Hallelujah.

While I've been here, I've had the amazing opportunity to attend Ugandan Church.  Let me tell you, these people know how to worship.  It isn't just a place where you go to get fed, but rather it's a place where you POUR your heart to the Lord.  The music is wonderful, and I love just sitting and soaking in his goodness.  The power of the Lord is unbelievable here, and it's crazy to think that they are constantly threatened by witchcraft at the Church.  Uganda also has many Muslims, so it is also amazing to here the stories of people coming to Christ.    

I will sing to the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.                                           May my meditation be pleasing to him,
as I rejoice in the LORD

-Psalm 104:33-34

Sometimes I feel that in America, we forget about the second part.  I love hearing a good sermon and soaking that in, but sometimes I forgot that I'm them to WORSHIP and PRAISE the Lord.  Again, my selfish desires get in the way, and I think about myself instead of honoring my King and Savior.  I don't want to forget what I've learned while I've been here, and remember that on Sunday's it is all about him.  It's my own selfish desires that pop through my head when I want to sleep in or worry about what I'm wearing to church or not praise HIM for giving me the chance to live another week.  When it all comes down to it, every single thing in this entire world is God's.    

My baby got to come to church with me on Sunday and is going again tomorrow!

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.

 With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself” 

Jeremiah. 31:3

I've had the amazing privilege to teach Sunday School to 50 children each Sunday.  

(The pictures are of some of them.)  

I've been attending a church called Amazing Grace.  The pastor and his wife are from Kenya and felt the Lord leading them to pastor a church in Uganda.  We take a boda about a 10 minute boda ride to the church and cross over the Nile River to get there.  The pathway we take before and after the bridge is definitely an experience, to say the least.  I can't believe I've made it safely through so many times.  

I love teaching Sunday School with a few of the other volunteers, but it definitely is challenging teaching 2-13 year olds in one small room where not all of the children speak English.  We work with what we have and usually just end up singing for a long time which is never a bad idea.  I've never seen a smaller room that had so many people inside.  We've taught in 2 different rooms and one was tiny.  Children were everywhere and pilled in on top of each other.  Every week we always have a crowd standing by the door.

Allison and I had some crafts left over, and only God could've arranged for these to be PERFECT for Sunday School crafts.  He really does amaze me sometimes with everything.  The crafts we did one week were in the first 2 pictures, when we studied Jesus multiplying the fish and the bread.

This is some of the children posing for the picture.  If you know anything about African Church is that there is no exact starting time or ending time.  Children also disappear and come back to church.  It also is a custom here to not let guests leave on an empty stomach, so we went over to our pastor's house for a delicious Ugandan meal.  I really wish to be just like him and his wife when I have a home.  I want to just be as servant-like and hospitable.  Also, at the church I love watching the children dance.  They have some of the craziest dance moves, and I just love watching their joy being poured to the Lord.        

If you are a guest it is normal in an African guest for you to go up to the front and introduce yourself.  You are also suppose to mention if you have been saved or not.  One Sunday, we watched a lady accept Christ into her life and that was definitely a neat experience.  Our pastor also convinced all of us to sing in front of the church.  Let me tell you how embarrassing, fun, and awkward that was. We sang 2 different songs with 3 microphones given to the 5 of us on a crazy loud level.  Then the pastor comes up after and makes us keep singing it with every member joining in.  By now, the worship team, all of us, and the pastor just begin to dance and add in a lot more clapping, and we finally were done.  I actually enjoyed myself and had a fun time.  

This is the extent of the room  with 45 children.

I got to go to Canaan's today and see all of the precious children there!  I can't wait to show you the pictures.  My heart is already broken knowing that I'm leaving here in a few days.  I'm not sure how I'm going to make it.  Everyone I talk to that has gone through this tells me it is awful.  I also, of course, spoiled my baby girl Esther and spent time with her.  My grandma happened to be on skype, so she got to meet her.  I'm really praying that God has a plan with her to be in my life on a daily basis.  

“I’ll call the nobodies and make them somebodies; 
I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved” 
Romans 9:25 


Amina.

(Amen in Lungandan)

Every time after Hallelujah is said it is followed by Amina.