In our experience, fulfillment in life is not so much about what you have as it is making the most of what you have been given. This life is a great opportunity for us to live for something more than just ourselves. To invest in the lives of other people, and to be part of a community comes with risks. To truly invest of ourselves in any way, whether it be of time, emotions, trust, or resources, we make ourselves vulnerable to being taken advantage of. We risk wasted time, misuse of resources, broken trust, crushed emotions. Still, taking that risk is the only way we can ever experience true love, acceptance, gratitude, fulfillment. To experience the best life has to offer, we have to risk experiencing the worst. We have found that investing in others is worth the risk. People are messy, and they will let you down. Still, there is no place in the world more lonely than a life consumed with self-gratification.
Thank you so much to all those who have given of yourselves to help make it possible for our family to be here in Mukono, Uganda. It has been a wonderful experience. Every day is a new day with new opportunities to invest into the lives of others. We believe that we have been, and we will continue to be, good stewards of the resources we have been blessed with. Here is a rundown of some of the happenings from this past month:
- During this month we were able to help support the boys soccer team from Victor's Junior Christian School so that they could compete in local competitions that were sponsored by the government. They had 3 days of competitions against schools from the area. They started at the lowest level and, won their local area. They competed again, and won the Central Division of Mukono. Then they competed one more time and played in the championship for the Mukono District. They lost that game 1-0 to Goma Division. After losing in the championship the boys were disappointed, but it was a good accomplishment for a team with such little experience.
- After the first week of the month, we were invited to attend a Sports Day at Victor's as "Honored Guests". We weren't exactly sure what that would mean, or what it would be like. It ended up being a very fun, and well organized event. The staff of the school organized class competitions for all of the students. They did three legged races, sack races, egg races, etc. They even organized events for the parents who attended. They had a parent/teacher vs. student soccer game and netball game. They also had a big dance performance and acrobatics performance. It was a wonderful day.
- Heidi and Andrew were both involved with teaching during the last several months. Heidi was teaching cooking and food prep classes to students from the Girls of Destiny Training Center. Andrew was teaching Bible classes on the book of Romans. Both of these classes were enjoyable experiences, and brought much growth in the lives of the students involved.
- We have gotten into the habit of inviting kids from church over to our home after the service on Sundays. We have all enjoyed this so much. The kids that come over are so grateful, and they have so much fun. We have a small pool they are able to play in, and a small trampoline. These times are both a blessing to us and to them. Now that the school students are on a break between terms, we have been having some of them over to spend the night.
- The greenhouse is already growing vegetables, and the eggs are still coming at the chicken house. These two projects will continue to produce food for the children at the school with very little expenses needed for input. We are so grateful for how smoothly it has gone to get these two projects under way. Thank you to everyone that helped to support these efforts.
- There is a man that we have been employing to provide extra labor at the garden, but we have now reached a point where we will not need extra labor on a consistent basis. Because of that we no longer will be employing him at the garden. Still, we have offered to help him so that he can start his own business and continue to have an income for his family. He came up with the idea of making a bunch of bricks at his home so that he could sell them, and then use the money earned to start his business. The last two weeks, Andrew and the other garden employees, have gone to his home several times to help with the process. It is hard, dirty, work, but we are glad to do it for a man that has been so faithful at the garden.
- Our children are growing in so many ways. We knew that this experience would be good for them. They still have their struggles, but overall we are so proud of the way that they are developing. They have been forced to be flexible in the midst of many changes, and they have handled it very well. We thank God for them, and we thank God for this opportunity to grow together as a family. Her's some recent pics from this month.
Thanks again to all of you that have helped to make our life here possible. If you have read this far, please drop us a personal note of encouragement. We love to hear from people that are keeping up with us. We promise to reply with our own word of encouragement. We love and miss all of our family and friends back home, but we know that our time here is short. We will continue to make the most of it. God is sooo good!
Be Blessed!
The Kanagy's
PUR International
Mukono, Uganda
