They're home...Saturday Aug 16th

Saturday began like every other day here.  The sun came up and soon after we were too.  Another day began with the most beautiful sound of the day…a knock at the door where an angel with a tray of cups and carafe of coffee gently says good morning.  This kind of ministry can only be described as divine and please tell me is a shadow of what awaits us in heaven.  I can leave the changing of sheets and clean towels, but please don’t dare put an end to the spiritual gift called barista!  Oh, I kid…kind of…but in a very serious, don't-get-in-the-way of my coffee kind of way.

We arrived at Chayah to a busy household and chores in full force.  Clothes being washed, bathing going on, the compound being swept, and corn cobs being gathered to be given to Ruth in Kakira to use for her fire for cooking.  She cannot afford fire word and with our garden recently producing a bajillion ears of maize that was de-kerneled and ground into corn flour, the empty cobs were packed into the “boot” of the van.

The older girls and I went over some stitching they had done last night and we talked about quality and ways to improve.  We will be approaching a few vendors in the tourist/missionary section of town early next week to see if they will buy the shirts from Chayah’s girls to sell.  Dann and I went to the Jinja main market yesterday and found WD40 so he and the older two boys worked on the very sticky van door and greased the other doors and repaired the hatch back door.  

We packed into the van and headed to Kakira to help and oversee the finishing of the house.  We hoped today would be the last, but it will take one more day to complete the interior plaster and fill in the bricks needed after the roofing was done today.

  Ruth’s older sister came to sit with us a while today.  I have no idea how much older, I just know I wanted to hold them both by the hand whenever they stood or walked. 

There wasn’t much for us to help with today but we were fascinated at the rafters and roof part of the project.  BECAUSE THEY BALANCED ON THE TOP OF THE WALLS WHICH ARE THE WIDTH OF A BRICK! Somewhere in the process it began to rain which made us run for cover, but also made the very NARROW bricks WET!  The whole thing has really been a lesson in how to build a house with a hammer, hoe and string. 

Lunch was prepared again today and the children played games and entertained us.

 Robert, one of the 5 boys we are building for seemed sick today, wasn’t eating or playing so we loaded him up and headed for the clinic.  A big truck loading sugar cane bundles was blocking the road and wasn’t about to move for us until we discovered that 5 dum dum suckers could be used to negotiate a temporary moving of their truck so that we could pass by.   We were able to get some medication for Robert for the most likely cause of his stomach issues.  We returned to Ruth’s place for the rest of the afternoon.

Gum boots and backpacks were distributed to our faithful crew of 6, along with their last day’s pay.  They have promised to comeback one more day and finish.  We began saying goodbye, prayed over the home asking God to use it to protect and provide shelter for this family and headed out. 

There is a woman here at the hotel that is a tailor and after wrapping my arms around tiny Ruth in the same dress for four days, I had a pretty good idea of her size.  The tailor will have a dress, just like the traditional one she has been wearing completely Monday and sometime soon Janet will take it to her along with some bedding.

It’s been nothing but digging and carrying, stacking, cementing and building relationships on a human level for the past few days.   But I can only imagine what they must think of God for providing something so significant and bringing strangers to their home to do it.  There is only one who does that kind of thing and though He is concerned with their lives on this earth, more important to Him is their eternity.  Though language was constantly an issue, I believe God will continue to speak to their hearts what our English words failed to accomplish.  In this case, actions had to speak louder than words and if that 77 year old frail woman knelt to the ground thanking us one more time, I think I would have burst into tears.   The number of you who helped out financially for this building project, well you’re going to have to trust me, that whatever the sacrifice, whatever you gave up… they are so very grateful.

This particular project took a very precious amount of the time we have here on this trip.  But it will make returning in the future and checking in with our new friends that much sweeter. 

Dann and I were really dragging on the way back and opted to be dropped off back at the hotel.  Its an early night for us and a 6:30am wake up call for church tomorrow.  Its early…but there’ll be that knock at our door and the aroma of something freshly brewed to help.