Evangeline Lamara Part one <3

Oh How He loves us. =]]

Africa Day Nine::
Sunday::

Ok, so this is literally going to be my journal entry from the day i met Evangeline Lamara (Evi). It's one of the only days i actually recorded my thoughts, because i wanted to get down the raw emotions of that day. Every other day was just bulletnotes in my notebook. haha.
I think i'm only gonna have the one day. Because it's such a big day. and then i'll do the next day like, tomorrow. (since i don't work.) And it'll be great. I just think that these are two very very big days, they each deserve their own entry. =]

Today was a crazy day...a very crazy day in Africa.
We went to a church in a stinking thatched roof cottage!! It was pretty amazing. But a little confusing because i didn't quite understand everything that they said, even in English. ha. They had such thick accents. When we got to the church there were a bunch of children jumping around and singing "hallelujah Amen" It was honestly, wonderful. The children were kindof scared of us...But i sat in the middle of them and two of them latched onto my hand. It was super precious. One of the girls was holding my hand, and then this other girl next to her started to make fun of her and tease her and she stoppedholding my hand for awhile. The church service was so long...like you don't even understand. It went from like 10-1:30 or so. maybe even before 10..i don't really remember. I was so hungry by the time we left...then we went to a restaraunt and ate some ok food.
THEN we went to this orphanage calle Gukipa. (this is where it gets really good) And i saw this darling baby. I whispered to Macy, "dibs on the baby in pink." When i went over to take her, she was getting a bath, i helped the lady give her a bath then i dressed her and held her. She cuddled up against me and this wave of love washed over me like nothing i've ever felt before. [[for those of you that are Moms, i imagine it was something like the first time you hold your child...]] I didn't really know how to react, i wanted to cry, laugh and just take her home with me....because never wanted to leave her again. i never wanted to have to spend a day without being with her. I started singing Lead Me To The Cross and she laid her head down and fell asleep against me. I rocked her back and forth and fell in love so quickly. We had an instant connection, Clarissa said she felt the connection between us too. The other kids danced for us and the others in my group did stomp for the children, while i sat with Evi in my lap asleep. I was in heaven. I would have brought her back to the school if Rodney had let me, but he said it wasn't safe and i understand that. So i had to leave her. It was the hardest thing i'd ever done...
Taylor wanted to hold her for a bit so i was gonna let her.and as i was leaning down to hand Evi to her, she got a death grip on my arm, but i gave her to Taylor still. When i took her back, she clung to me.
I went to talk to Phillip. Because i really wanted this poor baby as my own. Phillip said that the adoption would be a long process because i'm single. yeah, like that's gonna discourage me. ha. But he also said that it will be cheaper and easier becausei'm going to stay in the country with her for awhile (several years) but that once the papers are signed she'll be mine (she already is in my heart) I've never felt so strongly about anything in my life. i've never felt so much love for a single child in my life. It was almost scary...
Anyway, so Parker came and said he wanted to hold her, and she was about to cry when i handed her to him. So i took her back. Then macy came and took her and she held my arm so tightly and looked at Macy like she was about to cry. Sp Macy gave her back and Evi just cuddled up against me and sighed. She had her arms around my neck. It was precious.
Then Rodney came over and was like "I wanna hold her" and he reached for her and she turned away from him, so he went around to the other side and did the same thing, and she turned away again, whimpering. He gave up. =]
I held her the rest of the time. phillip talked to his mom, who runs Gukipa, about me adopting Evi and she was all for it. Although she thought that i was taking her that night... which i wanted to. So badly.
When it was time to go I waited so i was the last one on the van so that i could hold Evi as long as i could. When i walked over to give her back Phillip said "Today, she is a new mother" and the 4 ladies smiled and clapped. And then i had to hand her back, Evi started crying. I was about to cry so i handed her over and said "i love you" and phillip said "you're mommy is coming back tomorrow." and i walked away, tears rolling down my cheeks. i got in the car and laid my head on Macy's shoulder, and just cried. Phillip came over and said, "please don't cry. You will see her again tomorrow." Ha, yeah, i cried the whole way home.
later Lacey told me that as i walked away, Evi was reaching for me over Phillips' Mothers' shoulder. I cried all night. Literally. I just cried.
Clarissa said that this is the reason i came to Africa. This was the reason i waited 5 years before getting to come. because i'm supposed to save Evi.

The end for today. Hopefully i'll get the next day down sometime soon. I'm not sure when, i work a lot now.

