Monkeys and pygmies and an earthquake!

So for a more in depth update. This weekend we drove 13 hours to Western Uganda to visit a doctor in Bwindi. Unfortunately the doctor was stuck in Kampala so we met with a man named Richard. On Saturday morning he showed us around the hospital and then took us on a 4o min hike up a beautiful mountain to build a mud hut!!! Before leaving I literally almost ran into a monkey in a tree, Richard brought out bananas and I got to feed a wild monkey! The little one reached down from the tree and took it right out of my hand. However, I held out a banana to a big monkey and he ran at me, which scared me, so I screamed and threw the banana at hime! We were told we were going to be working with the Batwa people; they are pygmies who are some of the poorest in the area. They had already built some of the framework but our job was to tie the rods together with banana reeds. It was a tedious but so fun process. It was great to finally get to be used, I feel like so often we hear about different missionaries and we hear about the different projects but the problem is that we never actually get to do the projects. I worked along side many men and women who were so thankful we came to help. They loved that we could actually tie the knots that were up high; an average height for the pygmies is about 4 1/2 ft. tall. We took a few hours to tie the knots and stopped before mudding the house to eat some lunch. After the Batwa had finished their lunch of posho, and we had finished our lunch of cheese sandwiches, we began mixing mud. We mixed so much I felt like we could have mudded over 3 houses but since I am so inexperienced I did not know it was only enough to make the corners of the one house we had begun. After we were finished they performed a dance for us. One little girl broke out of the group to grab one of us to dance with...she came right to me!! We all really love dancing with the people here. I know this may be hard for some of you to imagine but I do dance often here! Afterward a man named Bernard showed us how to make fire by rubbing sticks together, it actually worked! Then he showed us bowls, hand carved gorillas and necklaces we could buy. Of course I did, I really like to buy things from people I have a relationship with so there is a story behind what I bought. Overall the day was amazing. Then that night, as we were all peacefully sleeping at 3 AM another earthquake!! It was really small, I was actually the only one who felt it so I woke up the rest of my cabin so they could feel it too! Apparently earthquakes are rare here but I've been in 2 in less than a week! SO FUN!!

On Sunday we woke up early, drove for 40 min and then hiked about an hour to church. There was one point where I literally could have thrown a stone and it would have landed in the Congo.
The service was a usual Anglican church service with its little African twists like auctioning off food for the offering. We went to a man named Erik's house for lunch and then walked back to the bus in the rain.

On our drive home we got 3 flat tires, stopped for 3 hours for lunch at our driver's mom's house. She had made the absolute best beans ever! All in all it took over 17 hours to return which scared our host families since we did not return until midnight on Monday night. This was my favorite weekend of our whole time. It was amazing to be able to get out of a classroom and actually serve people. I loved holding a little Batwa baby named William who peed all over me and dancing with the sweet little girl. I love the people of Uganda, God has made them so uniquely in his image and he portrays himself in such a beautiful light through them.

For those of you who do not know, for years there has been great conflict in Sudan, Congo and Uganda. Joseph Coney and his rebel army the LRA (Lords Resistance Army) have been trying to over throw the government. Unfortunately he recognized that some of the most efficient soldiers are child soldiers. Many boys are abducted to be soldiers and girls are used as sex slaves. We are talking little kids, like 7 or 8. He has gained power over the years and it is a pretty big conflict now. For over a year peace talks have been occurring but not much has changed. Where we stayed this weekend was right in the middle of some of the problem areas, not at all as dangerous as Northern Uganda, but there were rebel soldiers in the hills of Bwindi. This weekend it really hit home for me the plight of these people. It was one of the first times I felt unsafe but I was in a locked cabin with many people and only stayed for 3 days. What if I lived here always? The kids and families affected have really been on my mind since we came home.

Please pray for the situation with the Congolese rebels, the LRA and the people of Northern Uganda. If you do not know much on this situation please watch the Invisible Children video and do research. Child soldiers need our prayers to help this conflict end. Please pray that the peace talks will become successful, over 90 kids were abducted from Uganda in September. Please pray for each and every child who has been abducted, pray for their freedom and restoration. God is big, so much bigger than Joseph Coney and his army. God is bigger than the damage that has been done to this country and to the lives of everyone affected. Please pray for healing and restoration in Uganda, Jesus is here and alive and at work!