Vaccinations, thankfulness and celebrations

The beautiful hill where I live

This week of transition between April and May has been a hard week because I was ill with flu for several days but I thank God that I am much better now and am excited to get out of the house again. Despite that, I've had great fun on the days where I was able to be up and about have been. It's the small things that really make my day, for example a child telling you they are thankful for the doll they have wanted for ages or a farmer thinking you want to steal their cows because they happen to be within shot of a photo you are taking. Thank you to everyone who prays for my team and I- you are awesome!


Monday 25th April- After devotion I was surprised with a birthday cake by the Smile team. It turns out that Kate had been trying to invent excuses keep me busy in our bedroom all morning but I kept wanting to go out to do things like fill up my water bottle. It was a genuine surprise for me as I hadn't clocked on at all so when I was called out of the bedroom with balloons popped in my face, I was pretty shocked as I hadn't been expecting any more birthday celebrations! Thank you so much to the Smile team :)

Smile's surprise birthday cake for me

My surprised face

Cake

In catch up class , I read a book designed to help children learn to pronounce and read phonics. It is part of a set that I brought with me from the UK so we are going to be reading one each week to help the children progress beyond the alphabet and teach them English. This week I read 'Singing Dad', which has simple phrases like 'Dad is singing', which we used to teach them sounds like 'ng.

After the class, the children received polio vaccinations as part of a national health programme and were all very brave. The fight against polio is a cause close to me because my Grandad is now in a wheelchair because of polio he contracted whilst serving in the navy during the Korean war. I am so thankful that the children in Nabulagala have now had the opportunity to be vaccinated against it.

Reading the phonics book

The children having their polio vaccinations

I stayed in in the evening as I wasn't feeling well, cooked potato wedges with mince for dinner and called the Gold Hill girls group. It was so lovely to speak to friends from my home church and be able to see them over video connection. It can't be said enough that Skype and Facetime are miracle inventions when you are living on another continent. Chatting and praying with them was such an encouragement to me and really made me smile. Thanks girls!

Beth with virtual me

Tuesday 26th - I woke up and it poured with rain from 5. This was rather blissful as the rain holds up public transport etc. so it is hard for people to arrive on time so we had a nice rest in the morning before devotion, Innocent came and took us in the Smile van. It was a rather uneventful day as Ruth said we could sit in the office in the morning and teach after but because the roads were so bad, we went back with Innocent in the Smile van.

Wednesday 27th-Thursday 28th- I was unwell these days so my day largely consisted of me watching Downton series 6 in bed. When you're feeling under the weather, there's nothing better than watching new Downton episodes!

Friday 29th- In kid's club with Gabit and Lois, Gabit and I led the older children's teaching session. We decided to teach on thankfulness to God by getting the children to think about everything they want to thank God for. To make this creative, each of them drew round their hands and wrote something they were thankful for on each finger. It was so much fun to do a craft activity with them.

 This was a really humbling session because by the world's standards, these children have very little materially, they had so much to write down that they were thankful for- parents, siblings, school fees and food for example. It is amazing to see this gratefulness and happiness with what they have and a challenge to us.

They are a great example of embodying Philippians 4:11-13:

Philippians

'I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.'

The children with their hand craft

Cutting out the 'hands' for the children

Drawing around the hands

Juliana

Sunday 1st- Robhina's wedding shower- Robhina, who works in Smile's finance department is getting married on the 23rd May so we held a surprise bridal shower for her at the Smile house. She was told that there was a Smile meeting being held and Alex even played his part by taking her to his office when she arrived. It was a lovely time of sharing food together, listening to Benigne encouraging Robhina about marriage and exchanging presents.

Robhina's wedding shower

Presents at wedding shower

Lois with Alizaa at the shower

Please pray:

-That I would be able to make the most of the last two months I am here.
-For the health of the children in the slums as there is a lot of cold and flu going around at the moment due to it being the rainy season.
-For youth band practices for our upcoming worship event.
- For the building projects going on at Blessed Word Church of Life to prepare for the summer medical mission and the new classroom at Ruth Mother Care