Muffin Top

Africa: Day 5

today's photo credits: April Walker & Jon Sherrill
"Day 5 - Your language is very good."
[January 24]

This is the day something happened that is still hard for me to believe actually happened. This is also the one day that someone else wrote the team's blog post for me! So, I'm writing from memory. I'm writing partly because I want others to know what happened. I'm writing mostly because I don't want to forget what happened.

On this particular day, the construction team worked in two villages: Lagutu and Pugwini. In Lagutu, the team helped construct a piggery and dug the foundations for the new church building.  They also helped construct a piggery in Pugwini.  In Pugwini, a man who recently came to Christ donated all his land to Sports Outreach - it's on this land that a church and school and ministry center will be built.  What a beautiful display of the sacrifice and generosity of a man who wants his village to know Jesus.

So, this was the day we went to the prison. I was on the medical team again, and we spent the morning treating & praying for inmates at a local prison.  This truly was a time of taking the Gospel to the “least of these.”  Patrick Hurley summed it up best when he said “These men and women are poor, in prison and sick.  The world does not care about them.  But today the love of Christ was poured out to them through this team.”

My role in the medical clinics over the past days had been pretty consistent and mostly involved praying for patients. Sometimes I would have a translator so the person knew what I was praying - but often I wouldn't. This didn't really bother me, because I'm talking to God when I pray, and He doesn't require a translator. But I had gotten to thinking about how incredible it would be if I could pray in their language - in Acholi. So I began praying quite fervently that God would give me the gift of speaking in tongues (which I've always been afraid of before) - but not just any tongue, and not some unknown language - but specifically the Acholi tongue. That by the power of His Spirit, when I opened my mouth to pray over patients, my prayer would be in their language - OR that God would give my patients' ears the ability to understand - that they would hear my English as if it were Acholi. And that God's name would be praised for such an amazing display of His power!

So, we're doing our thing at the prison, running the medical clinic, seeing patient after patient. Praying for patient after patient. And then there's this man - I wish I had a picture, but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the prison. But there's this man, and I put my hands on his arms and I ask him his name and I tell him my name. I tell him I'd like to pray for him in the name of Jesus. He doesn't speak much English, but recognizes the name "Jesus" and nods his head. I begin to pray. I notice that he's very responsive while I'm praying - he's murmuring lots of "mmm-hmm"s and such. I finish praying and say Amen. He takes my hands, looks me in the eyes for the first time, and says, "Your language is very good." Stunned, I squeeze his hands, smile, and say thank you. He leaves the clinic, and I'm left standing there in awe because either this man was strangely impressed with my English, or he just heard me pray in Acholi.

This is the God we serve.

I mean FOR REAL.

FOR.

REAL.

I. Love. My. God.
 

Africa: Day 4

 today's photo credits: April Walker 
"Day 4 - Ten thousand tiny angels. Enough said."
[Re-posted/edited from January 23]

Last night, some of our team decided to prepare for Sunday morning worship by joining in the graduation/wedding party raging in the hotel courtyard. It is worth mentioning that YT The Super Mzungu performed – on stage – a fully choreographed break-dancing routine – including a move called “awesome.” He is working on his scissor move. This was followed by a pole dance by Eberns. Well, maybe just “dancing around the pole with the lights on it” is more accurate. It did include a back-bendy limbo move which was quite a hit. And not to be outdone – Klotzy “warmed it up” with some serious group dancing among some large Acholi women. Do not be concerned. Everything was completely wholesome. And awesome. And no I do not have any photos of this. The images burned into my brain are quite enough thank you very much.

 

 

It’s a good thing the guys got warmed up the night before,  because what a time of worship with our friends at Koro this morning!

Worshiping, dancing, ayayayayayaying, waving arms, clapping hands, four full-length sermons… We were among four churches all meeting together – Koro, Achoyo, Lagutu, & Lajwatek – at the new church building in Koro. This was the first Sunday they’ve worshiped in the new building! (There is no roof yet, but a big tent made up for that!)

After worship we had lunch and then drove out to the IDP camp that is “close to the farm.”
“Close to the farm” would’ve been better translated “forty-five minutes on a bumpy dirt road far, far out into the bush.” But we all made it and were warmly welcomed by the people living there. We were two teams today – sports and medical.

 

The medical team met in a school room and saw about 50 patients in our short time there. Again, like yesterday, we saw some heartbreaking things, but we all agreed we strongly felt the presence of God in that place.

