July 31, 2024

Hey everyone! We want to tell you today about the "banana boys."

When you walk through the town strip in Jinja, it won't be long before you see some kids around 8-12 years old carrying trays of bananas on their heads and selling them to whoever may buy. 

They're typically trying to earn some money to pay for school fees, or to help with rent for their family, or to just buy a meal for the day.

These quickly became familiar faces.

Then they became friends.

Whenever we went to the town strip, they'd be so excited to see Baby B - and Baby B would be equally excited to get a fresh bunch of bananas.

After we had been here for some time, and they knew that we weren't just tourists, they wanted us to come visit their families. For the most part, they all lived a little east of town in a part called Masese - a slum, and one of the poorest places in Jinja. So one day, I (Taylor) and some of the kids hopped on the back of some boda-bodas (motorcycle taxis) and headed to Masese. Weaving through the slum, I was able to go home-to-home and meet their mothers (...in every case it was single mothers, the fathers having abandoned them) and their siblings, getting a glimpse into their lives by seeing where they were coming from. (Since then, we've been able to help some of their mothers with work, basic living items, and school fees - but that's not what we want to focus on today...)

A few weeks after this, 4 of the "banana boys" asked if they could come to church with us. To which we said, "Of course."

So that Sunday, we picked them up in town, gave them each some mandazi (fried bread) and a drink so they'd have full bellies, and headed off to the local church we attend.

The next week, they wanted to come with us again - and bring a few friends. To which we said, "Of course." So that Sunday, we grabbed a few extra mandazis and loaded up our car again.

And by a few Sundays later...

It wasn't just the boys anymore though.

The group has been growing and growing, and our church has been so wonderful in welcoming them each week.

And we have a fun little system in place now. Each Sunday morning, all the kids first meet in town. Justeen (if you remember her from the last post) makes a bunch of mandazis for the kids to share. Then there's another lady at the church who has a shop on the main strip - so she lets the kids store their bananas there for the morning. From there, they all walk about a mile to church.

Then, we dance.

After the singing/dancing, the kids go to children's church - where they are so blessed to be taught by Allan and Prosey. Allan leads the time for the older kids, while Prosey leads the younger ones.

After a few more weeks, the kids began asking for their own Bibles, which we were so thankful to be able to provide for them.

Please pray for these kids - the situations they come from are overwhelming, and even after all this time and all these kids that we've met, I've only met one of their fathers, and only heard of one other father who's around. Pray for us to know how to serve them, and how to use what God has given us for their good. And pray that, week-by-week, they would come to know "how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure," and who Jesus is and all that He's done for us.

We're gonna miss them during our time back in the States.

Which brings us to... our time back in the States!

We're so thankful that Lizzy's had a healthy pregnancy so far. The due date is currently September 14. So we're planning to head back... next week! And since we're planning to stay until November, we really hope to get to see many of you while we're back.

We can't tell you how thankful we are for you and the many ways you've supported us while so far from home. We love you.