This was last week's update...just now getting around to posting it to my blog. :)

Dear friends, family, and supporters,
I apologize for the delay in sending out my promised first update. In this update I will catch you up on what I am doing, what hashappened so far, and prayer requests for my time here.

Details about my time in Uganda:
In order to complete my masters degree in International Development,I am required to do an internship for a minimum of 3 months, in adeveloping country. Northern Uganda has been on my heart for severalyears and I have wanted to come here (to Gulu, Uganda) and meet theAcholi people myself…to hear their stories, to see their circumstancesfirst hand, and to further learn about God’s heart for these peoplewho have suffered so much (I will include some links below if you areinterested in learning more about life in Northern Uganda). After a“long” wait and several disappointing attempts at coming here, theLord has allowed me to come with Every Child Ministries (ECM), a well-established mission organization that has ministries in severallocations in Africa. They require their missionaries to come on ashort term basis first before making a longer commitment, and so inorder for me to do my internship I started out by coming with a short-term team. We have been here since July 1st and the team will be hereuntil the 20th. Once they leave I will extend my stay until December3rd in order to complete my internship. My internship will consist of working together with their nationalstaff (Miriam, Joseph, and Simon) on their child sponsorship programin the internally displaced persons camps (IDP camps). I will includemore details on that when I have them. J There is also a chance that Iwill be tutoring some of the sponsored children. Because of the war,many of them have been out of school, so when they gain theopportunity to attend school (through sponsorship) they have a lot ofcatching up to do. In addition to actually tutoring, I will be lookinginto how ECM can further involve themselves and develop a program tofurther meet this need of the children.

What has happened so far:
After some unusually eventful air travel (that’s a whole differentstory)…I met up with the team in the London airport and we made ourway to Entebbe, Uganda, and then by van through Kampala and intoGayaza on the outskirts of Kampala. There, we stayed at a hotel andhad training every day at ECM’s Gayaza office. We met the Gayazastaff as well as the Gulu staff and translators, who had traveled downfrom Gulu to join us for training.
Highlights:
-Had a great time of training, getting to know each other on ourteam, and getting to know the Ugandan partners.
-Had the privilege of celebrating with the Gulu staff at the purchaseof a van for their use in the north. This will be a huge helpfor their ministry.
-Worshiping together at a Ugandan church Sunday morning.

Sunday after church we drove the 6 hours north to Gulu. We got the new Gulu van broken in very well - we had the back seat so full of luggagethat the window popped open (one that wasn’t supposed to open). Wekept it shut the rest of the way to Gulu by taping it with bandaids.We were also very thankful for God’s protection as we were drivingalong fairly quickly and had a front tire blow out. Our driver, James,very carefully got us to a safe stop. Since arriving in Gulu, we have spent Monday and Tuesday in one of theIDP camps where ECM has done ministry before - Tegotatoo (sounds likeTay-gora-tor). It is interesting to note that part of the name of thiscamp means “death.” The reason it is named this is because it isalmost in the shadow of a large hill by the same name, where theLord’s Resistance Army had a base and killed many people back when thewar was focused in this area. (See the link below to read more aboutthe Lord’s Resistance Army or “LRA”).In the mornings we have worship and a Bible lesson with the children,break up into “small groups” (50-60 children in each of 4 groups) to do review and play games, and then feed them lunch. In the afternoonsome of us have been spending time with the mothers & babies, orchildren, while others have been running a first aid clinic. We hadWednesday off and will be spending Thursday and Friday in the campagain.

Prayer Requests:
One of the main prayer requests that I planned to send when I wrotemy first update was about finding housing here for the 5 months that Iwill remain after the team leaves. However, that one has alreadyturned into a praise. The most likely situation was that I would haveneeded to find a small apartment, and that I would have been living bymyself. However, when I got here and started talking with Miriam, shesaid that she would really love to move out of her current livingsituation and also to have a roommate. This was a huge relief to me asI was not sure how I felt about living alone. Miriam had a friend whowas able to find us a little house to rent, very reasonably. Inaddition to this, I had kind of hoped in the back of my mind that Godwould somehow work it out for someone from the short-term team to alsostay. I really didn’t think that was even a possibility. However, oneof the girls, Melissa, has decided to stay (as long as her planeticket can be changed & everything). She will probably be here til the middle of September! I am really excited to have the living situationworked out as well has having two roommates when I thought I wouldhave none. J

Another praise: our team is wonderful. There are 8 of us, as well asJohn Rouster (the director) and his daughter Whitney. We have workedtogether well. I have been extremely thankful for the team becauseseveral of them have already mentioned that they will leave behindsome of their supplies and simple things that are difficult to gethere so that Melissa and I will have what we need when we move intothe house.

Please pray for:
-the nearby countries of Congo, Central African Republic, andSouthern Sudan that are still being plagued by the violence of the LRA(that has left behind such chaos and brokenness in Uganda).
-for the team and their remaining 1.5 weeks of ministry here.Several of them are considering and praying about coming back toUganda on a long-term basis.
-that I would have clarity and a deep sense of focus and purpose inmy internship work. (That I would make the most of my time here andfind a good balance of learning but also contributing to the ministryhere.)
-the Acholi language is a little more difficult than I expected, butI would really like to pick up as much as possible while I am here…atleast enough to communicate with the children to some extent. Please pray that God would give me an ear for the language and that I would be able to pick up a great deal over the next few weeks especially!Thank you all so much for your interest, support and friendship.
God bless you!
Sarah

More about Africa, Uganda, and the LRA:
www.ecmafrica.org
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/about/history/