We have hit the official crazy person mark. I heard from some people that the hard times come around day 3 week 6 and half way are supposed to be the hardest times. That is when things really start to sink in on how long you are gone for and other bad thoughts. So lets see how I fared…
9-24-10
In the morning, one of the dogs here has had some bumps growing on her and Mike has been saying that she is going to be a real show. Well today is the day ☺ These bumps on her are fly larva. She must have laid on a nest one night and they crawl under the skin and start feeding off the host and growing. So you squeeze them like a zit when they are large enough and they pop right back out. Wiggling on the ground. It is very painful though. Mike does the popping and I do the holding down. It is quite a scene. After that incident it is breakfast time. Great food though with eggs and French toast. Life is good. After posting my blog and some other things Cindy (VOH founder and director) shows up almost right at 12. We eat lunch with her and after lunch, we just ask some of the basics of how VOH started what her story was and it is really good to meet her finally. It is super interesting to finally put some of the last pieces of the VOH puzzle together. She is really, really great. Very loving and the kids all come up and sing her a song when she arrives and she goes through and hugs each and every one of them. Great lady. Afterwords (pun intended), we go on a team walk and just kinda bond after a little bit of a crazy week. It is a good time. Dinner is up fast and then bed comes even faster
9-25-10
Nice little feast in the morning again now with Cindy and a team here they are pulling out all the stops. I head over to the office and do some cleaning and organizing while everyone else does some games and crafts till lunch with the kids. It is a very fun time and the kids make some really cool hemp and drawing crafts. The team brought some very good supplies to be able to do that so I think that everyone enjoys it. After lunch just do some generalized hanging out with the kids then they start dancing around 4 pm. It is really cool to see it with their outfits on and to see the VOH kids do it because they have some really good dancers in their crew. Dancing is really fun and lasts for probably about 2 hours until sundown. I do some playing of this pumpkin drum thing for one of the songs and the kids just laugh and laugh at me as I try to keep up with the changes in the song. It is really fun though. After the dancing we do a quick learning the worm session with Tom and Brynn. Dinner and then the ever fun, movie night. We have a twist this week in the form of a slide show of pictures from the week, the first picture they just howl. They think that every picture of just one person smiling is hilarious, then of the pictures of someone making a weird face… crickets. After the slide show that Erin so graciously put together, we show Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. It is really fun and we finish up and head to bed.
9-26-10
Church in the morning in the new church building goes very well and is great because now the kids have space to spread out and dance. They love it. Chill and chat with Ronny (one of the team members) and Mike chatting about war books and stories till lunchtime. Type up a couple of the tests that the teachers are having us type for exams next week (they gave us four yesterday) and they finally give us the last one around 4pm, then ask if they can have them tomorrow. Almost funny. I find out from Bill (one of the team members) that he is a baseball fan and specifically a Padres fan. God works in mysterious ways. ☺ Have a nice little baseball chat before a community soccer game starts between our work crew and a team from a town nearby. It is really fun to watch and Tom plays a little bit too. After the game which ends in a 1-1 draw we take some dinner then bed.
9-27-10
The team leaves us in the morning to head out for a safari before their flight leaves on Tuesday night. I’m sad to see them go especially since I found out that Bill is a closet Padres fan and could have been talking baseball the whole time! After they leave I go and finish typing up the rests of the test and leave them for Erin to format. After lunch Brynn and I talk about Cindy’s interview that we will be doing tomorrow because she is going to go to Gulu with the new team from Hawaii on Wednesday and we want to get it done before the next team arrives. Get some really good insight after we go and talk to Cindy in her hut and also hear more about the individual kids and their individual stories. Some of them are just not able to be comprehended by my mind. One kid, who is an older boy and an unbelievable dancer, (I have never seen anyone who can separate the top half of his body from the lower half from the feet the way he does) we find out was abducted for 3 years by the LRA. 3 Years! I cant even imagine how far behind in school, how malnourished, how much trama from seeing that much death he must have endured. To see him now and think about how much of a leader and an influence he is to all the rest of the kids and just see this love that he has for Jesus, is just incredible. Whenever I have seen him in church I have always noticed him praying when the group prayers because he looks so focused. Now I know why. It makes me think of the story in Luke 7:36-50:

Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner." 40Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. 41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" 43Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. 44Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." 48Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." 49The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" 50Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Just this idea that someone can have more of a capacity to love and to understand what and who they are actually praising is amazing. After chatting with Cindy; Tom, Brynn and I go termite hunting. We grab a can of “Doom” and take down a lot of termites before dinner. After dinner I play darts with some of the workers and of course get schooled but it was still fun. After darts, I hit the sheets.

9-28-10

In the morning after breakfast, Brynn and I do Cindy’s interview and get a ton of good stuff that should go very well in the movie. It takes up until lunchtime. After lunch I do some reading and before I go and help Kinyera Geoffrey, the head agriculture guy that I have become very good friends with, plant some trees around the schools. Dinner and then bed

9-29-10

Breakfast and then finally get the last few tests printed off for the kids tomorrow before I head out to the fields to help Geoffrey again. We dig up some of the old fence posts and then dig a 2 feet by 2 feet hole for planting mango trees. We use for digging a Bolsco, which is essentially a piece of rebar with a tip on it to dig. It breaks up the ground and then we get in their with the spade (shovel). It takes us about 2 hours to dig the hole for the tree and to dig up the one fence post. Hard work under the African sun. Go to lunch feeling really good about the work we accomplished though. We have a team meeting after lunch that results in a game of Nertz. I think that I am actually getting worse at that game. A bus shows up with the teams suitcases because they will only be in Gulu for 2 nights so they have separate bags packed for that. We unload all of the supply bags and bring them to the office. I grab my box of goodies that mommy and Leilah’s parents sent me ☺ Very nice to have my boom, the extra battery and the book. Thank you!!!! Do some reading in the book mommy sent me, the Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, before dinner. The camp gets really empty for dinner because Mike, Janelle and Cindy all left with the bus to Gulu. So it is just us and the Africans. ☺ After dinner it is bedtime.

9-30-10

Really lazy day. Wake up and organize our room to try and accommodate the extra 4 bodies that will be in there when the team arrives tomorrow. Finish with that and do some reading before lunch. After lunch just generally hang out and play some Nertz. Yep, definitely getting worse. Help Geoffrey set up an email account before dinner. After dinner I go to the office and type my blog before bed.

So I don’t know if I missed the memo but I think I could live here. Things have been very good. ☺ Overall I think things are good for all of the team. Keep praying for us and always love to hear about how things are going back home. It is really fun to hear about it. Do it, flood my inbox. Thanks for reading this far. Love you all!

-Collin