~~Katelyn~~

Africa days 7&8

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post... I don't have a lot of pics for these days... I'm thinking that once i get done with the stories from Africa i'll do a picture post which is gonna be just pictures, all my favorites from everyones pictures. =]]

also, thanks for bearing with me, i realize it's been over 2 weeks since i last posted. I apologize for that! =D

Africa Day Seven::
Friday::

Friday was one of the slower days. It was our alst day going to all the different schools. it was our last day before we went to Gulu for a week-ish. But it was still fun. Throughout the week There had been a group of children that hung out outside our hotel. All of the children in this group were wearing bright yellow dresses or shirts. One of the little girls there was named Margaret. She latched on to me. We played together everyday and we just had a blast. Every single day she asked me to come to her orphanage and play games with the children there. I told her i didn't know if we were or not. Well, i think it was Thursday afternoon that Clarissa told me that the next school we were going to was called Saint Marys (i think...I'm really not 100% sure about it..) And that the orphanage was pretty close to our motel, like, right around the corner. I told Margaret and I asked her if that was where her school is. She said yes. And she got very excited that we were going to her school. She grabbed my hand, and wouldn't let go. It was so precious.
So Friday morning we went to the orphanage. All of the children were wearing yellow uniforms, but the orphanage was SO poor. There were holes in the walls. It was really sad. All of the children were crowded into the "great room" to listen to us. The words Great Room are in quotes because i don't believe that room really qualified as a great room. It was so shabby and really small. Not nearly large enough to hold as many children as it held. Andrea and I got very excited, because as we were getting ready to do our songs for them, Ivan walked in. We ran over and hugged him, I had no idea that he was staying at the orphanage. It was so fun. We made him help us with our songs and dances and he had a blast. After that we walked about half a mile to a big field, and there were SO many children there from different schools, some of the children that hung out outside our motel, it was pretty fun, but we only stayed for a few minutes, because we were supposedly going to another school. I say supposedly because after we got back to our hotel, the other school cancelled on us. So instead we walked 45 minutes to get to a resaraunt... the food was ok... but i think the walk was my favorite part... It was interesting to walk the whole way, rather than drive. I felt like i saw more of the people on those streets, because we had driven on the streets before, but walking was such a different experience.
Also, while at the resaraunt, i used a squatty potty for the very first time, haha that was quite an experience. haha.
When we were walking home it was a little scarier because it was dark. Each of the guys had to pair up with one or two girls and like, protect us. While we were walking home this guy on the street came at me making kissy faces and Parker was like, Back off Man. and he backed away laughing. it was, honestly, terrifying. but i survived. =]
We got home and talked about Saturday because we were leaving to go to Gulu for the Safari and just hanging out at this one school. Then we went to bed.

Africa Day Eight::
Saturday::

So, Saturday we woke up and got in our vans (we had two) and drove about 8 hours to Gulu. It was a pretty fun ride. Most people slept and I listened to music. One of my favorite things to do was when we'd stop on the side of the road and get food. They sold meat and bananas and other stuff. We got sodas and such things. It was a lot of fun. Quite an experience. On the way we went to see where Clarissa and Rodney stayed while they were living there. The house was beautiful. but there was this one house that was unfinished that looked like a stinking castle. It was crazy. =]]
After we got to the school where we were staying for a few nights, and got settled in we went to another school to look aroundand play with the children. They had a HUGE field at this school. Matt, Collin, Parker and I started kicking around a soccer ball (or a football as they call it) Then Phillip decided that we were gonna play a game of football (soccer). We were gonna try to do AfricansvsAmericans. haha. it was gonna be great, but no one else from our group wanted to play. So they gave us some of their people and we started a game. i didn't think i was gonna be able to play, being a girl and all i didn't think it would be right, or how it would be viewed in their culture, but Phillip said it was ok for me to. So i did. All of the boys on the other team thought it was really funny that i was going to play with them. I think they thought it would be easy to get the ball past me, because i'm a girl... but they underestimated me... They didn't know that i've played against my brother who is one of the best soccer players i know. Anyway, At first they were trying to get past me, but i kept stopping them, so they were trying to figure out how to get past me. They couldn't...i think that in the whole time i played (i played half the game) they got it past me maybe twice. the other two guys playing defense with me seemed a little surprised but they would tell me Good Job and such. Then when i went off, Phillip was laughing quietly to himself, he said "they are muttering about you in Acholi. They are mad that they couldn't get the ball past you." then he laughed some more. i laughed too and told him about my brother. =]] it was really funny.
We went back to the school where we stayed (only the girls, the boys stayed at another school about 15 minutes away) we had supper and it was SO good. I love the food there. I just want to clarify this:: The ONLY food i DIDN'T like was the Minnow meal. that's it. I loved all the other food.
We ate really late there. We ate at like, 9:30 and then we had share time and then the boys left. We went to sleep. This is the fun part. There were 15 girls and like....7 twin mattresses. Oh it was hilarious. We were very...uh cozy.
I woke up the next morning and lo and behold, right above my stinking face, spiders. I was sortof ok with it. but kindof not. I don't care what you say, spiders above your head are not fun. ever. Even if they are spiders in Africa.
That was the exciting part.
So the end.





