Mission Accomplished

Tackle a dubious plate of Mexican refried beans?

Check.

Finish the mural in the classroom?

Check.

Meet Mrs. Orr again, Christmas shop for the babies, relish matooke one last time at a send-off lunch, go to Quality to get one last batch of jackfruit to eat on the roof, learn Ugandan craft skill, attend Sunday School party and face paint for hours on end, try to pack up for departure somewhere in between...

Check, check, check.

So the last three days in Uganda had come. They weren't about to go without every single minute being used to the fullest! For tales of the last adventures this time in Uganda, please click Read More...


Thursday

Agenda: Christmas Shopping for Baby House

"Do these taste like ketchup chips to you?"



African Mexican food?

I looked up from the plate before me to judge the reaction of Jjaaja Rita. From the expression on her face, probably mirroring my own, I could see that the task of finishing this meal would be a bit of an adventure for both of us.



Quran stories for kids at a bookstore

 What had we gotten ourselves into this time? Just a little Mexican food--or so we'd thought. Feeling in a bit of a Spanish mood, we'd both ordered refried beans and rice, curious to see what they'd look like.

Terrorist wanted poster at the mall

"It looks like the beans from the Bible College!" Aunt Rachel, the Baby House manager, put the answer into words for us. Upon sampling it, we soon decided that there was nothing Mexican about this meal! In fact, it seemed to us to mostly consist of ketchup. But I was hungry.

We were doing this, of course, for the Baby House. Jjaaja and Aunt Rachel had allowed me to tag along with them Christmas shopping for the kids in town. We had already secured a toy for most of the kids, and an outfit for each of those who needed one. Only a little more shopping to go--but first a break for lunch! --Hence the beans. 

Friday

Agenda: Meeting with Mrs. Orr, Lunch at Baby House, Visit to Missionary Couple, Trip to Quality, Bracelet-Making Class...

After a short class at the Baby House, just long enough to go through a flannelgraph Christmas story and hear the kids recite the 23rd Psalm, Jjaaja and I rushed to the laminator to finish some last minute classroom projects...

Completed posters for Psalms 23 and 100 to hang on either side
of the palm tree, and the fruits of the Spirit to go overtop the palm's nine dates.

We'd barely finished taping the fruits of the Spirit onto the finished palm tree when a group of much-awaited visitors appeared on the walkway outside. Hurrying out the door and through the Baby House gate, we strode over to meet Mrs. Orr, her brother--the dean of a Canadian Bible College associated with the college here--and his wife. While Mrs. Guthrie led the others on a tour around the college, Jjaaja and I brought Mrs. Orr to the Baby House. What followed was an awesome meeting, covering everything from programs & ideas to help kids reintegrate into community life to training tools for potential adoptive families. Mrs. Orr is even making plans with Jjaaja to come again and follow up with more resources and information. The connection is a fantastic answer to prayer!





The housemothers at the Baby House sweetly gave me a
special send-off lunch which everyone ate together on Friday
afternoon.



I had just barely driven my fork into my second plate when Emma from the Bible College came to say that he and Mrs. Guthrie were ready to go visiting. So off we went, walking across the hill towards the home of a missionary couple Mrs. Guthrie wished to introduce me to. We spent a lovely afternoon with them, chatting, playing guitar and toe-writing. (A teenage girl there and I hit it off trying some weird ideas while everyone else conversed, such as a contest to see who could write best with their feet. It's only the truth.)



My bracelet, which I finished on the plane
between Brussels and Chicago

Right on the heels of the visit came one last run to Quality--you can be sure I bought a final taste of sweet, juicy jackfruit! Immediately after returning from this trip I ran down to the school dining hall to learn from one of the students how to weave a certain type of bracelet. The bracelets, popular in Uganda, have people's names or small messages written right into them with thread. I was pretty thrilled to be able to learn a real local craft skill!

Saturday:

Agenda: Pack, say goodbyes, spend all day at Sunday School function...

11:30 AM or so found me in a loaded van, squished among most of the Baby House occupants, my buddy Esther, and a whole pile of Sunday School kids! The Christmas party we were headed to was in conjunction with the church whose Sunday School class performed Father Abraham in the class I taught there several weeks back. I'll let the pictures tell the stories of what followed...

"This tent sounds like it's about to fall down!" Esther commented when we arrived at the park where the party had begun.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do when I got there. Soon however, an arts college student who sometimes works at the Baby House arrived. "I'm glad you're here," he said, "you're going to help me face paint!"

A line-up of kids soon formed, keeping us busy all afternoon.  I painted stars, rainbows, puppy faces, leopard spots, and an innumerable assemblage of butterflies. The kids just kept coming! And coming. And coming...



By the time we finally capped our blunt colour crayons,
much of the crowd had already finished lunch long ago. Sitting with a rice and chicken/broth plate of my own, I inquired after the time. "5:09," the answer came. We've been painting for well over four hours straight!?! No wonder we were "broken down," as my friend had worded it. "That's what happens when you're painting," he commented, "time flies."



After plates piled with bites of cake had gone around, the tent and jumpy castle had been taken down and the kids had gone home, it was already after 6:00. Only two hours left before going to the airport!

As you can probably imagine, it's hard for me to believe that the trip--my life in Uganda--has come to a conclusion already. Looking back over the last three months at everything God has brought me through is like standing on the top of a mountain after a hike. Surrounded by the big picture panorama spanning the horizons around you, you look back down the long, winding path you've followed to the place you came from--now a tiny speck nestled deep in the valley below. You can only stand still, awestruck, and whisper "thank You."


And thank you too, for your prayer, support, and company on the journey thus far. But lest we say goodbye as if the adventures are over, please let me assure you: walking with God, the adventures are never over, wherever you are. Writing chemistry exams or holding a summer job in Canada can be as much the work of the Lord as visiting prisons and teaching Sunday schools in Africa, if that's what He's called you to. The harvest field is great, without borders. The workers are few, without strength in themselves. But the Lord of the Harvest is mighty to accomplish what He started.