we're back!

ok... quickly... a longer update is coming! we are back and so thankful for running water, internet and power! As well as the warm Jinja weather! God did some amazing things... our team finally pulled together the last 3 days after a long late night meeting where we aired our grievances. I got to work with some awesome kids too!
ok.. full report to come!
love you!
Kati Rose

Week 6- update

WEEK 6:

Wow. Can't believe that it's been 6 weeks already! This week we are learning about Sin. Interesting. Sort of. I actually haven't paid tons of attention in class this week... I've been learning but more prompted by what the speaker has been saying in class.

We have had like a million outreach meetings... nearly 3 times a day. It has been frustrating.. with 20 people opinions abound and lets just say that our leaders are not the most organized people. But.. I still believe that God is going to use us, and do big things. However, we need LOTS of prayer.. we leave Saturday morning at 5 am.. and we are supposed to arrive in Fort Portal at 1pm.. and we have a crusade scheduled for 3pm! That's not a huge window for things.. so please please pray. OUr team is suffering from MAJOR disunity. The first 20 minutes of every meeting are spent arguing about how we should do things... and then we finally get things done. Ah. It's just frustrating. We are all exhausted.. after getting up at 5 every morning and not going to bed until 10 at the earliest. (we usually have meetings from 8-10 pm!) The leadership is also frustrating at this point... but... I was reminded this morning that "When the Lord is on the throne, things already better" (it's a song we sing in swahili! God is in control.. He is Lord and the leader over all. He can take care of things when men fail. PTL!

Tuesday night we had our first "social event" (a lot like funny night.. only for just DTS) we played some crazy games and all laughed a lot.

Yesterday, we offically innagurated our new base leader. DR. Tim. Woohoo. So we had a big "party" meaning LOTS of speeches... and demonstrations and pitches for each school/ ministry.[it started at noon and ended at 3:15!] The Tongans sang and then danced (and they invited lots of other people up with them.. it was SO cool.) Then we had a big meal.. YUM. We also had to help set up before the whole shebang and then clean up afterwards... and then we played volleyball and had leftovers for supper.

Today was pretty good. Just the ususal... mostly. I was cooking supper (Sweet potato & G-nut) and then it started to rain. Catherine & I played in the rain.. and then headed back to the dorm to change.. and instead got more people and we all went and played in the mud.. ok just Bernard & Cady & I. The boys & Meg played soccer in the rain with the Tongans.. all the people at Discovery Centere watched us and laughed. Then we served dinner... and then I went and attempted to wash all of the mud out of my clothes. I gave up and rinsed them.. and will let them dry.. and then tomorrow I will wash them properly. Yes.. So that's an update. Prolly the last for the next few weeks, unless by some miracle there is an internet cafe in FP and I have time to use it... (we won't have electricity where we are staying.. and prolly not water either.. I think we have to haul it. )

So.. have an amazing couple weeks.. Blessings on you, and PLEASE keep our team, as well as the other teams (Wairaka & Iganga) in your prayers!

Love you all,

KatiRose.

week 5 - Update part Dos

Week 5: Part Dos (that's 2 in Spanish, FYI)

WOW. What a crazy week. Friday morning began, as usual, with our 5 am prayer meeting. We were then supposed to present our memory verse skits (the verse was Hebrews 4:12 and our group had an interpretive dance) well, let me back up a bit. We have been having some issues in our dorms... the guys more so though. Anywho, Friday morning began with a quest to "remove the sin from the camp" because a lot of $ have gone missing from several of the guy's bags... This all began with the hope that whoever it was would confess and we would move on. Instead... no one confessed, and still hasn't.. and we spent the entire day being interviewed and such. So we had no class... and no teaching on the father heart of God (sad) But.... all was not lost. I read the most AMAZING book, "The Only Road North" by Erik Mirandette (Yes, I read the whole thing Friday afternoon!) So good... so amazing. And God really challenged me as to what kind of life I wanted to live. Do I want comfort, security and stability? Or do I want to "live on the edge" trusting Him for everything? Well, I made my choice. "my future decided I will praise Your name..." It's all up to God. This life is no longer my own (Galatians 2:20) and WHEREVER He leads I will follow, regardless of my own comfort. "Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause.."

