Football

The Boys loooooove to play football. They had a football game this Saturday so I went with them and cheered them on. They are so good.  Football here is the same thing as soccer in America, the boys are so active and would play play play all day long if they could.  Today we went to Calvary Chapel and took William and Bashil with us and after church Abby, Amanda ( our new arrive : )  and I took the boys to get chips and chicken. Which is basically fried chicken and french fries. Omg the boys love some Chips and Chicken.  Other than the good parts of the weekend, Emma had a little accident. Dissan and Emma got home early from playing football and little Dissan came running up to me going Auntie Carla Auntie Carla Emmas beating me haha. I told them to stop playing around that someone would get hurt but boys will be boys. About 2 minutes later Dissan came running through our iron barred gate and slammed it behind him and Emma accidentally slammed into it. He got a huge gash on his head and hurt his shoulder and we had to rush him to the hospital. He's okay but I was so worried about him. Hes a trooper he was out playing with the boys today with a bandage over his eye haha. I love these boys so much and I think of them as my own. Tomorrow we have to take Emma back to the hospital to get restitched and bandaged and wednesday the stitches are supposed to come out. Be praying everything goes ok, a centimeter closer and he would have really messed up his eye.

The weathers starting to get a little hotter but I still love it here. I'm going to miss it so much : (

Thanks for all the prayers and support <3 Carla

Friday

So its Friday! I love Fridays it means the weekend is fastly approaching and that means I get to spend more time with the boys. Last night was awesome, we went to the streets to talk with the Handi-Cap people. They are so awesome, last night we took 2 of the boys from the house with us. We took Peter and Sadic and I was so proud of them. Peter actually prayed with some of the people and Sadic brought his adorable smile and talked with a few of them as well. Me and Abby went to different groups of the people and talked with them and asked them if they knew Christ and tried to share about the Lord with them. They are all such a blessing and a joy in my life.  I got to talk to Benson last night hes so precious. As I was talking to him he began to tell me about how he got to Kampala, and how his whole village was burned down and the people in it migrated to Kampala but now they have to live on the streets. They have no where to go and barely anything to their name.  I asked Benson if he had a bible and he told me it was burned along with everything else in his house so next week i'm going to take him a bible. He's such an amazing man and has such a heart for the Lord, I love every moment I get to spend with him. 

I also did bible study with the girls program yesterday. These women are such amazing people and they truly want to learn about the Lord. I took pictures of them yesterday to put on the website and the bracelets are coming along very nicely. We hope we'll have enough ready soon to start sending to the states to sell. Please keep us in your prayers and we continue the ministries here with the boys in the house, the girls program, and the new ministry reaching out to the streets we have our hands full. We're faithful the Lord will continue to provide.

<3 Carla

Rainy Season Begins

Well its officially rainy season here in Uganda. During rainy season it rains so much almost everyday.  It doesn't rain all day just part of the day.  Well Sunday while we were in Church the roof started leaking and the water came rushing into. Needless to say we all had to cuddle in church haha! The rain had three hours to stop so after Church as we were walking home we saw numerous houses that had been flooded and water was everywhere. Much to our surprise as we reached home half of our brick gate had been crushed do to so much water and actually fell on our neighbors house and crushed it. One guy was in the house when it came caving in and had to be rushed to the hospital.  Everyone luckily has turned out to be okay but the damage to our gate and their house is alot.  My prayers go out to them and I hope they will be able to find a new place to stay soon. 

