Day 4

Today started out with an early mass given by Fr. Bob at 7am. During his homily, father explained how he first ended up in Lukulu and how we have to listen to the urges God places on our hearts to do something. We all have a call from God and great things come when you follow the plans he has for your life. It was exciting to think that less than a year ago we all decided to answer the call and commit to this mission trip. Now here we are, surrounded by beautiful people inside and out, working and loving and growing in faith.

After mass and a breakfast complete with bread, oatmeal, and hard boiled eggs, we got right to work on the girls dormitory. We made great progress and completed the long hallway and 3 bedrooms before finally calling it a day. We had many people in the village eager to help us with this project including Crispin, the local who also volunteered his time to complete the basketball court with us last year. He made it a point to ask where John Billette is this year and asked for us to say hi for him! 

Around 2pm, some of the girls had the opportunity to head to the village of Simakumba for the Mothers Milk Program. When they arrived, Sister Pat began meeting with the babies who have been on the program to record their progress. The kids each received toys, biscuits, a beautiful blanket made by Lyssa's grandma, and a new outfit graciously made by the women Gagetown, MI. It was very rewarding to see the children come so far who had once been so malnourished they were on the verge of death. They are now happy and healthy little kids! After handing out all of the gifts for the children on the program, we thankfully had enough biscuits leftover to give to the rest of the children in the village. 

The mothers were so thankful for this lifesaving program funded by Love for Lukulu and you all, the donors, that they generously presented us with gifts of their own. This meant so much because even though they have so little, they were so happy to give us what they had as a way of saying thank you. 

We are now about to head over to a bonfire with some of the locals to unwind and enjoy delicious popcorn and Mosi (African beer) in order to get the full cultural experience! 

Tomorrow we are looking forward to joining Sister Pat here in Lukulu to meet many of the babies currently on the program and can't wait to tell you all about it in tomorrow's blog! 

Goodnight and God bless! 

(A handmade truck made by one of the children, amazing skill!)

Shoutouts:

Hey Nana, grandma and grandpa, mom, dad, Tom and all the rest of my AWESOME family... Thanks for being so supportive!! Love and miss you 

-Hannah 

Hey mom and dad! Take good care of Mia (my puppy) for me while I'm away!! Miss and love all of you! 

-Meg