Uganda Mission Trip 2008
 |
 |
April 22, 2008 Message
Parents and Friends,
This will hopefully be the last e-mail you receive from Africa. We spent
today shopping in downtown Jinja and practicing our haggling skills. In the
afternoon we made gift baskets for local widows and their families which we then
hand delivered. Now that the sun has gone down we are finishing up the packing
and saying our goodbyes. We are scheduled to leave Jinja at 4 in the morning
tomorrow to head to the closest international airport which is in Entebbe to
catch our flight to
London. We will spend the night in London and fly home to Raleigh the
following day.
April 21, 2008 Message
Parents and Friends,
started
off after a rainy ride to Jinja, a breakfast provided by the rafting company, a
mudslide to our raft where big ole Jeff fell and took me down with him, and a
short demonstration on how to not drown. Although Mr. Vogel told us that the
rapids would all be class 3, they were mostly class 5 rapids. While I'm glad I
did it, I definitely don't think I want to do it again. I thought we were going
to die. We were there pretty much the whole day so a few of us got sunburned,
but it was a good experience. After our barbeque overlooking the Nile, we came
back and hung out with the kids for a little while until our ice cream party.
I've never seen anyone as excited to get ice cream as the people at Canaan, so
we were happy to watch everyone enjoy it. That's just one of the many things
I've come to realize I take for granted. We love it here. The kids are great
and the Nile was beautiful. However, some of us are getting a little homesick,
so we can't wait to see you all Thursday!!! Sorry this is short, but I have to
go! We hope everyone at home is doing great. We love and miss you all A LOT!
Greetings from Africa!
For those of you who don't know me,
my name is Andrew Nystrom. I've had an absolutely amazing time here with the
children at Canaan. For the past couple nights I've been teaching dance to the
toddlers, children, and adults here! Dance, you say? Yes, dance. It started out
by me teaching my friend Eliezar how to do the Cha Cha Slide, and then one guy
turned into six guys, and the next day, six guys turned into 35 people. Tonight,
I suspect that we'll have over 50 people attending the dance party here, where I
will teach the Cha Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle once more.
The people of Uganda are a unique people indeed. The love and welcome rings about the society here. As the Head Mistress of the Ugandan Primary School that the team visited a couple days ago said, "The Ugandan people are a social people; this is our nature" I've never felt such a warmth for a fellow human being in my entire life. It's extremely addictive and I will sorely miss each and every individual that I have encountered on this grand adventure. By talking and observing my environment in my travels around Canaan and through Jinja, I find that through great loss, a steel-clad bond of love is formed between the people here. The culture is very strong, the food VERY good, and the music is unforgettably inspiring.
Today the team went on a rafting expedition down the Nile River. I did not accompany them because I did not desire to get fried like a piece of chicken and get eaten by a crocodile. :) I requested that Jason Bouley take my spot as the videographer so I could remain here with the kids during the day. I started my day by getting dressed and heading out to breakfast. After that, I did three loads of laundry BY HAND with Eliezar and then was invited into the house of Pastor Isaac by his daughter, Loi, for lunch. During lunch, Loi and I talked about informational technology, data encryptionalysis, and multiplatform viral attacks and antiviral cures. It was an amazing chat and I've learned so much about computers that I never knew existed. And if you're wondering, Loi is pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Informational Technology. She is a very BRILLIANT individual!
I've
made a lot of friends here in Canaan and as Rebecca Morrison asked Mr. Vogel on
the first day here, "Which one do we get to take home?" I've found the one that
I would like to accompany me back to the United States! Hahahah! Eliezar is a
great guy!!
As the trip comes to a close, I ponder what I've learned by God's bringing of me here to Uganda. I feel that he desired us as a team to experience a strong sense of unity and a new and refreshing desire for his love and grace that can only come from him. And for me personally, a new and inciting desire for missions, a much closer walk with Him, and a re-kindling of pure love for human fellowship.
I hope you all are inspired by our stories of the scenery, people, and most importantly, God's grace and love for people.
-Andrew Nystrom
April 19, 2008 Message
Parents and Friends,
Hey
everybody this is Kelly! I just wanted to tell you how AMAZING this trip is and
honestly the only bad part has been being woken up by a rooster or a cow every
morning and over here the cows really don't moo; I am not really sure what they
do but it is definitely not a moo. So today we started day four with an
excellent American/ African pancake breakfast. Rebekah made the American
pancakes in the kitchen while Loi (Pastor Isaac's daughter, Eloise) made African
pancakes, both where very very good.