And if any of you are wondering i'm getting to the story of little Evangeline Lamara. :) It happens on Sunday. I'm ending on Saturday. =]]

God Bless~~


Katelyn~~ <3

PS. Update on Jackie!!
Things are going well, She's only got 3 more weeks of Chemo. And the doctor said she's no longer classified as having AIDS but is now classified as HIV+. He said that once they kill the cancer, and if she continues taking her ARVs she will live a long and happy life! =]] thank you all for your prayers!! =]]
~Katelyn

Africa Days 5&6

Africa Day Five::
Wednesday::

When i woke up on Wednesday morning, I felt MUCH better. I had slept really good that night. One thing i failed to mention was that the malaria medicine i was taking gave me these crazy hallucinations. it was always the same and it happened most every night. The hallucination was as follows:: I'm laying in bed (it always happened at night) and I look above me, on this shelf just below the ceiling are children. All of them staring at me. I know they're dead...i don't know how i know. I just know that they're dead. They just stare at me. I looked over at the window and they were walking in the window... It scared me. The first night when i had it i didn't know what it was... It was our very first night in Africa and I was rooming with Andrea. I remember her looking at me and i said "do you see the children" and she said no and rolled over and went back to sleep. It was so scary. Anyway... that night i didn't have the hallucinations.So i woke up feeling very refreshed...
The first school we went to was called Creamhill. It was the nicest school we visited. The children had these color coordinated shirts (red, blue, yellow, or green) and they were lined up according to their shirt color. one of the things i remember about Creamhill was this one little girl i saw. She was doing the "pee pee dance" It was sortof sad because she was standing in the middle of the line of red shirts and she started dancing around. and then she just peed on herself. and after that she just went on singing as if nothing had happened. I'm pretty sure i'm the only one that saw her because when i said something about it to Kayla, she didn't see.. she was super precious and after the singing time, we were just playing with the kids and this one little boy who was scared of everyone except me was sitting with me. The peepee girl came and sat next to me. And honestly... thinking back i'm like wow. that's a little gross. she had pee on her. but at the time, in that place, i didn't think about the fact that she had peed on herself. I just saw her as a little girl that needed to be loved. That's one of the things i loved so much about being there... You don't care that they have snot running down their face, or that they just peed in their pants. you just want to love them.
The little boy that was sitting with me was so precious. He was terrified of everyone else. but for some reason he liked me. I was the only one he wouldn't cry around. And if anyone else came near him he started crying and hid behind me.
Right as we were leaving the teachers decided they wanted me to take pictures of them. so i took several pictures. And as we were leaving all the children climbed on the gate and were sticking their hands through the bars
After we were done at the Creamhill Kindergarten (3-6) we walked down the road a ways to the Creamhill Primary (ages 6-13). They were color coordinated as well. i was really starting to feel pretty sick again. i think it was the walking and the heat and still trying to get over being sick the day before. But, of course, i still played with the children! I didn't do the dancing that my group does. The only one i did was "together" because they needed my name for it. haha. And i helped with the Stomp. but then i sat. The children did a few skits and songs for us. it was absolutely adorable! Then they did this::
Headmaster/teachers: "God is good"
Children: "All the time"
Headmaster/teachers: "All the time""
Children: "God is good. 'Cause that is His Nature. Wow."
It was so absolutely adorable. The whole team started saying that by the end of that day. I just loved it.
After we were done working and playing with the children it was lunch time. And this, my dear readers, is where it gets a little crazy. haha.We had lunch at Creamhill instead of going back to Cari's. First, i just want to say that they give us huge portions in Africa. No matter where we went, i always felt terrible because i COULDN'T eat what they gave us. They just gave me too much food. But i really did love the food there. Except for at Creamhill. What they gave us was Posho (probably spelled that wrong)...it's a bland, pasty food that fills you up really fast. Beans. and Minnow. I kid you not. Minnows. whole little silverfish heads and all. It was insane. and we HAD to eat it because otherwise it would be an insult to the school and it would reflect badly on Cari and Annette and Charles. So we did indeed eat it. It was craaaaazy. it was almost worse, because i felt sooooo sick.... it was just basically insane. Umm, yes. it was lots of....fun. T.I.A. baby (This Is Africa)
We went back home to have some chill time. I mean the motel, not home. but it did become like home to me... Honestly. It was home... I can't even lie. When we went to Gulu and then back to the hotel i just felt like i was coming home.
Anyway, i stayed home with Luke, Shannon, and Lacey because none of us felt good. It was fun. Shannon slept and Lacey, Luke and I hung out in my room. Just being silly and talking about our favorite parts so far. It was so much fun. The school we missed was Kampala Hill, which we went back to the next day to play with the younger children. When the group went and i didn't, They were with 13-19 year olds. When we went back the next day it was with 6-13 year olds.
The end for Wednesday. =]

What the children are saying is: The Farmers Hen has laid an egg.

