i love spending everyday with my

very best friend :)  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEET SIS KATELYN!

Yesterday was Cute Katie Bugs 11th Birthday!

We all headed to Sumo's and had a yummy dinner to celebrate!

I am sooo thankful for my new sis! What a precious gift!

Ok, Katie girl...me, you, Starbucks, and a pedicure soon!

Love you!

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus 

to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

(pictures compliments of Sharon Benson)

Everyday the kids would wave to us outside the bus

windows...sooo cute!

All of us squished on the bus...

VIVIAN!  This was my dear friend Vivian that helped to 

translate for Dr. Jeff and I.  She was so helpful!  

We spent most of everyday together...we were able to have

many conversations about the Lord.  It was so hard

to say goodbye to her.  Please pray that Jesus would 

protect her from the evil in Africa and that she would stand strong

and represent the gospel :)  She is a beautiful girl...inside and out! :)

Sharon and I with the Covenant Mercies sign :)

Martha and I...we were the shortest people on the trip :)

so we had to get a picture together!  haha!

Said was our bus driver.  We were able to share the gospel with him.

The team got him a Bible that we all signed.  He loved it and

said that he couldn't wait to start reading it!  Pray that he comes

to know the Lord!!  

The women carried all kinds of things on their heads...

I even saw one carrying a briefcase...like standing up on her head!

It was hilarious looking...but they were talented...I could never

do that...bananas, water, bags, wheat..all on their heads!  whew!

The only animals we got to see, other than the lizards on our wall, was

BABOONS !  They were crazy!

This was Sue and Sharon with Sylvia...Sylvia was 

one of the girls that worked at the guest house that we

stayed in.  She was the sweetest girl...such a servant!  

She would bring Sharon and I hot water every night

for our "shower."

One afternoon a dance party broke out!  

They were gettin down!

Pastor Moses and his wife Sarah

Evelyn and Sylvia with Sharon and I :)

This is us walking into the clinic in the morning...all

the people were waiting outside the gates...

Doing a little after church shopping at the town 

down the road.

Sweet little girl at church...She loved that necklace!

Vivian (pictured above) gave me that necklace...

It is so beautiful and meaningful :)

These little girls were washing their feet before they

went into the church.  It was rainy on Sunday, but the 

people still walked quite a ways to get there and worship.

This is the church...

Jeff and I in our little office seeing a patient.

God opened my eyes while I was there...He

reminded me that He is still a miracle working

God!  Each day was filled with so many suffering people...

God gave our team much GRACE to meet the needs of the

people to the best of our ability...spiritual and 

physical.  My heart broke as I held the 

babies, touched the children, listened to the stories of the 

adults.  The Lord reminded me that each time Jesus did

a miracle in the Bible, "He was moved with compassion."

God filled my heart with His compassion for these hurting people...

and it changed my life forever...

Amos, one of the Uganda nurses, helped us by triaging patients

and taking vitals.  

This little boy was stuck on me one day...he just 

hung on my arm or my leg!  So cute!!!

The girls at church...

The sweet children :)

Isaiah 49:10

They will neither hunger nor thirst, 
       nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. 
       He who has compassion on them will guide them 
       and lead them beside springs of water.

AFRICA JOURNEY

Disclosure: These pictures are from my 

disposable camera, so they are not so great...

 They are totally out of order too...haha!  

Hope you enjoy :)

Arriving in Entebbe, Uganda!

I was so so excited!!  

I had the most amazing time with my precious

friend Sharon.  It was so special to be able to 

share this time with her!  Love you Sharon :)

This was the most adorable little girl that wore

my jacket during the church service.  She loved it!

The dentist office

This is Sylvia and Evelyn...

These girls won my heart from the first day there...

Evelyn (next to me) is 15 and I found out she needed a sponsor...so..

I am her new sponsor!  It was amazing when I got to tell her :)

I left lots of my clothes with her because she is just my size!  

The Lord is so faithful to His children!

The children were absolutely beautiful!

They loved cameras and lollipops :)

Potty hole...Yikes!

Always smiling...

The waiting room...

Everyday in the morning there tons of people waiting

out in the front for the gates to open.  They were so 

desperate for help.  It was so humbling... 

This was Jeff Anderson...he was the doctor I worked with

during our time in Kiburara.  He is a rehab/ortho MD.  I 

learned so much as I watched him.  He calls Africa his second home.

His love and care for the people there was contagious.  It was a 

privilege to work alongside him to be the hands and feet of Jesus! (sorry the pic

is crooked....gotta love disposable cameras)

This is our humble little pharmacy stocked full of all kinds of

medications :)  Every morning we would go "shopping" and get

the meds we needed for the day.  This is Dr. Joe the OBGYN doctor (Sharon

worked with him) getting his meds from Martha one of our precious 

pharmacists.  

This is Sharon showing you our little "shower bucket."

It was quiet the experience let me tell ya.  I won't go into too much detail.  

Let's just say the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was TAKE A SHOWER!!!

This is Sharon under her mosquito net...that was full of holes.  

Not really sure what the purpose was...haha!  

BIG BEN!  Hangin in London was a blast...we basically just ran around 

and looked at all the sites.  

This is our group..all bundled up! It hasn't snowed in London in 20 years

....guess what happened the

day we were supposed to leave....uh yeah, SNOW!!  None of us

had packed for snow, but we were so excited it didn't matter... Though 

my feet were frost bitten by the end of the day :)  

Sharon and I at the pub....not a big fan of English food...

Me, Marilee, and Rose...I've always wanted a picture in 

one of these telephone booths!  Yeah!

     This gives you an idea of what it was like...but no picture will ever capture the things we saw while we were there.  My heart was heavy every day we drove to and from the clinic...as we drove I was surrounded by poverty...poverty like I have never seen before...mud huts, children without clothes and shoes, people working the fields just to get one meal for the day....but the one thing that kept me getting up every morning to go back to the clinic was the SMILES.  The people were always smiling...they have nothing, they may never have anything...but they SMILE, they SING, they TRUST, and they LOVE.  

     At church on Sunday, Pastor Moses and the people in his church were so full of Jesus, so passionate, and so loving!  It was contagious! :)  Each one of us from the states had to say a little something at church...the theme that seemed to stand out as each one of us talked was...God has not forgotten Kiburara...God sees and knows and He will be faithful to His beloved children.  I pray that God continues to send revival to this little village, that God would "open rivers in barren places," that the springs of living water would rush through that little town and that God would be glorified!  What a privilege to be a part of God's work in Kiburara!

More to come... :)