A full day in Uganda.

Sunday… we started the day at Idudi going to church with Andrew Wambi's community. The biggest take away from the day was that we went in with a plan. It was a good plan; a well thought out plan. We intended to paint the school emblem on the wall that faces the street as well as their motto. Yesterday we painted the wall white and we went in with good intentions. But in order to finish we needed "artist paintbrushes". I use that word loosely. Non the less they are smaller and better than regular paintbrushes. Sadly, we couldn't find them when we started the painting. Alas, I was to find them later in my room; obviously, right where I left them. So the take away was that the painting that occurred had nothing to do with plans. We improvised and it turned out beautiful and better than anything we had in mind. But let me begin at the beginning…

 

We arrived in Idudi in time for church where Andrew led the service beginning at 9 am. At the start the church was relatively empty but as time passed it filled to the brim. He had several choirs singing and the music was amazing. The voices are phenomenal and they are always filled with such joy! The faces are just amazing in their beauty. The choirs sang for over an hour and it was so fun seeing the children take such pride in their abilities. The senior students were there from both Iganga High and Victoria High. However, when it got to be 12:00 those wooden benches started to get really hard. It was good to be part of the worship but it was also good to stand up and exercise muscles that had just about bonded with the bench! And so we started painting. Justine and Grace teamed up (minus the gaggle of boys) to paint the name of the ministry on the fence. While she was doing this Patsy painted "New Life Ministries" on the wall. We then painted the kid's hands and had them put their handprints on the wall. It was not the concept we had but it fully included the children. So much so that at that times I felt like I was being pinned against the wall. Many of the kids thought it was so cool that they came back for seconds! The wall now has a display of red, blue and yellow handprints and it looks really welcoming.

We went Sol View for dinner where Glenn and Robin performed. They were Sol's first major attraction and they were wonderful to listen to. The restaurant had microphones but no stands so Glenn jerry rigged it to hold. The singing was great and the people there really enjoyed it. Leah, Andrea's sister returned from China today and it was so good to see her again. I also had the chance to meet Andrea's other sister, Theresa, who is here visiting from China. What a great family! I am so thankful for all that Musana does. The Sol is amazing!!!! I can't wait for those of you who have been here before to see the new location. For dinner tonight we were joined by several of Glenn's guitar students. It was a great evening but by the time we got home, and settled in for a team dinner, we had been on the go for over 13 hours… and tomorrow is another day!!!