Saturday:
Today we had a service day in a new town to Sports Outreach. We traveled on a long, bumpy, dirt road for about an hour. When we finally arrived, we saw the  town was filled with life. We started off by worshiping and fellowshipping with locals in a church. Singing and dancing with them was awesome, and we could clearly see their hearts for God! Once devotional time had finished, we walked to the local hospital. We picked up trash on the grounds, and many of us walked through the hospital ward to pray for healing for the sick. Now, to give you a better picture of this hospital, completely disregard your mental image of the American hospital. Here, they had just a few smaller buildings in the same vicinity. The buildings had two rooms, connected by a small hall in the middle. The two larger rooms had two rows of beds on either side, filled with patients. Many of the patients had family members sleeping on the floor next to them.  The family members were the only ones whoprovided food and were responsible for some of the care for the patient. It was eye-opening for all of us who walked through. During the prayer walk, we prayed and encouraged the patients; we told them how much God loves them, and shared the gospel, for some, for the very first time. It was a powerful opportunity which helped us step outside of our American comfort zones and into the faith that God has planted us in!
That afternoon there were two soccer games: one girls and one boys. Lisa, Moriah, Karin and Courtney played in the girls game. Danny, Tyler, Nathan, Danny and Matt played in the guys. The scores don't matter because we are only playing to win hearts for Jesus. The soccer matches provided another opportunity for us to share and demonstrate Jesus' love on the field. At halftime in each game, a member of each of the four participating soccer teams shared a testimony. It was amazing to hear how God is working in both American and Ugandan lives! After soccer, Sports Outreachled a crusade, sharing the gospel through worship and preaching, and again we were blessed to see Ugandans meet and commit to Christ for the first time!! It's exciting to see how we can help others see their need for Jesus!
Tomorrow we take on our first Sunday in Uganda!

Uganda team