Today Abby and I had a lot of errands to run. We went to the girls program. They're doing great on the bracelets and then we grabbed lunch. We had to run to the market for her to get some earrings to sell in America then on our way home she saw roasted grasshoppers. She was like Carla you have got to try one and I was a little unsure but what the heck "when in Africa" so I went for it. It was actually pretty good taste wise but I just couldn't get my head around the fact that it was a grasshopper with they eyes and everything : 0

So the boys just got home I going to go play with them but I'll post more soon! <3 Carla

A New Ministry

So last night was AWESOME! Me, Abby, David, Robert, and Bony went to minister to handi-cap people living on the street. We left the house around 8:00 pm and David was carrying blankets for them in a huge bag. We took a taxi then we took Boda's to get to where they were staying.  As we walked all I saw was a line of people sitting on the cold ground wrapped up with a garbage bag eating food that a lady was serving them.  This woman comes every night and feeds them rice, meat, and casava (which is sort of like a chunk of potato) but they have to pay for it.  She serves them that and hot tea for 1,500 shillings which is about .75 cents American Money. It was so sad but awe inspiring at the same time. Right as we got there this man in a wheelchair came up to me grabbed my hand and started talking. He was so sweet, he had no use of his legs and they were pretty much whittled down to nothing.  I'm not sure what the disease or what it is that they have but alot of them have no use of their legs. Their upper body seems completely fine but they have to crawl around on their hands and knees to move. I saw a man doing this last night and all I wanted to do was go pick him up and take him to where he needed to go. Some of them have been able to afford wheelchairs others get around by their hands and knees on the cold hard concrete. I began talking to the adorable, sweet man in the wheelchair and he knew pretty good English, I found out his name was Benson and that he had traveled here from Northern Uganda.  He was a very sweet man and wanted to know all about me and what I was doing here. So after we talked for a bit David asked me if I'd speak to the group. Talk about putting the pressure on.  Well I knew this was my opportunity to talk to these people about Christ so I went for it. I just told them how thankful I was to be here with them and that I was so humbled to be able to meet them. I told them that Christ loved them very much and that he created us all in his own image.  I told them that the Lord had placed them on our hearts and that we would love to come back and see them every Thursday Night. Essentially David is trying to start a home for Handi-cap people, a place they can eat and have a bed and learn more about Christ. What David is trying to do with these people is amazing and I'm so thankful I can be a part of it.  After I talked to them for a few minutes they passed out the blankets. We didn't bring enough for everybody we could only carry about 20 and there was about 40 people when we got there. We gave all the ladies some young, some old, and the children blankets first and told the men we would bring more next time. We also told them that when we come on Thursday nights we would like to buy their food for them.  These people cannot work so the only way they have money for food is from begging. They sit on the side of the road and beg all day and pray they have enough for supper that night.  After we passed out the blankets and David was talking to them the Lord spoke to me and I felt this burning desire to go get them something to drink. So Robert and I walked down to the closest store and I bough 3 cases of juice for them to have. You should have seen their faces when we came back with juice, something as simple and little as juice lit up their world. After we passed out the Juice we talked a little bit more about Christ and decided it was getting late and time for us to leave. We told them all we would be back next week and couldn't wait to see them.  As I walked away I fought back the tears, 2 nights with these people and they already have a place in my heart. I never knew I could love so many people and that the Lord could put so many people on my heart to minister to, but hes definitely doing a work in me here. Between loving my boys here at the house, the girls in hope house, and the new ministry working with the handi-cap people I just don't know how I'll ever be able to leave them all. I'm so thankful to be here in Uganda, yes I have hard days and days where I miss home and my family but for the most part I am beyond thankful for this experience and getting to meet all of these wonderful people. Please continue to pray for the ministries here and what the Lords trying to do!

<3 Always Carla

Today was Hard.....