Soon, after we headed outside to the Welcome
ceremony that the children at Cannan had prepared for us. We were welcomed with
song and then introduced to the staff and the different opportunities the
children here have to learn different skills that will later enhance their lives
and hopefully others as well. The children are divided into five different
groups (babies, Jr. girls/ boys, and Sr. girl/ boys). Each of these groups
preformed songs, dances, and skits with us. The smaller children dancing was so
cute as they run up to the stage every time the older boys would begin banging
on the drums. WE then preformed the stick dance for them and although some of us
were hit by other
people's sticks we all made it and we did a great job.
After the welcome ceremony we headed off to Jinja for the "Teen Event". As we walked to the church Courtney J. stepped in some mud and her whole foot was covered and my pants got mud on them (sorry Mom). The people there quickly helped washed Courtney off and we went and sat in the Church. Everything was kinda weird at first because they were definitely not speaking English. I thought that this whole thing was going to be a disaster and we were not going to be able to understand each other. Boy was I wrong! The "teen event" really made me realize that although we are oceans apart that we still have so much in common. We still have the same problems of living a Christian life in a secular world. It was just very eye opening because I have just always thought that wouldn't have these things to worry about but I was so wrong.
I just wanted to fill yall in on our day and what an excellent time we are having. Please don't worry because we are being well cared for and are having very good food. Thank you for all the prayers and for keeping us in mind. We miss all of you and love you very much. But trust me we all want a large glass of sweet tea and a HOT bath when we get home (well at least I do). Talk to you soon. Love You!!! -- Kelly
P.S. Please feel free to send us e-mails back because all of us have loved getting them. They are all printed out and given to us personally and we wait everyday to find out if we will get one or not. We love you all and miss you greatly!
Hey
Everyone!!
Wow, hard to believe we've only been here four days! It has been such an incredible experience – one I know we will all take with us the rest of our lives!!
Okay back to the events of the day… my morning started quite early. 6:30am to be exact! I had the opportunity to help prepare breakfast with Mamma Rebekah (Pastor Isaac's wife) and Loi (his daughter). It was such a unique, eye opening experience. I mean, I had my preconceived ideas of what "cooking in Africa" must be like, but I guess its just a totally different thing seeing it first hand for yourself. Their kitchen is very small and consists of nothing but the essentials: small stove, sink, and counter space with a few shelves here and there. Mom, you would be proud of me – we made pancakes! We used some of the batter mix we brought from home and then Loi showed me how they make their pancake mix – flour, sugar, milk, cinnamon and eggs. They were actually very tasty. She told me that I should make them for my family… so I guess I have a homework assignment for when I get home!
Around 9:00am the rest of the group filed in for breakfast and unless they were lying to make me feel better, said they enjoyed it! Next we headed into the "chapel" for a Welcome Ceremony put on by the children and the staff. (See above: Kelly filled you in on that part)
After the Welcome Ceremony we were able to go back to our rooms for a few
minuets to change into our team shirts - which we were to wear to the Jinja Teen
Event -- the next thing on our agenda! You know the verse in the Bible that says
God works all things to the good of those that love him, to those who are called
according to his purpose. Well that verse was very real to me today. When we
first walked in to the church, the event had already started so we made our way
to some seats in the back of the church (I would say we quietly slipped in, but
when 20 white Americans walk in anywhere in Africa people kind of tend to notice
:)
) a few minutes later the program was handed over
to us. So, our first plan of action was to show a slide show that Claire had
made with a collection of different pictures of us all from the States… we went
to play the slideshow and no sound. They tried to fix the sound for a good while
then decided that it wouldn't work, soooo we ended up playing it with out sound.
When we realized that the sound was not going to
work we realized that that also meant that our Praise and Worship DVD with all
of our songs on it was not going to work either -- only plan we had worked on!
Just to give you a few examples of the ways Satan was at work but as we all know
God is the powerful one and hes promised as I mentioned before to work all
things to our good – all this to say that everything turned out wonderful! God
is amazing!
