Sundays!

Sundays are always nice and busy for me. This is kind of how it's been going the past couple of weeks: wake up at around 6:30, run worship slides and attend service for the 8:00 service, run slides for 10:15 service then hang out at the house, work on finishing touches on my teachings and devotional booklets, teach the younger kids for about 30 minutes (this week we talked about Jesus walking on water and Peter taking His eyes off of Him and how you can get saved just like Peter was), teach the girl's Bible study (this week we went over John 3:1-21) then from there it was time for Chinese. I love it though because it's kind of like what my whole week builds up to.

The Bible study with the younger kids has become one of my highlights to my week, to really think about things through their eyes is a challenge, but a good one. I have about 7 kids who come who are mainly kids of the staff members. They range in age from 7-10 and they're just so awesome! They each take a turn reading a verse as we just read through a normal NIV Bible that they have for those who come to church and then I kind of break it down for them and then give some illustrations and try to keep their attention while teaching them the spiritual truth behind it. I never in a million years would think I would be teaching kids anything, and so it's just been so cool how God has opened this door, knowing I did NOTHING to begin this, they just asked me about three weeks ago for me to teach them from the Bible and so that's what I did. Just pray for me that I would be able to teach in a way that helps them to grow but is still at their level and that they can understand it. My main hope is that I would just give them a passion to read their Bibles and learn more about who God truly is.

My BFRM

So for those of you who don't know, I have a friend named Jillian. We went to high school together, were roommates, I was in her wedding and we even worked together... needless to say we're pretty good friends. Well, she and her husband Christian just got a Mac and so they were able to rock the iChat with me tonight and I was able to see their precious little baby Anaya who is only 6 weeks old and I just loved it so so much! I have to admit there are times that I feel so out of the loop and hate that I'm missing so many huge events in the lives of the people I love, but God has truly blessed me with the ability to stay connected to many of them, including my BFRMCW (Best Friend Room Mate Co-Worker) - who I must say is still the coolest person I know.

Giving it a try

Right now I'm in youth group and today we did something we've never done before, we've divided the younger kids from the older ones in hopes of teaching them at their own level. Richard is teaching the youngin's (10-13 year olds) and Ryan is teaching the older kids (14-20). Hopefully it works out ok.

Ooh another care package!

I'm so spoiled! My girls at Calvary hooked me up with two big boxes filled with amazingness! I got my first one about two weeks ago, and the second one today and this time I got Captain Crunch! Oh my goodness I totally had it for my dinner tonight!

And it begins....

Jess started playing Christmas music this morning, and I love it! We're listening to Alan Jackson sing "Have yourself a merry little Christmas" I just can't believe it's that time of the year. I love it so much!

My ode to Ocean Spray

So I already mentioned this in my last blog but I think a little more time needs to be spent on this... it's a subject that's very close to my heart: the joy that Ocean Spray cranberries bring to my soul. Some people grew up with fresh cranberry sauce, but for me, it's not a holiday without that glorious can-shapped (or those times when you try and make them look fresh) gelatinous mass on a plate. Normally you can't get cans of this beautiful product here, but the people whose house we went to planned ahead and had some people from the States send it to them. That is truly another thing I'm VERY thankful for.

My Ugandan Thanksgiving

Today was actually a pretty cool day. I had class this morning and then we headed over to Jim and Dianne Claire's house for thanksgiving with about 40 other missionaries and ten army guys who are stationed here. It was absolutely beautiful as we were overlooking the Nile, yeah, that's right the Nile and it was about 90 degrees. We had all the Thanksgiving necessities: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and even Ocean Spray cranberries. Afterwards, Jim, Diane, Kieth, Ellen, Jess, Bev, Ryan, and I just sat around a fire outside and had such a nice time talking. It truly was an awesome day considering it was my first holiday away from home. I'm so thankful that God has given these experiences that I know I'll never forget and how much He's taught me. Our God is such a great and amazing God and the greatest thing is how He put Himself in skin in order to die for our sins and endure that pain for us, so just to get on a little spiritual soap box, don't forget to thank God today in the midst of all the food, as every breath, every heart beat is a gift from Him. Oh yeah, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!