And the Holiday Begins!

On Saturday, I picked up Jeoffrey for his one month holiday/break. All schools in Uganda are on break now. Jeoffrey's boarding school is nearly two hours away from my home, so it was a huge blessing to find out that the school transports the children to another one of their campuses near my home. There is a small fee, but it's worth it not to have to get stuck in traffic jam!

After picking him up on Saturday, we went to a restaurant to eat Eritrean food. One of my closest friends in Uganda is Eritrean, and she introduced me to her home country's food. Now, I love it! Jeff enjoyed it, too!

We looked at his report while waiting for the food. It was awesome! He improved in all subjects from mid-term exams to the end of term exams. His grades even improved from last term when he was in day school. He had numerous absences in day school because his dad couldn't always get him to the bus in time. His absences led us to consider boarding school. His sponsors were so gracious to agree to pay more for Jeoffrey to have this awesome opportunity! Boarding school in Uganda is a BIG deal! It allows students to excel in their academics and go further in education. God definitely worked through Jeoffrey's transition to boarding school, and it shows in his report card. He is even listening better! We praised the Lord for the good grades and for giving Jeoffrey the ability. We also thanked Him for his sponsors who pay for him to have this opportunity!! God is good!

We went to church on Sunday, and he got to play with the soccer ball after church. Our church is held at an international school, so they have a soccer field and basketball court on the premises. He enjoyed that.

Yesterday, we rested and hung out around the house. Jeff loves watching films, so he has been doing that a lot! He watched a Bible film about Abraham and Isaac. Then, before bed, he read the story from his English Bible to me. After he finished, we prayed about obeying God like Abraham did.

He has a holiday package of work to do during the break. I've been making him do a little throughout the day- after breakfast or after dinner before watching a movie or playing. When I was in school, I liked to get my work done a little at a time before it was actually due. That way, I could have it done quickly and be able to play :) I am trying to impart that lesson to Jeoffrey. Sure enough, he realized what a blessing doing his work little by little was because once he was finished, he looked at me and asked if that was all! He is very happy to be finished with the packet, so that he can now just have fun and play the remaining 3 weeks of break!

On Tuesday, I met with the women like I do every week. Jeff sat and waited while I met with the women. After the women's gathering, we went to the Kabowa school. Like I mentioned earlier, all schools in Uganda are on break now including Kabowa. DLM is trying something new this holiday...we are feeding the school children twice a week! This will ensure that the kids are getting a decent meal at least twice a week. Typically, the students would only eat one meal a day during their break. We will feed them the manna packs which are full of vitamins and minerals from Feed My Starving Children.

The teachers gave every kid a piece of a poster with their name written on it. They will bring that paper on Tuesday's and Friday's to the school so I can know if it is a school child or a neighborhood kid. If we opened it up to anyone, we would surely run out of food and have everyone in the whole community coming- literally!

During holiday time, I also like to do home visits, where I go to some of the children's homes, meet whoever they stay with, and even read them a Bible story or let them read to me! I enjoy that one-on-one time.

Feeding went well during the first week. Since this is brand new, there are a few things that we can tweak for next week and next holiday, too. One of the difficulties is that the kids are staggering in. Some even came 2 hours after the scheduled time! There weren't as many kids as I expected to come for various reasons I am sure. It could be that some do eat while on break or that they had to stick around home to help with chores. There were still about 50 kids this week.

I heard stories from 2 different children that they had not eaten other than the feeding program on break. They may have had tea in the morning and one meal at night, but no lunch. It is such a blessing from the Lord that He used Brooklet United Methodist Church VBS to allow these kids to have an additional meal two days a week during the holiday. One of these children is a young boy who lives the farthest of any of the students. He and his 2 younger brothers walk about 30 minutes to school everyday. His mom is also a part of our women's outreach, and she too has to walk about 30 minutes to the church.

Jeff and I have continued to have fun this week. We went to the cinemas, which was his first time ever. He loved it!!

We've also gone to some nice restaurants and found a place where there is a trampoline. He really enjoys jumping!! We went to that restaurant twice. :)

Today, I met Jeff's dad and his dad's brother in Kabowa for Jeff to go visit his grandma! He misses his grandma he said, so he is ready to go back. After two weeks, he will be back with me for us to prepare for another term of boarding school.

Thank you all for the prayers and support!

We praise the Lord for everyone!!!

Cierra Crowe