Saturday the boys and Penny and I went to town. I bought some fake Tevas.. that are amazingly comfy. The boys all got "Pomas" - fake Pumas flip flops. I'm going to get some later... prolly after outreach. I also bought some Teddy Ghrams (so YUMMY!) and Bernard & I split a loaf of Cake Bread, a Jar of PB, and some margarine (pronounced marg-er-ene by Bernard) quite tasty. The bread lasted until Monday... and I still have my 1/2 of the PB. (I'm saving some for outreach). Umm.. oh yes, then we went to the internet cafe.. and Mac couldn't hook up to their 3rd laptop station ( a wire coming out of the wall) so I still haven't uploaded pictures.. sorry. but the post below this one has a link to Bernard's pics on facebook.. so that should give you some more!

Sunday, I went to Westside Church in Bend, OR. No, I did not make a secret trip back to the states... I listened to a 180 Podcast.. and Oh, it was gloriously amazing! Then... I can't remember... I did a massive load of laundry and reorganized all of my stuff. Yea, I think that's it. Oh, I was cooking that day. So I did breakfast and lunch (together) and then Supper.

Week 5 - Update part 1

week 5:

thus far, this week has been good. The teaching was a little funny.. kind of all stuff we already knew. We've been learning about the character & nature of God as well as the fear of God. (There have been some interesting cultural things that have come up this week, but with only 23 minutes of battery left, they will have to wait!) This week we also switched worka duty, I am now on housekeeping... which is really boring because we only have a few rooms to clean, lots of people, and nowhere near enough cleaning supplies. I have ended up just killing bugs & mopping floors these last three days. Oh how I long for weeding! Tuesday during break tea we found a Chameleon .. which of course we picked up. I pet it! (And I pet a bat yesterday during worka duty too! Don't worry Kelso, the bat was asleep... it was really soft though!) Today was prayer and fasting day.

Oh, quickly, I'd better tell you about mini outreach. I am going to Fort Portal. We leave march 15th an come back the 28th! It is a town in the West right on the border with Congo. (The Democratic Republic of Congo, actually, but here everyone just calls it Congo.) It is apparently in the Rwenzori mountains that are supposedly quite beautiful and made from volcanic ash! Our group is 20 people. The group to Iganga (60KM East?) is 9 people and the group to Wairaka is 8 people. We leave the 15th at about 5 am. Our leader told them that we would be there about 1pm and we have an open air crusade starting at 3pm!! This trip will be a HUGE stretch for me... we are mainly focusing on Crusades, Seminars (where we teach groups of people what we have been learning during lecture phase thus far (quite possibly with very little notice and we are required to select the topic!!), door to door evangelism, and preaching in churches. None of those are in my comfort zone as far as ministry goes. Give me dramas, or kids, or some kind of mercy ministry please! (though apparently in Uganda those are the main ministries used... so... time for more S T R E T C H I N G!!! Also, the three people I spend the most time with (all guys ironically) are going to Iganga. Not Fort Portal. (though I was kind of expecting that... ) And the girl I am probably closest to is going to Wairaka. So... time for more relationship building. (But it's ok, I am an "S" personality type... so I will enjoy it... eventually.) No, actually I am excited to get to know some of the other people on the DTS, especially getting to know the girls better (all 5 americans are going to Fort Portal, and we have no "muzungu" guys at all!) (the Iganga guys have no "muzungu" girls (and there are only 3 girls each on both of the other teams!!!) So God knows what He is doing. Please, please, keep us in your prayers!

