Update

Just a quick update on life here on the ground.

It is still very very hot, and it has not rained for at least 3 weeks now. I often find myself waking up with a headache, I think because it is always so muggy at night.
I can’t wait till it rains, and it cools down a bit.  It makes for good swimming weather though, but since we don’t have very close access to places for swimming (the lake near us has crocodiles in it) we don’t get to go much.

We did get to go out to the Nile gardens hotel with Andrew and the Brits before Andrew left. The hotel has a pool where we could cool down, and Agnes learnt to swim by herself for the first time (well she learnt how to float and kick herself forward with a doggy paddle for about 6 seconds … but a new record for her)

We continue to run our programs here! It interesting how much YSU has turned into a bit of a shelter for many of these tailoring girls. Often they don’t go home till very late, and very often they are here on days that class is not on. Usually they are just practicing their skills, but often you can find out the front of our house a very loud game of cards or ludo being played by a big group of them.

Every Tuesday morning is a time for praise, prayer and devotions for the girls. Agnes and I run these with the tailoring girls, and we give them something simple for their week to think about. The girls seem to love these little devotions, and it is interesting to see all girls from different backgrounds, some of them Muslim, come to our morning devotions, wanting to learn more about the gospel.

We also have our boys coming every Thursday for games evening. This includes many African styled games, cards and darts. It is a great way to build relationships with these guys.

We also ran another drug and alcohol information session with these boys (all of which have sly smiles on the side of their faces which give away that many have sampled most of the substances that we talk about)
This has been great, and the boys have responded positively. In the west we tend to think that everyone knows the dangers of drugs, but over here education is very limited on the topic. Many young guys have absolutely no idea that many of these drugs are actually dangerous. Just recently a young boy, that farouk knows, drunk himself to death, literally choking on his own vomit in a drunken stupor.

So Farouk and I hope we can use these classes to pass on information to them in a non-condemning way. Much of the warnings about drugs has been done in this type of way, a simple ‘don’t do drugs because they are bad and sinful’ is all the boys get. But to be able to sit with them in an environment that lets them ask questions, and doesn't judge them, while giving them information on why and how these substances are leading to negative consequences on their bodies and their communities really helps, as well as exploring with them why this type of selfishness is destructive.

The block of land continues to be developed, with a gate and a nearly completed fence around the block.

Right now we have the young boy I spoke about in my previous blog looking after the block during the day, and staying in the small house on the property.

We have had further contact with the hospital to talk about the boy’s situation. It seems that he has a very bad heart condition, and without any kind of operation it is unlikely for him to reach his early 20’s.

The operation might cost around the $2000 mark, so right now we are planning to take him to the international hospital to gather all the correct information.
Farouk and I will be traveling to this boy’s father’s home sometime soon to try and get more information from the father, and ask him if we can take on the boy’s case and try and help him out.

This is a man who has continually rejected his son, and chased him away from his home. Apparently the father has all the boys medical documentations, and when the father realized how serious the problem was, and that he couldn't afford the operation, instead of taking the boy back to his to care for him, he chased him away.

Hopefully with farouk and my presence, we will be able to convince him to accept.

The boy had actually been getting very sick because he was working for us as a laborer. The medical staff at st benedict’s told us we should not be making him labor. We talked to the boy about this and asked him why he never told us, as that we could never allow him to do heavy work if we had known. The boy responded that he was afraid that once we knew of his condition we would chase him away like everyone else has.

Please pray for us as we make these visits to his father’s house and to the hospital to gather all the correct information we would need before starting to fund raise for an operation for this boy.

Agnes and I have continued to attend the local church and help out with the local youth group. I run a bible study every second Sunday, while Agnes does a young women’s group on the following Sunday.

We have also been looking at mixing it up a bit and attending a different church occasionally. Sometimes I can find it a struggle, as I look for a bit more meat in the teachings. I also miss the type of worship I have been accustomed to.

Don’t get me wrong, the African worship here is amazing, they have passion and they dance and sing, and we could learn a thing or two about them.
But many of the songs are sung in Luganda, and the style of singing even in the English songs are very much about repetition over a long period of time. So a simple phrase like “we are singing in the house of Lord” can be repeated over the course of 5 minutes.
I do miss a good old fashioned hymn, with good strong lyrics and meaning. A bit of “How great though art” or “Amazing grace” always stirs my soul.
But of course, church is not about me, it is about God. And so no matter how I might want the ‘style’ of worship or preaching to be, we know the church is faithful and we want to support them in their mission.

I do get times of great fellowship in smaller gatherings, like at Ron and Anne’s school every Friday night, or with my youth on Saturday nights or Sunday evenings. I feel this is where I get my real fellowship from, and where I can sing and praise God and find joy.
We also have good friends here that we can sit and talk with! Andrew just left, but He spent a lot of time with us while he was here which is always encouraging. And we also had a lovely evening with Ron and Anne, as they came over for a dinner, and of course a long chat into the night.

I have also recently watched a documentary on the persecuted church. Agnes and I watched this film together, and I will be watching it with my group of boys on Saturday night as well. I was blown away by the film. I was deeply moved by the tragedy of the persecution around the world (Christians are the most persecution religious group in the world, and in a human rights context, the Christian community around the world are seeing the greatest persecution) but I was also inspired by the faith of many of these people. To be able to choose death instead of denying Christ is something I pray I would also be able to do.

You can watch the trailer here:
http://lovecostseverything.com/index.php/trailer

And buy a digital download here:
http://lovecostseverything.com/index.php/store

I really recommend it.

Yesterday was my birthday as well. I had lots of love from friends on facebook! My wife made me a breakfast of weetbix and mango. And I was blessed to have my brother in law, Douglas, come over with a cake that he baked.
Everyone in our household then spent some time saying some sort of kind comment about me, which was really nice.

I was also blessed by my big sister who gave Agnes and I some money to go out for birthday meal! So we went two friends restaurant and had an awesome meal of pizza and chicken burgers!

Thank you again for all your love and prayers. I also again thank those people who have supported me financially, and continue to do so. You make all of this possible and I am deeply grateful.

God bless.