Friday, June 12th

From Steph –
Friday, June 12
This morning, our alarms woke us at 5:15 AM. We’ve been getting a little better at the whole sleeping thing here! We discovered that we’re sleeping from 4PM to midnight, Grand Rapids timeJ. We’re also getting better at making coffee in our French press. We’ll all tell you – it’s an art!!!
This morning, we were headed for the much anticipated hike up Soroti Rock. We grabbed some granola bars and made the short drive to the bottom of the large rock hill (small rock mountain…?). We heard the climb wasn’t hard because of a staircase to help us on the way. Well, we never knew that “stairs” was a relative term! J The side of the hill we climbed was terraced and a railing was present most of the time, but flat ground was hard to come by and loose rock was everywhere!!! After a quick climb, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the city of Soroti. We spent some time meditating on our own, and then prayed together for the people of Soroti.
We came home for a quick breakfast and then headed on our separate ways. Ernie went to the Shaardas’ home to help with some handiwork. Josh and Mandy Shaarda are other missionaries with International Teams that live just down the road. Many and Angie are sisters! At the Shaardas, there were shelves to be built and a little plumbing to fix. Ernie was a trooper!
Pastor Carolyn headed up her first of three workshops on the book of Philippians. Over forty members from the community came to hear her teach!!! She was blessed to have high participation of the attendees who were all eager to learn from each other.
Bonnie headed to a local Christian school to help with some students with special needs. She met with two students to read and write with them. She also got to spend morning break with the kids. In many of the classrooms, there are over 50 kids with 1 teacher!
Bob met with a couple of missionaries in the area to explore the issues with local businesses. He learned a lot about the philosophies of local business people. He has been preparing to lead two workshops on “Business and Money Management” next week.
Kari, Lisa, Jane, Judy, and I spent our morning at Amecet, the childrens home down the road. We couldn’t believe how many babies were being taken care of! Two more mothers came in throughout the morning, attempting to drop off their babies. The need in this community for proper baby care is great, but Amecet offers hope to the babies they take care of.
In the afternoon, the women of the group got to learn about artwork in the community around Soroti. Saul taught us how to make paper beads, and we even got to make our own necklaces. Robert taught us how to paint batiks (a sort of canvas wall hanging). He helped a few of us to draw pictures and then some of us got to paint.
We had dinner back at our home with Josiah and Sarah (two other missionaries with International Teams), Sarah’s sister, Emily, and our housemate Karen.
It was a beautiful and busy day, but we need to make sure to go to bed on time… we have another early rise tomorrow!!!!
Thank you for your continued prayers. Continue praying that we remain healthy, with open eyes, ears, and arms to receive and embrace God’s people in Uganda!