HERE WE GO . . . 07/01/2010
Hi Everyone! Thanks for checking out the blog :) The July 2010 team is really excited about leaving in less than 8 hours! The next post might not come for a few days since much of our time will be spent in the air or in airports, but we're looking forward to sharing our experiences with you when we arrive in Wakisi. Have a wonderful Canada Day and stay tuned for future updates! -Regan (on behalf of the team) 1 Comment DAY 8 - Update from the Jungle 01/23/2010
The past three days have been gruelling for the team! Hand-delivering Family Kits in the village sounds like easy work, but I had forgotten how physically exhausting it can be. I can't describe how hot it is working in the heat of the afternoon. As we walk for miles deep in the jungles of Uganda the sun beats on our faces and necks like the lash of a cane. After a full day of delivering the kits our team is tired, sweaty, very dirty and emotionally drained. We are grateful for many of our Ugandan guides and translators who are helping us make the deliveries. We finished the distribution this afternoon and are pleased to have been able to deliver 50 Family Kits to some of the most destitute widows, widowers, orphans and families in the region. Yesterday evening as we reflected on the value of Family Kits we were encouraged by Pastor Robert and our beloved Damali who continue to affirm this important part of the project. Pastor Robert (who is also the Head Master of a local school) has this to say: "You are helping us build the church of Uganda through the distribution of Family Kits. Almost 80% of my my village is represented by the Muslim faith and without the presence ofMazungus (what the Africans call "roaming" White people) we would be unable to share Christ with them. If we were to try and share the Gospel with them as Ugandans they would come after our heads with a machete! So we are so thankful for Grandview Church and the opportunities that Family Kits are giving us as Pastors to share the Gospel." We continue to be amazed by the incredible stories of conversion the village Pastors are experiencing. The Pastors are employing the teaching that they have received from Ian, Bob and John and when they preach hundreds of Ugandans are giving their lives to Christ - even 200 rebel soldiers walked out of the forest and surrendered their weapons to Pastor Robert and Cedric as they preached in the open air of Rwanda. Incredible. God is doing miracles through these men and the Kingdom is growing exponentially as a result of Grandview's investment here in Wakisi! I dare say that revival is afoot and we are celebrating alongside our Ugandan partners for the pleantiful harvest. We are all looking forward to tomorrow's service at the newly renovated Gospel Messengers Church. Pastor Simon Peter is ready to welcome us into his new church and Ian and Brad will both preach - we suspect it will be a long service! Construction is about 90% complete and only pictures can fully translate the changes. This will be the last blog as we head out of town tomorrow afternoon and start to make our way back to Canada. Thanks for following us along the way - we have many more stories to share with you when we return. Best, t. DAY 5 - Uganda from Melissa's Perspective... 01/20/2010
What a couple busy days this has been! Yesterday, Pastor Ian, Bob, and John began their pastoral training, which made both the team and the Ugandans very happy. The rest of the team headed over to Sonrise Baby Home to help at Damali's orphanage. The men on our team that had previously worked at Gospel Messenger Church came over to the orphange to do some construction in order to make room for more babies, and of course Bethany, Denise, and I had spend time with the babies. I am probably safe to say that African babies are the happiest and the cutest. My favourite one, Stevie, never cries. What a joy! All of the people at the orphange are just a joy to be around. After a long day of work, we headed to a Ugandan resort, just across the Nile, and enjoyed a couple of hours of relaxtion. The girls decided to enjoy to sunshine, and the guys decided to play some games in the water. Who knew a bunch of old men could have so much fun with a football!! It was a great end to a relaxing day. Today, we headed into town to get all the supplies for family kits. We rented a truck and rode around on it the whole day, and apparently for us Canadians, it is very amusing, to Ugandans, its just a part of a normal day. We finished picking up all the supplies, and dropped them off at Damali's auntie's house, for safe keeping until tomorrow afternoon when we start delivering them. We are all very excited for the breakfast feeding tomorrow, and a chance to hear some of the stories of people in the villages when delivering family kits tomorrow. DAY 3 - Sights and Smells... 01/18/2010
We landed safely in Entebbe late on Saturday evening and got a few hours rest at the Central Inn, just a few minutes from the airport. It's been a long, exhausting journey (as Brad reflected, probably one of the worst he's experienced with any previous team). Early Sunday morning we loaded up the bus and headed towards Jinjataking in the sights along the way - lush green rain forests, the coast of Lake Victoria, and the busy streets of Kampala. I had forgotten how hot the sun is here at the Equator - it's been 30 degrees and sunny since we arrived. Perfect. As we drove the smell of diesel fumes, burning grass and garbage wafted through the air breezing through the bus windows. We met up with Pastor Ian at Mto Moyoni and drove into Wakisivillage to attend two church services. Thankfully we were only asked to sing at one of them! We enjoyed the singing, dancing and passionate worship of the believers in Wakisi. We look forward to the celebration service next week at Pastor Simon Peter's newly renovated church. After the services we were invited to the soccer pitch where we would participate in what has become a traditional event for our teams - Canada vs. Uganda. When we arrived the field was empty, but after a few minutes of kicking the ball around we had drawn asizeable crowd. There must have been one hundred or more villagers in the grand stands, ready to cheer on the Canadians! Of course we lost the game - though honourable mention goes to Pastor Ian and Brad for valiantly guarding our net! Final score was 4 to 1. Today we visited the construction site at Gospel Messenger's Church inWakisi Sub-County (our thanks to John Dinner for this coordination of this project). Progress is well under way and Otto, Paul, Wayne and Curtis were excited to get there hands dirty. All the windows and doors are complete, the floor is finished and the masonry work is almost complete as well. For those on our team who remember the original structure, we were amazed at the transformation. The rest of the team visited Baby Justine in Jinja town to purchase more necklaces for the @the Source Beads team. Family Kit distribution will begin later this week and we're all looking forward to getting into the village to share our story with the widows and orphans. DAY 1 - iPhone Saves the Day... 01/14/2010
