Hi everyone in Richmond,

Before you keep reading- everybody’s healthy! Talk about being blessed.  Now on with the letter.

WOW. What. An. Experience!  I still can’t believe I’m actually here.  To quote Mr. Wozny, “it’s been a mind-blowing experience.”  The people here are so happy, even if you wave at them for 2 seconds from the window of a moving vehicle.  If you hug them, they are happier than someone who has just won the lottery.  Not to mention, how happy and receptive people are to be receiving the Gospel!  Quite different from America.  Like Mr. Keltonic has been saying this whole trip, when someone asks the “dreaded question” of “How was Uganda?” you can give the 5 word answer of “Amazing- like no other experience” or you can give the 4 hour answer- still, either won’t do a sufficient job until you actually go and see for yourself.
The first REAL Ugandan experience that comes to mind is how so many orphans stayed up until midnight on the night of our arrival and snuck out to hug us when we arrived! I’m sure you’ve already heard about this, but talk about hospitality!

Not only am I amazed by the loving Ugandans and everything about them, I’m also awestruck with the fellow Stony Pointers I’m with! Our team has been so flexible and ready for anything!  Just another of many blessings.
Steven’s been the rock star of the group, and I only say that because his guitar-playing and singing has connected with just about every kid in Uganda! He has really been doing an amazing job singing “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks / I am Bound” to the kids every day along with Sara.  He’s also been doing an awesome job giving his talk on “What We Love;” how people make idols out of material possessions, but God is always greater than the things we own.  He’s even (sort of) picking up on the accent!

I’ve also enjoyed hearing from Sara how Africa and China compare.  The day when our mini-team went to our first school (just Mr. B, Sara, Woz, and myself), Sara took control by winging together a speech about the word “unconditional.” I was amazed how she just got up there, without notes, and strung together a talk about her family that made sense and was concise!  She’s been a wonderful and majestic Ellie the Eagle every day in Bible Clubs; so much of our day would be impossible without her!

You might be surprised, but Mr. B is the funny man on the team. He was showing me tonight how he “ululates,” which to me sounds like someone cackling/ rolling their “r’s” during a Mexican Hat Dance.  The kids get a kick out of Uncle B playing the blind man in Bible Clubs, what with his Stevie Wonder-influenced mannerisms.  He really did have a great moment at the school today, when he was telling the kids about Mrs. B’s car crash years ago, how the Stony Point members prayed for her, and how she could have gotten paralyzed, but instead recovered!  I could tell he was really passionate about that story and sharing it with the kids.  I also liked how Mr. B employed our Muslim driver, Abus, to play Mary and Martha with him today! That’s right, you should probably reread that last sentence!

So many other team members are doing amazing jobs; this is such a well-organized trip! Even though it seems hectic and busy, everyone still has their own jobs and tasks to do throughout the day.  The credit goes to Pastor Isaac and Mr. Keltonic for organizing everything.  And also Mama Rebecca, what wonderful meals she’s been preparing for us!!! Even though I haven’t been around some of the other team members as much during the past few days, we all report to each other what we do.  Here’s just a quick run-through, in case you didn’t already know:

Mr. Wozny and Pastor Crane have been on FIRE, both in their preaching and because the churches they’ve been preaching in have been pretty hot.  Now that I think about it though, really just the church yesterday they preached in was hot.  We’ve all been drinking lots of cold water, and the church today had big windows with a cool breeze.  Wozny has also been a hoot as Lazarus, coming back from the dead each day.  If only Mrs. Wozny could see him now!

Tina and Mrs. B have been teaching at the Canaan School and hanging out with Canaan kids.  I think Tina must have gone to Simon Says graduate school, from what I’ve been hearing about how the game was such a hit!  She and Mrs. B have been natural pros, teaching every day at the Canaan School, probability and reading books.  They’ve been doing a fabulous job!

Mrs. Keltonic has been organizing a lot of the Youth Teen meetings in the afternoons at the churches, tackling struggles that Ugandan young adults face.  Aside from that, she’s been doing just about everything else, including a lot of the things you wouldn’t think of, from running Bible clubs to getting crayons and Jesus coloring books together.

Mr. Wheeler has been working with Pastor Isaac’s administrative secretary, Norah, on using Excel and organizing data for the orphanage.  “It’s been going great!” she tells me.  I had a fun conversation with Norah tonight about movies, music, and politics in America and Uganda.  Also, Mr. Wheeler has been handling about a gajillion shillings and cash; he’s been doing a great job of being the Mr. Moneybags of the team.

Mr. Keltonic, our fearless leader.  He’s been everywhere, trying to oversee everything.  I’m just amazed that he organizes this trip every year!!!  He gave a great off the cuff intro to our team the other day, talking about how he and the translator were twins, how even though they were completely different physically, God was both of their fathers.

I guess I saved the best for last, my dad! He has been going to a few different hospitals and clinics; today he was at Jinja Children’s Hospital again.  He found out that the number one use of abandoned mosquito nets is for wedding gowns!  It is very nice to have a parent along, to make sure I am doing things like taking my malaria medicine and making my protein shake.  I haven’t seen too much of him during the past few days because we have been gone at local villages all day.  Mr. Keltonic took me aside and told me his favorite Dr. Leaton story again yesterday morning, the one about the witch doctors and how they “transmitted” HIV.

My favorite experience so far would probably have to be the first time I gave my “Who Do You Love?” talk at a high school of about 300 kids yesterday.  I visited the school with Mr. B, Sara Kennedy, and Steven.  It was just a really cool experience; I couldn’t believe that I was actually connecting to that many high schoolers!  Just a week and a half before, our mini-team had a meeting in Mr. B’s office about our presentations, and needless to say my early draft that day probably should have been shredded.  Just the way that it all came together, bringing in personal stories, showing the kids pictures, and interacting with them and asking questions about the people in their life– I think I even surprised myself a little.  For some reason, the kids threw a fit when I tried to pronounce “Aunt and uncle.”  I was helping them see how people love one another because we were made to love by God, who loves us, even though I suspect they already knew that!

Sylvia, our translator today, was this amazing woman that Mr. B said “was an angel who dropped from heaven.”  She is a single mother whose husband abandoned her.  She was the type of translator who would take what you say and fix it, make it better.  She even added more to our Malaria skit than our fact sheet had; she was just recovering from malaria!  We gave her crayons and coloring books to take home to her 4 kids, and we got her email so that we can stay in touch with her and send her pictures.  I’m sure other team members will talk about Sylvia too!  You could talk to anyone for a while and find out a similar story!

Well, it is getting really late now, and I think I may start to close this e-mail.  God has been doing so many wonderful and amazing things.  In so many ways he has been at work, through his guidance in every thing we do, and in everything we don’t even think about.  Our trunks arrived, and it took me until now to even think to mention that!  This weekend and next week, we will get to spend a lot more time at Canaan during the day; our team should have a lot more time to spend with the orphans here.  Now, they just get a few minutes with us a day, as they patiently wait each night to greet and hug us as soon as we return!

In Christ,

Jonny Leaton