The Adventure Begins

You all have been waiting so patiently, so I will skip the details of the 20+ hour flying time, jet lag, 8 hour time change and airport layovers that it took to get to Africa. It could have been worse, and it was for some members of our team. (Shout out to Tina and Ashlee! J) Chloe had never felt tired like she did by the time we got to Paris. There were some tears and a great nap in a random chair at the airport.

We flew from Paris into Nairobi, Kenya, and then we took an hour plane ride to Entebbe, Uganda. It was dark when we arrived at about 2am their time. Thirteen suitcases from our team (2 of them McMorris’) did not make it all the way to Uganda, so we spent at least another hour filling out paperwork in hopes that we would one day see our luggage again.

Oh, and the scary military police with giant guns…holy moly. They held these machine guns like they were ready to shoot at any moment. I kept Chloe close and didn’t let Dave do anything too dumb. We did have a little fun while we were waiting though...

We drove through Kampala and saw our first glimpses of the red dirt roads, dogs everywhere roaming the streets, and so many boda-bodas (motorcycles). It seriously felt like we were in a movie. The scenery, the buildings, the shacks…they were all just like you see in documentaries. We were seeing it in real life, but it was so surreal that we kept saying to each other in disbelief, “We are really in Africa.” Dave and I kept reminding each other of the days when a trip to Africa was just a crazy idea we had, yet here we were.

Our first ministry was one that truly captured my heart from the moment we met the pastor. We were staying in a beautiful guest home that was newly built. Each “home” had two bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, and a kitchen, though they cooked all of our meals for us. There was even wi-fi…that was a happy surprise! This was by far the best accommodations we had for the trip. We were a little spoiled to have gone here first.  

Just outside the gate of our guest home lived some roosters and chickens. We arrived around 3:30am, and the roosters were already crowing. We did manage to get a few hours of sleep before it was time to wake up, meet some kids, and worship with this community.

Sunday

Words cannot explain what we experienced as we walked onto the property that Return Ministries rents for the 300+ kids to have somewhere to worship, play, and receive meals.

Our group of 22 “Muzungu”(white people) walked down this rutted out, garbage lined, red dirt road and came to a clearing in the trees. Before we could catch our breath, 300 children came running for us. At least 10 children grabbed each of us and pulled us to sit with them. They wanted to see our skin, our sunglasses, our hair. They wanted hugs, they wanted us to notice them and think that they were special. Some of the children wanted us to take their infant siblings from them so that they could simply be a child for a little while. It was awesome and unbelievable and heart-breaking all at once. There were only a handful of adults there for church, but so many children.

We were all swept away from each other as these kids so desperately pulled for our attention. I had no idea that this would occur, so I hadn’t had time to prepare myself, let alone Chloe. So, as I tried to love these kids, I was also frantically searching for Chloe in the mass of bodies. I was terrified that she was overwhelmed or being pulled on by children. I felt so uneasy not being able to see her.

Quickly we all found our way to some seats, and what I saw was the most precious thing that I have ever seen in my life. The only picture I have of it is in my memory because I was frozen in awe. Once I realized that I would later want pictures, I captured these...

This is Paul, who Chloe wants to adopt as her own.

I looked over to where I had last seen Chloe, and my 10 year old girl was holding a sweet pudgy baby boy on her hip and bending down to talk with a gaggle of other little kids. She wasn’t overwhelmed or afraid for a second. She was all smiles, as if this is exactly what she had expected. I could have just turned into a ball of mush in that moment and cried. I was so proud of her. That was the first moment on this trip where I could see that God had big plans for her on this trip. She just grew up in the blink of an eye.

Chloe sat with those kids and held on to that baby all through the church service. When we stood up to sing, she bent down and sang to the kids and tried to get them to dance with her. It was like she was made for this. It was so natural for her.

I was with some sweet, sweet girls named Precious and Pretty. They are sisters. They had glitter all over themselves (no idea where that came from), and as we sat on the wooden bench for worship in this clearing, they picked single pieces of glitter off of themselves and placed it on me. They were so proud to share this prized possession. They wanted me to be like them. A ribbon fell off of Pretty’s dress, and she quickly tied it onto my pinkie. So generous. We were their guests. They would have given us anything.

Can you see the glitter? Such a gift. They were sad when I had washed it the next day. :-(

Little Pretty

After worship we watched the older kids move the wooden benches to create 3 large circles, one for the babies, one for the young kids, and one for the older kids. The children crammed on these benches as they prepared to be served their meal for the day. Little babies balanced precariously, but never seemed to fall. Little bitty kids held onto even little bitty-er kids. They all knew the drill. They tried to not fall off the benches as they waited for their plate or bowl (or, if they ran out of dishes, their Frisbee, brought by previous guests) of rice and beans was delivered to them by one of the teenagers.

I think we all headed back to our guest home for our lunch with our jaws on the ground. We had just experienced our very first of many unbelievable moments. We were really in Africa. These children really will only get this one meal today. If it weren’t for Pastor Samuel’s work, they possibly wouldn’t even get this.

Chloe’s quotes from the morning:

“I have never felt so much love!”

“They are so grateful for everything!”

“More people should come here so that they can see that we should all be like this!”

And, the one everyone anticipated…

“So, can we adopt some?”