Today was a hard day for me. I had a sad day today, a boda driver tried to rip me off halfway home and another one got lost.  I realized how much I missed my family and friends today.  I guess I just experienced a little bit of home sickness today.  Don't get me wrong I love it here but I do miss everyone back home so much.  The day got better as it went on.  The boys always know how to cheer me up.  They got home from school and Abby had bought these fake animal tattoos so we spent the next hour putting tattoos on. I have monkeys and bananas on my wrist and a cat on my back haha! Then me and Abby decided it would be a special treat to cook pancakes, scrambled eggs, and yogurt for dinner. OMG talk about boys that were super excited over pancakes and yogurt. The boys don't get yogurt here and to them its almost like icecream, its a special treat. So me and Abby made 35 pancakes and had strawberry yogurt with it. When you see boys get excited over pancakes and yogurt its hard not to let all your other emotional feelings go away. The boys were so excited over the pancakes two of them danced while me and Abby cooked them. They literally danced for more pancakes it was the cutest thing.  After dinner I prepared my bible study for the girls program tomorrow. As I was preparing Davis came and gave me a foot massage.  What 13 year old boy decides that they want to give someone a foot massage when he has 15 other kids he could be playing with? I love these boys more and more everyday and I'm so thankful they're in my life. Tomorrow they don't have school so I'm sure I'll be playing with them all day.  I get really excited when its my time to lead bible study at the girls program, they are opening up so much and I love sharing about the Lord with them. I pray that each day they will yearn to grow closer to the Lord. A lot of them are sick, some have been in and out of the hospital quite a bit lately. They've been getting treatment for aids, some are doing well and others are going through some rough spells. I pray the Lord will continue to be with them and watch over them during this time.  Its really sad knowing they are living with aids but I'm so proud of them for continuing to have faith in the Lord and not get angry or turn away from him. 

Thank you so much for all the prayers <3 Carla  

Pics of my boys!

Typical Dinner Time with the Boys! Digging in! 

Me and Sweet Mondae! Probably one of the most Precious Boys I'v ever met!

Bashir trying out the new roller blades my mom sent the boys! 

Thanks mom they loved them!!!

 Godfrey, Me, and Emma @ the house!

Unconditional Love

So I have to say it. I Love these boys so much and they have taught me an unconditional love. I thought I new what it was to love unconditionally but to be here with them and live with them I have had the chance to experience something so different and amazing.  These boys have come from parents that are on drugs, abuse them, want nothing to do with them, or have died.  I found out the other other day about Emma's story. My heart broke and made me love him even more than I already did. The other day I found out that Emma's dad was blind and when he was little he and his dad were crossing the street and he told his dad to wait and not go, his dad didn't hear him and got hit by an 18 wheeler right in front of Emma and died.  Talk about the saddest thing I've ever heard : ( Emma is the sweetest, most loving, vivacious kid.  A lot of times he uses his humor and funny ways to hide his insecurities and the things going on inside of him, but regardless I love him just the same and think hes an amazing kid.  He has truly stolen my heart and even though these kids have been through some rough times the Lord has blessed each of them and turned their lives around for the best.  They all see Christian Counselors weekly and I think that really helps them cope with whats going on inside of them.  I truly feel I'm mom to 16 of the sweetest boys in the world.  They're not perfect but they look after me and love me like I'm one of them and they mean the world to me.  When I walk through the gate to the house they all run to greet me and help me with any bags I'm carrying.  They want to be near and around me at all times. I love that the smallest things in the world mean so much to them. I bought a pineapple yesterday to share with the boys and getting 2 pieces of a pineapple made them smile and so happy. Life can't get much more rewarding than that. To see them smile and to see them happy gives me so much joy.  On Saturday I made spaghetti in my room and about 6 of the boys all crowded around my door and wanted to help me cook. So I put on a movie on my laptop and let them help me make spaghetti and it was the sweetest thing ever. They were so happy to help and sit there on the cold floor and cook noodles over a gas grill and watch a movie over a laptop.  That humbles me so much and teaches me about the little things in life. I know I will be forever changed from this experience and it will be so hard for me to leave these boys. I took the three oldest boys in the house to the movies the other day; they had never in their life been to a movie.  They later told Abby about their day and it was so cute to see how they described it. They described going to the movies as this momentous event when I look at it as a natural occurrence at home. They didn't care what they saw they just loved being there and getting that opportunity.  I am so humbled and thankful by the fact I can be here with these boys and learn their type of love.  Unconditional Love!