Africa Day Six::
Thursday::

So thursday, Parker and I woke up extra early (ok, not really. About 30 minutes before everyone else) and we went to Cari's school. When Cari came to pick us up she had a little girl with her. She told us that the little girl was named Jackie. (see last post for her story.) Teaching at Cari's was lots of fun! There were 8 students: Klovis, Aurthur, Bashir, Vanessa, Doreen, Zion, Herbert, and Jackie. What they're drinking is sort of like porridge. It tastes like oatmeal and its really smooth like a smoothie. it was totally weird and yes, i drank it. all of it. from what others were saying i was expecting something way worse. honestly, the porridge wasn't THAT bad. just weird. Parker was very nice and said that we weren't hungry, but i decided that i was gonna try this porridge thing... and i did. ha. =P
We had lunch at the hotel instead of at Cari's. and then we got to just chill for a little while. Then we went to Kampala Hill for the primary students. It was a lot of fun. We did the Fruit of the spirit song, and for one of the verses you're supposed to have a partner, well we had an odd number of people, so i pulled a kid out of the group and he was my partner. it was great fun! then we played a few games, it was funny there was one little kid that was smaller than all the others, and who did she get attached to? that's right. Moi. =] so we walked around for a bit, and came upon a circle of children. they were playing a game. I couldn't really understand what they were saying, but i figured out that it was a sortof Cinderella game where someone would walk around the circle and pick out their prince or princess. and then the two of them walk around the circle a few times and then the person that was choosing slips back into the group and the other picks out their prince or princess. and so it went. it was lots of fun! anytime someone would get picked everyone would go "OOOOH WOO" and just laugh. Well, one of the boys picked Andrea and everyone thought it was just hilarious. Then a few turns went by and one of the older boys picked me. Everyone laughed hystarically. It was so much fun. The game ended after a few more turns, but i had such fun playing it.
After we left we went to save the street child, it was our last time to go before we went to Gulu. It was pretty sad for everyone. They kids had taught some of us dances (by some of us, i mean those that weren't sick and actually went!) and they did it. I sat with kids all around me and on top of me and it was a lot of fun!
Afterword we started talking about sponsering a child. Andrea and i are now sponsering Ivan. He's awesome. He's 12 years old. and He's now living at Save the Street Child (SSC) and going to a great school! it's so much fun! we told him that since we are sponsering him, it's like we are his sisters. and we told him that because we're his sisters all of our brothers and sisters are also his brothers and sisters. So he now has 18 brothers and sisters! (8 from my family and 10 from Andreas) His eyes got REALLY wide and he said "Really? no way..." and he just smiled and that boy has the BEST smile in the whole wide world.
We went home after SSC and just chilled and ate...and didn't really sleep. I think i was rooming with Shelby...and we had a BLAST! because shelby and i are the same person. ahaha. it was so much fun! =]
So, the end for now. i'll try to be a little faster with this update thing. but lemme just tell ya. It's a lot of work to get this thing up!!! hahaha.

~Katelyn~

I honestly cannot wait for the update about my lil girl. I'm gonna copy my journal entry from that night, so you'll get the raw emotions i felt after that first day with her. I love her so much. and I cannot wait to get back to her.
Just look at her. =] she's beautiful. =[ i miss her so much. remember to keep her in your prayers always.

Jackie =]

Ok, so here we go. =]

Quick note before i get the actual post down...I don't know how many of you know about Little Jackie. If you don't know about her, i'll fill you in right quick. Jackie is the 4 year old girl that Cari (the woman we worked with while we were there) got custody of. She has AIDS and while we were there she was so tiny. Cari would buy her the smallest size of clothes and it would be huge on her. But since she started her medicine she's grown 5 inches and has gained a lot of weight.
About 3 weeks ago, i learned that Jackie might have Cancer. Honestly, i cried about it. for like the whole day. But it wasn't for sure yet, they were waiting to hear back the results of a few tests.

Well, yesterday Cari emailed me and told me that Jackie does have cancer. but they caught it really early and it hasn't spread to any vital organs. It's in her foot. and she started Chemo 2 days ago. It just makes me so very sad, because this precious little girl has already gone through so much... It just breaks my heart.This is me and Jackie the day before we left.
She really became like a little sister to all of us.
I love her so much, i'm so thankful that Cari has her now, because otherwise she wouldn't be on any medication, for AIDS or for Cancer.
So please pray for her. =]

I'll hopefully post a bigger update later today. This was just pretty urgent. =]
thanks for all of your prayers.

~Katelyn~

Africa Part Two--Days 3 and 4

Ok, so first i have a few more things to add about day one. haha.
Day One::

One of the things i love most about uganda is that, when we would walk down the streets the children would run after us yelling Hi Mzungu! A Mzungu a mzungu! (mzungu means crazy white man. =P) And they really, just wanted to be loved. they'd run after me and just hold my hand. it was so precious. i miss it. in fact i have to have someone call me mzungu at least once a day or i get completely sad... haha.
the second thing i forgot was that on the way to our first school there was this man standing on the side of the road on this little path. He looked at me and so i said "oli otya." (proud of my luganda skills eh? it means how are you?) he said "Jinndi. How are you?" (i'm fine) I said ":i'm fine." he said "it's a beautiful day outside." i nodded and said "yes. it is!" then he told me i had to come meet his mother. well, by this time my group was pretty far ahead of me... except for nookie and i think chris...who had stopped with me. i said i had to catch up to my group, but he insisted that i meet his mother. so i did. and she was very nice. He told me "thank my mother for raising me so nice" so i said "thank you for raising him so nice...?" I told him that i had to go catch up with my group but that it was very nice to meet him. Then i ran off. as I was running I had this horrible thought that i had just gotten engaged or something. (after all, i met his mother...) i just didn't really wanna have to call my parents and be like...sorry i'm not coming home, i got accidently engaged. haha. But Cari told me that she didn't think it meant anything.
Ok, the end. =]