That took up the majority of our day but as we all hoped we were still able to have time to play and talk with the kids in the compound who, can I just say I've grown EXTREMELY attached to! Its going to be soo hard to leave… Chris (my favorite) told me that he is going to cry when I leave – it broke my heart! These kids are so precious and so hungry for love and attention and we are all more then happy to give it to them! Everyone has been so tremendous with the kids and with each other – we've had our moments but over all I think that everyone has acted very mature and gotten along extremely well! Adam and Jordan A are having a total blast playing "futbol" with all the boys, Erin has charmed all the kids with her singing, Austin presented an amazing message at the Teen Event, Kelly and Jason (along with Erin) stepped way out of their comfort zone and learned an "African dance" that they preformed in front of the whole group, Mr. Jeff has a new shadow named Robert who will never leave his side, Andrew has lived up all the videoing and picture taking he's gotten to take, Brantley and Jordan P have enjoyed all the quality time together, Courtney J and Chatham have been mistaken as twins several times, Courtney C has worked hard trying to learn as much of the language as possible, Claire is excited about the Bible lesson she will be teaching one of the Sunday School classes tomorrow, Abbey is enjoying having all the extra weight of 10 children hanging on her every step she takes, Mrs. Smedberg did a great job with the Teen Event, Mrs. McVickers is glad to be feeling well after last night, Mr. Vogel has had a great time ripping us off with currency exchange, and Mr. Smedberg has enjoyed telling me to END THIS E-MAIL for the last 15 mins (ever since I typed the words "hey everyone"!!)
Okay think I succeeded at winning the "LONGEST e-mail Award"! LOVE and MISS you ALL! Can't wait to show you all the pictures and tell you all the stories!!
Rebekah Morrison
p.s. Dad, Courtney and Abbey want to know how soccers going? They miss it so much… as do I! Hehe :)
April 18, 2008 - Message from the group
Parents and Friends,
Hey Everybody!
Day three in Uganda and we're all doing great! Vacation Bible School (Theme: Construction Zone) went well and most of the kids seemed to be having a good time J
All of
us are clicking with every age group and we all have our favorites! We've taken
so many pictures and we all can't wait to share them with all of you!
Today we stayed at
Canaan all day to finish VBS. We went to our different stations such as:
crafts, music, games, Bible stories, and snacks. All of the kids love to sing
and dance! Americans have nothing on African dancing :-P They also love the new
snacks we bring them – chex mix and oreos with pudding seem to be a hit!
Sometimes it's difficult to tell the younger children Bible lessons because they
don't understand English or have a short attention span, haha, but it all works
out in the end! The boys love to play soccer or "fooootball" as they call it
here, and our boys were gracious and bought them new soccer balls to play with.
The girls here love to jump rope and play hand games such as: pattycake or
slide. It's been so much fun to spend time with these kids and learn their ways
of doing things! As much as we came here to teach, we've been the ones learning
the lessons! It's already been an amazing experience and it's only been three
days! 
Tomorrow we are going to a Youth Conference in Jinja. Flyers have been handed out to several churches and spread in the community welcoming all youth to attend! We'll let you know how it all turns out!
Hope you all are doing terrific! We miss and love you very much!
Love and God Bless,
Chatham McTindal
Here in
Uganda we are all having a blast. Everyone is getting along and has their
own friends. My little friend, Jossiah, is six years old and is the coolest kid
here. He always wants to be around me and play "futbol" or in America called
soccer. All of the kids at
Canaan and
all of us
from Village are going to Jinja tomorrow for the teen event that we have been
planning for weeks. I think it is really cool how all the kids are so loving and
want to teach you everything they know! For example, they taught me how to play
the drums! Even the kids as young as five know how to play, its amazing to watch
and listen to! One thing that is extremely sad to see is all the children
outside of the orphanage trying to get food through the fence. Its so sad
because you can see in their faces that they want to come in and they cant. It
breaks our hearts.
Its so hard to believe that we've only been here for three days! It feels like so much longer and at the same time it feels like the day has gone by so fast every night when you lay down.
We miss you all very much and can't wait to see you when we get home! But it would be okay with me to stay here the rest of my life … it is AMAZING!