Not off to a very good start...(though it makes for interesting blogging!) We arrived at the airport around 4:30pm yesterday to check in for our 9:00pm flight to London. Unfortunately just before boarding we were told there was a mechanical issue with the plane that would require 30-45 minutes to diagnose and repair. We were reassured it would be resolved in good time, and patiently waited for an update. 3 hours later (midnight) we were told the flight had been cancelled and that we would be spending the night in Toronto. Delightful. Brad, Dave and John spent the next two hours re-working our flight details (which subsequently have changed dramatically - we're now flying through Brussels instead of London) and the rest of the team enjoy some late night airport coffee and a few card games. Once flights were worked out we waited in line for hour to get on a shuttle bus to the Crowne Plaza - then waited another hour still to check in to the hotel. Finally around 3:45 am we were all checked in to the hotel for the night. Our flight leaves for Brussels tonight around 6:00 pm (Lord willing). We're all disappointed that we've lost a full 24 hours in Uganda but, we're still optimistic and the team is in good spirits. Our thanks to the incredible designers of the iPhone whose amazing technology and engineering brilliance allowed us to get a hold of Ryan, update Pastor Ian, send a few Facebook messages to Damaliand get important flight information (using British Airways fabulous app!). Hoping the next post will be from Jinja. Sending our best from Toronto Airport. Tony & Melissa. Welcome! 01/13/2010
Our investment in Uganda continues to yeild high returns for the Kingdom! Tony DiGiacomo here with my blogging partner Melissa Gauthier - we'll be your tour guides for the January 2010 installment of Grandveiw's continued work in Wakisi Village - at the source of the Nile River in Uganda, Africa. "We Bless The Rains Down In Africa" 07/15/2009
Greetings, The team talked, and it was decided that the lyrics from the tune "Africa", originally by Toto, should be used as the title for today's blog entry. Though we're in the midst of the rainy season, we've only had one day of rain and it only lasted for about an hour since our arrival in Africa - that was until today . . . A wicked thunderstorm, torrential rains, and hail were just some of the amazing natural phenomina that we expreinced today. However, thanks to John Cassels and his amazing "off-roading" abilities, the team arrived safely to his house for dinner, which is being cooked as I type. The last two days have been busy busy busy. Yesterday, the morning began with the eating of an amazing birthday cake baked by Rachel and Krys - thanks to everyone for making my 30th a great day! From there we went to Pastor Ben's church where we packed 25 family kits. The family kits in Arua were different than those in Jinja. Pastor Ben, along with theCassels, created a list of items that best suited the needs of the community. Items such as salt, sugar, matches, soap, cooking oil, reading material, and a small cash donation were some of things that were packed into bags. Everyone on the team had a chance to pray for at least one of the people to whom we delivered a kit. Along the way, we met many other children who we enjoyed engaging with. Steve has introduced a new handshake to the Ugandan children and it seems to be taking the area by storm. Throughout the day we also witnessed some of the construction work that was being done on the church floor and on the Pastor's house. Ben is extremely grateful for all that has been done and wants us to extend his thanks to the Grandview family. In the late afternoon, we met a man who shares his passion for God by managing a local Christian radio station. His personal story from being Muslim to becoming a Christian was quite interesting. Please check in with one of the team members upon our return to hear the details. Today, multiple projects were underway. In the morning Monika, Steve,Steph and Brad met with a local Senior teacher, named Rosemary, who gave a brief session on curriculum. Tomorrow Brad, Steph and Steve will be teaching a lesson at Rosemary's school. While they were receiving a crash course in Ugandan Religious Education, Ashley Dan and I were out delivering more family kits. We me up at the church for an amazing lunch. It was a true Ugandan experience as we ate our meal (rice, beans, meat, eggs) with our fingers. Though not the most graceful team when eating, we thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality of our Ugandan hosts. In the afternoon the teams switched. The team that met Rosemary in the morning headed out to deliver the last of the family kits while Dan, Ashleyand I took part in a prayer service. Singing and drumming, the delivery of a short message and then sharing of prayer requests all happened in a small "payout" (Lugbara for a small cement hut). Dan, Ashley and I, as the guests, were all asked to pray for the needs to those in attendance. Well, it's about time to sign-out. I know I keep saying this, but I'm not sure when our last blog will occur, so if this is our last, thanks again to everyone for your prayers a well-wishes. Regan, on behalf of the "Uganda July 2009" team Arrival in Arua 07/13/2009
