week 3. On friday our group was able to participate with the HIV support group at Victory Outreach Church. This is a group of HIV+ people who meet at the church to share their stories and encourage each other in the midst of their struggles with the disease. The church also distributes food and supplies and has prevention/education as part of the program. We heard from several people, but I spent some time talking with one man in particular, Peter. His wife had died from HIV/AIDS several years ago, he has no job (it's hard to get a job for everyone and HIV+ people are sometimes discriminated against) and lives in a grass hut owned by a friend. He looks gaunt, says he can't walk very far without getting short of breath and it was a pretty somber experience listening to him. A girl from our team, Brittany, was able to share some encouragement with the group by telling them about her experience with God's faithfulness in the midst of her mom dying from cancer. It was uplifting to see how God can bring together people from across the world to be unified in one faith and to see how her time of hurt could be redeemed somewhat to encourage these people with HIV in Uganda.
On Saturday we spent time with kids from a sponsorship program called Compassion. It was fun to spend time teaching, sharing Bible stories, and playing with the kids. On Monday I began working with another ministry at the church, training local people to use computers. I have to admit it got a bit tedious after spending hours explaining the basics of Microsoft Word, but I'm just trying to remember to serve everyone here with a good attitude and to do even the small things to bring glory to God. On Monday night some of us went to a local christian high school with the intent of starting a Bible study with some of the students there. I really like the idea of us building some deeper relationships with these kids and building each other up in the Lord. This week we ended up just singing praise songs the whole time, which wasn't the plan going in, but ended up being a welcome change of pace. It was so much fun just singing, dancing, and praising God with these believers from across the world.
random highlights: I caught a gecko two nights ago and naturally put it on my face. We've also been riding to some places around town in the back of a pickup truck which I just think is really great.
-blessings to you all.
john