Jordan Armstrong
April 17, 2008 - Message from the group
Parents and Friends,
Today we had two students who wished to share a little about their day. They are Erin and Austin. I also attached two pictures. The first one is a picture of our bus after it got stuck on the way to the secondary school. Lucky for us we had some strapping young lads who were able to push us free. The second picture is of the team performing some songs for the primary school children when we went to visit them. If anyone has a message for me to pass on to their children please let me know and I will be sure to deliver it. Here is what Erin and Austin had to say:
Hey everybody!! We've only been here two days, but it honestly feels like it's been a lot longer. When we left the guest house this morning there were so many kids just waiting outside for us. We could barely even walk to breakfast because they were all surrounding us and hugging and holding our hands. We went to the primary school and the secondary school and we were able to talk one-on-one with some kids our age including some Muslims and see how they lived. They asked me some questions about the war and Obama and Hilary and if the Backstreet Boys really broke up…it was lots of fun. They also asked me some of the problems we face in America as teenagers and talking to them about it, I figured out that we have a lot of the exact same temptations. I'll let Austin tell you about VBS since Mr. Smedberg is rushing me, but we're having a great time. This is the most amazing place I've ever been in my life. Love you and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!
-Erin
Hey everybody at home, it's Austin here. Like Erin said, we were able to go to a local primary and secondary school this morning and meet with the kids and learn a little bit about their culture. It was really cool to learn about the way their school
system works over here compared to ours at home. We even got to take a walk down to the Nile River for a photo opportunity. Okay, now for Vacation Bible School. After lunch, the kids arrived back at the compound from school, and prepared to begin VBS. Each one of our seniors had a specific task he or she had to perform in conjunction with VBS. Some were running the different stations, such as Bible lessons and games, while others were in charge of a specific number of children and led them to each station. The kids really enjoyed making crafts, playing games, and learning songs, as well as learning a lesson from the Bible. I had a blast with my group and it was great to see them learning about Jesus and that they already knew a little about Him. During this time, I also learned a valuable lesson, and that was that you should not walk in the wet areas of clay right after it has rained. (IT IS VERY, VERY, SLIPPERY!!) Well, that just about sums it up. We are having a great time. Love you very much mom and dad, see you when we get back to RDU. - Austin
April 16, 2008 - Message from the group
To fill you in on some of the details of our trip thus far, Claire Barnes volunteered to write the following piece. I also attached two photos; one of our group near the Tower of London and the other picture shows some of our senior girls with girls from Africa soon after arriving at Canaan.
Hi it's Claire writing to let you know that we arrived safely in Jinja, Uganda today after a long overnight plane ride to London, a long exhausting jetlagged tour of London, another long plane ride to Uganda, and then a two hour long bus ride to Jinja.Our first day began when we arrived at RDU at 3 p.m. on Monday April 14, 2008. Check-in went smoothly and we departed from RDU around 6 p.m. Our journey to Uganda was underway.
We arrived in London at around 6 a.m. while you were sleeping soundly in your beds back in the States. Austin, Rebekah, Chatham, Brantley and Courtney survived their first flight on a plane!! We were extremely jetlagged and exhausted, preparing for our long twelve hour London sightseeing layover. We took the train into London and visited The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, Parliament, The Eye of London, Buckingham Palace and McDonalds of course. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and napping in the lush green park across from Buckingham Palace. You can only imagine the sight of twenty Americans asleep on a park lawn in London, but we were all exhausted.
After our twelve hour condensed tour of London we headed back to the airport to prepare for departure to Entebbe, Uganda. After a few delays at the London airport such as American Airlines not having our tickets transferred to British Airways, Abbey having claiming two bags that were identically numbered, and me getting my brand new twenty dollar hair gel confiscated during security everything went well. Our plane took off around 9 p.m. and after another long night flight we arrived in Entebbe around 6 a.m. on April 16, 2008. All of our bags were claimed.
Africa is amazing. Pastor Isaac was there to greet us at the airport and we boarded the Canaan Children's Home school bus heading to Jinja, Uganda. The bus ride from Entebbe to Jinja was amazing. We got to see Lake Victoria, the vegetation and the people within the cities we drove through. We arrived at the Canaan Children's Home and were greeted by Mama Rebecca and all of her 'children.' We bonded with the children right away. It was amazing to see the excitement on the children's face just from our arrival. We received a hearty welcome and a hearty dinner to fulfill our enormous appetites. The rest of the night was spent in our groups working together to plan for tomorrow's Vacation Bible School. We are all tired, but we are happy to be here and working for God's glory.
