Update through Sept 4

I am sitting outside tonight...it is 7pm...the sun is setting over a hazy Kampala...a full moon has begun rising over the banana trees to the East. Closing my eyes and absorbing the sounds of Kampala....worship chant at a nearby mosque, the giggles of the neighborhood kids outside the gate, a crying baby down a side alley, someone using a hoe repeatedly, a passing motorcycle, and my friend Jovan who is cursing and beating his cow for some reason.

As many of you know, I have contracted the flu and have been out of commission for the last few days, so this week's summary provides a great retrospective on the activities I did which contributed to my body breaking down....it almost reads as a comedy of errors (I'll number them in blue for simplicity sake):

Friday Aug 28-

• After a demanding 3 days of home-building (#1), we were given the morning off and only had the Kids In Need center planned for the day. James and I decided to reject sleeping in (#2) and instead go running for 45 minutes at 8am (#3). We ran down Ntinda, weaved through a nice residential area, quickly traversed a valley full of crops and sewage water, and then made our way up to Kyambogo University (situated on top of Kyambogo Hill).
• In the afternoon, the team headed to the Kids In Need center. We worshipped, played games, and prayed with the children. It was a really nice break from the physical labor of the past 3 days. I competed in and won a dance contest (#4)....although, I think it was more for my effort and not my ability. My dancing prompted Courtney to tell me afterwards "You may be the whitest person alive." There are many pictures of this contest, but thankfully, I control uploading to this blog and you all will never see them.
• Watched the Last King of Scotland tonight...great film about Uganda and the rule of Idi Amin. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. Another thing about Uganda...there are only pirated videos here...I have yet to see a non-pirated DVD.

Sat Aug 29

• Jinja!!! Woke up at 6:45am (#5) for the bus ride to our 6-hr white-water rafting adventure (#6). Jinja is the source of the Nile and boasts some of the best class 5 white-water rafting in the world (I believe I stole that last sentence straight from the Lonely Planet guidebook).
• Bungee Jumping - Adrenaline pumping...heart pounding 50 meter drop over the Nile (#7). James and I were the only ones in the group who participated. I uploaded all these pics in a previous blog post.

Sun Aug 30

• Watoto church service in the morning. Watoto church was founded in the 1980s by an American (or Canadian...couldn't figure it out). Watoto is the closest thing to a mega-church in Uganda with multiple locations throughout Kampala and in surrounding towns. The sermon focused on raising money for a building project...which is unfortunate as we hoped we would see him preach.
• Also, at this point of the week, a swollen, infected insect bite appeared on the same leg as my infected skinned knee (#8). The lesson: when you have an open wound, work in mud all day long and do not have proper washing facilities, you will get an infection.

Mon Aug 31

• 7:30-11:30am Nsambya Babies Home - Back to the chaos that is Nsambya...kids were crawling all over Flo, James and I all morning (#9). Nothing big of note happened today other than the usual 10 or so kids that needed changing throughout the morning. Oh, and we sorted beans.
• Today, I began feeling weak and found myself becoming more and more impatient.

Tues Sept 1

• 7:30am-6pm - 4th day of Building project. I lasted about 4 hours...three trips carrying 20 gallon jugs of water from the well (#10) and gathering rocks for the kitchen walls....then my body gave out. I laid down in the van the rest of the day.
• Tuesday night was full of chills, aches, and fever.

Wed Sept 2

• I skipped all our activities and laid in bed for most of the day.
• After taking ibuprofen, I felt well enough Wed night to go into town with Flo and James for some Nando's (chain chicken and chips restaurant). We had a great time and shared a boda-boda home (yes, 4 men on a motorcycle....over 600 lbs of weight...really not sure how we made it home)

Thurs Sept 3

• Mornings have been the worst for my flu. Again Thursday morning, I felt awful.
• Amanda took me to the hospital to get checked for malaria. After a blood sample, a urine sample, and a stool sample (yeah.), the doctor confirmed I do not have malaria or any other horrible sickness. Diagnosis is that my sickness is just a flu that has been going around Kampala (and has infected many of the babies at the Babies Home). Only in Africa would the words "Malaria Negative" be the highlight of your week.
• 2:30-4:30pm - I was scheduled to "share" (i.e. preach) at the Remand Home (detention center). I did not want to miss out on this opportunity as I feel my missionary experiences up to this point have prepared me for this speech. As I previously mentioned, the Remand Home is the most spiritually challenging location where we minister. The Home is a detention center for mostly boys and some girls ages 13-17. I rested all day, prayed for strength and guidance, and prayed that the Holy Spirit would speak through me. I chose "persistence" as the theme of my talk and specifically centered around Luke 18:1-8 - Jesus' parable of the persistent widow. The synopsis of the parable is this: A widow asked a judge for justice from her adversary. The judge was a man who neither feared God nor cared about man...the judge said no to the widow...repeatedly. The widow kept coming back to the judge and eventually the judge granted her justice just so she would leave him alone. Jesus used the parable to highlight that how much greater will a just and fair God (the ultimate judge) answer those persistent in prayer...but will he find anyone persistent in prayer or faith when He returns? The passage is applicable to us all but especially to the kids in the Remand Home for a few reasons. #1 - they all have experience with judges, and #2 - they each feel that they have been harmed or suffered an injustice in their lives. I spoke about the characters in the parable, compared them to God and to us, and then talked about the importance of not giving up and how God has unconditional love for each of them. I also threw in the demonstration I saw performed in Cuba which I wrote about in a previous blog entry - Basically, I divided up the room into quarters, and had each corner switch places with the diagonal corner all at once. Then, by yelling freeze in the middle of the demonstration, the young men and women could see a freeze frame of chaos before things return back to order. The demonstration worked better than expected---I asked the audience to tell me what they felt or saw....and one young man noted that he felt frustrated...he was so close to being where he wanted to go but could not get there as there were so many obstacles. Another young man said he was in pain as he was frozen just as he was about to sit down. I compared the frustration, pain, and chaos in that demonstration with certain points of our lives. Earth is full of moments of pain, suffering, chaos, injustice, deception, evil..but in those points, we need to remain persistent in prayer...and not give up. I followed with a personal testimony about when I had given up on God...but when He never did on me. My fellow team members complemented the talk and told me kids in their small groups were touched...and a few confessed to weaknesses and obstacles in their walk with God. All in all, my first extended sharing session was well-received...Thank God the Lord spoke through me.
• Oh, before my talk, Courtney asked the crowd to guess my age. The first kid I called on said "sixteen".....c'mon really?

Fri Sept 4

• Today has been a day of regeneration, cleansing, and reflection.
• Regeneration - Two 45 minute naps
• Cleansing - dressing 3 open wounds...applying ointment, etc....hopefully this will fix the infection problems
• Reflection - prayer, Bible reading, etc.
• French fries - 2 orders...lunch and dinner

Feeling much better today...flu has moved onto a sore throat...but the aching is primarily gone. Oh, KLM cancelled one of my flights, so I am now leaving on the 15th, back in Houston on the 16th.