#16 June email “Hard work”

Family,

So, I have officially been living the life of a true Ugandan for twenty-four hours now and it is HARD WORK!!!  Really… everything is work.  Not to be crude, but even going to the bathroom is hard work.  They work so hard for so little.  I always had an inkling that I was spoiled, but now I have NO DOUBT.  Did I share the other day that the women taught me how to wash clothes and I ended up with sores on my hands?!?!?  Eva, Godfrey’s wife and the woman who is taking ridiculously good care of me, said God knew what He was doing when He gave this life to the Africans.  He knew they could handle it.

Please don’t take this as me complaining… I most certainly am not.  If anything, I’m ashamed.  Ashamed at how much I take for granted.  Ashamed at how much I complain.  Ashamed at how much I act like my life is worse than most.  Ashamed at how often I REFUSE to even consider those less fortunate, let alone act.

Today was a great day.  I spent the day with little cutie patooties.  The money for Pastor James’ truck was transferred today at a total of $13,400.  Someone has given $2,400 to Pastor Godfrey’s church to start some micro-financing loans.  I actually was able to help teacher Eva out at school.  All in all, I’d say this was a fantastic day!  God is just beginning His blessings with our work here in Uganda.  We’ve only begun to lay the groundwork.  We are constantly brainstorming with our pastor-friends here and God is continually giving us and our friends the spirit of generosity.  Blessings are abounding!

Thank you for you prayers.  God was so gracious to give me forty-something kids today that wouldn’t let me out of their sight.  I couldn’t have shut-down if I’d tried.  Those adorable faces were the song in my heart today.  But, I will say… I tip my hat to elementary school teachers!  There is no way I could do that every day!  “Teacher Michelle!  Teacher Michelle!  Teacher me!  Teacher me!  Teacher!  Teacher!  Teacher!”  Whew!  I could have taken two naps!  Seriously!  That is hard work!  But, one thing I do love is how sweet they are AND the fact that they are not afraid to be sweet like sugar.  My students are sweet, but they never want me to know that.  These kids here were almost fighting each other to hold my hand or sit in my lap.  (Except in Uganda, there is no fighting… they would just push each other out of the way and the other would just walk away… I’ve never seen people so gentle in my life!!!)  I have to praise God for that gift!  He knew all along that this would be an emotional rollercoaster for me, that I’d want to shutdown and he decided to bless me with beautiful spirits just when I needed it.  So good…

Dad has made it to Chicago with the hopes of avoiding a six-hour layover and getting on an earlier flight.  Hopefully that will work out for him.  The traveling is brutal.  It’s not too bad for me… I’m short and overly-friendly when I’m nervous or unsure.  But, I must say that God has blessed us indeed during this trip.  Thankfully, neither of us are snobs in any way.  We had coffee in Pallisa and both said it was delicious!  Then when we were back at the guest house, I was bragging about how great the coffee was and come to find out it was Nescafe.  One of the hoity-toity guys almost cried, he was so appalled.  HA!  But, it’s been that way the entire time.  Everything has been fantastic!  The people are beyond lovely.  The food is great!  (Brace yourselves… I’ve gained quite a few pounds… everything is starch here… which doesn’t work well with my low-carb diet, but when in Uganda…)  I don’t have anything bad to say about this blessing.  Even the pit-latrines are handy as a leg exercise.

I love you all and am counting my blessings to know and love you.  I SOOOOOOOOO wish you could be here with me experiencing this love.  I’m (I was about to say speechless and then say the full-page above  HA!) so thankful to see clearly…  to have eyes to see these blessings.  Man… life is good and our God is great!

I love you and hope you have a wonderfully blessed Wednesday!

His,

Michelle

Brace yourselves… the following video MAY be too adorable to handle.  🙂  ENJOY… I know I am!!!

 

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