Day 5 Church

Day 5 in Uganda
"What good is it to live if you have nothing left to give, forget but not forgive, to not love it ALL, ya see?" That Coldplay lyric means a lot to me. Giving no matter how little you have, always forgiving, and loving everything, or seeing the good in everything.
The people here give even in their poverty. Help international HELPS to build things, we don't just come in and pay for everything and do everything. We ask the people what can you give to this project? For example they built a school for 800 kids. And for each child the parents paid 1 thousand shilling. Which is like 30 cents, but all together, it made 800,000 shillings. And they paid for 20 percent of the school. It empowered the people. That's what I love about help. We don't come in and feel sorry for them, we come in and look at them like the people they are, and we see them for the potential that they NEED to be seen for.
I woke up at 5am this morning, and went out to listen to the guard make a ton of noise haha. Today I will go to church in the Mbale branch. I can't wait. The gospel is one of the very few things that does not change when you are 10 thousand miles away from home. I love that not all my comfort is at home. Heavenly Father and the spirit are literally always with me. Like my own personal army haha. And they are the best comfort I have and will ever have.
Something I have learned about third world countries so far is that they are not helpless here. They just don't have resources. Most of them are smarter than me, and if they were to be put in my situation in America they probably would go much farther than me. That is what people forget. They are amazing people, strong in every aspect of themselves. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. People that see those depressing commercials don't get the real scene of the third world. They get sad faces of little children begging. That is an act they put up. They really are the happiest people, the children beg you for money but once you walk and talk with them for a while they become very happy and back to normal. It is an act. I am not saying they don't need help, but the third world is not as complicated as it seems. Give them resources. Give em all a chance. And they could be ten times better than America I am telling you.
Today I will skype my family and Scott. Hopefully I can do it haha I might get too sad.
Have I mentioned yet how we have to sit on the back of the bodas? Side saddle in our skirts haha. It is culture. No matter how dangerous. I actually like it better though I think in an accident id have much better chance to jump off and get out hahaha. We took a boda to church and as always it was fun.
The building the branch is in looks like a temple it's beautiful! The program started and it was so cool. He welcomed us and said we were home. And then he Whispered "Greet your neighbor and tell them they are at home" hahaha. It was so cute. Sacrament was given then it was testimony meeting and the 1st counselor bore his and then said "I invite you all to bare yours, BUT STRICTLY 2 MINUTES EACH." Haha it was funny. Testimony meeting started and a couple things stood out to me from the members.
"When you have faith in the family you will always have peace" and
"Jesus Christ is the living water"
Those were the only things that I could even understand but hey those are good things to hear right? Haha.
While most the other girls went to relief society I jumped at the chance to go to primary duhhhh. When the kids sit down and are put in a classroom setting they lose all personality and they hardly even look at you. Idk if it is because here in school they lack the imaginative part of learning or something but it is weird. The two lil boys I say by only spoke ligisu so I couldn't communicate except for hand gestures and the occasional tickle to try and get them to smile. One was very ticklish and trying not to smile but I got him to and it was so cute.
After an hour of primary the teacher basically gave up and the kids went on a free for all, jumping all over me playing with my hair, after about 10 minutes two women came in and just handed me there baby and then sat and said "we want to be your friend" and went on to say "you are our friend right?" And I would say "yes I am your friend!!" And they'd say "friend you take my 13 year old daughter back to America with you and teach her your ways" hahahaha. It is scary talking to the people here because if you don't REALLY listen then you could promise something that you don't mean and it could be bad. One time a girl that was with help was in a slum and saw a woman and her daughter and her daughter needed surgery. The woman talked to her and the girl said she'd pay for the surgery if she got her to the hospital, the woman spent all of her money getting to the hospital and the girl from help didn't show up. It was detrimental on help international because when you promise something you can't fulfill and they believe you, it can turn very bad very quick. So I made sure to tell the women that talked to me that I cannot take anyone home. Although I wished I could, I cannot. It was sad but they respected me for being able to tell them the truth haha.
We got all the children back to their families and then got bodas to get lunch at casa. We had Rolex which is chipottis and eggs. Chipottis are like tortillas and they wrap eggs in them so it is kinda like a burrito. I ate 3 bites and of course I felt my sickness coming on again. I don't know what it is and it really is bad. I hope it goes away soon because I cannot keep anything down and I am weak compared to everyone else right now. Being sick AND having gnarly jet lag is doing me no good.
We got home and took naps and then for dinner Jemima ( a lady from the ward who is our cook) came and cooked and we had two chickens slaughtered for it haha. I didn't eat cause I felt sick but it looked good. I had my daily bucket shower and it was good. I am trying to will myself to feel better and I hope it works.
I'm going to skype my family soon and I'm excited but kinda dreading it cause I am homesick and I might be a freakin mess haha. Anyways, ttyl