First official day in Kampala!

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Tuesday, the 21^st

So much has happened today that it is hard to put it all into words. We are thankful that our group got to spend time in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to see all of the programs our sports outreach partners' have established.

We began the day with devotions at the headquarters of the sports outreach team, which is housed at Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped. We worshiped with our team alongside of the staff of SOI. We sang, heard a devotion from one of the staff members about Christ as a remote for our lives, and then split into small prayer groups. Stacey, our Sawyer water filtration representative, demonstrated how the filtration system works. Everyone was amazed when the dirt filled water was transformed into clean and clear drinking water, enjoyed by team members of both groups.

Next we set out to the soccer field for a clinic to provide additional drills for the coaches within the Good News team. This team is a group of young Christian men that are coaching local children within the slums of Kampala. Coach Brad led multiple drills which these coaches can now use for their players. While some Messiah team members participated within the drills, others played with the children that ran out to play with us. After a fun time of bonding and playing, we had to say goodbye to head back for lunch and our next adventures.

After lunch, our Messiah group was split up into 3 groups to go visit and minister to various slums within Kampala. One group held a basketball clinic for 18 girls, led by the 3 basketball players from Messiah, Dori, Emily, & Kate along with the help of Kyle. They played for 3 hours together, moving from various drills to scrimmaging. They also had time to sit with the girls and learn more about them. The other two groups each went to 2 slum areas. The focus of the 4 slum areas is to play soccer, a feeding program, and to share about Jesus.

The one group (Aaron, Brenda, Jarrett, Jim, Chris) played soccer, talked about who they were and how much they loved Jesus, along with water filter demonstrations. 200 kids showed up, which led to on-the-spot thinking as the group only had 2 balls to play soccer with.

The second group (Vicki, Jenny, Brad, Molly, Stacey) that went into the slums also played soccer, along with being able to share their testimonies and stories. As a result of the sharing, and the help of Don, the leader of SOI, and one of the Good News coaches, 4 boys accepted Christ. This group also went to visit the Chess Academy, where children who don’t want to play soccer can learn to play chess. This is a way for them to be off the streets and learning about Christ.

At night, the Messiah team regrouped and was able to share with each other stories from the day.

Wednesday, 22^nd

Today we drove from Kampala to Soroti, 190 kilometers of bumpy and rough roads. The drive was supposed to take 7.5 hours. We started out the day with one person vomiting, making us worried about the long drive ahead of us. We prayed as a team for Kyle while we waited for him to gather himself. God was faithful and answered our prayers; Kyle did not become sick again once on the drive, and is now feeling normal once again. Our bus had 2 rows of seat taken up by luggage, which left us with 19 people and 18 empty seats. The men were gracious and took turns standing in replacement of the missing seat. The drive helped us to establish stronger relationships with the host staff of Uganda during our long drive.

We had the opportunity to stop in Jinja, a major city, where the source of the Nile River is located. We got to take pictures, along with putting our hands in the Nile River, which was a memorable experience for all of us. For lunch we stopped 2 hours later where we enjoyed local stews along with fresh bananas and pineapple. Throughout the drive, we were pulled over 6 times by the police on the side of the road for checkpoints, however none of these stops caused us problems. We probably alerted them due to our white skin, which also led to children running and waving beside our bus, yelling “muzungus” which is the word for white person/visitor here in Uganda. We arrived at our hotel where we enjoyed a game of ultimate Frisbee within the Messiah team prior to dinner. We discussed our plans for tomorrow over dinner and after enjoyed fresh mangos for dessert. We are excited for our time here in Soroti and cannot wait to see what God will do here within the next few days.