Sharing A Piece Of My Heart

Every Sunday afternoon we walk down the hill and head to the girl’s dorm. You’ll usually find them napping, playing games, washing, bathing or just relaxing..

This Sunday afternoon was unique for them. It was by far one of my most favorite days since my time here!

Aly and I brought down the games Twister and Trouble for a little fun.

After a while, somehow this ended up happening....

                                      

It was so much fun teaching the girls a little gymnastics. I have had many people tell me, “Kaitlyn, you could use your gymnastics skills in Uganda! Teach the kids some flips! It’s a gift God has blessed you with!” I never really considered it until now. As you can see, God made way for that opportunity! And the girls absolutely loved it!

Little Anna volunteered herself to try it, but by the looks of her face you can see she wasn't to happy about it!

The past couple of weeks I have really been missing my kids at the gym back home. It is competition season, and I have missed out on all the meets. I keep up with them through Facebook. I look at their pictures parents have posted of their meets and even watch videos. It has been hard being away from them. God knew spending the afternoon doing “gymnastics” with these kids was something I needed and would love! 

We had handstand contests, and I even spotted back handsprings and back flips. I taught them how to salute and do backward rolls. We worked on splits, and just spent the afternoon goofing off and having so much fun! 

It was such a blessing to share a piece of my heart with these kids. It made me think of my kids back home, and how much I miss being in the gym with them. How I miss being a part of their accomplishments and failures. I even thought about what one little girl said to me before leaving. She said, “Coach Kaitlyn, you need to show the kids in Uganda pictures of us. Tell them about the kids you work with at home. And when you come home you can show us pictures of them and all you did with those kids!” I cannot wait to show them these pictures! They will think its hilarious and wonderful all at the same time. I just know it!

And now every time I enter the girl's dorm some of them are always begging me to watch their handstands that they have been working on!

This day left me thinking one thing..

It really doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing... You can always use the gifts God has given you to glorify His name, and that is what you see here.

- Kaitlyn

Kids, Kids & More Kids!

 Saturday is the busiest day of the week for us. We have the Saturday Program, Dorcas with the girls, and fellowship with the kids in the evening. Although it is the busiest, it is definitely a lot of fun!

The Saturday Program consists of praise and worship, preaching, and small groups. We split the kids up into 3 groups. The 3 groups are the lesson, music, arts and crafts or games. The kids always have a blast!

One Saturday, Aly and I were able to teach the kids some American songs!

Here the kids are singing “Big House”!

“Come and go with me

To my Father’s house

Come and go with me

To my Father’s house!

It’s a big, big house

With lots and lots of rooms,

A big, big table

With lots and lots of food,

A big, big yard

Where we can play FOOTBALL!

A big, big house

It’s my Father’s house!”

Although it is a packed day, I love it the most because it’s the most time we spend with the kids..

...I think they love it too!

- Kaitlyn

Ssumba Village Home Visits

Every Wednesday of every week we are able to walk the dirt roads of Ssumba village. We walk up through the swamp and up the hill doing home visits with Byron. Byron is the over Upendo CDC.

One Wednesday evening we visited Jane’s home. I know the family who sponsor Jane, and it was a privilege meeting Jane’s family and praying over them.

        

Here are some other pictures of families we have visited..

Tracia's home was very nice! Tracia is the one in the orange shirt. Her sister is not sponsored but Tracia is. Her father and mother work in the stone query to provide for school fees for Tracia's sister. 

Below is a picture of Peter, his grandmother and younger sister. He lives with his grandmother. Jah-jah says she has a hard time getting Peter to do his school work and go to church with her. He sometimes even skips school to work. Please pray with us as we continue pray for Peter..

Aly and I have been reading a book on the Muslim beliefs. Learning the religion has been a huge help in witnessing to Muslim families. It is our prayer that God would continue to use us to reach out to the families of our sponsored children.

- Kaitlyn

Family Apart From My Own

It has been over a year since I have seen Catherine. I have always dreamed of seeing her home. Finally, that opportunity fell into place. Not only did I get to see her again, but I also go to visit her home.

I cannot even put into words how happy I was to spend time with Catherine, her mother, her cousin and her little friend from school! Her mother is the sweetest woman. She made me feel at home! She was telling us how Catherine’s father is a pastor of a church. I could tell that Catherine has been blessed with wonderful parents. Her home was beautiful! 

I gave Catherine a Simba stuffed animal (which she fell in love with), two new dresses and some panties. I gave her mother some bread, sugar, soap, and a few other things as well.

Not many people get the blessing of being able to spend time with their sponsor child or their families. It was a huge blessing to not only be able to see Catherine again, but also meet her family and love them endlessly. Praying over them brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could provide for every need. I wish I could spend every day with them, and really get to know them. But I know that because of Christ I am their family and they are mine. We are united in Him, and because of that I truly feel a part of their family.

- Kaitlyn

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