Father, Son, & Woody Team - Day 2

Greetings from Uganda!  After finally reaching a bed last night and catching a few hours of sleep we rose to see what the day held in store us.  We woke to a delicious breakfast and coffee to prepare us for the day.  Once we finished the meal we loaded up our vehicles and headed to Buloba  and to the school where we are and will be holding the baseball camps. 

Today we were blessed to meet our guide for the week, Gideon, and our new driver as well, Joshua.  Gideon is not only a Christ Follower, but also a smart young man who is taking a year between his college (Ugandan version of high school) and University.  Joshua is a father of twins now and was quick to joke about the little sleep he was receiving.  Even still he is  great driver and despite his lack of rest still manages to raise fewer hairs than our good friend Eddie. 

When we first arrived at the school the children were in a schooling session and so we were able to be given the experience of carrying clean water from the well and carrying it the long distance back to the school.  All of us struggled to some degree but we were all humbled as we saw children many times less our size carrying the same or similarly sized water jugs to their homes. 

After carrying the water, the children were let out of their classes for their breakfast of porridge and a roll of bread.  We were able to serve them and each one of the children were very polite and either said “Thank  you” or curtsied to show their appreciation.  This really struck me as they much gratitude for  a very simple act of service.

After this we were able to the take a group of the older children to a nearby field and begin teaching baseball.  After distributing gloves and balls and a few technique recommendations there were tennis balls flying through the air and laughter being heard as they learned to throw and catch.  After this we worked on batting and using Mark’s idea of an old water jug with a water bottle in the opening as a baseball tee the kinds were lining balls into the outfield. Many caught on quickly and a few were downright impressive but they all had fun and their eagerness to listen and learn was remarkable.

After this we went to a friend of the church’s home for a wonderful meal that just about put us down for the count for the rest of the afternoon.  But just before the second half of the group began to fall asleep (the first was out cold while their food digested) we headed back to the school for a second session of baseball.  This time around we had a younger group of the children 12 and up.  These children were full of energy, which occasionally translated to a short attention span, but again they were very interested in learning to catch, throw, and hit. 

After a few hours of batting practice, shagging balls, and a little instruction our team walked back to the school where we loaded up the van and headed back to the house.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing and recuperating from the trip yesterday.  After a meal, debrief session, and a devotion we fellowshipped a little more as a group and have finally all headed off to bed. 

Today was rollercoaster of a day as we learned on the fly how we were going to hold the baseball camps with such a large group of children but with a little teamwork and some patience from on High we all had a great time and look forward to the camps to come this week.

Tomorrow we are going to go to Gaba church and to the church next to the school in Buloba, which we are very excited about.  After a quick meal, we are going to resume baseball camps and hopefully start playing a few games as well.  We look forward to the opportunity to love on the kids more and to interact with them in the name of our Saviour. 

Today I was also taught “Jesu Aberanga” (forgive if I misspelled) which mean “Jesus loves you (plural of you)”.  So in closing it was awesome to have that be the first thing taught to me by one of the school children in Lugandan.  From all of us here in Uganda, God Bless, goodnight, and know Jesu Aberanga!

On behalf of the team, Woody Parramore