Setting the alarm last night for our 6:30am run was both scary and exciting. Today we were set to run the farthest so far in this training, and the thought of doing it here in the red dirt was almost too much to sleep through. Liz and I were up and at 'em, and hit the ground running. 8 miles is far in Texas, and I swear is even farther here in Uganda. It is a lot higher altitude and is more like trail running. The experience is so hard to put into words. The Lord sure does have an extra soft spot for this place. My 3 favorites from this morning's training were running with my sweet and amazing friend Liz (she's a rock star), seeing one of the biggest turkeys I've ever seen, and the sweet little toddler walking with her mother, carrying her own teeny tiny jerry cans. That, and being done!
After breakfast, we headed to Hope Africa. Hope Africa is a children's home here in Iganga, where a few of us have sponsored kids. Driving onto the compound is like driving home. All the kiddos are so excited to see you, and the waves and smiles just melt your heart. My sweet sponsored son, Moses, is very very tall, much like my son Camron is, and Brandon is becoming. He sticks out among all the other kids. As soon as we stopped, I yelled his name and went running to him. I figured he knew we were coming, but it was a big 'ol surprise! He just kept saying, "I did not know you were coming" over and over again. I hugged on that boy just as I hug on Camron and Brandon. He has the sweetest heart and is such a strong and compassionate young man. I then moved to shaking hands and hugging on all of the other kiddos, until I was given the biggest hug. I looked down and noticed is was sweet Massiat! Massiat is the Page's sponsored daughter, who I was able to connect with last time I was here. It was one of the highlights of my day to introduce those two. They were able to spend some sweet time together. We all had a great time connecting with new kids and reconnecting with our family there. Mama Jessica had such a big smile to see all of us again. It is such a sweet day to see all of our kids, but also a sad reminder for those of us who have kids that are no longer there. We have grown deep bonds with these kids, and it's very hard when we don't see them. Even though our time was short, we all very grateful for the time we did have there.
We then moved on down the street to Kyemba's house. He had invited us all over for lunch. We were welcomed with running and excitement from his family. When his wife,
Namaganga, decides to prepare a meal, she REALLY prepares a meal. They even broke out a big 'ol shade tent, like something you would see at a wedding. Kyeamba went around and introduced us to his family, as Namaganga finished up our spread. Their family is the perfect picture of radical hospitality. He not only fed our team of 10, had his whole family come into town for us, they fed all the neighborhood kids first, before we had our first bite! There is a Joshua, twins Jack and Jamie, and now a new addition of Sue in Kyeamba's family. There was so much joy at their house, it was contagious.
We made it back to Musana's guest house for another yummy dinner prepared by Sara. After dinner we were able to go back down to Musana for another movie night, this time for "The Little Rascals". Honestly, I was not really looking forward to it. We woke up early, ran, had a pretty emotional day, and I was just kind of done. But, in Uganda, you just power through. You know what happens at those kind of moments? God shows you something sweet. We got to movie night a little later than last time, and it was already dark. You couldn't see much in there, but one of the sweet girls came up to me to show me her seat that she was giving up. I sat down and she sat right nestled against me on the arm rest. I found out it was a little girl names Jessica. She leaned up agains me and held my hand the whole movie. It was so precious. It was the first time I had really been close to any of the kids here @ Musana. Sweet Jessica even leaned over a couple of times to scratch my back and play with my hair, one of my love languages. :)
Hi to Blake and my boys. I miss you.
Blessings, Jen
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