Africa Day Three::
Monday::

The first school we went to was literally just around the corner from our hotel. That was nice, since we really walked everywhere. it was such a small school. They had 3 school rooms and about 30-40 children total. maybe even less. They sang us several songs, but my favorite was Baby Jesus. It was so precious.
One thing that i loved in africa was that everywhere we went, at every single school, a child would pick me out of the crowd. At this school there as a little girl names Sadia and a little girl named Yenzee (probably spelled wrong...) They latched on to me and wouldn't let go, Sadia attached to me more than Yenzee did, but for the first half of our time at that school Yenzee wouldn't let go. Sadia didn't leave my side the whole time we were there. It was so precious. She hugged me at one point and said "my mzungu." I was so in love with that precious little girl. :) When we were leaving the school Sadia got really upset. We had handed out little Dum Dum lollypops and pencils and Sadia was eating her lolllypop and when it was time to leave i knelt down in front of her to give her a hug and said "i have to go now. I'll miss you." and she hugged me tightly and wouldn't let go. I stood up, i was so very close to tears and she held onto my hand. Yenzee came and hugged me goodbye. and Sadia said, "Don't go mzungu!" I said "i have to. i wish i didn't but i have to go" and i started to walk away. i looked back at her and she threw her lollypop on the ground and started crying. Man, that hurt. i was about to cry and Tyler hugged me and i said "i don't think i can take 3 more weeks of this..." it really broke my heart. my heart got broken so many times while i was in Africa. I don't think i'll ever be the same. but that's a good thing, because it's like the song "Hosanna" says "break my heart for what breaks yours everything i am for the kingdoms cause" that's the kind of heartbreak i felt. I walked up to Rodney and said "i can't do this everyday." and i started crying. he said "um, it's a little late for you to decide that..." and i sortof laughed, then he hugged me and Tyler said "no, her heart really gets broken..." and Fondi came and hugged me.
We went to lunch at Cari's school. It was fun. I love the food there. I only had one meal that I didn't like....but that's another story. for another day. :P
After lunch we walked into the middle of the worst part of the slums. The school was called Joy School. It was appropriately named, since everyone there was so very happy even though they had next to nothing. I loved this school. it was one of the only schools we went to twice. They had about 60 kindergarten age students (3-6) their courtyard was so tiny. We barely had any room to do our songs. This one little girl named Vivian latched onto me. She was beautiful. She was so sweet to. She just sat with me. It's funny but the calm children who just wanted to sit and talk or just sit and be with you, always seemed to pick me as their friend. I don't know why, they just did. Which was fine with me, i loved just sitting with them. =] When we were done playing with the children, the guy who ran the school showed us around. The school was so tiny. they had so little room. He showed us the dorm area, where orphans would stay, they would put like, 8 children in a room that's smaller than my bedroom here in America. it was very...heartbreaking.
After Joy school we went to Save the Street Child. It was so fun. They danced for us for like, 2 hours.That's just what they do. They go there and they dance and sing and act and play drums. it was so much fun. There was this one little boy Ivan who was so good, just so natural at dancing. It was amazing. And this little girl, Brenda was SO fabulous! She didn't even have to try to be good at dancing. It just happened. Same for Ivan, it just happened. and he's so wonderful at dancing.
They did this play for us, the story of the play was a little girl, living with her stepmother and stepbrother, the little girl was played by this AMAZING actress named Alice. she was SO good. So the story is, that the stepmother was mean to Alice and told her she had to have the whole house cleaned by the time she got home or Alice would get thrown on the streets. Alice tried to get her stepbrother to help her clean, but he wouldn't, instead he ate the food. So whenthe stepmother got home, she started yelling at Alice, "you stupid girl, you ate all the food and the house is still a mess." and Alice fell on her knees begging and crying, really crying. "please stepmother don't throw me out. don't stepmother."and just sobbing the whole time. After the play was over. She stood up, wiped her eyes and started smiling again, she was just so good.
Then they were singing a song for us, and i honestly don't remember much of the song, it was something like, pray for Africa, God save Africa. but there was this one part that went something like "I want to go to school. I want to have a home. I want a mother and a father to love me." or something along those lines. And Alice just started crying. Big tears rolling down her cheeks. It was heartbreaking (i have a feeling that word is going to show up a lot in this blog...)
We went back to the motel after dark, good thing i had a flashlight.
Ok, side note...it was kindof scary walking at night, because they don't have lights, and so they blend in to the darkness and then they are suddenly at your side... it was just a little unnerving. haha.