  

 

Those of us praying with people all agreed we felt power and authority in our prayers. The Holy Spirit was very evident.

 

 

 

 

 

It turns out that the believers in the IDPcamp held a church service this morning.

In that school room.

Apparently the Holy Spirit got a head start on us.

 

 

 

 

 

The sports & construction teams combined for an impressive soccer match – they lost, but we love them anyway.

 

 

 

They’d like to award Man of the Match to Skipper Captain Patrick Hurley who was up and down the left side of the field and was generally awesome. He ran for 30 minutes straight, headed the ball, and had moments of “athletic brilliance.” The Sweet Spot goes to Luke Williams – who you should note has played professional soccer for 5 years – for taking a shot, swinging as hard as he could, shanking it and landing it nowhere near the goal. Klotzy provided an eyewitness account: “This is the worst shot I have ever seen, including my 8 years of coaching 5-yr-olds.”

 

The sports team broke into five groups after the match and shared the Gospel while the sun was setting over the IDP camp soccer field. While Sweet Spot Luke was sharing with his group, 4 guys received Jesus as their Savior! Simon, who volunteers with Gulu Sports Outreach, made sure the group knew how to become connected to the body of Christ in Gulu and grow in their faith.Jeff Hughes & Aaron Talley shared the Gospel with their group and saw several people of all ages receive Jesus!  

 
Eberns shared with his group, opened it up for questions at the end and was asked to please differentiate between all the major religions in Uganda. Thankfully, Aloysius arrived in the group at that moment and Eberns was off the hook.

Quote of the day today is from Pastor Jeff Kapusta:

GOD IS HERE. AND ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

Amen!

Africa: Day 3

Today's photo credits: April Walker

"Day 3: The first workday.
And if you think you're gonna fall, you probably just should."
[reposted/edited from January 22]

First things first: the Quote of the Day was spoken by our dear Meredith DJ Jolly: “These chicken fingers are REALLY good!” (Referring to the fish sticks served at dinner.)

Moving right along, today was an amazing day for our 3 teams!

The Construction Team had a momentous day in Lajwatek village as they slaughtered the former brick-making record – 720 bricks today! Not only that, the foundation of the church has been poured and the walls are now 3 feet high in places! The team was told that they expect the church in Lajwatek will be FINISHED in two weeks! They have co-MVP’s today – a tie between Dave Krise for dominating on the brick machine & Jeff Hughes for his mad shoveling skills. What the average man shovels in 3 shovels, Jeff Hughes can shovel in one.

A highlight of the day was getting to hear the testimony of Esther – she was dead for 3 days and then was raised back to life. (Yep – for REAL dead. And yep – for REAL back to life – by the power of Jesus.) Pretty incredible that this same woman who was once dead and is now alive, is now also helping lay the foundation of the house of worship in her village!

The Sports Team learned quickly that the game of “Steal the Bacon” needed a new name. It will now and forevermore be known as “Borrow The Ball, Try To Score a Goal, & Then Bring It Back To Us Because We Need It For Another Drill.”
The 1^st soccer clinic was full of about 70 children! The 2^nd clinic involved a joyous dance party warmup! During the 2^nd clinic, EBerns & Luke Williams shared about Jesus with the children – and at the end, it was incredibly meaningful to see the Ugandan Sports Outreach staff share and proclaim Jesus among their own people. Through dancing, playing soccer, hugging – what an amazing day of seeing children become visibly moved to joy – regardless of a language barrier.

The soccer match inspired the MVP – aka Man of the Match – to be awarded to Dave Evans for playing out of his mind as goalie. The Sweet Spot Award – aka most embarrassing moment – goes to Eberns for the moment when his legs stopped working – more specifically he became “like a giraffe on ice” – during a major run. Gregg Schroeder earns an Honorable Mention for his game-winning bomb.

The Medical Team voted that their MVP was Dr. (Kind Of) Jon Sherrill for his amazing team leadership and mastery of on-the-spot surgery. Honorable mention goes to Anna McDonough for giving Dr. Jon a panic attack by telling him a pregnant woman in line was having labor pains. (Not true. And totally worth the lie.)

In the course of the day, the Medical Team saw over 300 patients – men, women, & children, ages 1 week to 89 years old. In the midst of the tragic things we saw – a small girl suffering with AIDS, a young boy with malaria, an elderly woman in much pain who can no longer fetch water, an elderly man who can barely see due to an untreated injury, a young mother with tuberculosis – the peace of the Holy Spirit was known! We held hands, we listened, we helped, we hugged, we prayed. They rejoiced that we had come – and we rejoiced as well!

