A City On A Hill

The past two weeks were some of the most memorable weeks of my life. It was a time that the Lord was at work in everyone’s hearts. Youth Camp was incredible, and here are some highlights of the past two weeks..

The theme of AMG’s Youth Camp at Upendo was “A City On A Hill”. The opening night, Aly preached on what it means to be a city on a hill, and the importance on being a light to others. As a demonstration, we passed out candles to show what one burning candle can do if it spreads its light with others. 

Pretty soon the dark room was filled with burning candles. And the neat thing was, the kids loved it! While the candles were burning and after Aly was finished preaching, we played the theme song of the camp which was “A City On A Hill” by The City Harmonic. One of my most favorite bands if I must say so myself! We put the words up on the wall so all the kids could sing along. I was brought to tears hearing them singing along, holding their candles high, and swaying to the song. It was definitely a way to start camp off the right way!

Being a part of the kitchen staff was a blast! Spending time with the alumni, hearing their stories, and learning Luganda had a huge impact on me. It was fun learning how to cook African food. I did more of the easy stuff, but still it was a lot fun! They all kept me busy, and were more than happy to have me there. I don’t think there was ever a time we weren’t keeping busy or laughing and cutting up! After cooking, we would help serve the kids lunch or dinner.

Throughout camp we had Bible study groups each day. Jackie, another leader in my group, had a huge impact on my life. She is 24, and just finished with school at the university. We spent a lot of time together during camp. It was amazing to see how bold she was in telling Christ’s story to Muslim homes, and others who did not know Christ.

I was able to share the Gospel in a few homes we visited. There was a grandmother who lived with her son in a home we went to. She was the sweetest lady I have ever met! People here in Uganda tend to stare at muzungus, but this lady was more than happy to have one in her home! She was blind, and loved Christ with all of her heart. She even told me that I was a part of her family, and that I was her new granddaughter! That was very encouraging. Her son showed me a picture of her husband who had passed, and she continued to say that he was my grandfather. It was truly an amazing experience. The Lord has blessed her with a long life here in Uganda because of her faith in Him. Little did she know, she was a light to me.

On Wednesday, we did some community work with our Bible study groups. We went back to the areas we had been to the day before. We went to one home of a lady who is suffering from aids. She had just lost her 8 month baby due to aids. And so we gathered all of her jugs, carried them to the well at the bottom of the hill, and filled them with water. After we brought them back to her, we all laid hands on her and prayed over her.

It was quite an experience carrying 40 to 50 pound jugs of water back up the hill. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like doing it day after day..

The next home was a home of a grandmother who lived alone. She has a broken leg, and crawls around everywhere she goes within and outside of her home. It was devastating and heartbreaking. We did the same, and gathered all of her jugs to fill with water. When we returned, we laid hands on her and prayed for healing over this sweet lady.

We also visited homes of Muslim families and homes of witchcraft.

Another day we had a huge outreach in the community. We were able to love on the people, have praise and worship, and testimonies were shared. 

In this moment I was suddenly reminded of the first time I came to Uganda. It was after the Christmas Program on a Saturday at Upendo. There was music, and everyone was fellowshipping with one another. The team was spread out around the school area. As the music was playing, a few of the smaller kids came up to me. So, I decided to grab hands with a few of them and make a big circle. We danced and danced and danced to the music. It was in that moment I knew I wanted to be back in Uganda. Who knew that I would have experienced that moment again?

By the end of the week 18+ kids were either saved or they rededicated their lives to Christ. Plus people of many homes came to know Christ as we went out to spread the Gospel!

- Kaitlyn

A Muzungu In The Midst Of Chaos

My main job during Youth Camp was to be a part of the kitchen staff. The Thursday before camp, Aly and I went with a few other kitchen staff members into the city to go shopping for camp. Little did we know..we were about to experience something we had never experienced before..

Before leaving the house that morning, Aly gave me the run down on staying close and being aware of my surroundings. After living here for a month, I kind of knew what market she was talking about. We pass these types of markets day after day heading into the city. 

