Serving, Wisdom and Jinja

Yesterday we served at Mengo Youth Development again and after teaching my P2 class about daily activities we perform to keep ourselves proper and our surroundings in good order, they had lunch and then we led them in some devotion time. Uncle Moses led them in singing, except I added Hallelujah/Praise Ye the Lord, cause its a fun one that gets them up and down and in competition so they are in to it. And then I taught them what parables are and read two to them, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, they are actually probably two of my favorite parables. After discussing the morals and point of the stories they each went to their classrooms to draw a scene from the story while I passed out sweeties (candy). It was another wonderful day of serving.

It wasn't my turn last night but I led devotions anyway. I've been thinking about Proverbs a lot, it might be my favorite book of the Bible, although I haven't read it cover to cover in the past decade (something I really need to change)! Anyway, in my 20 year old Study Bible I found a few great sentences about Proverbs and its wisdom: Wisdom is above all practical and down to earth...Wisdom teaches you how to live...How do you become a wise person? You must first begin to listen...But becoming wise requires self-discipline to study and humbly seek wisdom at every opportunity. Old King Solomon wisely says, and thanks to my dad I know it, the beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom.

Today the two other missionaries and I set out on our own adventure to Jinja, a city about 60 km from our home. It was our first taxi experience, and boy was it an experience, think minivan, but just a little bit longer, filled with 15 adults, 2 children, and a TV, with a mattress and other items in the boot (trunk area) and on top of the van. Then consider the stereotype of an African and their hygiene, add that it is raining so all the windows are closed, and you're getting close to understanding how I'm feeling at this point, knowing its going to be at least 1.5 hours before we reach Jinja. Right before we reached Jinja (oh by the way, yes it only costs $2 for a 60 km ride), they told us muzungus to get off and switch taxis, which would have been ok, if we had another taxi to get on to. But the guy left in charge of us was unhelpful and I'd like to use many expletives to explain him, but it was a confusing and aggravating 10 minutes, in the end all resolved itself just fine, but it was both sketchey and dicey for a minute and we were getting visibly peeved, luckily a nice gentleman came to our rescue, to which we were very grateful! (Mom, stop worrying, we are fine, I was my usual assertive, confident self to keep some people away and also was the protective one taking care of my girls!)

Our purpose in going to Jinja was to go to Amazima Ministries. If you've been reading my blogs from the beginning you'll recall my reference to the book Kisses from Katie, well, yup, we got to go to her ministry! We had received advice to use a boda named Fred and given his number, and he was our knight in shining armor after the taxi fiasco! He was a perfect tour guide, honest, nice, and fair-priced. Luckily we didn't get our hopes up for much from Amazima, also having been fore-warned, because Katie home schools her girls and wasn't around and the place we were at, where they serve food to over 500 kids every Saturday, is only a buzz on Saturdays. But we got some additional info about the ministry and the amazing work they do, and it truly is amazing! After our brief tour there Fred took us for a beautiful view of the Nile (the source of the Nile river is in Jinja), we saw some monkeys along our travels and then to a restaurant called 2 Friends, where I had a chicken sandwich with cheese, bacon and a chili sauce, oh it was soooo good! I don't think I'm looking forward to food the way Auntie Jo is, especially since I can't eat as much as I used to (my portions have seriously diminished), but having westernized food for lunch instead of posho and beans is such a treat! We had a much easier and more relaxed ride home luckily!