This weekend with the boys out in Bombo I am going to get one-on-one time to interview them all! I am so excited. Uncle Peter is going to help me ask each of the boys two questions: 1. What are 2 things that you are really good at? and 2. What is something you have learned here at the home that you will never forget? I am really hoping to get into their hearts a little more with that second question. These videos are to send to their school sponsors. I will choose some that really stand out to me and post them on my blog at the beginning of next week (since I don't take my computer out to the Land) or I will give you all the think to the API website when I upload them there. I am really excited to get this special time with all of the boys... it will be good to get to learn a little more about them. : ) and thanks to Allen Pointer's criticism in Japan, I know to keep videos turn horizontal at all times! haha...
Well, I am becoming a little more independent here in Uganda, which is something that makes me feel so good. At first, I didn't want Abby or any of the uncles to ever leave my side.. but I can now get my own boda-boda and ride to the street program and back home all by myself! That might not seem like much to you, but I feel very independent! And I even know that the fair price would be 2,000 shillings, so when they try to barter up to 3,000 (very common to do that here) I can stand firm and let them know that I am aware that they are trying to cheat a naive mizungu and I won't give in! Makes me feel good. :)
Speaking of independence, I think Uncle David is really trying to get me to that point very quickly. He asked me to take a young boy to the dentist the other day. We took bodas there and then he left me! He said that the Java's restaurant I am familiar with was very near and I could walk there and get a boda boda or just walk the rest of the way home. MY GOODNESS! He just left me! haha..
So I stayed with a young man, Moses, in the dentist's office (while another patient was lying in the chair receiving treatment) and they numbed him up, then pulled out that giant tooth! Gosh. You know, I have noticed something while doing first aid at the street kids (SK) program. When Auntie Heidi( a precious new friend from England that is here for 2 years living in a boys home) and I put hydrogen peroxide on their wounds, each kid usually reacts in one of two ways. 1. they make the worst looking face in the world, bite their lip, maybe run away, and just act like it is the deepest stinging pain in the world! or 2. they act like nothing has happened. It is interesting... Heidi and I were talking about it just yesterday.. It is like they are dying for attention and overreact for the love and affection or they are so used to pain that they can just deal with it. Abby told me that once in the dentist office a boy refused the numbing shot!... To get a tooth pulled! and he did nothing during the extraction. The young boy just sat there as they cracked and yanked out his paining tooth. Can you imagine? Goodness. Anyway, my young Moses did fine. He was hurting and very nervous at first.. I told him that I had 4 teeth removed before I came to Uganda (wisdom teeth, thank you Dr. Bratton!) but he still seemed very nervous.. but he did fine.
After they pulled them they gave him 2 different types of meds he needed to take 3 times a day each. I hate it when they give the kiddos meds. I mean, I know that they need them and it is to help the boys out, but I fear they often lose the meds, the meds get stolen in the middle of the night, they boys might try to take them all at once because of their drug abuse, but the boys also don't have solid meals and clean drinking water on a regular basis. They get 3 meals a week from us on MWF and then some get a meal at certain churches on Sundays.. but that is not sufficient for being on medication.. however, I talked it over with little Moses and was actually very confident that he would try and find something to eat or drink for them and that he would take them at the right times.
Moses understands English so well and he is my special little man that gives me little gifts and lots of love. I have now collected 3 small beaded bracelets from him that are hanging on my bag and wallet. He understands English more than most of the boys and wants to learn more and more. He is always reading signs to me and different papers that he finds around the slum. He has a special place in my heart, and I continue to pray that if it is the Lord's will, Moses may be able to take the trip out to Bombo with us some weekend and have a forever home! He has told David that he has a home, but they practice witchcraft and it makes him very dizzy and uncomfortable. So, he admits that he could go home and get off of the streets, but it is so bad that he just doesn't want to go home.
So anyway, if you will join me in praying for Moses that would be wonderful. The Lord has really put him on my heart.
And just for a quick update, the young 14 year old boy, Kato, that I spent time with in the hospital, is doing so well! Every time I see him he gives me a hug and has a huge smile on his face! He has also been dressed so "smart", as they say here. He's been wearing nice clean jeans, a button-down shirt, and nice tennis shoes as well! (all donated by the woman who helped me arrange food for him in the hospital, Rose) It is great to see how much better he is feeling and I love having that connection with him now! I will try and get a picture soon for you!
Well, I have one more thing I would appreciate you joining me in prayer about. As most of you know, I resigned my teaching position at Dardanelle last November or so, which means I do not have a job or any demands for returning home. Except, one of my most dear friends in the world, Elizabeth Smith, will be getting married September 15th .. and I do NOT want to miss that wedding that she and I have prayed for together for so long. What a wonderful couple for the Lord they will be! SOOOO, my return flight as of now is 1 month away, August 1st. At this point in time, it is difficult for me to think of investing in these lives for only 1 month more and then leaving them! The Lord has blessed me with an incredible team to work with and has given me the gifts that fit perfectly at the moment. (organization and tedious administrative work that Abby hates, but is a necessity to keeping API afloat)...I enjoy being used by the Lord here in Kampala.
So, with that being said, I am praying about extending my stay for an additional month. I do not want to do it if there is something else the Lord desires for me, so I am asking that you join me in prayer. I love the team, and David and Abby say they would be thrilled to have me stay, but I just want to make sure it is what the Lord wants and not just an "emotional high" decision. It wouldn't require much of me to stay. Just have to pay for rent for an additional month and then food and personal hygiene products for another 5 weeks. So honestly.. it would be pretty easy-cheesy. I feel so used by God here in Uganda and it is so fulfilling to be where I feel I can be used...Not that I wasn't being used in the classroom, but I just really feel comfortable working with the aunties and uncles here and with the street boys. I fit. So we will see.. it was funny, I was talking with Uncle Abdul yesterday as we were walking with Moses after the SK program.. he looked at little Moses, who wanted to escort me to my restaurant, and said, "Moses... we need to pray that if God wants Auntie Lauren to stay, that He will show her that He does. That she can stay with us for a long time and help us for a long time. And if she's going to stay, that people from her home will sponsor her so she can! Will you be my partner and pray with me that she can stay and will have sponsors?" haha.. Moses said, "Yes! I will pray! In the morning when I wake up, at night when I go to bed! I pray she can stay for 1 year!"
So there ya have it... we shall see where the Lord leads. I know He will. He lead me DIRECTLY to David and Abby! I had no doubt I was supposed to be contributing to API this summer.. we will see what comes next.
I leave with you a picture of my precious Moses and Uncel Abdul (i think you've seen them before, but who cares!)
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| Sweet Moses enjoying the ice cream that we were able to provide with the money a precious person from church donated JUST as I was praying about our break-in! |
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| Uncle Abdul is kind of a goober.. I'll get a serious picture one day of all of the uncles! And yes, he's wearing a beanie! He had a scarf and beanie on yesterday because he was cold, no joke. |
YAY for a longer stay!
ReplyDeleteDarling pic of Moses
And Abbey looks super weird in that picture!