Africa Day Four::
Tuesday::

We went back to the Joy School. This time to spend time with the Primary students (ages 6-13). I was starting to get sick i think. Because i really just didn't feel good at all. I went and sat to the side, in the shade. There was a classroom right behind where i was sitting and the children inside the classroom did not call me mzungu. They called me Whitey. Yes. Whitey. haha. They talked to me a lot. Asking me where i was from. Why my skin was so white (believe it or not, i got asked that quite a bit...haha) I mostly sat the whole time, i just felt extremely sick...not like, gonna vomit sick, just exhausted sick. but somehow the children found me. and i ended up with about 20 children around me, haha
On the way to Cari's (for lunch and to pick up the two people that went to help at Cari's school) our guide took us to this church in the slums. The others danced, and i sat outside the church and talked to some children. I gave them all Salvation bracelets and told them about it. They listened so intently. It was crazy. I remember thinking, children in America would NOT listen for this long. But they did. They just sat and listened to me. Then i went inside the room with one of the little girls and we were dancing, she showed me how to do a few dance moves, and then i showed her some. it was so funny watching her imitate me, and i guess it was funny watching me imitate her, because the other children laughed at me. heehee. =P Then the pastor of the church came out and asked us to stay for a "short service" We agreed (because if we didn't it would be an insult and it would reflect badly on Cari and Annette.) We were sortof worried about Kayla and Shannon since they were at Cari's and didn't have any idea what was going on, or where we were and we didn't have a way to contact them. But we stayed. By this point i was feeling really sick, and very dizzy, because i hadn't eaten since early that morning, and i was just...sick. we sat down and they gave us special chairs at the front of the church...it was...special. I honestly do not remember most of the church. i remember that the little girl that i was dancing with was sitting with me. and she asked me to take her home with me. and then this guy fell on the floor and scared the little girl and she ran away.... and then tehy showed us a ridiculously loud video of this guy healing people. And he was their prophet. I was trying to sleep...i felt so awful. And then their pastor was talking to us, and he kept saying "because of time, i will end soon." or something close to that...but he never ended.... i fell asleep leaning on Josiahs shoulder. He had us stand up to "end" the service, and i literally, leaned against this pole and fell asleep standing up... Clarissa was rubbing my back and i just fell asleep. haha. Then it was *finally* over. We walked outside, and i was SO dizzy. I actually almost fainted. Thank you Jesus that Josiah was still standing next to me, because he caught me as i started falling. He basically carried me back to Cari's house. like, i was walking, but he had his arm around me to hold me up. And Lacey helped me too. We FINALLY got to Cari's and I laid down, Rodney told me that he wasn't going to let me go to the next school. I was really sad, because i wanted to go, i loved going to the schools. And Josiah said that even if his dad said i could go, HE wasn't going to let me go. While i was at Cari's i ate a little then i laid down and Clariss acame and sat next to me. She asked me if i wanted to go to the next school and i just started crying. I said i wanted to go, but i felt so terrible. So i didn't go. Rodney, Lacey, and Shannon went back to the hotel with me (shannon wasn't feeling well either, Lacey wanted to stay with me, and Rodney had some work to do at the hotel) and i went to my room and laid on my bed, Lacey came into my room and rubbed my back and i crashed, i slept until they came home from Save the Street Child.
Also it was Collins 16th birthday.
--The End--

~Love Katelyn

Ps. here's a video of the children singing Baby Jesus. There's some talking before but i don't know how to get rid of it. so just watch it through. it's so precious!! :)

Africa Part One-first 2 days

Hey, I know it's been forever and ever since i last updated... I've been so busy. Also, i've sortof been procrastinating this update, because it's gonne be HUGE....i mean, i'm basically telling all about 3 weeks in africa... It's pretty much intense...
Ok, so this is it...

The Group:


Africa Day One::
Saturday::

We got in late on friday night, which was nice, because i barely suffered from jetlag at all while i was there. We woke up saturday morning and went to a school nearby (about a 5 minute walk.) We painted a room (by we, i mean the boys, the girls played with the children.) even though it was Saturday, the children were still in school. We played games with them, mostly soccer, that's their favorite. And the children loved just sitting with you. There was this one little girl named Angel who carried around her school book and a pencil and just wrote and wrote. It was all gibberish since she was only about 3, but it was absolutely precious!! She sat on my lap for a little while, but then she went to sharpen her pencil (with a razor!) and someone else snagged her to sit on their lap. This other little girl named Lydia crawled onto my lap and sat there telling me all these stories about school. It was so precious. Then she told me she wanted to play with my hair (it was up in a bun) so i took it down and I was suddenly surrounded by about 17 children, all petting my hair. It was hilarious.
We were sitting outside watching the boys play soccer and this little boy came and sat on my lap in front of Lydia. Lydia didn't like that very much. She started to hit the little boy, and they started fighting over sitting on my lap. I was trying to get them to stop fighting but they weren't listening...it was sortof funny, but sortof bad. because i didn't want them to get hurt, but it was silly that they were fighting over sitting on my lap.
before we had gone to the school i had been standing outside our motel and these little children were standing outside the gate. Well, Parker and i started playing games with them (tag mostly) and this one little girl (Fiona) was playing with, like, JUST me. no one else. anyway, we played for a little while, then we went to the school. I loved it because they were so excited that we were there! they would peek in from outside the gate and it was just so stinking adorable. =] Anyway, after we got back from the school the children were still outside waiting for us to come back and play with them. Fiona ran over and grabbed my hand and just hung on. We brought the children inside the courtyard area of our motel and played Duck Duck Goose with them. They loved it. It was my turn to be "it" and i tagged a little boy then ran around (as the game goes) and when i sat down, Fiona ran across the circle to sit with me. it was incredibly cute! We had to go inside to eat and have our share time/group time, so i told Fiona to come back the next day (since it was sunday, we didn't have any schools to go to, so i knew we would be at the motel).



