Words can't explain...

I really cannot put down into words all that Luke and I are experiencing here. We love it here. The people are so lovable. There is so much Joy and Hope even in the poverty. We will come into a village and be greeted in a way that you cannot imagine unless you experienced it directly - children smiling, screaming, jumping, dancing waving branches, women doing the same, hugging us, thanking us, just loving us in an incredible way. We have so many times found ourselves receiving gifts from them - incredible - they have nothing, but want to give us gifts, things like baskets, mats, eggs, we even got a chicken (a live one).

There is tremendous need here. Many are just in survival mode. Though what they lack in material things, they make up relationally (we in America could learn so much. So far, it has been an honor to be here. Here are just some random thoughts that I wanted to share with you all around this trip so far that have made an impact on Luke and me.

• Being here with Luke is awesome. He is such a great boy with such a great heart. He is like a magnet with these kids. They love him and he loves them. It is great just setting back at times and watching him interact and play with them.
• Just to give you a statistic, in one village we went through, the head of GFR locally (her name is Ida) said 80% of the people in that village have an immediate family member that has either died of AIDS or is dying of AIDS.
• One of the other local members of the team (Jerome) shared how touched he was with our team for loving the people with AIDS. Not being afraid to hug them and to show them we care. He shared his sister died of AIDS and a very close friend of his has AIDS.
• It was incredible meeting our sponsored family (Robert and his children). Hugging them, praying for them, helping them – just incredible.
• Children smiles – they have the most beautiful smiles.
• As we drive by in the bus, when the children see us as we are passing by, they literally start jumping up and down yelling Mzungu (which essentially means white person). They are so happy just to see us (and they don’t see a bus full of white people very much).
• Getting big bear hugs from the women of Africa.
• See the others on my team being touched by the stories of the people here.
• Being available – just being available to help, love, hug, … It is an awesome experience to be here.

I am not the best in putting thoughts and feeling down onto paper so to speak (or on computer), so check out the other blog spots for more stories, pictures, etc. that are linked off of our blog site (on the left hand side of our blog).



Also, Luke and I received African names today.

Luke's name - Onyango
Gene's name - Munange