Hello Blog Followers, Lots has been happening since our last update. Before leaving Jinja, we were able to make some purchases for an auction we will be hosting in the future, so please stayed tuned for updates about how you can obtain some authentic Ugandan art, pottery, carvings and more! If you're into trivia, here's something that may interest you. On our travels from Jinja to Arua we not only came across some spectacular wildlife (giraffes, elephants, crocodiles, hippos), we also met up with a 1980's Christian musician. Here are some clues to help you figure out who we met. 1) This musician was specifically a female singer. 2) While she did sing Christian music at one point in her career, she also branched out to do a few secular albums - one of which contained the hit "Baby Baby". If you think you've got the answer, or even if you're not too sure, read on to find out who we met! After a number of hours on the road involving a few "interesting" adventures (including a "routine" pull over by the local authorities and a stalled van due to a dashboard that was smoldering) we arrived in Arua to be greeted by the Cassels. It is wonderful to see some members of our Grandview family in their African home. After visiting the church in which we will be working in the coming days, and taking a walking tour of the local market, we travelled to the Cassels' home where we met a woman named Pamela for tea ans snacks. She gave us a lesson in both language and cultural in addition to sharing some of her life story. She has led a life filled with struggles, but her joy and passion for Christ shone through as she spoke, and her words were a powerful testimony to the entire team. She was an outstanding teacher and the information and training she provided us with will be extremely useful in the coming days as we meet people in the community and deliver family kits. It's hard to believe we've been here for 10 days already and will begin to travel back home to Canada at the end of the week. We look forward to seeing our Grandview friends and family again soon, but until then we will continue working on projects for, and building relationships with, the people of Uganda. So, I know many of you have been waiting for the "big reveal" of which musician we met on our travels. If you guessed Amy Grant - you were right! For those who remain skeptical, both Steph and Monika had pictures taken with her so please feel free to check in with either of them for confirmation :) A huge thank you to the Cassels for letting us use their computer and internet to update the blog. We hope this message finds all of you well and we're wishing each of you back home a wonderful start to the week! Yours, On behalf of the "Uganda - July 2009" team, Regan Last Full Day in Jinja 07/10/2009
Hi Everyone, It's hard to beleive that it is already our last full day in Jinja. We've been working on many projects and it's been very exciting to see the excitement on the faces of all of those with whom we have come into contact. Yesterday the Canadians, wearing the amazing shirts bought by Dan and Ashley, played two intense soccer, more commonly called football in Uganda, games. While everyonegave 100%, it quickly became evident that a quick and easy win would not be in the cards. After losing 2-0 in our first game, we took part in a breakfast feeding. It's amazing what the woman do to prepare food for so many hungry mouths,. It was a blessing to serve the chidlren and talking with them over a meal after a great game. At the same time, the pen-pal program was underway at Pastor Robert's school and I was able to witness the impact that the writing program for 550 children was having on the lives of the students. We will be bringing letters home for the Canadian students, which will be very exciting! That afternooon, after a "coaching" meeting (not to mention loading our team with Ugandan's and bringing in our own referee) we had a second footbal game, this time at Pator Robert's school. Thanks to the impressive goalie work of Brad Watson, and the stellar soccer skills of Monika, Dan, Steph, Ashley and Steve, we were able to win 1-0. The children had an great time cheering and everyone took part in a time of prayer afterwards - which was a blessing to us all. The evening was spent in fellowship with the pastors we have met thus far. Afterwards, Baby Justine came by the inn and we purchased additional items to help support the mother-care network she has created for women in Jinja. There is more to tell, but unfortunately we must be off as there are many loose ends to tie up today. We will try to update when we can, but we are unsure of the e-mail situation in the coming days. Thank you again for uyour coninued support. Regan on behalf of The Uganda July 2009 Team Busy Day 07/07/2009
Greetings from Jinja! The team has been in the sun for over 8 hours today so my apologies in advance for any typos you may encounter :) Today was the first day we were delivering family kits to families in communities set in the jungles off of Wakisi Road. I think saying that it was a moving statement would be an understatement. In addition to the team delivering the kits to families, setting up mosquito nets and talking with the families, each of us had personal experiences that will have lasting impacts on our lives for years to come. Steph enjoyed singing with a woman, who sang at our church service on Sunday, while walking from house to house. Ashley and Monika led the children in a number of games - Duck Duck goose was a huge hit! I also enjoyed leading the children in a few songs/games - thanks to Steve for such enthusiastic participation (photos to come). Dan, Steve, Brad and I prayed for familes after we had set up the kits and all have commented about how powerful of an expereince it was - it truly is amazing to witness the impact that sharing a few of God's gifts had on the spiritual lives of those who were receiving items today. Your continued prayers are very much appreciated. Everyone has commented on how this has already been a life changing opportunity and we want to extend our thanks to the Grandview family for all that you have done for us. Off to put on some Aloe (everyone is looking a little tanned)! Yours, Regan (On behalf of the Uganda - July 2009 Team) |
