Hallelujah…amen! Hallelujah…amen!! We stole this greeting from Moses who we sadly had to say farewell to yesterday. We were sad to say goodbye to the Sports Outreach team in Kampala, but we were looking forward to the new experiences in Gulu. It’s Sav and Natalie here to update you on what today looked like!
Today looked a little different from the past few days as we spent 6 hours on the bus relocating to the Sports Outreach facility in Gulu! The bus ride was filled with lots of story times with Jolly, trivia games, many meaningful conversations, a few naps here and there, and lots of laughter and smiles.
The drive went along smoothly and the views were absolutely beautiful! Towards the end of our trip, we were able to see the Nile River. Everyone was absolutely amazed at the power and force of the water as we drove over the bridge and the view was absolutely breathtaking! Also, alongside the road were multiple baboons just roaming around and playing with each other. Even little baby ones were sitting alongside the bridge as we crossed and we all shared a good laugh watching them! Sadly, we didn’t get the chance to feed them any bananas.
Arriving to the campus was such an amazing experience. The campus itself was beautiful, but the people were what made it so special. The minute we stepped off the bus we had a large group of young girls come up to us singing, dancing, smiling, and welcoming us to the campus! They were so happy and excited and it rejuvenated our souls and refreshed us with excitement and hope after a long bus ride.
After putting away our things we headed our to go play some soccer! We were blown away by how many people were there. There were two teams warming up and ready to go; The Good News team from Gulu and The Super Eagles from the local community. They invited us to join in on the game so a few of us split up between the two teams! We learned a lot from the way they played and were amazed by their speed and talent. Even our very own Matt Margaron joined in on the fun and gave it a spin!! The difference in the level of play provided many laughs to both our team and the locals. Although many people were gathered around watching the main soccer game, there were multiple other activities going on.
On the other fields, there was another smaller soccer game going on, some spikeball, ultimate frisbee, tag, and fruitful conversations all taking place. Every member of our team found their way to be involved and interact with our new friends! Ed immediately drew some kids in and taught them how to play ultimate frisbee and the kids loved it!! On the smaller field, Ty welcomed the younger players in, the field was quickly filled with competitive laughter. Emma had a little group of girls that started out playing spikeball, and ended up just playing with the spikeball ball! I (Sav) being unable to participate in many of the physical sports, found my place on the sideline holding a beautiful little baby! In our group debrief, every team member kept highlighting the joy they each individually felt through all these special moments from the day.
After these activities wrapped up, we had the opportunity to share the gospel with all the community members. We are looking forward to continuing these relationships throughout the next few days. During one of the most delicious meals we have had so far, we shared lots of stories and laughter together. Afterwards, the laughter continued as we debriefed as a team enjoying funny moments during the conversation.
Hey, that’s all. We gotta run… off to play some moonball, spikeball, and cards! Stay tuned for some more exciting updates to come, and pray the community members will continue to be receptive to the gospel!