language and has learned several words and pronouces them well already (for a reminder the language is Karamajong and is only spoken in the Northeastern region of Karamoja). Janaya has tried to make friends with some of the girls where we are staying despite their shyness. Carter is being rather bold in a lot of situations and is not being as shy as we thought he would be. To Malachi things don't seem too different to him. They are all enjoying playing soccer, doing laundry by hand, trying to catch lizards, playing in the dirt, playing the with Williams kids, etc.

Now for some more pictures, and a couple fun adventures with them. On our way we crossed the Nile river....

The Williams got stuck (not while crossing the Nile....we crossed that on a bridge)because their four-wheel drive went out all of a sudden, and we tried to pass this truck that had just got "un stuck." Thankfully Mr. Bob Wright was near and came to the rescue. The natives thought it was entertaining to see how they were going to get out and two of the men even pulled out a camera and took a picture of them. Muzungas (think that is spelled right) is what they call us.



The next day when we were staying with the Wrights we went to the village and on the way came across a boar hole which is where people get the water. The kids really liked playing here. I didn't take any pictures of the village or of the Bible stories with the kids because it was not real appropriate. Their singing, and smiles were amazing.



Joshua found a little boy carrying water and tried to tell him he would carry it but he didn't speak english so Joshua just took it for him and carried it to his house.

Our Time in Kampala

We have really enjoyed our time here in Kampala getting supplies and such but will be leaving tomorrow morning for our home in Kotido. It will take us 2 days to get there because we are not going to try the 12 hour drive in one day. I am excited to get there to get settled into our house although I am enjoying the many luxuries of Kampala (electricity, washing machine, etc). Enough about that here are some pictures of the kids. They are having a blast.



Joshua wanted to help the staff wash clothes by hand. He really enjoys this, and the staff loved having him :)



Samuel playing cards with James. All the kids love him.


Carter and Malachi enjoying some tangerines.



Janaya in front of our Land Cruiser. We have to have a really heafty vehicle for these horrible roads here. Hopefully it will hold up on the trip to Kotido.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, they took forever to load :)