These last few days have been extremely hectic. We spent 3 days at a village about an hour away from Kampala. It was my first time going to the village, so I had no idea what to expect. We stayed in a "motel" nearby. We joked that it wasn't even considered a star hotel, it was a triangle. There was a tiny room with a double sized bed with a mosquito net, and a wall separating the "shower", there was no running water in the town so it was a basin shower. Not to mention squattys which I was terrified of. We each had to share a room with someone so sleeping was very squished. We had dinner at a "restaurant" a few doors down that I'm not even sure is considered a restaurant. It was a room with 2 plastic tables and chairs and a t.v. which was so magical to us since we haven't seen one in forever. The room was only lit by the tv and a green light bulb hanging from the ceiling. In the corner a rat dwelt and I saw it often. We even came back to one of the rooms to see a bat on the floor. Besides the scary accommodations, it was a nice time. The village homes were spread out so we had to walk a lot but we definitely got to hang out with the families and present the gospel to them if they didn't know who Jesus was, or remind them of the true meaning of Christmas if they did. We also gave them some gifts including soap, rice,sugar, noodles and salt. In the afternoons we had a children's program for all the village kids at the main area of the village. We had close to 150 kids come and we sang songs with them, played games, did a puppet show and had crafts. Every time our van was going through the village, kids would come running out of their huts waving with both hands screaming HI MZUNGUS! It was great. I definitely got tired of smiling and waving, but it was well worth it.
Now it is Christmas morning and it feels like every other morning here, except that it is storming and I am going to make eggnog french toast for the group and then we are going to open gifts and watch Christmas movies and spend the rest of the day cooking for our large meal tonight. Merry Christmas everyone! Let us not forget the true meaning of Christmas!!
Ugandan's celebrate Christmas close to the way we do, they decorate their homes, hang lights, get a Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols. But Ugandan's don't put focus on the gifts because they can't afford gifts for each other. They spend their Christmas at church praying and putting all the focus on Christ, as it should be. Most people's gifts here are new clothes for the church service.
Lauren
No comments:
Post a Comment