Children's Camp

Last week we had our annual children's camp for Buyamba. We had expected about 600 students ages 8-16. However, we never know how many will be there until we start the camp on Monday. This year, the number of pre-registered students was about 400. That number scared me a little because I knew that on the day of the camp many students would show up without us being able to prepare for them.

Registration was chaotic. The lack of overall planning by all of us (me especially...no excuses) did not help our situation. We had students crowding around every person doing registration. Luckily for me, we were blessed with 11 visitors who could help us with all of them. Thanks so much for them bearing with our disorganization. Students and parents alike did not understand what line they were supposed to be in...I could go on and on about registration. To make a long story short, I don't think we successfully got all students registered, but the final number that we registered before arriving at the came was 650. When I finally arrived at the camp, I found the number of students to be closer to 700. Then you add in all the facilitators and other leaders and we were close to 750.

Remember that we were planning for about 600. Our budget was for 600. The amount of money raised to pay for the camp was about four-fifths of our budget. All this means that God had to provide the rest of the money to pay for everything for us to be able to run a successful camp. And though there were MANY challenges, the camp was an overall success. Students were blessed; leaders were blessed. And most of all God took control of everything. In the end, many made decisions to follow Christ and more than 180 chose to take part in our previously unscheduled baptisms! I was able to get a little more of a visual than I wanted when I looked at the clear water before baptisms and the very dirty water thereafter. A reminder of how Jesus washes away our sins....literally!

Thank you for all that prayed for our camp. Hopefully next year there will be more students, more decisions to follow Christ and more of God shining through in the lives of the people of Uganda.

Dinner at Dallen's

So I just realized that I haven't ever talked about the fact that I'm having weekly dinner parties at my house. The guests? Children from our boarding section. One of the ideas I had when I was formulating a plan to work here as a missionary was to get to know all the kids. In the youth group back home, our youth pastor used to have "dinner for 10" at his house so that students would have a chance to hang out with him, and he would have a chance to get to know them. So as I calculated how much I needed to raise each month to be in Uganda, I added this line item to my budget.

At the end of March 2009, I finally organized the first "Dinner at Dallen's". I invited about 15 students to my house on a Saturday night and enlisted Teacher Deborah to be my cook for the night. Ashley and I led the students in some fun youth group games from back home. We learned the names of all of the children and had a meal that left many of us practically passed out on the floor. It was a giant success. After that first one, kids would come and tell me that they were going to be the ones at my house for dinner that week.

Since then, I've been able to host about 5 more dinners at my house for between 15 and 20 students. So I'm slowly getting to know each of the 170+ students in our boarding section by name. Right now we're on our in between holiday break so there won't be any dinners for a while, but I look forward to more fun with these students in the future.

FYI...dinner for that many costs me less than $20 and everyone leaves with a full belly of GOOD food...not posho and beans!

Out of the funk

Sorry that I haven't been online recently. I hit a rut there for a while. I guess it finally hit me that I was no longer a host for visiting teams, and I actually had other work to do. It just took me a few days to snap out of a funk that I was in. Thank God for the blessing of music that ministers to my heart. The following is the anthem that I have been running through my head the last few days. The bottom line is that I have to let go and allow God to have control of my life. You would think that I had already learned this lesson, but what I know about myself is that I'm stubborn and often have to learn things the hard way!

We will separate ourselves from everyone that we know (We say, we're so misunderstood,)
We can't allow a single doubt or weakness to show (But I know we don't do the things we should)
Just one more day without the shame and I can move on (So long to what I thought was)
I'll be happier, happier when I've given up

Pictures people...PICTURES!

So I've been in Uganda for over a year now. It's been a crazy ride here. I've been challenged in so many different ways in my life. I'm learning and growing in my faith. Things have changed dramatically not only based on where I live, but how I life as well. However, I think the end of summer marks a point where I begin to miss home. Teams have been here pretty much non-stop since middle of May, and now there is no American presence here. I think having people for that long then none is like a culture shock all over again. Anyway, that's not what this short blog is about. Really, I'm begging for some pictures of my lovely friends to put up on my boards so I can remember all the loved ones back home. As you can see...there are lots of blank spots for pictures. Please help!!! Send them to darren@ugandabuyamba.com I have a photo printer here to print them...or even better send me snail mail.

Darren Yui
c/o God Cares School
P.O. Box 26977
Kampala, Uganda
East Africa