We met up with Michael, Elijah, and Sylvia at the head office then off to shopping we went. When we arrived to the area of where we were shopping, I could see in Aly’s eyes that this was a little different than what she expected. People were flooding the streets. More so than in the areas we usually go shopping. In other words, there were absolutely no other white people around. Just me and Aly.

We split up into pairs of two. We knew that walking around in an environment like this, and trying to keep up with four people at once was going to be chaos. Not to mention we had quite of few things to get. So, Aly and Sylvia stuck together, and I tagged along with Elijah. Michael waited in the car.

It was only a matter of seconds before Aly and Sylvia were out of sight. I was over-whelmed as my heart beat fast, wondering what I had gotten myself into. There were so many people that it was almost impossible to not bump into someone else. I followed closely behind Elijah. He would look back every couple of seconds to make sure I was close. At one point in time, there was a guy walking behind me yelling “muzungu, muzungu!” He even went to grab my arm. By this time I was on the verge of tears! I had never ever felt so unsafe and uncomfortable in my life. People were staring...EVERYONE was staring. After ignoring him, he eventually let off and stopped following us..

As we were walking in the midst of the chaos, I asked Elijah what it was like walking around with a muzungu. He said that it’s extremely rare for someone like me to be walking in an environment like this. He said that you’ll most likely never see a white person here. We walked down allies that were dark filled with strange men and filth everywhere. Men that looked at me strangely. Others that called out “Madam!”, trying to catch my attention. I was definitely in a state of culture shock.

The streets were filled with men running around with sacks on their heads and hands full. And if you were in the way, they would whistle at you to move. If you didn’t move in time, you were surely going to be ran over or pushed out of the way. If you walked in the streets and not off to the side, you better watch out for boda-bodas and big trucks coming thru. They don’t stop for nothing. Nor do they care if you’re in the way. All in all...

You better watch your back.

It was a relief seeing Aly back at the truck. A few other AMG workers met up with us to keep watch over the items bought that were in the back of the truck. If they hadn’t been there, I am sure things would have been stolen. 

We finally made it out safely, and arrived back at the office. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the chaotic day!

After leaving the office, Aly and I went for our own shopping for food. As well as buying airtime for our phones. While she went into ShopRite I went into the MTN phone store to buy our airtime. A man who worked there walked up to me and assisted me. As I was waiting for him to come back with a receipt, a suspicious looking guy walks up to me asking for my information. What caught me off guard was the fact that he had been standing there for about 10 minutes waiting to come up to me. There were four other muzungus in the store, and not one of them did he go up to. I made the mistake telling him what part of the US I was from, GA, because after saying that he “surprisingly” was a part of an organization in GA. I had the gut feeling that something wasn’t right. As he was asking me for my contact information, the man comes back with my receipt and Aly starts calling me. I quickly told him I had to go, and walked away looking for Aly. 

I was already shaken up from being at the market, and experiencing a whole new environment. Needless to say, Aly and I were happy once we made it home safely. Our day was definitely the topic of the night..

- Kaitlyn

New Year New Look

So, as some of you already know, painting is a favorite hobby of mine. A little something I like to do in my spare time. When Aly said, “Hey Kaitlyn, lets paint the girl’s dorm room!”, I was super excited to do so. We spent the whole week before Youth Camp painting the girl’s dorm room. Take a look at how it was before, and how it was after the work was finished!

We had a little help with extra hands..

Little Michal was determined to help, even if it was a little difficult for her. But hey, it sure helped me out!

Maureen jumped in eagerly wanting to help as well!

Proverbs 31..

After a long week of hard work, the dorm was finally finished. I would say it looks pretty darn good compared to what it looked like before! Although we had to deal with sandpapering dirty walls, cleaning out rat poop from window sills, and killing spider after spider..we still enjoyed jammin’ to music, painting, and spending time with the girls!

- Kaitlyn