Wel-a-come, wel-a-come to O-dee-tel, in da name of da Lawd :)

I should have never gone a day without blogging... Now there's just too much that happened! I'll try to keep in concise :)

We got to the village yesterday and as soon as I stepped out of the van, I almost stepped right onto Max's little boy from our first trip - Bruno, or Mzungu as he's known to all the other kids. Mzungu is actually what they call white people, but they call him that because he loves white people so much :) He's about 3 years old and the cutest little peanut, he hasn't left my side since we got here. But Max must have spoiled him on our first trip - he'll push and hit and whine until he gets next to me and he's constantly grabbing my camera to try to use it! Thanks Max :)

I also found Grace yesterday, one of the kids my family is sponsoring. She's pretty shy, but when I got a translator to tell her today that my family was sponsoring her, I wish you could have seen the look on her face. She dove at me for a hug and it was all I could do to not burst into tears. Grace is also in the girls' choir that performs every Sunday at church and boyyy can that girl worship. She sings and dances and keeps up with girls who are twice as old as her... Makes me burst with pride!! :)

Church today was wonderful... I love the River and I love our worship, but when that congregation starts clapping and dancing, my inner ghetto-Kalamazoo-Central-gurrrl is just dying to get out! I practiced the moves that I learned today in front of the Mission 6 and there's a pretty good chance I will be joining in on the dancing on an upcoming Sunday :) Don't expect any evidence though... I WILL be hiding every camera before the service!! Also, they kept the service short for us, just under 2 1/2 hours :) We only had three people speak (Brian being one of them), and they cut out the other two people who were going to speak, because as Bishop John Charles said, "Westerners start checking their watches after 30 minutes of preaching" :)

Besides a bout of homesickness today, I feel like Uganda really does suit me well - precious children all around, flowy skirts, simple living, and minimal bathing ;) I think we're all excited to finally get to work and start getting after all those goals we set! :)

Prayer requests - eyalama Yesu, they're almost all praises :)
-My tummy has been doing much better than I expected. I really haven't had any problems, something I was pretty worried about after our last trip. Apparently, doxycycline suits me much better than malarone!
-My tooth is feeling better day-by-day, although the neurotic side of me will be happy when I can chew with both sides of my mouth and be symmetrical again :)
-Our team has had great unity and fellowship with one another and we've all been completely healthy - such a relief after all the trials we had before our trip!
-The village has not had rain in about 3 weeks and things are getting a little dry again. I know your prayers are powerful when it comes to the rain here, and Jaynie mighttt have promised a priest that we would make it rain within the next week... So let's make that happen :)
-Would you also pray for continued team unity/health, that we would be diligent workers, that the Lord would bless the work of our hands, and that above all else, His will would be done?

Some pictures for you guys...

Bruno, that sweet little boy, cracking me up as he plays the drums :)


My sweet little Gracie :)


One of the many pets in our compound - Dingo the antelope, not to be confused with a gazelle!


Thank you for your prayers - we can literally feel them surrounding us! Please feel free to comment or email me, I love hearing from you guys! Love and miss you all dearly :)

Cait