Uganda Post 8 - The Team

I already told you all about our fearless leader Melissa and how incredible she is.  I mentioned our amazing team, so now it's time to introduce you to each of them.  These people are incredible.  It was so awesome to get to know each of them and to see how well God put this team together. It was evident from the get-go that He had big plans for our ministry to others as well as each other.

God knew each personality that would be on this team. He knew how we would clash and how we would mesh. He designed a team that would function well in each area in a different way. He showed us our strengths and weaknesses so that we would learn to rely on Him when we didn't know which way to go. He orchestrated friendships that I will forever be grateful for and know come directly from Him and can serve His purposes.

The team (minus Bliss) delivering Mama Kits to Mama Florence:

Nurse Agnes, Josh, Kim, Katie, Melissa B, Jessica, Janet, Brooke, Beth, Becki, Kerri

Janet - Our other Mulvane lady! I've known Janet since I started attending FBC Mulvane about a decade ago, but have known her on mostly a surface level.  I loved getting to spend more time with her and learning more about her.  Seeing her interact with our team and those that we were there to serve was really special and showed me a lot of how compassionate and caring this woman is.

Jessica - Melissa's sister-in-law is just as hilarious as any Busby should be. She kept us giggling with her good sense of humor and I loved getting to know this girl that I had heard so much about over the years.  She was such a trooper and jumped in when needed.  I loved seeing/hearing her soaking all of Uganda in and experiencing the place that her sister-in-law loves so much.  I also loved her commentary on the kids of Uganda and how tough they are!

Katie - Melissa's cousin-in-law.  This girl was awesome and got to show off her nursing skills on several occasions!  It was great to see her use her gifts to serve the team's purpose and to get to help in an entirely different way than the rest of us were able to.  She was also a big favorite of the Ugandans because of her beautiful hair!

Joshua - The brave boy that was willing to tag along with all of us girls. Impressed is an understatement...he managed to hang with all of us crazy ladies without going completely bonkers. He was such a trooper and was willing to step in and help every step of the way. Plus, he loves his aunt Melissa and that, in itself, was completely adorable.

Kerri - A musician and photographer from North Carolina. She is a sweet, spunky Southern girl and I fell in love with her and her best friend Becki.  She was awesome in every setting that we found ourselves in and could always give a giggle to the group.  Plus, she ate an entire fish that was pulled from the Nile....that just screams to her awesomeness.  Kerri and Becki led our worship sessions and blew me away with their talent and their heart for leading other women to the Throne. Amazing.

Becki - Kerri's fellow musician who resides in Tennessee.  This girl is tough and hilarious...just the kind of person I like to hang out with!  She lovingly shared her story with me and wanted to hear mine as well. She made me giggle and cry...not an easy thing to do when you've known someone less than a week! I'm so thankful for her and Kerri and the hilarity and seriousness that they brought to the team!

Brooke - She's from Nebraska, but I promised I wouldn't hold that against her. Husker fanhood aside, I loved getting to know this sweet lady.  She has such a heart for the kids in Uganda and she amazed me every step of the way with her special way of showing Christ's love to everyone that we met.  She managed to pull off some pretty awesome crafting activities too, which was no small feat!

Kim - Our new writer friend from Minnesota.  This lady is something special.  She has such a heart for the orphan and wants to know all that she can about the people of Uganda and how they live.  She amazed me with her interactions and her drive to bring attention to the problems that the people of Uganda face.  Plus, her sense of humor was sarcastic and spot on...just the way I like it.

Bliss - Our rogue traveler that joined us on the road to Jinja and Mbale.  We loved this beautiful girl and everything that she brought to our team.  I'm so thankful that her plans in Uganda didn't go right on schedule and that she got to tag along with us...she was definitely meant to be on that bus with us.  I loved seeing her sweet spirit and watching her experience exactly what she came to Uganda to do - love on the people there. We're all praying that the rest of her time in the country is just as special as our time was with her.

Agnes - The nurse from Kampala that tagged along with us to our ladies' events. She impressed me so much with the way she shared with the ladies at our gatherings.  She has such a great sense of humor and was so knowledgable.  She had a way with the girls and women that she talked to...she was able to get them to loosen up and take their walls down.  She got them to ask the questions that were on their mind and gave them such useful information to carry with them.  She was such a blessing to our team!

I have to also mention Billy & Brian - the boys that drove/directed us on our trip.  They're both awesome guys who just wanted to help serve in the best way possible and they were such a blessing to our team.  They both made us laugh constantly and brought a different perspective to the trip, so I'm thankful for them too!