So, to add to the busy-ness of the base, we are now getting up at 4:45 to pray at 5am every morning for outreach. Then we have meetings from about 8-10 pm going over outreach details. Small groups have been suspended and now we meet in our outreach groups to learn dramas & songs & plan the details for our trips! Not only that, we still have our 10 chapters a day, quiet time, & we had questions due for "Is that really You, God?" due tomorrow. Then there is still kitchen duty (I am cooking Sunday) and, oh, things like Laundry to do too... oh, yea, and then there is just time to chill and breathe... so, so sorry that i have been slow with the updates. I promise a long one Saturday!

Yahoo.. Supper is almost here.. and we are SO hungry, all I have eaten all day is two rolls, two cups of tea (one Peppermint.. :( ) and a banana.

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy....

Hello One and All! How is life not in Uganda?! Life here has been wonderful! So to finish up where I left off...
Week 4 (part two):
We were supposed to have Coffee Night on Wednesday to fundraise/ raise awareness of the Pader/ Kottomor work, but we lost power, so it happened on Thursday instead. Friday night we had worship night.. it was lots of fun... there were some good songs. Tim & Ryan taught us motions to "Days of Elijah" and they are hilarious!! Saturday afternoon we (10 of us) had planned to walk down to "the Lake" (Victoria) but Emma told us that we couldn't go with out a Staff (there are crocodiles in the lake & he didn't want us to get eaten!) so instead we hiked up the hill.. in 104 degree heat! (now, that may not be entirely accurate... but I'd say it was pretty close to that.. ) the view was spectacular and we got to go through a boarding school and walk around. Then as we were leaving, some guy came and talked to Steve (from Uganda) and we waited for him. Bernard, Ryan & Judith started walking back down the hill because Bernard was cooking supper and needed to be back. Steve came back and told us that the guy he had talked to had had a dream that people from YWAM would come and preach to them. Then they wanted us to come and preach the next morning! We were all a little unsure.. (we had nothing prepared..) but we said we would pray about it. (later steve received a call that this Sunday would not work... so maybe we could come back another time. ) that said we were all relived. Then it rained and several people went out and played in the mud on the volleyball courts.. ( I missed out, but have vowed that next time it rains.. I will SO be there!)

Sunday was the most amazing day ever!! I went to the most amazing church. There are two guys on our DTS who are orphans who grew up in an orphanage just outside of Jinja, Steve & John Mark. They invited us to come to the church that they have at their orphanage.. and boy was it AMAZING! Steve & John Mark basically run most of the service, and so we were invited to go to church with them. OH my GOODNESS. How amazing! I had missed playing with kids so much.. and here were tons of them! We all piled in the car (8 of us!) and drove to church. The minute I got out, I was hugged by like 5 people and heard "muzungu!!" (white person). It was so much fun. Then we went inside (the building wasn't entirely "finished" the walls were mostly open.. but it serves it's purpose!) and prayed and then the service started. Jesus opened my eyes... THIS was why I had come to the other side of the planet.. THIS was why I was in Uganda... THESE kids. THESE Orphans. Wahoo! I was just so overcome with JOY.. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear.. my face actually started to hurt! And then I was just overwhelmed.. to tears... so many orphans... so in need of God's love... and I just wanted to pour out His heart on to each child.. I wanted to take each one, hold them in my arms and declare the love and promises of God over them. I wanted to give them each a big kiss.. and tell them that they have a Father who loves them and has great plans for their lives! Then we went on a tour of the orphanage.. there are a lot of kids there. It's usually about 16-17 kids a room! Oh how amazing. Steve has asked me if I would work with them after DTS, and I am definitely praying about it. The kids were so sweet, they grabbed on to us (Tim & I were the only Muzungus, and thus ridiculously popular) and wouldn't let go. Oh, how precious are these children. (I took lots of photos and will upload them Saturday (we are going to an internet cafe in town with fast internet!) It was the best day in Africa so far!

quick a minute..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98745&l=1f2bc&id=821100507

more photos! these are my friend Bernard's. BUt, there you go!
I gotta run..
long update coming
my last one got eaten..

LOVE YOU ALL!