We spent the morning at the house just hanging out and getting stuff organized. We had decided to go to the noon service at church so we had some time to just relax. We made breakfast and ate under the shade outside on the porch. There is something about a relaxing morning just looking out at the beautiful green trees, white buildings, red dirt, and blue sky that is really special. I don't know why, but the colors seem to be a bit more vibrant in the morning. This is basically what we can see looking out from the porch....
We called our best cab driver, Joseph to meet us and take us to church. Last year, he drove us just about every day to different places. We haven't used him much so far because Angella and I have walked or taken bodas and Mtatu's everywhere we go. It's much cheaper and often faster to do it that way. He is a happy man that is super excited every time we see him. He came out and gave us big hugs. He immediately asked how my mom was. Pretty much everywhere we go people ask how she is. I think she'll have to come back and visit to show them all that she is fine! My mom had send a card and some things for Joseph and his family and he was so excited to bring them home to his wife, Eva!
We had Joseph drop us off the the Mulago guest house to see if we could find Isaac and Vanessa, two of the people Troy is traveling with but they hadn't arrived quite yet. We took a Mtatu to church. There are still security checks outside of big gatherings and places where there tend to be a lot of people such as the shopping centers. It's a bit funny to have somebody check your bag or pat you down as you walk in to church, but I guess that's still the consequences of last year's Al Shabab bombings. I love the choir at Watoto church. It's probably got at least 100 members. All of the women were dressed in matching yellow traditional dresses scattered with other colors. The men had matching blue shirts with a center line of the same material as the women's dresses. They sing and dance and praise with a ton of excitement during worship. One of my favorite songs was played during the worship. There is a lines that say, "strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord", "You're the defender of the weak, you comfort those in need, you lift us up on wings like eagles." These are such true and necessary words, especially over here. People have so many troubles and trials and sometimes we all have to be reminded that we have a God who loves and cares for us and is going to provide for us. I am constantly given reminders of how much I am loved as we find ourselves confused on what to do or where to find what we need, but somehow we are always pointed in the right direction.
During the offerning song, a famous saxophonist came and played. His music was so beautiful! Angella said that he is really famous over here so I thought it was a special treat that we got to hear him. The most amazing part of the service came at the end of worship. The pastors came up to invite a "special group" who had been traveling. Immediately I hoped it was the Watoto Children's choir because I love it when the kids come to sing, but I didn't think it was possible since they had already been back in Uganda for a while. I only know this because one of the kids we come to see, Trevor, was in the choir that most recently traveled to the east coast in the U.S.. When they announced the choir, Angella and I looked and each other and began to frantically search for Trevor in the group of kids that walked on stage. Sure enough, the fourth kid to walk on was TREVOR! He stood in the front row with a smile that could pretty much light the stage! He's grown up so much since we first met him and he seems to be really happy. Seeing Trevor made the day even more exciting. After service, we tried to see if he was still around, but the choir had already left and gone home. At least we will get to see him on Thursday with all the other Woolies.
After church we walked to exchange some money in town and then we still had some time to kill so we went to a craft market and picked up a few things. It's pretty much always the same stuff, but I somehow always find things that I haven't seen before that I buy. Plus, I have to bring home a lot of paper necklaces for my mom and some other people who wanted them! at under $2 each, it's hard not to buy a lot!
We took bodas to go and have lunch at Angella's friend Pat's house. He is the one that picked me up from the airport. Angella and Pat went to medical school together and it's so fun to be with the two of them. You really have to be ready to laugh without stopping when the two of them are together. Pat wanted to cook for us. It's not every day that a Ugandan guy offers to do the cooking, so we couldn't refuse! He lives with one of his sisters in their family home. Most of the rest of his family lives and works in the UK right now, so they have lots of extra room. The rent out part of the house to another family. There are lots of kids running around and people are always smiling and laughing. I think this home would be a good one to grow up in. There is a lot of love shown between all of them! My favorite baby is Honda. Yup, that's right, Honda, like that Japanese car. Pat's sister really likes Japan so she wanted to show it by naming her child something that reflected how much she likes the country! I think his mom was surprised that we knew his name before we met him. How can you forget a name like Honda?
Pat made us a delicious meal of sausage, chicken, rice and noodles. He entertained us with the movie Fast Five while he finished cooking. We enjoyed the action movie and when Pat finished he came and watched the rest with us. Angella loved all the action sequences, but didn't quite catch on to all the story lines. I had a lot of explaining to do! She said she was glad she didn't see it in the theatre because she would have never been able to understand it all. We finished off dinner with mango, pineapple, and oranges....and then ice cream. It was a delicious way to finish off the dinner. We spend a little more time playing with the kids outside and watching some youtube videos. The same stuff that we watch back home seems to be popular over here too! Here is a picture of Honda, and of the three of us with some of the children.
Pat insisted on driving us home. It's so much nicer to have a car here. It makes it seem not so difficult to get around and it feels a lot more like living in, rather than visiting Uganda. Pat left us and we spent some time just hanging out before the World Cup women's final. It was between U.S. and Japan. I'm not a huge soccer fan but when there are big games on and tournaments on t.v. I find myself getting really excited. It was a great game and we had to stay up until 1 to see the finish, which was a little disappointing for the U.S. We lost in a shoot-out! At least the game was really exciting!
We had been getting messages from Troy all night via email that him and Dennis had been delayed. We had arranged a taxi to get them from the airport at 11:30, but by the time they survived all the delays in Nairobi they didn't get to the airport until 3 am and not surprisingly their luggage didn't make at. At least the driver didn't mind waiting for them! I had been worried all night that they wouldn't hook up with the driver, especially when the driver kept sending messages that he hadn't found them! I was finally able to sleep when I got a message that they had met up but didn't have luggage. Once Troy gets in the country, he doesn't have a problem getting around.
Tomorrow the real work starts. We are going to meet Isaac and Dennis. They have never been here before and we are going to show them around the country and they will help us at the orphanages! I hope they are ready for the randomness that happens!
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