I am sitting under a huge mango tree in Mayuge next to Baby Roberts home. There are children surrounding my stool watching my computer screen and in the background I hear the pounding of the penga splitting mud bricks while trowels spread the wet cement that are quickly transforming the piles of handmade mud bricks into a new home for Baby Robert and his family. The pile of concrete and sand is slowly dwindling as the team adds water and mixes it together with shovels and hoes and slops it into wheelbarrows to ferry to the building site. Transformation is in progress on all fronts!

The team arrived in the pouring rain on Sunday morning. There were many wide eyes in the Matatu (van equipped for 15 passengers but often carrying as many as 25!) as we drove on the wrong side of the road on the other side of the world trying to comprehend how this world could in any way be connected to ours. We were welcomed in Masese with lunch and settled into our rooms in the SHC Volunteer house just a short walk from the Mission house where Renee operates the Malnutrition Rehabilitation Center. Monday was a day of rest for the team and a family day for the Bachs. Josh and Jonathan Murphey (a missionary friend visiting from the states) divided the group and hit Jinja Town for an orientation on the culture in a small Ugandan Town.

We awoke Tuesday morning to the rooster and rain. As our group gathered together on the veranda with supplies for the first day we could hardly believe that after all the prayer, preparation and support of so many, the time was finally here. We were heading to Mayuge to meet the little boy that had captured all of our hearts. After an hour driving down roads that seemed to deteriorate by the mile, we arrive at the village. Emotions were high as we were welcomed with smiles, shouts and hugs! The progress on the house made by Glendon, Nick, Charles and Roberts family was such an encouragement – the foundation was completely finished and the walls were 3’ high. We quickly divided into work teams and began carrying bricks, mixing concrete and the walls started rising before our eyes! Throughout the day, others in the community would stop by to see what we were doing and offer words of thanks for the help we were bringing to their community. The numbers of children grew steadily and soon team members were breaking away from the job site to play rousing games of duck duck goose the hokie pokie! At the end of the day, we had doubled the height of the walls and made many, many friends. We came home tired and dirty but filled to the brim by the awesome ability of God to create such diversity in culture but still a oneness of spirit. We were in love with God’s people of Uganda!!

Please pray for:

· The general health of the team. Praise the Lord, so far we have had little sickness with only a few reactions to the primary diet of beans and rice!

· Wisdom and understanding for us as we try to find creative ways to provide care for Robert that will be doable for his mother in their new home.

· That we will form connections with all those in this village and that the Lord will provide opportunities to share our faith with them as we work.

· Safety for the team as we travel and as the walls continue to get higher!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!