My BIG Mistake turned into a Bigger Blessing

(from February 2, 2012)  By the way, I know I am WAY behind, but I'm working on catching up....slowly.

Well, you remember Alice helping me make popcorn and roasting peanuts for the prison ladies for Christmas?  When I told Alice who it was for, she said, “Oh, I heard on the radio that they are asking people to bring food and clothes to the prisoners and not forget them.  D***** (a German company here that I’m protecting, because it’s not their fault) is collecting clothes for the prisoners, so you can drop whatever you have off with them.”

I was so excited, because I knew the ladies wanted a new outfit for Christmas…that is usually the one thing people get for Christmas (if they get a gift).  I had collected 15 dresses for the ladies (and I was way short), and on my last trip before leaving town, I told the ladies I had tried, but I didn’t get enough, but I assured them that D***** was bringing them clothes.

They were SO excited!

Crazy excited!

I went to D***** and took the dresses.  As I chatted with the lady there, she explained that the clothes were going to another prison outside of Arua.

Oops!

Big OOPS!

I wasn’t returning to the prison to be able to tell them, and I didn’t like that it looked like I lied.

I just prayed.

We spent Christmas in Mityana with some friends, and I mentioned this ordeal to my friend.  She told me that a visiting church had come with too many T-shirts last June, and after handing out all they needed to, they gave the rest to her…over 100 of them!!!

She gladly gave me 70!  (I got more than I needed because the experience at Christmas with the popcorn let me know, you never know how many will be there).

I felt so blessed. 

We left those shirts in Kampala, while we flew to Kenya. 

In Kenya, at the Student Camp, the volunteers from Florida informed us that someone who used to work for NASCAR had sent over 150 shirts of different sizes for all the kids to choose from.  Each student took 1 or 2 and some for siblings.  My family took 1 or 2 each, and they offered me ALL the little kids T-shirts and sleepwear if I knew anyone that could use them!

Uh….YES!

I took all 15 kids’ outfits/T-shirts, and I was hoping that with these, in addition to the other adult T-shirts, I could hopefully make up for my error and bless those women.

But the blessing wasn’t over.  The last day before camp was over, the volunteers started giving EVERYTHING away.  They didn’t want to take anything back that they had come with.  One of those “things” was 52 toothbrushes they had brought that had been leftover from one of their women’s retreats in Florida.  (By the way, the same lady who gave me her Kindle, was the same one who gave me the toothbrushes).

I took them with the hopes that I could locate a few more toothbrushes to add up to a full number for the prison.

Fast-forward to the end of January….our first week back to the prison…

The ladies asked about the clothes and told me that no one had come.  So I explained what had happened (but I didn’t tell them I had anything for them).

Fast-forward again to February 2nd (Groundhog’s Day).

Florence called and said she was suffering with malaria, and she would rather not translate today.  I didn’t want to push her, but I couldn’t stand it.  I really wanted to make things right.

I had saved the story for today about God being a provider, because I thought we could teach the verses in Matthew about how He provides for the birds of the air and how He clothes the flowers so beautifully, right before we "provided" them with some clothes, as a blessing.  I wanted to tell them how He would clothe them even more so than the flowers.  And I was going to bring out the clothes at that point, but even without Florence going, I couldn't wait.

Kylie and I went through our home supplies and found only 3 more toothbrushes in kits they give you when you fly overseas.  We went with only 55 toothbrushes with the idea that we would hold them back if it wasn’t enough for everyone to have one.

So, I hired two bodas.  One carried me and one of the Fusion girls, Abbie, and one carried Kylie and a BIG box of adult T-shirts from Mityana and tooth brushes and kids’ clothes from Florida (and Kenya).

For some reason, all 5 guards were there today at one time, and they already had the ladies in a “fall in” position (sitting in 4 columns on papyrus mats on the ground).

I asked how many ladies were there, and I was told…..55!!

God is so amazing (and in the details)!

I didn’t leave the items with the guards to be passed out, because I’ve been told that things don’t always get to the ladies when the guards get them first, if you know what I mean.

I greeted the ladies and told them about Florence, and then I told them why I had come. 

When I mentioned the shirts, they smiled really big, but when I mentioned the toothbrushes, they all screamed, about 20 jumped up off the mats and started dancing around in a circle, and me….?

I felt like I was Oprah and I had just given these ladies keys to their own vehicles!

I don’t know if they were more excited about the toothbrushes or if the delayed excitement on the t-shirts was because it took time to translate to each other what I had said about them.

And they screamed and danced some more when I said I brought clothes for the children.

I had 15 outfits and there were 12 children!

Abbie helped pass out the baby clothes.  Sweet Kylie passed out the toothbrushes, was ONE short at the end, and was SO concerned about one of the ladies who took two.  I assured her that she was collecting for a sick lady lying down inside, but Kylie was distraught.  She thought this lady had denied someone the privilege of getting a toothbrush.

After a little searching, we found the lost one back in the box. 

I handed out the shirts, and the women thanked me profusely!  Some immediately put it on over their prison uniform.

Let me stop here and tell you about this shirt.

1)    It’s white.  No one here wears white because everything is so dirty, it’s hard to keep white things clean.

2)    It has the name of a junior high school from Arkansas on the front in black letters.  It is not a specially, designed shirt, by any means.

3)    The back is covered with ads from businesses in Arkansas who supported whatever this T-shirt represented.

4)    They all got the exact SAME one!

They were so thankful for THIS!  They truly acted like those women on Oprah who had been given a car (minus the tears, because most of the time, these ladies don’t cry)!  Would you have jumped up, screamed, and danced over this?  Would I?  I think not.

