African Hearts VBS [Day Two]

Our second day at Ssenge Village and African Hearts began about the same way as the first day. Some of us went to work and pour/slash/plant trees/etc while others stayed at the African Hearts home to love on the boys and other children from the village who were home from school because it was Saturday. These kids are SO amazing.

Ruth. She is beautiful and amazing and sings like a little angel. She has an awesome story and excels in schooling against all odds. Precious, precious girl. 

Woah, woah...WAIT. I thought you were a pastor, man? :)  

Samuel is abusive ;)

This kid right here is SO amazing. He has my heart for sure. He speaks such good english and told me his entire story. He is a singer/song writer and an orphan. Such an amazing kid. I cannot wait to see God's plans for his life! 

Emma and I with George slipped out of the village and into the city to grab snacks for VBS later that afternoon. A lot of driving around, a lot of shillings, and 500+ donuts and juice boxes we had completed our 'mission' and were on the way back to Ssenge. We pulled up at the school unloaded all of the goodies and headed back to African Hearts for some of Moreen's delicious cooking again. Those from the pastor's conference came back to African Hearts and ate with us. I took the pictures below as we went to town with George. I am so fascinated with the beautiful scenery in Africa.

The VBS people then packed up and began the walk to VBS. This time we literally yelled for anyone and everyone to follow us. "Aye. Baybee come with me! we have sweeties and Jesus! come, come!"
totally like a kidnapping call, but so many children and adults came running with us. They were SO excited and SO ready to go play with us! It was so joyful.

One thing about Africa, everything is 20 minutes and nothing starts on time. For example;

"George how far is it to Ssenge?" -me

"20 minutes" -George

one hour later 

"Ten more minutes!" -George

and 

VBS begins at 2pm!

 we arrive at 2:10pm and the kids arrive at 2:30pm or later. 

That's just how it is. I love it that way though. It keeps things interesting and fun and so laid back. It is Africa. See, in America everyone is usually 30 or so minutes early. In Africa, everyone 30 or so minutes late. You learn to love it. Trust me.

Anyways, the VBS began with lots of songs and Jesus praising. We then went on to separate class rooms and began coloring, face painting, stickers, jewelry making, nail painting, and etc. It. Was. So. Much. Fun. Truly one of the highlights of my trip was nail painting and face painting.

Alicia and I did face painting. We painted probably 150 little faces. They looked so stinking cute, too! The joy that was on these kids face from face paint was enough to bring me to tears. Face paint, I thought. FACE PAINT. I don't rejoice over face paint, thank the person 100 times for painting a crooked and very pitiful flower on my face, and I surely don't bow to them in thanks. No, usually I have this 'Oh, whatever' feel about it. These children were JOYFUL. They were Jesus. I believe more and more that we need to send missionaries from Africa to America. We need Jesus. The REAL Jesus way more than these precious people. These people know this man named Jesus and he is so real to them. It is a BEAUTIFUL thing. Absolutely beautiful.

Our next stop was to pass out all of the snacks {which is a chore in itself} and to listen to Emma tell them about Jesus. It was a wonderful moment to sit back and breathe. Once that was over I got this genius idea while everyone else was giving hugs, kisses, and packing up to pull out the one bottle of nail polish I had tucked away in my bag 'just in case' so I could paint a sweet little girl named Mary's nails. All of a sudden I was surrounded. It turned into one set of nails to 100 set of nails. Boys, Girls, or anyone with fingers was wanting me to paint their nails. Oh, and to answer any questions, Yes I did paint boys nails, too. I was not about to tell Joseph he could not have his nails done. He's just a little boy and if he wants it then that's perfectly okay with me. {Save the judgement, please}

Once my nail fiasco was over we said our very tearful goodbyes. I hugged so many children. I kissed so many children. I flat out just loved so many children and in return, I was loved back. I was loved fiercely those five minutes. It was a sad goodbye, but in Uganda we do not say goodbye. We say 'See you' which gives me hope.

I did not tell any of my little ones goodbye. I told them 'See you' because I will see them again one day. and that day is one I just can't wait for.

God continued to break my heart in Africa. At the end of every day I was dirty, tired, gross, smelled horrible {looked it, too}, and just plain mentally exhausted, but at the end of every day I was filled with unspeakable joy. I was looking forward to getting up at 6am the next morning because that meant another morning to rejoice in the day that the Lord had made.