Get that dirt off your shoulders.

Day three proved to be the longest day yet. Whitey had talked to us the night before about what we should expect going into the village of Paguini. He encouraged us to prayer for strength and support each other as we were preparing the serve for 14 hours. As Wilfred drove us out to Paguini a few of us were thinking we have to almost be there, how much further could we drive into the bush? And just as we thought that he kept driving further and further. At some points it seemed he was paving a path that had not been there before. We jumped right into setting up the medical clinic and were anxious to start serving the people. Thanks to CC and Carrie we had things a little more organized than the day before. The pharmacy was set and we were ready. Or so we thought we were. I don’t think any of us were prepared for how many people showed up for free medical care. Some have even walked 2 hours to get to us. Everything from AIDS, heart murmurs, chest pain, malaria, worms, and skin infections. Anna even helped with a woman who had just given birth 6 days ago. The precious baby girl did not have a name yet and Anna through a few ideas out there for her. Anna, Anna, Anna is what she insistent upon. The people were coming from every direction. We were blessed to be able to sit and hear the stories of the people and pray over them as they waited for their medicine. IN all we were able to serve over 800 people in our medical clinic last 5 hours.   Even though we had to turn some people away because of running out of supplies we trust that God is the ultimate healer.

Dustin insisted we take a “siesta” after finishing up with the clinic due to only being done with half of our day. Some eat and napped in the car, some sat and talked with the people and Carrie, Abby and CC started a painting all the children’s nails. Not just the little girls, nope. But the little boys and women as well. They were in awe of the colors and surprisingly knew to not touch anything after we painted them. Abby thought she was doing the boys a disservice by painting “Passion Pink” on their hands. But the joy on their faces afterwards was enough for all of them to just smile and keep painting. That is one thing we decided to leave in Uganda and not bring back to the States with us.

Now enter the brick machine. For those who haven’t been on the trip before they have heard nonstop about making bricks. It has been a big part of the trips in the past and so big in fact that they have turned it into a little competition. They guys got a little head start and were making some throughout the day but after lunch and the siesta it was time for all of the team to join. We decided to have all of the girls show up, oh I mean make some bricks. Two people shoveled, one person was quality control and made sure the dirt was packed, two people pulled bar down to form the brick, two pulled down to release the brick and one person was the runner. Little did we know we would have the whole village surrounding us and adding to the pressure of making these bricks. But the girls definitely showed up. Towards the end the rest of the group jumped in to compete with the some of the Ugandan staff to finish up the dirt pills. Shamelessly we lost by one brick but were proud of our efforts. So much so that we brushed the dirt off our shoulders. Literally.

Next we headed down the field in the village to play a soccer match against some of the locals. The goals were marked by two large branches in the ground and it even had little flags in the corners. Looking around at our competition we knew we were in for a challenge. Luckily we had some of the locals join our team to make the numbers even. Abby and Emily did play and represent for the ladies. We were given the name “Team Mzungu Women” meaning team of white women. Let’s just say that name was thanks to the Andrews sisters and not our soccer playing ability. About 5 minutes into the game one our SOI friends, Dennis, shot one right past the keeper to give Team Mzungu a lead of 1-0. Dave was our all star goalie and made some game changing saves. Even took a blow to the chest and took it like a champ. Alexis, CC, Carrie, Beth and Anna were on the sidelines teaching some of the children American cheers. “Let’s get a little bit rowdy, R—O—W—D—Y” even made it in there complete with the hip shake. Halftime came and went and on the next corner kick Abby responded to a deflection of the defense and buried it in the corner of the net, or imaginary net in this case. Team Mzungu now lead with a score of 2-0. The Ugandans didn’t keep it like for long and slipped one in past Dave. After taking a direct shot to the stomach, Abby was praying for the whistle to blow and for the game to be over. Team Mzungu was able to hold on for a victory of 2-1. Don’t worry we surprised ourselves too.

The end of the night was something a lot people were looking forward to. Here we are in this remote village in the middle of nowhere Uganda and SOI was able to set up a huge blow up screen to show the Jesus film in Acholi (the local language). Hundreds of the people from Puguini gathered around to see the story of Jesus in their language. A first for many and we were blessed to be there to experience that with them. There were no English subtitles so we did our best to follow along in our bibles. Many responded to the prayer of salvation and hearts were changed forever. Even though it was a long day for us God gave us strength and revealed himself in everything that we did.

Fun facts for the day:

-          Alexis set the record for most times falling on your butt while working the brick machine with 14 times.

-          Matt still cannot remember his number in our countdown after 4 days on the trip, so Dustin for wrote a song for him entitled…”Matt is number 11”.

-          After winning the soccer game a random boy came up to Emily:

Emily: Hi, I’m Emily

David: Emoi, Hi I am David. I want to be your fan.

-          Bret heading the ball 4 times during the game with his “country, Cowboy, leather, Brad Pitt in the legend of the falls hat on”