Goodbyes are Hard to Do

The morning meeting was a bit rough as the team realized this would be the last full day as a team at Hope. As a team we have done very well together. Everyone has enjoyed each other’s company and we all have functioned as a team. It’s hard to believe our time together is drawing to an end. Randy and I of course will remain for 10 more days, others will stay longer. But most of our team will leave tomorrow night. It is sad to say goodbye to those who have been our fellow workers in the Lord.

As we headed out to Hope today, it sounded so easy; we planned to stop, pick up some water jugs to set up a hand washing station for the children, a few gifts and 20 pineapples for the lovely people who serve the children at Hope. But then I guess we forgot where we were. This is Africa…. And after boarding the bus which was over an hour late due to a flat tire, we were on our way. How do I describe our stop to shop? Let’s just say we Mazungus were the morning entertainment! The first store was like an old five and dime store of the past and luckily we found most of what we wanted. We soon were on our way only to turn back because we had not realized the area was the only place we could stop for pineapple as well. Only problem was there was nowhere to park and a traffic jam so we parked the bus at a gas station and some of us got out, walked along the street and waited while on one side of the street while our Ugandan friends bargained for the best price on the other side. This is where the entertainment for the street people came in. I guess we were quite and unusual sight. While waiting we ran in to two girls from Hope, Ruth and Virginia who were shopping for groceries. Unfortunately, Ruth gave some groceries to a boda boda (motorcycle) driver telling him to take them to our bus, only to have a lot of confusion thinking he had not delivered them. Not only that, but standing across the street we lost sight of Simon and Edward (our friends) and headed back to the bus empty handed while Randy went to find them. All in all our stop was about 2 hours but the good news is we all made it to Hope and one of our team members, Danny even led one of the street vendors to the Lord in the process!! God is so good!

Once at Hope the children were so excited and we spent some time enjoying the day with them. Another thing we did was call in all the teachers and moms to give them the “hand washing lesson” and pass out small gift bags we had prepared for them. It was a wonderful time of blessing and we even game Miriam, our cook a baby shower “American Style”. After all that we had more time just to spend with these people we have come to know and love. Each one is such a treasure.

Randy and I are glad we have more time here. There is much we want to do for ourselves in our remaining time here but we are also grateful for some more time to spend with the children and helping Show Mercy in their mission of love in Uganda.