new sheets and all smiles in Jinja

Today was another great day at Canaan - we got to sing with the school kids, and watched their joy as they showed us how to truly praise and worship. The team talked to the classrooms and answered their questions.....they wanted to know what we do in America, what we eat, what our hobbies were, etc. We all saw very quickly that there are really no major differences. Teens in America like to paint nails, read and talk......girls in Uganda like the same. Girls in America love fixing up their bedrooms and girls in Uganda are thrilled when they receive new sheets for their beds. We saw the need for new sheets and the team went to town to purchase them for 20 girls in one of the dorms. We only saw the reaction of two of the girls because the rest were away at school all day. They were so thankful and so appreciative. The pink and blue flowers all over the room looked like a typical girls bedroom. Only it is not typical. Not typical by our standards. These girls have very little.........sheets for bedding is a gift they will treasure and the smiles received are treasures that will forever be embedded in our hearts. We are sad we cannot do more but blessed that God is allowing us to do what we can.

The children ate their beans and rice for lunch and we left to order and get wood for the next day. Tomorrow they will receive new shelves and lockers for their dorms. They will no longer have to place their school books under their bunk beds. The girls and boys will be able to hang their favorite jacket up and they will have a "space" to call their own. Girls and boys in America and Uganda are all the same.......they just want a place to call their own. They all want family and love. We left Canaan and visited the Amani Baby Cottage where we will be working next week. It is a different feel. They have colorful, bright surroundings.......from the rooms, clothes and mommas. They love well and we were emotional as we met our friends again. We love them and are very loved by both Canaan and Amani.

Jordan shared a devotion with us from 1 John 4: 7-12 this morning.

"Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

We are learning what love looks like...........

“What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” by Saint Augustine

santiz