Watoto Mission Team

Friday June 8

Friday, June 8

Today we started our job as apprentice bricklayers! We have found out that it’s harder work than we expected and that we should keep our day jobs! The bricks weigh about 20 pounds and our first task was to form a human chain to get the bricks to the right places. The great part is that it didn’t get too hot! Our foreman was Michael and we got to know some of the workers, too. We laid about 1000 bricks today and are close to half done. The mortar is hand mixed and the workers have to haul water up in 5 gallon containers from 100 yards away. The bricks were made on site earlier.

We are becoming accustomed to Kampala traffic. There are very few traffic lights and cars have the right of way. Our guide Andrew calls the traffic lights “the best decoration in Kampala” because they so rarely work. Motorbikes are everywhere and of course everyone drives on the left side of the road. The cars come so close to our bus that we can reach out and bonk them on the head! Not that we would do that, though! And motorcycles—which they call motorbikes—just squeeze between the cars and people however they can.

When we try to update this blog, we have to go to the internet café next door with its dial up connection and the imminent threat of power blackouts. Not to mention using converters for our electrical outlets. We still have not mastered making international phone calls! Trying to find a local who knows how to do this is almost impossible!

Tomorrow we will be seeing the Babies’ Home in Kampala, for which we collected so many great donated items. We will also see another Watoto village, Suubi, and get to interact with the children more. Then it’s off for some much deserved shopping, provided our sore muscles will even let us move tomorrow!

Every day has been a huge eye-opening adventure, ranging from clear colored orange juice to the smell of raw fish in the open markets. Some of us, on the street side of the hotel, were treated to an all night music event coming in through our open windows. Our hotel is the subject of a whole other page! Lots of adventure to be had without even leaving the hotel!

We will share more tomorrow, hopefully! Please continue to pray for us and for the children of Uganda!

We're Here!

We made it!  We landed at about 7:30 local time this morning--we are 8 hours ahead of you all.  We got our orientation to the Kampala Pentecostal Church, which is the birth church for the Watoto Child Care Ministries.  We have had a great time so far with only a few minor mishaps along the journey.  The internet cafe is an adventure in itself!

We go to the building site for the first time tomorrow, and will get to go to the Babies' Home and other villages on Saturday.  Keep praying for the children of Uganda!

Mission Team Members

Please pray for these persons, who comprise the Watoto Mission Team 2007:

George Crandall, Rachelle Depew, Dave Glover, Kelci Glover, Teri Glover, Libby Hamilton, Brenda Heard, Emily Heard, Hallie Heard, Tony Heard, Valerie Most, Lois Nelson, McKenna Poynter, Shea Poynter, Brenda Schewe, Andie Shoemaker, Charlie Sojka, Jake Taylor, Dana Taylor, Susan Wilhite, Tamara Worman, Gage Woodard, Jean Woodard

Please Pray For Us!

Please pray for us and for the children of Uganda!  Here is a prayer guide to guide your prayer during the next few weeks.

Download watoto_prayer_guides_for_webblog.doc

PDF...

Download watoto_prayer_guides_for_webblog_pdf.pdf

Ready to Go!

On Tuesday, we'll be packing up all the items that have so generously been donated.  We hope we have enough space!  What we can't take personally will be shipped, so no donations will go unappreciated.

We'll be commissioning our team members during worship next weekend.  Continue to pray that God will work powerfully in us during the weeks to come!

Watoto Mission Trip 2007 Update

We are just 2 1/2 weeks away from our departure!  The team is assembling donated items to take for the Watoto Babies' Home and is still accepting cash to help furnish the orphanage we will be building.  The 23 of us who are going--from West Heights, East Heights, Maize, and College Hill--will be building two homes in a Watoto Child Care Ministries village.  One home will house eight orphans and a house mother, and the other home will be for a teacher.

We received several items and substantial donations from East Heights' French Market that will all be going directly to the Watoto group.

A prayer guide will be available so you can surround us with your prayers.

Don't forget that we will be posting pictures and news on this web site while we are gone--hopefully each day.  So check us out and see how God is working in Uganda!

God is Good!

God is so good!  God has moved the people of East Heights to give generously, and we have reached our goal of $15,000 to build a home in Uganda!  In addition, gifts have come in to support members of the mission team as well as help us pay for incidental expenses.  We will gladly accept donations still, as we will probably incur some shipping expenses.   We will use any excess money to start a fund for the next trip to Watoto, probably in the summer of 2009.

We are now in the process of collecting supplies to furnish the Watoto Babies' Home.  We need things like cloth diapers, plastic pants, sipper cups, bottles, and formula, just to mention a few.  Here is a link to the list.  The Children's Choirs are helping with the collection process--look for the brightly colored boxes near Hedrick Hall and in the Coffee Shop.

Pray every day for the children of Uganda.  This country has been devastated by the AIDS epidemic.  Watoto Child Care Ministries is working to raise the next generation of Ugandan leaders in a loving, stable, CHRISTIAN environment--think what a difference this can make!

We're going to Uganda!

A group of 14 will be taking the trip of a lifetime!  We will depart June 5 for Uganda, where we will be building a home for eight children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.  Our home is located in the Suubi village; Suubi is Swahili for "hope."  We go to provide hope for a better life for these children and in turn to be touched by their lives!

The biggest hurdle yet to cross is finances.  We are responsible for raising $15,000 for building materials, and each person making the trip is responsible for travel costs of around $3200.  If you can help, consider "buying a brick" for $100 or supporting us with any contribution.  Attached is a brochure that tells more about our mission.

Please pray for us and for the children of Uganda!

Brenda Heard

East Heights' Team Leader

Download watoto_brochure_2.doc

Download watoto_brochure_2.pdf

Video Share...

Welcome....

Welcome to The Watoto Mission Team Weblog!!