Amazing Grace Visit - by Mandi Stonehouse

Greetings from Uganda! What an amazingly beautiful place. Its been nearly a week since I arrived and I've been enjoying every single minute of this journey. I met up with the team in Kampala where we stayed three days in Mama Susan's home. We spend some time in meetings and the rest of the time either playing, singing, and dancing with all the children, getting our Sudanese visas, washing our laundry by hand, or learning how to cook with the Mamas.

Working with Mama Susan has been such an privilege, her heart for women and children is so admirable. Everyone that knows her can't help but love and respect her deeply.

The whole trip has been such a blessings, one highlight for me so far has been meeting Esther and her daughter Nancy. Nancy was burned in a fire several months ago and traveled down from Kajo Keji to Kampala in order to receive reconstructive surgery.

We left Kampala the day of Nancy's surgery, so we are anxious to hear how things went and how Nancy is recovering. Please keep Nancy and Esther in your prayers as this will be a long process for them.

We traveled in a bus called the "Nile Coach" about 8 hours from Kampala to Adjumani, it was a crazy bumpy ride to say the least (thank goodness for Dramimine). I never anticipated that Uganda would be as green or greener than Oregon, but I have been proven wrong. The Uganda country side is so green and beautiful.

When we arrived in Adjumani we were all covered from head to toe in red from the sand, it seemed to permeate our every pore, even our luggage had turned to a nice shade of red.

We are now staying at Amazing Grace Orphanage where we were greeted with a welcome song from the children. It is exciting meeting a whole new set of lovely faces. Today we are going to lunch at the Thiessens, a missionary family from Portland who have been working in Adjumani for several years. We will be at Amazing Grace for several days so we will keep you updated on all that transpires, until then Kwaheri (goodbye). Thanks for all your prayers, Gd has truly been with us every step of the way.