Hope is Rising

Please listen to this song as you read this post.  Hope is Rising by Downhere

After an entire month, my care package from my parents has finally arrived.  The estimated time of arrival was two weeks, so hope began to deteriorate as to when and if the package would make it to Kampala.  I was ecstatic when I received my parcel with a Canada Post sticker and my mom’s hand writing on it.

Unfortunately, this Tuesday was the first time I was able to visit my slum family since the last time when we found out about Finah’s disappearance.  Finah’s mother, Harriet, shared with us that a few weeks back she received a phone call from some man informing her that he had her daughter.  He told her that he had Finah as a house girl and said where he was keeping her.  Harriet does not know who this man is, and how he got her phone number.  She is very suspicious of her neighbours and wonders how this man got her number.  We do not know whether this man is telling the truth but this phone call brought us some hope in finding Finah.  Harriet is waiting for her brother to come so he can escort her to this place where Finah might be.  I am very encouraged by the hope in Harriet to continue searching for her daughter.   She is a very strong woman and shows great care and affection for her children.  I ask for you to continue praying for Finah’s safety and for her return back home.  I also ask that you pray for Harriet and her brother when they go to this unknown and risky area to find Finah. 

On Thursday, my team ventured out into the slums to visit our two Living Hope clients.  It had rained very heavily the night before so we prepared to get muddy as we trekked through the slum.  We took a public taxi to get to the area where both of our clients live.  We have only visited our clients once before and last time, we took a different route to get there.  Slums are very tricky to navigate through, as they are crowded with small huts and narrow pathways.   Needless to say, our team couldn’t find our first client’s home and got lost trudging through the muddy and garbage-laden slum.  After about an hour, we decided to head back to the main road.  Praise the Lord for as we began to walk back, our client Maria found us and lead us back to her home.  Maria is a very gentle and hospitable woman and I am looking forward to getting to know her better.  We then moved on to our next client Margaret, a fiery woman who crochets blankets and table runners to provide for her family.   We chatted with her for a bit, sang some songs for her, read her Psalm 23 (I had to read it in Luganda… YIKES), and prayed with her.  Then Margaret walked us back to the main road, showing us a much easier route for next time.  Those ladies seriously blessed us way more than we blessed them.

On Saturday, we went to Suubi for sports ministry.  After a sun-kissed morning playing volleyball, I was invited to my friend Prossy’s house for lunch.  Here is a picture of a monkey that we saw out her back window.   We have heard that monkeys live in Suubi and had been hoping to one day see them.

Since this Sunday was St. Patrick’s Day, Callie and I decided to plan a party for our house on our day off on Monday.  We have been scheming and conniving over the last week on what kinds of holiday activities we should do.  Below are some pictures from our St. Patrick’s Day activities.

We forgot to ask Kevin the night before to dye the pancakes green for breakfast so we hoped that Kevin would find our little post-it attached to a bottle of green food colouring.  St. Patrick’s Day is not celebrated in Uganda so we weren’t sure how Kevin would take our note.  That poor woman probably thinks we are the strangest group of mzungus ever. 

Kiss Me I am Irish game: Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, it is pin the lips on the leprechaun. 

Find the Lucky Charms treasure hunt:  We were hoping that the thunderstorm would stop so that we could go outdoors to do our treasure hunt.

St Patty’s Day dinner complete with green Jello.

This week embarks the halfway point of my time here in Uganda.  Whoa does time sure fly!  It is a little scary to think about what I will be doing after 360 and sad to think about leaving all these incredible people and this beautiful country.  I am trying not to dwell on future plans but remain fully present in my time here.  I am very hopeful about some exciting future possibilities headed my way.  Ya, that last sentence was pretty vague.  Sorry folks!

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

Peace and love