I'm Home!!!!

I’m Back!!!

It seems so soon, but I’m back in good ol’ Grand Rapids! The last two weeks absolutely flew by. I got back in town for two short days and am off tomorrow morning for a week on Lake Michigan with my family. I’ll have to wait until August to share in person with you all! Thanks again for supporting me in prayer and in your encouraging notes. It wouldn’t have been the same without all of you! I learned and loved so much and I can’t wait to tell you all about how God’s working in Soroti!

The end of my time in Soroti was spent on a camping trip with my fabulous teammates. Thirteen adults and five kids piled into our two vans for a trip to Sipi and Sisyi Falls. We hiked through some gorgeous rainforests and climbed up to powerful waterfalls. The trip began with a hiking accident taking Tim and Moses to the hospital. It was a scary few hours, but we saw God’s hand at work in the beautiful creation all around us and in the family bonds of our team (and they are both recovering well!). We spent a night camping at Sisyi Falls, whose tagline is “The Garden of Eden”. I can’t imagine Eden being any more gorgeous than this park! Some of the scenery seemed straight out of a Dr. Seuss book, while other parts of the park seemed straight out of paradise! The kids played in calm streams while the adults climbed through rocky, slippery waterfalls. It could only be described as a magical place!!!!

Over the last week, I said my goodbyes to the kids at Harmony Primary School, at Amecet, my friends in the neighborhood, and my amazing team. The hardest part about saying goodbye is that I don’t know when or if I’ll ever see these people again! I started some great friendships and I’m excited to see how God will use them in the future.

Thanks again for praying for me and for supporting me on this trip. It was an incredible life-changing experience and I can’t wait to tell you more about it!!!!!

In Him,
Steph

Sunday Sabbath!

This week was another exciting one and I want to thank you all for keeping me in your prayers and for all of your encouraging notes. I'm thinking of you all and I'm sorry that my updates have been few. I'm excited to get home to tell you more stories!!!

This week has been another full one, but great! I feel like I have gotten into a comfortable rhythm here that I will definitely miss!

My Sundays have been a huge joy, allowing me to visit various churches around town. Last week was a six and a half hour long service with a guest praise team. I visited the church with some of my new friends from Amecet. It was fun to see their church, but the length was a bit overwhelming! This Sunday, I visited the church that Tim and Angie attend. It's a small church that meets in a school on the other side of town. They are such a happy community and so glad to have visitors. My housemate Karen leads the Sunday school program at this church, teaching to almost 90 kids every week. She has such a good time and the congregation appreciates it so much. Church is done much differently here, as you can imagine! My housemate Amos preached, which was really cool! He did a great job of giving hope for a future heaven here on earth. He reminded everyone that while we are here, our job is to build peace. The congregation was really accepting of our visit and his teaching, which was really encouraging!

Our Sunday afternoons are spent in typical CRC fashion with a nice nap! :) We then finish the evening with a team visit to Amecet for worship. The babies are all there, looking beautiful as always (check out Isaac, above)! Most of the staff joins us, as well as the group of older kids from the Amecet building nextdoor. This group is made up of about 10 orphaned teenagers who are all HIV positive. They are such beautiful, sweet young people. More than any other kids here, my heart really feels for them! It's encouraging to know that this is age group that I feel called to work with. I visit them a couple of times a week for a Bible study with Amos and to read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" with them. We play lots of games too! Brenda is in the last picture, holding little Moses who was just sent home with his father. They are two of my favorites here (is that allowed!?!?!). Brenda is in Primary-3, which is similiar to the 3rd grade level in the U.S., but she is 13. I'm not sure why there is such a delay with these kids. She is so sweet and loves the babies. She is one of two who were just recently "transferred" from living with the babies to living with the older kids. Most of the older kids have spent many years together at Amecet. They are well loved there, which is so great to see!

Thanks again for all of your prayers this week!

Praises This Week:
- A safe arrival of three visitors from Michigan: Becky and David & Heather Breen (formally Duyst!)
- Growing relationships among Ugandans. I'm having so much fun getting to know the workers at Amecet and our neighbors in town!
Prayer Requests This Week:

- Health among our team. It seems like everyone has gotten a little sick this past week!
- RAIN!!!!!! There is a huge lack around here and everyone's crops are dying. It'd be great to have some rain!

Much love,

Steph

Jesus Loves The Little Children!

Out here in Uganda, I spend a lot of my time with some beautiful children.

Five special ones are the missionary kids from my team in Soroti. The Shaarda kids are the blonde ones. Lydia is five and a HUGE bundle of energy. She is such a joy, telling me all about her life and asking me questions about mine. Grace is three and is one of the sweetest kids around. She is a graceful little dancer and a clever storyteller. Luca is their baby brother and an absolute doll. He never stops smiling. The Sliedrecht kids are equally as fantastic. Avalien turns four this week. She is a great big sister and loves to remind us all about Jesus’ love and power. Moses is two and gives the best hellos. Almost every morning, he walks to our door with a “Hello Guys!” and a hug for all. They are such wonderful children and I’m so thankful for the blessings they’ve had on my summer.

Twice a week, I have preschool with Avalien and Grace. We’ve been going through a unit on Trees and Animals That Live In Them (thanks Miss Kristi!!). The girls are having a blast! I teach at my house, which is surrounded by all sorts of fun trees that Tim, our team leader, loves to plant. He’s got some little palm trees, a coffee tree in the making, and a huge vegetable garden. Some days we get lucky and have some animals in the trees that we can study too. It helps that there are two pet monkeys in the yard! This week, we learned that God made trees as homes for lots of different animals. We looked specifically at squirrels and birds. The girls’ favourite part of school is making the craft at the end. They are so adorable and are so excited about school!

I’m also continuing to spend time at Amecet with the babies. They are so beautiful and all have such tragic stories. This week, a new baby named Ruth came in. She is two months old and came into Amecet because her mother wasn’t producing milk and had no money. It turns out that the mother, out of desperation, had buried little Ruth as an infant. She was found half-alive by some kids playing hide-and-seek in the woods. The mother was put into jail for attempted murder, but brought Ruth with her since she was still breast-feeding. I can’t even imagine what is going through Ruth’s mother’s head! The baby is now in loving arms at Amecet, but only God knows what will happen to Ruth’s future. There are so many stories like this one... it’s overwhelming!!!

Praises This Week:
- Developing friendships with the Ugandan staff at Amecet
- A healthy week... finally!!!
- A great team here in Soroti

Prayer Requests This Week:
- Continued compassion for the many people I meet and discernment as I hear so many needs
- Wisdom as I interact with teachers and students at Harmony, a partner school with Amecet