Uganda Trip - Day 9

I woke up this morning very excited about the day ahead.  We were planning to go to Bukoto all day, and I knew that I would get to see Marjorie today.  We had devotions during breakfast so we could get going earlier, and we arrived at Bukoto just before 9:00.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw Patrick (a national worker who I spent a week painting in Bugongi with in 2009, and who helped us paint at Upendo last Monday) and he was standing next to a young lady who looked very familiar.  I was certain I had seen her before, but couldn’t come up with her name.  Then it came to me – it was Marjorie – I had seen her picture that Penny had shown me.  I hopped out of the bus and went over to Patrick and welcomed him and then said, “Are you Marjorie?”  She looked at me and said, “Yes” in her strong British accent.  She was beautiful.  I looked at Patrick and he said, “this is my daughter.”  I was floored.  What a blessing – not only have I met Marjorie, but I spent many hours with her father painting.

We spent the day together – we tried to talk, but Marjorie is painfully shy and quiet.  In Uganda, people often say “yes” just by raising their eyebrows, so I spent most of the day watching her raise her eye brows over and over.  It was adorable – I would ask her questions, and she would shake her head or raise her eyebrows.

I told Marjorie about Penny and the fact that Penny prays for her every day, and I told her that when Penny sees her pictures and the video she will smile from ear to ear.  Marjorie just smiled.  She has a very beautiful smile.

The day was spent singing, playing games, listening to speakers, eating lunch, taking pictures…  it was a lot of fun and a lot of learning.  The team sang some songs for the children and the children from Masajja, Bukoto and Namagoga put on presentations for the other children.  They all seemed to have a wonderful day.

At the end of the day we took a picture of the team, and said goodbye to our friends.  As Marjorie hopped on a Boda Boda (motorcycle) to leave, I turned to Dorothy (a national worker who graduated from the AMG childcare program and is now working with the children) and I said to her, “I am going to tell you what I tell my daughters.  You know, you used to be cute like that.”  We both laughed and she told me that she was still cute.  I had to agree – I love the way the people here laugh. 

After we left we went out for dinner at a coffee house.  I had a triple decker sandwhich, as did Michael and Vincent.  Neither of them finished (nor did I) and Michael took the balance of the food home for his wife.  They are so gracious and thankful for such simple things – I need to learn to be content as they are.  We stood up to leave only to find that someone had taken Robin’s backpack right off the back of his chair.  In and of itself, it was an amazing story because the night before Robin had taken all of the important items out of his backpack.  Until tonight, he was carrying his passport, his medicine, and some other important things in his pack, but yesterday he took it all out.  God knew his bag was going to be stolen, and for no particular reason, allowed him to take his important stuff out before hand.  It is our prayer that God use the Bible, the devotional and the team shirt that was in his bag to bring the person to Christ.  That’s all he got (beside the bag and a few snacks).  Without knowing the rest of the story, only eternity will tell, we pray toward the end that God would draw that person to Himself.

Tomorrow we visit with the men who work for AMG and the ladies are going on home visits again.  I pray that tomorrow is as fruitful and exciting as today.