Mbuzi erya muddo.

In church on our first Sunday in Jinja, we asked the kids in Sunday school who was from Budumbuli. None of them would admit to it. It’s a slum village just outside the city and being someone who lives there automatically gives you a certain stigma. They even have a common saying: “Nothing good can come out of Budumbuli.” Just thinking about that makes me grin. People said the same thing about Nazareth, but something VERY good came out of that town. :o) We believe the same will be true for the village of Budumbuli. We go there everyday, visiting homes and teaching children, hoping that what we have to offer will help them in real ways. I feel honored to work in such a place. The people who are accepted into the Northern Lights program are the neediest of the needy, and I am becoming more and more aware that I am face to face with the “least of these.” Face to face with Jesus. Today, I painted the palm of Jesus’ ahnd and pressed it onto a sheet of construction paper. Today, Erin showed Jesus how to spell the word “brother.” Today, Caitlin taught Jesus how to count by twos. Jesus calls us “teacher.” I admit sometimes when I’m interacting with these kids I find myself frustrated or confused or even grossed out, but… sometimes I feel like I am in the Holy of Holies.

Northern Lights was set up to help kids who need it most. Most of them are orphans or used to be homeless. In Uganda, it’s customary for family members to take in an orphaned child. The child is then provided for, but many times they are not treated well. Instead of being “adopted” as another child, they are treated almost like a servant, someone to cook, clean, or fetch water. Kate and Peter saw this and started Northern Lights to let these kids know that they are special and loved even though they are orphans.

All of the kids in the program are put in school and their school fees are covered, but many of them are stuggling with no one at home to help them. The younger ones only attend school for half of the day, so from 2 to 5 everyday we gather them into a tiny classroom and work with them to give them the extra boost they need to do better in school. Our fiend Esther translates for us. She’s turning out to be such a blessing!

We’ve run into a lot of challenges. We have a group of 19 kids qho range in age from 7 to 13. Some of them are obviously very bright and some of them don’t understand a word we’re saying. And none of us have been trained to teach like this! But we’re learning a lot and we’re getting to know the kids well. We know all of them by name and we’ve been busy evaluating their capabilities. Caitlin has been teaching math, Erin and I tag team with English (which includes a lot… spelling, sentence structure, reading, writing, etc.) and we also do crafts and sing songs. It’s hard coming up with ideas for things we can do that will help them the most because none of us have ever done anything like this before, but the adults here are constantly encouraging us and telling us that what we’re doing is good.

Living with Kate, Peter, and Levi has been great. They’re a lot of fun. Of course, living in Africa always has it’s inconveniences like unreliable electricity. (We’re all hoping the power is back on when we get home today so we can shower. It’s been a while.) But just having power and plumbing is a blessing here. There’s a 17-year-old girl who lives with us named Rowena. She’s a sweetheart. We also have a night guard who patrols the house with a bow and arrow, and we have a dog named Punky. I used to think he was cute, but then he ate a cat. Now the back yard smells like rotting cat.

Keep praying for the three of us. We appreciate it so much! And we love your comments and e-mails. (Rachel… you’re awesome.) Pray for our relationships with each other. Pastor Tim told us something prophetic before we left. He said that this trip would be a journey of freedom for Erin, a journey of holiness for Caitlin, and a journey of maturity for me. That has certainly proved to be true, which means that God has been busy exposing all the ways that we are bound, unholy, and immature. In this process, our flaws become glaringly obvious to ourselves and to one another. We’re doing well. We’ve stayed open and honest with each other, but I’d be lying if I said it was always easy. When two people sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron, there is always some grinding involved.

Also, keep praying for God to reveal to us anything He would like us to know about His plan for the next season of out lives.