I received hearty handshakes, big hugs, and blessings poured over me like never before.  I’m praying that this act of love (on several peoples’ parts) will bring more women into Bible study next week.

Anyway, I should have had 15 shirts left over…10 after I gave the 5 guards one.  And I should have had 3 kids outfits left over….

Nope.

One guard, who was on her way out, grabbed 4 of my extras, and pulled one more out of another guard’s hands.  Then she took all the remaining children’s clothes.

In the South, we would say, “Bless her heart.”  (Because we’re really trying hard not to “bless her OUT.”)

Anyway, I gave the “robbed” guard another shirt and rode home with 5.

When we reached home, I asked my boda driver, Jack, if he would like one for he and his wife each to have.  He said, “I think I need four.”

O…K…

One left…

and here comes a man walking up to me outside my gate with a t-shirt that is barely hanging on his shoulders because of the huge holes in it.  It would have been a rag in my house.

He said, “Are you selling shirts?”

I said, “No, but this one is for you.”

I tossed it to him, and he walked away smiling.

Delivering Pencils

This is Doug, Kylie, Karis, and Caleb walking to the school where I used to attend Kindergarten classes. My cousin Kristen and I were lagging behind.

A company trustee brought a bunch of pencils that Central Park Elementary in Aberdeen, Washington, and kids from her church collected to be distributed here in Uganda.

The first class we went to was mine and Doug's old Kindergarten class where we used to sit in to learn language.

Yes, this is ONE class. 150 kindergarteners for ONE teacher.

Wouldn't see this picture on the wall in American schools.

While the principal interpreted for me all the words I didn't know, you can see other classes outside hanging on the chain-link covering of the windows...making a lot of noise.

Kindergarten class room #2...not much better...140 students.

We took a break after the kindergarten classes because the principal invited us to her office for a Coke. You can see the hoards of kids following my cousin, Kristin, as she walked in the school yard.

More classes...multiple 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classes...all packed out.

Each kid got ONE pencil, and you would have thought they were receiving an ipod touch (if they knew what that was).

The principal liked to get in every picture with each class and their teacher.

You never know what surprises are held for each day.

I was impressed to see this blind boy with a braille typewriter in one of the classes.

Me and Mrs. Karen in her office at the end of all the speeches we gave in each class. I talked about her once before HERE when I attended her step son's wedding last August.

Thank you Audrey for bringing all those pencils to brighten the days of some very special kids, and thank you to all the kids who brought and collected pencils for her to bring. You made some kids very, very happy.

Giving People

I'm sure I have yet to mention how giving these people are. In fact, at lunch today, Kylie said, "Who do you keep getting all this food from?"

Since is was African food, Kylie knew I hadn't purchased it, and thankfully, with Alice around, I don't have to know how to cook it either.

Today, we had pumpkin that Florence, my language teacher, had given me.

Yesterday, we had Matoke (a banana shaped food that tastes like an irish potato) that Alice, our house worker brought us from her garden. And we had two oranges (the oranges here are green - funny) from Florence.

Last week, we had peanut sauce that Alice ground with a grounder (jiki) she brought from her house to use for me. She carried it all the way down the hill with her baby on her back. (I should have looked to see if it was on her head.)

This picture is of Beatrice. She is one of the worship leaders at the church where I go to hear the Lugbara service. She is also the one who invited me to that wedding I posted a few weeks ago.

Anyway, one day after church, she asked me to come back after all the services were over so she could follow me to my house. She wanted to give my children clothes she had bought them.

At this point, she had only seen them in church twice, and she didn't know any of their names, much less their sizes.

Nevertheless, she did pretty good. Caleb liked his muscle shirt, Karis really liked her new dress, and even though Kylie's clothes were a little tight for her, she was very gracious.

This particular day, we took Beatrice home only to find she was locked out with the wrong key, so she stayed with us an extra 5 hours, and we took her out to student camp with us that day. She is a precious, smart young woman. She graduates from University in December, and in February, she is going on a scholarship to the United Kingdom for a year to get her Masters. She has already told me that when she returns, she wants my children in her wedding...that will be a fun story!

This is Florence showing Kylie which beans to pick in her garden. I go to language about 4 times a week, and I usually leave with some kind of food.

Giving.

Giving.

She says it is common in her culture, when you need greens, you just walk to any garden you see, and pick some. She has strangers in her garden all the time...and she doesn't get angry.

They just give and give.

Selfishness really isn't a quality I see in people around here. If you have enough, you make sure everyone else around you does too. It reminds me of the New Testament church in the book of Acts.

Our neighbors on one side are from Sudan. The children have learned some Lugbara in school, and they speak a little English, except for one of their sons who is hearing impaired, but the rest of the family speaks Arabic.

Kylie spends a lot of afternoons across the fence with Sarah, the girl in maroon. They make dishes out of clay, they wash the family's real dishes, help start fires for cooking, and fill pots with water from jeri cans.

I would really love to minister to the mother, but I can't speak her language. I've passed avocados over the fence, but other than that, we just sit and smile at each other. They are from the Dinka tribe, which means they are unusually tall. The mom is easily 7 feet. You can see how Sarah towers over Kylie already.

This is Ayiko (that means "happy"). He is Florence's son. He and Caleb are pretty good friends, and he's usually playing around the house during my language class, so I get to see him every day.

This is a video of "giving" at the most recent wedding I attended - last weekend. A few of the ladies just have flat stones on their head. That is what they are giving to the bride and groom for their house. You can see chairs, boxes, and money being given. But more than anything, can you see the JOY in which they are giving everything?