can we shop there?

Hey people! It’s TJ.

Well, seeing as marlee has already told you about our humorous, difficult and amazing time at the Promise Land I’ll stick with the since we’ve returned stuff. This is mostly just little stories. I’ll break it up for you so you can read it in bits if you want.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

First of all, WE’RE ALL HEALTHY! I know some people have been worried and we thank you for your concern but we’re totally fine. God’s hand has been on us through malaria, sketchy water, and every other danger. We’re trying to be wise and we ask Camille before we eat anything or do anything questionable. And she’s an American. Like she lived in California…and brings teams of American teenagers to Uganda every summer for Teen Missions…she knows. We definitely appreciate your prayers though, keep those coming. “When You call us to the fire/ You will not withdraw Your hand/ We’ll gaze into the flame and look for you” (If You Say Go, World Mandate)

I don’t know if Marlee told you about CRO (Children Restoration Organization) but a lot of our favorite kids at boot camp came from there. The organization takes street kids and tries to help them out, disciple them, and restore them with their family. There is a base in Jinja and so today we’re going to go talk to them and see if we can help out with them there some before we leave for Kampala.

A TYPICAL DAY IN AFRICA

Speaking of leaving….sad days. We really do feel like this is home now. We call it home. We cook…it’s wonderful. A typical day at the Teen Missions Compound (since we got back from the Promise Land):

6:00 am- alarm goes off. Mckenzie wakes up and pushes snooze

6:15 am- alarm goes off. Mckenzie gets up and brushes her teeth

6:20 am- Mckenzie wakes up the other two

6:30 am- we meet Isaac in the garden for some intense digging, with our awesome ghetto hoes…ok, well actually today it was more like 7:30...we overslept

8:30 am-we get food and water for the rabbits and see if any of them have died….

9:00 am-we start breakfast…and when I say breakfast, I mean the breakfast of champions, the breakfast worthy of three teenage boys…and we eat it all….breakfast tacos (scrambled eggs, spiced potatoes, nali nali sauce, all on a chipati), pineapple, tomatoes, toast, sausage, milk, orange juice, mango juice, peach juice, and passion fruit….things are looking up folks

10:00 am-we do the dishes and listen to music in the kitchen

Ok from here til dinner you never know what might go down. We paint signs, we help Isaac out with the office, we go to town, we do laundry, we do laundry, we do laundry we collect eggs…you know. Stuff.

6:00 pm-it time to head back to the rabbit’s hutch for round two

7:00 pm-dinner time with Camille and Isaac. This has come to be one of my favorite time everyday. Camille has been eating with us and I’ve loved getting to know her better. Plus there’s Isaac with his never ending supply of wisdom and funny phrases. We laugh so hard. I don’t even remember what about. But we do. The topic last night was the Bakka village and cow stomach…it’s a great time

9:00 pm-TJ’s internal clock decides it’s time for bed so we wash the dishes, say goodnight, and head for our room for some more laughs, read some scripture and by about 10ish we’re out.

Pretty exciting. :]

BIG ISAAC

Oh. News! Isaac, not the Isaac we do everything with, Big Isaac. The one who loves cows…He’s engaged…AHHHH!

Isaac: mhhhmm Mckenz. How are you?

McKenzie: I’m good Isaac how are you?

Isaac: Fifty-fifty. (only it sounds more like fif-e-ty fif-e-ty and he talks really fast)

Marlee: Oh no. Isaac. Why not 100%?

Isaac: Because I miss my sweet-heart. (when he says sweetheart he mouths sweet heart)

It’s super cute. Her name is Fiona.

Another cute thing. Isaac is real intense about his clothes. He always looks “smart.” Even when working, his shirt is tucked in and his pants are ironed. And his clothes are always real clean. Dang. So the other day my clothes are hanging up to dry…

Isaac: are those you’re clothes hanging up?

Me: yeah……they don’t look very clean do they….. (I say as I look dejectedly at my laundry.)

Isaac: Tomorrow, I will help you with your laundry.

Me: Isaac it’s ok. You have enough to do.

Isaac: It is ok. I am your brother, you are my sisters, I will help you.

Us: aw. :)

I wish you all could meet these people. It’s so hard to explain them.

MARKET EXPERTISE

Hmmm…..by tha way. (Isaac, our Isaac, little Isaac, says that whenever he’s changing the subject). We’re pros at the market. We’ve got it down to a fine art. We call them out when they overcharge us, and when they do we walk away and go find someone else with some pineapple, or passion fruit, or whatever it is we’re looking for. We now know how to get to the fruit and veggie section, the bread and egg area, the clothing/towel/shoes area, and we know where the sick nasty meat section is which we avoid at all cost. Even if we were dumb enough to get meat there, we wouldn’t because the smell is putrid. Raw meat sitting in the sun, day old fish, and cow stomach make for the grossest smell combo ever. It doesn’t help that the stomach looks furry. It’s really tough to walk there. But yeah. We know Jinja pretty well. We can find the best and fastest internet places and we know where the supermarkets are and which ones to buy what at to save the most money. We know the clinic location, the tourist location, and the safest places to get some food. We have a group of boda-boda drivers who know we need to go to Nakabango and how much we pay and we know the corner they chill out at. We’re in love with this place.

THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Funny story. The other day I went to get water at our little super market we go to the most seeing that it’s right next door to James’ internet café. (The fastest and friendliest for the price.) After chatting it up with the Indian dude who runs Jala Supermaket about the Indian soap opera that was playing I head back to the café. As I walk down the steps there’s two white boys, probably my age standing there talking rather intently. They looked rather fresh off the plane. Backpacks on and holding the straps tight, very clean hiking boots, cargo pants, and button up shirts…and eyes open really wide staring at everyone who passed. They honestly looked scared out of their heads. As soon as they spot me they stop talking and look at me, then back at each other. I decided to be friendly and muttered a “hey.” They look at me and go, “Um, is it ok if we shop there?” I gave them a kind of confused look. “I mean, like is it safe? Can we drink the bottled water?” I wanted to laugh out loud but I didn’t. I just kindly told them it was fine to shop there, the bottled water hadn’t done us any harm and told them where the other supermarkets could be found. I almost told them where the market market was but got the feeling they couldn’t handle that yet. I then hurried away. We now have our bearings and I didn’t want to be associated with such lost looking Americans. No way. This is our town now. Kidding. Kind of.

THE LORD WILL ROAR FROM ZION

Another story. This one is less funny and more awesome power of Jesus. We were picking things up in the market and this man comes up. He was obviously intoxicated. He was super happy and wanted us to hug him and yeah. Just weird. Marlee was annoyed, we all were, but she told him to stop and them moved away from him. He followed and reached out to grab her arm. (Now everyone. The market is a busy place. There are people everywhere. He could not have harmed her. We watch each other’s backs and we weren’t scared. Just uncomfortable.) Anyway, he reaches out and intercept him by grabbing his hand. I get his attention and said “In the name of Jesus leave.” He looked at me and asked what I said. When he asked he straightened up and I could understand him. It was not slurred. I repeated what I said and he turned around, and walked away. We kept our eyes open but he never showed up again. Jesus is so awesome. “He will not withdraw His hand.” He hasn’t. We watched the second Chronicles of Naria the other night and it just reminded me of God’s love for us. When Aslan takes down the guy chasing Lucy it gets me chills. When I am in danger, “the Lord will roar from Zion.”

Well I think that’s about all I have to say. Just some interesting little stories. Enjoy!

Peace out.

Tamara Joy

joel 3:16