Africa Day Two::
Sunday::

We went to Cari's church today. It was really fun. They sang some good english worship songs, but then they sang a few songs in Luganda, that was my favorite time of the service, was listening to the Luganda songs. The service was also cool, because they had an American preacher and then a Ugandan would translate. I love the way the Luganda language sounds. it's just so beautiful. There was this one little boy who sat with me during church. He was super precious. I gave him some fruit snacks and he made one pack (about 7 snacks) last the WHOLE service, and it was about 3 hours long. (including singing) Then after he and his friend and his friends little sister (she was 2 he was 7) and i were standing outside the church [[insert picture of me with little boys and little girl]] The little boy (I believe his name was Derrick) was holding my hand and he was looking at it, very intently and he looked up at me and said "you are very white" I laughed and said "yes, i know." It was time to leave after that, and Derrick just stood there holding my hand. i said "i have to leave now. i will see you later" but he wouldn't let go. I climbed into the car and sat down and he climbed in after me. i said "you can't come with me. i wish you could, but you can't." he got out of the car and reached into the open window of the car and held my hand. I was really sad when we left. =[
We went the mall for lunch. That was extremely crazy... They had like 7 restraunts and all the waiters came and attacked us with menus (well they didn't really ATTACK us, they just bombarded us) and they kept telling us what we wanted to eat and finally i get to order what i wanted... it was very stressful. haha
Then we went home (to the motel) the children from the day before were standing outside our gate again, they started cheering when our vans pulled into the driveway. I got out and the kids surrounded me and parker and Tyler and Andrea, we told them we were going to go change and went in to change. When we came out we played duck duck goose again, then we were sitting and everyone was doing their own thing. I was sitting with Fiona and this little boy and a bunch of other children We were just sitting Fiona looked at me and this is how our conversation went:

Fiona: What country are you from?
Katelyn: America
Fiona: Oh.
[pause in conversation]
Fiona: I live with my aunt but i do not like it.
Katelyn: Oh. Why not?
Fiona: She beats me.
Katelyn: Oh. I'm sorry [[what do you say to that?!]]
[pause in conversation]
Katelyn: Where are you parents?
Fiona: Far away.
[pause in conversation]
Fiona: Will you take me back to America with you and be my mother?

Katelyn: I wish i could, Fiona. I really wish i couldIt was so heartbreaking. I cried very hard. I would love to one day go back and adopt her someday. She's 9 years old and i really do love her.

That's all for now. through day 2 of Africa. Haha. this is gonna take awhile. :P

Love~Katelyn~

PS. visit my other site: Knitwitsforafrica09.blogspot.com. It's things my sister and i knitted to sell to help raise money for africa and for me adopting my little girl, Evi. =D

PPS. Here's a slideshow i put together! The song is What Now By Steven Curtis Chapman

It's Getting Closer...

Wow, 24 days til Africa!! i'm SO excited! it's so wonderful to see how everyone's trips are getting paid for!
We did a garage sale, and i'm pretty sure we made quite a bit of money! (i didn't actually hear the final count...)
And concessions went well this week! (by well, i mean the games weren't rained out. haha)
I brought these necklaces and bracelets made by orphans in africa. All the beads are hand rolled from recycled paper...they are so pretty! and all the money we make from it goes to the Orphans in Africa!!
i'm really excited about this trip, the people i'm going with are SO amazing...and so much fun! we have such a good time! :)

I think that's all... :)
soo, the end.

James 1:27 :)

the Journey

hey everyone,
I realize it's been awhile since I last posted. I'm sorry. :) I'm not so great with this "updating" thing. haha. Also I wanted to give everyone I sent letters to a chance to read the first update.

Support for Africa is going SO great!! We've had lots of awesome fundraisers like Bowl-a-thons. That's a really clever idea, especially if you can get a lot of sponsors. We had planned one, but then I was the only one who could go...so they called it off. But I had 30something sponsors and I didn't want to waste the opportunity. So i called one of my friends and we took our younger siblings bowling. :) i made almost $600 from it!! (I'm so glad I decided to go through with it!!)

