Education Team - Week 3

Hello!

My name is Kristie Lotz, and I am blessed to have been a part of the Education team during our time in Uganda. As the month comes to a close, I give thanks to you for your prayers, support, and encouragement as we have faced the challenges of sickness, new experiences, close encounters with poverty and extreme need, and saying goodbye to new friends and students each week. Despite the hard things, your prayers have been felt as God continually proves His faithfulness to us.

Because Monday was Heroes Day, a public holiday in Uganda similar to Memorial Day in the U.S., we spent the day with the kids at Amani Baby Cottage before our school week began on Tuesday. Several of us became sick, and KaLee and I returned to our compound early to recover and rest on the first day of school, leaving Emily, Morgan, and Tom to continue serving in the classrooms. In spite of a difficult start to the week, we were all excited to have significantly decreased class sizes, down to 12-50 students rather than 90+ children! Overall, we have enjoyed getting to know our students personally and have been able to use our experiences from the last two weeks to engage in these Ugandan classrooms with our new teachers and children.

Our team prayer this week has been a request for moment-by-moment focus on the task at hand, as it is very easy for our minds to drift to our exhaustion and our upcoming travel plans. I have been greatly encouraged by Ephesians 3:16-17 during this time: “…according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Thanks again for all you have done to support our journey! It has been an eye-opening, life-changing month, and we are grateful!