a little bit from both of us

A little bit from Matt:

I got a little break from the production unit this past week and spent my days in Kampala. Monday and Tuesday I had the opportunity to make my way to an area called Ntinda, an area I had not visited. There myself and two other workers from the shop installed some kitchen cabinets at a very nice Ugandan home. But my highlight from the week took place on Wednesday and Thursday as I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the Global Leadership Summit, Ugandan style. I was accompanied by my lovely wife, a friend of ours from Australia and one of my co-workers from the shop. For those of you who do not know what the Leadership Summit is, it is a leadership conference that was founded by Bill Hybles, the pastor of Willow Creek church in Chicago. This conference takes place in Chicago annually and is broadcast out to roughly 150 other churches across North America. This years speaking roster consisted of Bill Hybles, John Maxwell, Wayne Cordiero, Gary Haugen and Tony Blair, just to name a few. Uganda has hosted this conference once before and is truly passionate about raising up strong Christian leaders with hopes of turning their country around.

I was quite excited to attend the conference not only to receive some solid teaching on leadership but to expose my friend Frank, the head foreman from the production unit, to these teachings and to a side of Kampala that he has never been apart of. The conference was held in one of Kampala’s finest hotels complete with course material and meals. I fully expected the conference to be very North American in nature and after about thirty minutes in attendance realized that my expectations were way off. The conference as a whole, apart from the Mzungu speakers via DVD, was completely and utterly Ugandan. The praise and worship was in Lugandan, the technical side of things was a little shaky, the lunch was Ugandan dishes, the sessions rarely began as scheduled and the who’s who of Ugandan Protestantism was in attendance and introduced. It was definitely a cultural experience.

At the end of it all I enjoyed some wonderful teachings from some of the world’s top leaders and was truly challenged by what was taught. But most of all I was blessed to have shared the experience with Frank. He listened intently, he took notes, we discussed how what was taught could be used at the shop, he enjoyed the food (as any Ugandan would) and he received a certificate at the end. But what stuck me most was a comment he made. He told me that he had passed by that particular hotel a number of times and always thought that he had absolutely no reason to enter, as if it was out of his “league”. Frank was so excited and thankful that I asked him to come, that he finally entered that hotel and that he learned valuable lessons in leadership that he could take back to his work.

A little bit from SJ:

Within one day a nurse has the ability to have such drastically high moments and such drastically low moments – this past Saturday I experienced a high high followed so closely by a low low – I rest in the fact that our God is sovereign and His plans are best!

This past Sat. a few of us rented a car and drove out to Nakasongola for the day. Edith, one of the volunteers from Australia drove the rental care (Australians drive on the same side of the road as Ugandans☺). Edith did a great job at getting us there and back on some not so fantastic roads! We had only a few hours to spend with the kids and we had some things to finish for their sponsorship profiles. Another volunteer that is working with Watoto with us has so graciously volunteered to do the sponsorship profiles for the orphanage during her free time from Watoto – amazing! And we also brought with us the HIV testing kit so that we could finish what we had started a few weeks ago when we did full physicals on the kids. We tested each of the kids, gave them a colorful band aid (which they loved), a lollipop and then Edith prayed over them. I think the kids were very confused as to why these Mzungu’s whom they were coming to love would want to make them bleed and then put there blood on strips…weird concept if you have never had a blood test.

I was expecting the results of the test to be very disappointing. Many of these kids come from horrific backgrounds, from bad home situation, from living in a prison because the police took pitty on them from living on the streets, from homes where both parents and many siblings have died from AIDS. BUT God is soooo good! He is faithful…ALL of the kids were NEGATIVE!!!!! We had a little dance party to celebrate – thank you Jesus!!! It was sad to say good-bye to our precious friends, but what a treat of health!

While in Nakasongola I got a call from the Babies Home asking if on our way through the city we would stop by the home to give IV drugs to Harrison – our newest admit to the babies home. He was septic when he arrived to us and is nearing the end of his treatment and doing well! I said sure as I like to lay eyes on the sick babies at least once a day. When we got there Harrison was looking fantastic. I gave him his meds and then we were about to head back home when Zack arrived back from the surgery. Not to get into too much detail, but he looked terrible. Zack was our 6 week old 1.1kg malnourished little man. I saw him last on the Friday night – just 24 hours ago and I had made the comment to the nannies about how good he was looking and he was gaining weight nicely. Sat evening he looked bad, I assessed him and everytime I touched him I caused him pain. He was a sick little man. I called the bosses of the home to come in. We started his IV and antibiotics. A couple of hours later his breathing was very labored and he was having frequent episodes of apnea and his little heart rate would slow to less then 60 – it should have been above 100/min. We started Zack on all the proper meds, started him on CPAP which gave him temporarily respiratory relief and he even seemed to be on the up swing. Matt and I finally left the home at about 12:20am. Des, the nurse in charge of all Watoto spent the night with Zack. I told Zack before I left that heaven was a great place and not to stay on earth for our sake – Zack’s earth was so full of hurt, pain and neglect for his 6 weeks of life. I didn’t sleep well at all and finally at 6am I got the call saying that Zack had died. Des said that he was doing great – and then just suddenly his little heart just stopped…it was his time to go to Jesus…Zack will never feel hurt, pain or neglect again. We were able to love Zack for the two weeks we shared, but he has never experienced love like he is experiencing now!

Ups and downs…Jesus is in charge of all of them! And so we go on…resting in the fact that our God is sovereign and that we are to be His hands and feet, but he is in control. And I smile when I think of Zack – pain free and loved! And we go back to work – because there are 65 more beautiful lives that need love and care!

I am thankful for the opportunities that God is blessing Matt and I with! May we be faithful to Him in and through all things!