We also have the concession stand at our local soccer league. That's a lot of fun! And it's a great way to get to know all the people that are going with me! I didn't know any of them at first...well, I knew 5 of the 25 that are going. :P And I've really gotten to know them these past few weeks! they are such an amazing group of people! I know God put them in my life right now for a reason! After moving and leaving my youthgroup, I was actually really lonely, and now i have a ton of friends that I'm super close to!

The only thing I'm really not looking forward to is the shots. :/ I have to get like, 6. ugh.

At our meeting a couple weeks ago we had a guy talk who had been to Uganda before and he was telling us the "Do's" and "don't's" of Africa. And apparently the left hand is the "dirty" hand there. So i've been trying to train myself to eat with my right hand. But I'm not very good...most of the time the food ends up on my lap! haha.

Thanks for reading!

God bless!

and thanks to everyone who's sent me support so far!! It means so much to me!!
thanks for all your prayers also!!

Love in Christ~

Katelyn

The Calling

For the last 5 years I've felt God's calling on my heart to work with the orphans in Africa. It started at an Above Rubies retreat in Texas. It was my first retreat and I was so excited. Nancy Campbell, the speaker, had just returned from a trip to Liberia, a war-torn country in Africa. She showed pictures of the orphans, boys and girls of all ages. There were so many children struggling to survive, I just wanted to save them all. From that first night at the retreat I knew that I was going to Africa. I didn't know when, and I didn't know where exactly. But I knew that sometime in the near future I was going to Africa.

Well, it's been 5 years and still no Africa trip. I've waited patiently on God to provide the trip and the money. I've prayed daily that He would give me a way to go to these people, that He would show me where to go. For awhile I thought it would be Liberia, and as much as I would love to go to Liberia, I don't feel God's calling on me to go there.

One of the hardest things I've had to learn over these 5 years is that God provides in His own time. If it's His Will for me to go to Africa He's going to provide the money, the trip, the group, everything. I just need to trust Him. Last summer, my youth group took a trip to Kenya. I was so excited. I thought, "yes! This is my chance to go to Africa!" My parents and I talked about it, prayed about it; the deadline to sign up came and went. I wasn't going that year. I was disappointed. I wondered why God would show me a trip that my own church was going on and I wasn't going. My best friend was going; and I wasn't. It was very disappointing.

I prayed that God would give me a way to the children there. My heart was breaking for them and I couldn't do anything to help them. Except pray. Prayer is so important and I think that a lot of the time we tend to underestimate the power of prayer. Prayer is the only thing that reaches across oceans and touches people. I think we forget that when we pray, we're praying to the Almighty God. He can do anything! He can move mountains, He put the stars in the heavens. Why do we think that because we're not on the trip we can't do anything? Prayer is the key to a successful trip. He created the people I want to save. He wants them saved. Why is it that we think He can't provide $3000 for a missions trip to help fulfill the Great Commission? He can do it. We just have to trust Him.

After the trip last year, my best friend was on fire for Africa. I was really happy for her. I knew how that flame felt. To feel the burning desire to save someone. To love someone you've never met. It was how I'd felt for the last 4 years.

Skip ahead a few months, I've moved to Arkansas. YAY!! I love AR. It's beautiful, and it's got trees and hills. (something we seem to be lacking in TX! lol) The one thing that I was really worried about was finding a church. I had a great church in TX. I was scared I wouldn't find a church I liked here. But guess what? God provided! I love the church I go to now. The people are great. The worship is amazing. The preaching is fantastic, convicting, enlightening. I love it. It's truly a gift from God!

Through my aunt, I heard about a group going to Uganda. I knew the people in charge of the whole trip. I was excited. I prayed about it for a few weeks. My parents and I talked about it. And I signed up to go! We're going June 11th-27th. We're going to work in the slums in Uganda. We're Coordinating a VBS for the children there. But in the slums they have school during the day, so while they're at school we're doing VBS at a hospital in Kampala. We're also going to Gulu to work at an African-run orphanage. There are 18 teens and 5 adult leaders going on the trip. We've started doing fundraising. It was a little harder for me because I only knew 5 of the people going on the trip. Clarissa and Rodney. Their 2 children and my aunt. I had to meet everyone else; and they've all known each other a long time. But, if you know me, you know that making friends isn't really an issue for me. I'm pretty outgoing. lol.

I guess that's the beginning of this story. God has provided some amazing oppurtunities for fundraising. I can't wait to see how He pulls this trip together!

Oh, one other thing. I'm taking a class this spring called Perspectives. It's amazing. If you haven't taken it, I strongly suggest that you do! It will radically change you for the better. It's enlightening, it makes you think, it will turn you on to missions. It's the best class I've ever taken!! There's a different speaker every week, so you don't have the same person talking every week and each speaker is just as amazing as the last. Every week is my favorite week. I love it. It's my favorite time of the week.

I think that's all. :)

the end

In Christ~

~Katelyn

All the nations of the world will stand amazed at what the Lord will do for you.They will be embarassed at their feeble power.They will cover their mouths in silent awe, deaf to everything around them.-Micah 7:16