 

In case I haven't mentioned it...
it is SOOOOO good to be in Africa.

Africa: Day 2

today's photo credits: April Walker 
"Day 2: The journey continues and Klotzy still hasn't showered."
[reposted/edited from January 21]

Wow – what an amazing first full day in Uganda! It began with a six-hour drive from Kampala to Gulu. Fortunately, only one of our two vehicles broke down! -  So although we had to drive for 3 hours with our entire team packed into one van, we made it!

Apparently God thought we needed to do some team bonding.
In very close quarters.

Oh right and let's not forget that we crossed THE RIVER NILE. (Which sounds way cooler than "The Nile River." Every time.) Holy cow, I don't really know what I was expecting it to look like, but this farrrrrrrrrrrrrrr exceeded whatever that was.

 
When we arrived at the Koro Farm in Gulu we were greeted with much singing, dancing, & drumming. Oh and lots of “ayayayayayayayayaya.”  What a joyous reception!

 

 

Aloysius led us on a tour of the entire farm, and then we broke out into three teams to begin training & preparing for a full day of ministry tomorrow.

The Soccer Crew had a blast playing games with the women & children who were  there – and then a van full of “man-beasts” arrived to really bring it on. It was an afternoon of great soccer, out of control laughter, and the news of Jesus being shared!

The Construction Crew visited a nearby village where they learned to master the brick machine.  Amid the back-breaking work, they're spurred on knowing that they're preparing to lay the foundation for a building where people will come to worship the Lord!

 

The Medical Crew spent the afternoon counting & labeling doses of medication, and making countless detailed preparations for tomorrow’s medical clinic.

 

Oh, and remember this story about Phiona - the chess prodigy in our program in the Katwe slum? This is her coach, Robert, reading the article in ESPN magazine for the first time! I am so humbled and honored to work for the same ministry as this man and others who live and breathe Sports Outreach ministry in Uganda.

 

While we are all missing those we left behind, we know we’re here for a purpose, and we are grateful.

It’s good to be in Africa.

Africa: Day 1

One of the highlights of my time in Africa was being responsible for writing the trip blog. It was really an honor, mainly because I knew the blog was the primary resource for family & friends back home to track what our team was doing each day. Due to various factors, I wasn't able to upload pictures to the blog posts while we were there (read: I never tried). So, I decided to re-post/edit my blog entries here - with pictures!

Enjoy :)

"Day 1 - The Journey Begins" [re-posted/edited from Jan 20]

Hey y’all – we made it!!  So let me just tell you some of highlights of our *looooong* day of traveling (aside from it being over).

1.       Kirk Cameron was on our flight out of Charlotte. Not only that, he posed for a  picture with us after we landed, and then prayed over our group. I’m not sure there are any other highlights that can compete with that one, but I’ll try. (Hi Kirk! If you’re reading this, I’m the girl who was standing really close to you in the picture. I’m your biggest fan. Call me!)

 
2.      Starbucks in the Amsterdam airport. (The corresponding lowlight is that they  do not, in fact, accept American Starbucks gift cards. Big bummer.)

3.      Brainstorming DJ names for Meredith Jolly. Some of which are not appropriate blog fodder.

4.      The food on the flight from the US to Amsterdam was absolutely delicious. (Unfortunately, this set us up for great disappointment regarding the food on the flight from Amsterdam to Entebbe – not so delicious.)

5.      Eric Bernier (aka EBerns), Chris Klotz (aka Klotzy), & YT (aka Super Mazungu) joined the dental mile-high club by all 3 brushing their teeth together in The Lavatory.

6.      We nearly lost our oldest & youngest team members in Amsterdam as the ever responsible David Evans “lost track of time” and arrived at the gate with daughter Alexis AFTER the doors had closed. Yes this really happened. And yes, David MAY have shed tears in order to convince the attendants to open the door and let them on. This has not been confirmed. But we’re pretty sure it’s true. Because they let them board! (Who can say no to a grown man turning on the water works?)

7.      When we left Charlotte, we had the majority of our group together – 24 people – but our team was not yet complete. We picked up 5 more teammates at our Atlanta connection, and then the 2 remaining members joined us in Amsterdam. It’s pretty amazing that each time we stopped at an airport, God grew our team. And as we embarked on our final leg of the journey, all 31 of us were united – one team. one body. one mission.