Mum's Day

Pam’s Blog: A team of 7 women including myself just wrapped up a week long Bible Study for 22 Mums. We studied 5 women of the bible and memorized scripture to go with the lessons on a daily basis. We’d begin our meetings with praise and worship and wow! do these women know how to praise God. They sing beautifully and with such life. They clap and even dance while they make incredible music without any instruments. It is an amazing experience. After the group lesson, we’d break up into small groups to have discussion. My ladies were Eunice, Betty, Beatrice and Hope. The first day they were very shy and I had to establish a rapport with them. Since three spoke only Lugandan, Eunice, whose english skills are very good, translated for me. By the middle of the week they were loving on me and hugging me. Kristin came down with a fever and stomach issues on Sunday. I shared this with my ladies and asked for their prayers for Kristin. Kristin came by the study a couple days later and thanked them personally for their prayers. They got so excited and began touching and hugging her. Right away, they said it is not to our glory but God’s! They are such incredible ladies who love the Lord very much. I visited each one of them in their homes this week and they are so proud to show me their children’s (orphans) rooms, as well as, their own. We would customarily sit on a mat in their room and visit. I had each one of them tell me their testimony. Each one of these women have experienced such hardships in their lives but don’t dwell on that part but how God provides for them and His love,instead. As I write this, my eyes are filling with tears as I reflect on each of their genuine faith in the Lord. They are such warm people that love to touch and hug and give words of affirmation and love to me. I am blessed to call them my sisters and friends in Uganda. They will always remain in my heart as precious women. Today, as a culmination of our week together with all the women, our team treated them to a special day at our hotel. They arrived by bus this morning in their best dresses. They were so excited as if they were children getting off a bus to go to Disneyland. Then we treated them to a manicure and pedicure each. Karlie and Kristin had the privilege of doing this and making these women feel very special. We then had a beautiful catered lunch for them and I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen women eat so much. They piled their plates and even went back for seconds. These women’s diet consists of mostly only starchy food at the orphanage and they get meat only once a month. So, you can imagine when they are offered chicken, beef, and fish all at one time, what their plates looked like. It was hard to imagine where these thin women were putting this quantity of food. We sent them home with a gift back of soap, finger nail clippers, lotion, and shaver. You thought we gave them a million dollars. The simplest of gifts are a treasure here! One women said to us, “This is like Christmas to us!” The mums look forward to this day for one full year. The entire day struck an emotional cord in me as I stopped to realize how we have so much in America. We are a blessed nation! It is hard to explain the poverty here until you experience it first hand. Often, I stop to cry as something I’ve seen breaks my heart and the helplessness I feel not being able to fix it all for these dear friends. This is an amazing experience and I’m so excited God brought me to Uganda to continue my journey in growing in Him. And wow, He is working in my life as I watch these people praise God. They don’t measure His love by what they do and don’t have, they just see Him as The Great Provider and go to Him for everything they need. Thank you for your prayers for our family!!!!!