Teams, Adventures, and Furlough

One aspect of jobs is that we have teams come from different churches and organizations to help out with different aspects of the ministry and learn more about what we are doing here at GSF.  One of our most recent teams had two physical therapists on it! I had the privilege of working with them, learning from them, and sharing some of our amazing kids with them!  They were able to help through encouragement, advise, equipment, and teaching. One of the coolest parts of their time here was that they took apart our old, bad strollers, mounted car seats on the frames, and made them so that they can be tilted to change positioning.  We also took some the kids with special needs to a local pool, and one of the therapists taught the special needs staff water therapy exercises.  We are excited to add this into our program in the near future.  The kids loved it and worked hard at doing their exercises.  The other physiotherapist was also an amazing handyman! He reshaped AFO braces, built therapy tables, made the car seat strollers, and shortened a pair of crutches.  It was encouraging and reassuring to hear that we are making good decisions for these children.  It was also very helpful to have them here to help make future plans and talk about treatment plans.  I especially enjoyed seeing them love these kids like we do here.

We went to an introduction and give away ceremony for a friend and co-worker at GSF. Penninah is the Childcare Manager, and we work pretty closely together since our jobs overlap a lot! The best equivalent for the event is a very formal engagement party.  Some highlights from it are when the female comes out with a group of women and the head of the male’s family “chooses” the bride from the group.  Then the female has to “choose” her groom from among the male’s family.  Part of the Give Away Ceremony is when the man’s family presents the dowery to the woman’s family.  The whole event lasted 7 hours or so… There was a traditional meal, beautiful cakes, music, dancing, and lots of speeches.  Everyone was dressed in formal traditional wear that is based on the Western Ugandan Culture. We live in the Central Region, so our formal dress and language are different from what we wore and experienced there.  

            On the way to and from the Introduction, we had some adventures with the Gwartney Family and Arrango Family.  We rode with the Gwartneys, and the total amount of driving was over 24 hours round trip.  We all took turns riding in the back. J On the way there, we went on an off-road safari, a.k.a drove into some woods near a wildlife park, and got to see warthogs, antelope, cranes, and zebras! It was definitely a highlight! On the way back, we met up with the Arrango Family from GSF too, and we all stayed at a hotel in Kampala as a get away. We also played paintball for one of the Arrango girls birthday.  The place we stayed was VERY unique.  Some examples were regal orange king and queen chairs and a lodge-style dining hall with a chandelier, One of the beds was egg-shaped with a tent over it. One bathroom had no walls and curtains on all four sides in a tree house style room, and the workout center had a sampling of workout equipment from 1980-2000 including lots of shake-the-weight-off equipment that we all had to try out. J I think you get the picture. It was definitely unforgettable!

 We are super excited about making plans to come to the states for a visit!

We are really looking forward to spending time with people, catching up, and sharing about what God is doing at GSF!  We will be trying to get in contact with many of you, but we would also love to hear from you about when you might be available to see us. At some of our locations we are yet to have a place to stay, so we would also welcome offers/suggestions of housing that we might be able to use while we are there. 

Here is where we will be and when:  

Virginia

July 24-July 29 (Katie Only)

July 30-August 2

Rome GA

July 24-July 27 (Cody Only)

September 15-20

November 1-November 5

Macon GA

July 27-July 30 (Cody Only)

September 28- October 4

October 28-November 1

Thomasville GA

August 2-August 24

September 20-28

October 4-9

October 10-17 (Cody Only)

October 18-28

November 8-November 13

California

August 27-September 3

Savannah GA

September 4-7

Atlanta GA

September 7-15

Tupelo MS

November 5-November 8

Prayers:

Katie’s dad and brother are coming to visit next week along with a good friend, Carl Green (And Praise)

Program sustainability for while we are gone

Deepening of relationships with coworkers

Health-there has been a lot of sickness around here lately (we are fine, guys!)

Strengthening of our own relationship

Finances for building our house

Making furlough plans with people

Setting up travel/housing logistics for Furlough

Praises:

Continuous committed supporters

Good friends that call, text, email, Facebook, write, etc.

Awesome get away night in Jinja with Internet

Deepening of relationships with MK’s, other missionaries and coworkers

New equipment for the special needs program

Increased comfort and knowledge in our surroundings subsequent adventures

Cody and I continue to laugh about silly things and communicate well with each other

Southern comfort from the latest team who brought us good old southern grits!!!