Sharon.

This is Sharon. Another sweet girl that we met on our first day here.

Several weeks ago, Sharon was knocked down by a boda and then ran over by another. She suffered from 6 different fractures in her arms and leg. She had metal plates put in her arms and a cast on her leg.

But she has healed amazingly! And that following week we got to take her to Kampala to have her cast removed. :)

I think she was pretty excited to get that cast off her leg. :)
And in a year she'll go back to have the screws and plates removed from her arms.

It's incredible to see how God works and brings people into the lives of Paul Hunter and the people of Next Generation Ministries.
Because Sharon was brought into their lives, she got the help she needed. And by God's grace, this little girl is alive...and walking again! I think God has great plans for this precious girl. :)

Olivia.

Friday, April 17th, our first full day in Uganda, was just the beginning of a busy week to follow. Our schedule has been full of lots of activity and visiting and meeting people.

The first person we went to visit Friday morning was Olivia. We met her at Al Shafa Modern Hospital, where she is staying while recovering from a surgery to close large sores she received from sitting in a wheelchair. 

Olivia has been a paraplegic since 2013 after she had a Cesarean section and was given a spinal anesthesia in the wrong place. Since then she's been confined to a wheelchair which had resulted in very deep and serious sores. 

On April 9th, Olivia went through surgery at International Hospital Kampala to close those sores and is now recovering at the hospital here in Jinja. 

I think she was excited to have visitors. :) We took her a small gift...a pair of socks and a couple t-shirts. 

She has such a beautiful, sweet smile. :) 

She asked us if we would come back to visit her again and today Rose and I finally had a free afternoon to go back and see her. It was great to sit and chat and get to know her a little better. :)
She told us that she gets very lonely being there by herself all the time and she was so appreciative that we came to visit her. We learned that she loves to write and she showed us her notebook of which she has filled every page. :)

We're looking forward to visiting her again soon and taking her a new journal so that she'll be able to continue writing. :)

Thoughts from my first week in Uganda.

I can't believe how this first week in Uganda has flown by! Our days have been very full and busy, but it's been SO good! I've met many new people and made some great friends. I've continued to realize, even halfway around the world, that I love people. I love building relationships and learning and growing because of them.

I've enjoyed learning about the culture, and the language, and...just life here in Uganda.

After the first day, I began realizing just how out of my comfort zone I was. Being in a new environment, completely different than America, with new people...it's brought me way out of my comfort zone. And it's easy for me to become really quiet and reserved. One of the ways that I've been most challenged is communicating with the people here. Sometimes there is a language barrier that makes it hard to communicate, but I also found it hard just because I knew nothing about the people here and their way of life. But I think the more time I spend with the people and as I learn more about the culture and life here, it is getting easier. And when language becomes a barrier and all else fails, a smile is understood. :)

Though there are difficulties about life here, I really love Uganda.
I'm so blessed that God has brought me here at this moment in time.
And I look forward to serving Him in whatever way He chooses and learning and growing more and more in my relationship with Him.

In upcoming posts, I will highlight some of the different activities and opportunities we've had to serve over this past week. :)

Thank you to everyone for your continued prayers and support! It means more to me than I can express!

Africa.

We started our countdown at day 99...

And in just a couple more days we'll be boarding our flight to Uganda!