Another Mom Letter

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 10:48 PM

Good Morning…..it is raining a nice, soft rain that they need …..and I tell you, it IS refreshing after the heat!  I was sitting out on the veranda (honestly, I do more than sit on the veranda, but it is so fun to watch the orphanage wake up each morning!)    You can hear the children, then see them walking to school, the donkey is braying and the birds are singing!  What a fine way to start the day.  Of course, as I sit on the veranda I am reading my Bible, and it is all so peaceful! I feel like I am at a retreat center! 

We (Deb and I, some of the missionaries) went into the town of Jinja yesterday to buy some needed groceries. Deb and I went to the open market....quite the place.  You should have seen all the sardines out in the sun…..actually, you should have SMELLED them!  It was pretty bad.  It is so nice to have all the fresh fruit.   There are fruit trees here at GSF (that stands for Good Shepherds Fold as you probably know by now).  There are pineapples growing too, so they do have some fresh fruit of their own.  But they also have to purchase some.  We went to the regular grocery store too to pick up a few things because I was making dessert for the supper last evening for the missionaries and FL mission’s team. About the baking….I made two cakes and it took me most of the afternoon.  I surely did miss my KitchenAid!!!!   I had to make a lot of stuff by hand that went into the cakes, and the icings.  The instructions were in metric, and some of the instructions were in some language, not sure which one.  It is a miracle they were edible!

We all met up at Ozzies, a great place for great food!  There were lots of Mzungus (white people) there.  Many relief organizations and Christian groups work out of Jinja, so it is not uncommon to see many of them shopping and eating lunch. (Debbie just gave me a wonderful smoothie she made out of all the fresh fruit. She has done this every morning, so I am getting a little spoiled.)

Yesterday she had a group of about 12 kids up to play Bible bingo.  The lady that usually lives here does that and had asked her to continue it.  The kids have a vast knowledge of Scripture, they have been taught well.  For some reason they started saying the books of the Bible, and it sounded so neat with their accent that I recorded it on my phone.  Then they said the Lord’s Prayer, so I recorded that also.  I played it back for them and they really enjoyed listening to themselves.  I just love listening to their accent….it is a little hard to understand sometimes and they also speak softly.  So lots of time I don’t catch what they are saying.

Two evenings ago a young Ugandan gal who works next door to us (she actually grew up in that home and is now 22 and is there quite often) came to our door around 11:15.  She was weeping and we were alarmed that something was wrong.  She began to tell us that she had been reading her Bible in Romans 12 and was so overwhelmed with God’s mercy and grace that she just couldn’t stop weeping!  I sat there listening, ashamed, thinking “how long has it been or have I EVER wept because of God’s great mercy and love towards me!”  And the other amazing thing that it had been Romans 12 which is the exact portion I had talked on at Bible Study that morning!   So we looked at it again and we shared thoughts with each other.  I mentioned some things that I had said to the ladies that morning.  We closed in prayer and as Debbie prayed, I peeked (!) and looked at the black and white hands intertwined and could hardly take my eyes away!  So I did what any good American would do and when we were done praying, I took a picture of their hands!!!!

Since it is raining  right now and I have the time, I’m going to add a couple of other things.  I’m sorry that these get so long…….

At the Sunday afternoon presentation at church, the Ugandan in charge started out by saying….GOD is GOOD and the kids said ALL the Time, then he said….All the time….kids said…GOD is good!  It just hit me so hard because that is what Steve Steffenson, who is the Kodiak Christian School principal, says all the time and how he starts out every chapel/meeting with the students.  The kids at KCS support Debbie so much, so Steve….you have GOT to tell the kids that whether you are in Africa or Alaska…….we are all leaning the same thing…..God is Good….all the time!

 Also….for all of you who have donated toward the building of the teen rec room…..they are coming right along with it.  They are currently laying the bricks for the wall….this is all very tedious work and nothing like in the states.  There are 8/9 Ugandans working on it every day.  A man who lives in Jinja and works for a mission society is in charge.  His sole job is construction projects around this area….he hires only Ugandans.  So it is great to supply them with jobs.

As you look around this compound there are many many Ugandans working.  It takes a host of people to run this type of organization.  All the Ugandans to do all kinds of work.  There is a missionary couple with three children who are in charge of things, there are two nurses, one teacher (for the missionary children), the couple who are currently in the states whose house we are living in, and the lady next door to us who does finances, adoptions  etc for the orphanage.   So the Ugandans are hired as house moms (aunties), cooks , social worker, school teacher, head master, field hands, lawn/grounds maintenance, mechanic, wood working/building, guards at the gate and on the grounds….and I’m sure there are more.   So GSF provides lots of jobs for Ugandans.

OK, one more thing!!!!!  You see signs of Kodiak everywhere!  How is that?!   Over the years people from the chapel/ the school/ the town have donated many, many things that Deb has brought along with her.  This past trip, she brought over 15 foot lockers, and I brought 3 plus two other bags filled with things they needed. Still others have sent things to her in Kodiak from the states that have been brought over.

What have I seen?....…..a little boy wearing a Joe Floyd Tourney Tshirt, one of Jill Bunting’s soy candles on the table, a young man wearing a green Subway shirt (new but not used in the stores anymore).  I passed by a toddler playing with a push toy Ron Kutchick from Grand Slam toys donated, baking sheets for the cookies I made the other day donated by someone, the school teachers wearing ties we had brought over, jars of vitamins and ibuprofen at the nurses house, and when I was teaching the ladies, I looked up and on the wall was a calendar with puppies!   It was so fun to see all the stuff being used that we had packed.  Thank you again to all who have donated over the years.

Well, the rain has stopped.  Thanks for baring with me here and making the rainy time go faster!  We are headed out to see the original GSF home that is located about 45 minutes from here.  Tomorrow we are going to raft the Nile!   I saw it yesterday for the first time- it just seems impossible that I am looking at the NILE!    Some of the FL team is also going rafting.  It is an all day trip.  And for those of you who saw the pictures and videos and when Debbie and Rebecca F rafted it, I am NOT doing those falls.  I am NOT.  I am doing class 3 which is much calmer!!!!!  I’m in to a much calmer life style! 

Sue Rohrer