So the first village we went to we were greeting by literally 30 women and kids all dancing and singing and SO excited for us to be there. When we opened the door to the taxi they basically lifted us out and were hugging and kissing us. It made me feel SO GOOD and LOVED!! (I expect nothing less at the airport when I come home in 5 weeks) Then we went to a few more schools and a hospital clinic that wants us to help. So the rest of the week was mostly planning all our projects and having a TON of meetings with all the people to figure out the details of everything.
On Saturday my friend Josh had his birthday so we went to the hotel down the street and for 5000 shillings you can swim and take a shower! So we all swam and hung out by the pool all afternoon. It was WAY hot and then some clouds started coming in for the daily rainstorm...and it started raining so everyone got out of the pool but me and Jan just kept swimming in it, and then it started to DOWNPOUR...it was SO fun swimming in it and it just kept getting worse and worse until randomly it started hailing. So we decided it was probably time to get out and the hail was huge and hitting us way hard..so we went and got in the shower and by the time we were done it had stopped raining and the sun was out and the skies were blue! So bizarre....
Then that night we went to dinner at the restaurant in town called chat n chinos....I think I told you about it. I know it doesn't seem like a very rough day in Africa....but we need some breaks and fun days too :)
Then Sunday we went to the branch, I love it so much and the people are SO friendly! In sacrament meeting there were two men who had just gotten baptized the day before and they were confirmed in Sacrament meeting...it was way neat to be a part of that and the spirit was way strong....and all the talks and lessons answered questions and prayers that I had that week. They asked all of our group to sing next Sunday, so we get to find a hymn to sing acapella this week! wish us well....haha and they are having us teach Young Women's and relief society each week, so it's kind of fun to feel a part of the ward.
Then today we woke up at like 6:30 to go to the Bunabuyoka Village. Our group that came last year did work with them last year and they were very excited to have us come back again. So we got on another one of the AWESOME taxis...this time squished with 22 people...and drove for a little over an hour. Then we started our hike STRAIGHT up the mountain...they told us it was like half hour, but we were hiking for a good hour and a half and I am not joking around when I say it was straight up. I had another fainting experience on the way up....this time it was my friend Alexis. She has asthma way bad and the hike was way hard and way hot so we were almost to the top and she was really struggling and feeling sick so she sat down for a second and then just passed out....so we go to help her and her body starts to seizure for a good 5-10 seconds. It was way scary!! She was way hot and sweaty so we poured some water on her and she kind of came to and then she just started puking a ton. I was really freaked out for a minute, but after she threw up she was totally fine and finished the hike no big deal!
So when we finally got to the top (the whole way up was honestly the prettiest view of anywhere I have ever been) we were greeted by all the kids from the school singing to us! I have a video of it and it seriously was the cutest thing ever. All the people there were so nice, and so excited to have us there. The whole village is christian so we prayed like 3 times while we were there and at the beginning the guy was saying the prayer and he thanked God that we were there and he said that he knew we were sent by Christ all the way from America to find their little village in the mountains. It was so sweet and made me want to cry...
They built a second school building since they have so many kids and the other one is just one open classroom, but never were able to finish the roof so they can't use it...so we are going to help them finish the roof and floors and then we are building a health clinic up there and then we are going to be teaching English and health classes to the children and adults! I am way excited and can't wait to go back :)
We are going on Sunday and then we are going to sleep up there until
Tuesday next week and then I don't know how often we'll go up after
that. It is going to be way neat to sleep in the village though and
experience TRUE Africa! I'm a little nervous though too! I wish I could
just show you all the things that I have seen because talking about them
and trying to describe them doesn't even do it justice. During the
meeting today a little girl who was probably 2 or 3 came up and sat on
my lap and she ended up just cuddling up in my arms and falling asleep
and stayed there for a few hours...I have some pictures of her, she is
precious! I can't get over how cute all the kids are here. I don't know
how I am going to leave them...
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