National Tournament Report

   Kara here.
   Sorry it's been so long! Things have been crazy around here. I don't think I've posted more than one blog this year. First Kobwin, then basketball tournament prep, regionals, more basketball prep, national tournament, EYO camp. I want to focus more on the national tournament and EYO camp.

    I'm writing this (or rather beginning to write this) on Sunday May 6th. (Just now editing it on the 23rd!) The national Ugandan basketball tournament was the last week of April. EYO camp, just this past week. Now, I was somewhat excited for the basketball tournament. I looked forward to spending time with friends and actually playing... Playing! In a National Tournament. But I was nervous. These were girls that have been playing for years and years, and here I was, a girl who had been to a one week basketball camp at six years old, bounced around a ball here and there, and only started to play seriously a year ago. What was to become of me?
    Well, the night before we left, we went to bed around ten, then woke up at 5:30. Seven hours. This is important. It was a long nine hour drive from here to Fort Portal. My legs were cramped, I was holding a bag on my lap the whole time in the hot coaster, making my legs sweat. At least I was seated by my amazing sister Peace. I love Peace. She's awesome. So we got to Fort Portal and started settling in. At first we were told the girls would be eating, sleeping, and playing in a different place. Everyone was like, "WHAT?!" I think all the girls (including me) were super disappointed about that. Thankfully, we ended up playing and eating break and lunch there.
    The dormitories where the girls slept were horrible! People didn't care about keeping the latrines clean so some girls began using the ground right outside the latrine rather than the latrine itself. The official bathing place was four tin 'walls' that were about four feet high, so instead of bathing there the girls bathed right outside the dorm rooms (the dorms were separate 'cabins', each about fifteen to twenty feet away from each other). We shared our rooms with two or three other teams, football and basketball both. The first night I slept with them I got about four hours of sleep. Girls' phones would ring at about midnight to two in the morning. Whenever I turned over in my bed the springs would squeak. The light didn't get turned off until two in the morning. The mosquitos were bothering me. I was miserable. The lines throughout the week for food were bad. Two girls that I saw had refused to listen to authority to make a straight line and/or move into or from it. They were beaten by an askari (security).
    An askari is basically a guard. We have askaris here on NHU, they patrol the place and rotate being our gatekeepers. Anyway, there were other girls who got in fights with each other and askaris. It wasn't the greatest place to be. I spent two nights with the girls, the second night I got about six hours of sleep. Better bed. Lights off earlier. Two others I spent in a guest house (hotel) with my family. Good beds, good bathrooms, good old mosquito nets, amazing breakfasts...
    But enough about the accomidation. I'm sure you want to know about the actual tournament. Truth to be told, I had fun. For most of the day, I preferred to hang out in the coaster and read a book. I'm not the kind of person who likes to make friends. It's hard for me. But I did meet a few people, who received my 'contact' by the end of the week. Those were Shila (Sheila), Asher, Sharron, Lillian, Rita and Brenda. We played three games that week, the first game we played was against one of the teams that had reached the top eight the year before. Gosh those girls were good. I was getting so frustrated with their hands on team (by that I mean they were constantly touching us, grabbing our arms and jerseys) and the fact that we couldn't make any shots I was in tears by the end of the first quarter. But after crying out to God and receiving His grace, by the end of the game I was able to congratulate the winning team without resentment. Thank you Jesus! And surprise surprise, most of them asked my name and invited me over to their coaster to 'hang out' for a little bit. ?  Once there, they actually asked me if I wanted to join their school the next year. Ding ding, translation! Meaning, "how about playing for our team next year?" Ok. Hold on a second. Do you mean you are inviting someone from a loosing team, 4 - 48 who didn't get one shot but only dribbled the ball down the court making it past their defenses once? Or twice, I don't even remember now. Heh, but that was a surprise. The boys team played the same school and lost, less miserably than the girls did.
    Second day we had no games, it was a pretty boring day. The boys played one game (which they lost) and went to tour the Toro Kingdom Palace. The girls had to stay behind, just in case our game was next. We ended up playing it the next day, so we were bored. We interacted with some people. Actually, I was getting tired. Physically, yes, but also socially. I'm not used to interacting with a huge crowd of people I don't know, having strangers saying "Hi Kara!" It's kind of weird, made me feel almost like a celebrity or something. Now I know what they feel like. During devotions the morning after, I shared Hebrews 12:1-3. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles..." Looking back, I can think of the 'sin that so easily entangles' as frustration, anger, hate towards the teams that beat us. I personally, didn't feel and hate, but that first game we played I was getting very frustrated and angry. So that verse caught my attention, now here's the rest of it. "...and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Wow. So even if I'm getting socially tired, even spiritually, if we fix our eyes on Jesus and persevere the road He has set before us, He will perfect our faith, he will renew it, make it strong! "...who, for the Joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hello God. The boys just lost two games, we have lost one and were about to play two more that afternoon. He is going to keep us going if we 1. Fix our eyes on Him 2. Consider the pain, opposition and shame Jesus endured to bring us life in order that we "not grow weary and loose heart"!
    So now, we go out and face the next two giants. Squash. Yep, you guessed it. We died. Actually, we could have beaten both teams if we would have made more shots, but there were no nets and the backboards were funny. In the second game, if I would have made two more lay ups and two more free shots, we could have won. But, I think the best thing was that we girls were so joyful after the game. We didn't win, yet we were happy! ??? Why? People actually thought we had won our games because we were so happy. Why? We got joy joy joy joy down in our hearts... Down in our hearts... Down in our hearts, we got the joy joy joy joy down in our hearts, down in our hearts to stay!!!! ......... Sorry. Oh! And at the end of our last game, Grace (who is our team leader), our Dad and I all got interviewed by a guy from the FUBA (Federal Ugandan Basketball Association). He asked me (in not so many words), what is it like to be the only caucasian on the team? I told him they all treat me like we're sisters, and we are sisters, in Christ that is. It's funny, because people noticed how much we are like family. A guy from another team asked Peace why we don't treat other guys like we treat our boys. Peace told him it's because our guys are brothers, rather than strangers/newly made friends. I actually had one guy ask me my number. I was so surprised because I had just met him, and because of the way he asked, I just said we'll see. After he left I smacked myself on the head. Stupid stupid stupid. At least I could have told him I don't have a phone and that if he wanted my dad's number he could take it. Sometimes, I just fail miserably at social interaction. Thankfully he didn't come back. Maybe the fact that I got teased by most of our boys confused him so that he thought I already had a 'boyfriend'. I hope that's not the impression I made. They are all great friends and brothers. Nothing of the romantic sort.
    The boys played their last game and won, but didn't make the qualifying round by one point. Saturday, we went to a place that had a pool, sauna and steam room. Oh the sauna was heavenly! It was a cold rainy day in a cold pool. Getting out after my lips turned blue and running to the sauna was amazing... Anyway. We stayed in a different place that night, a hostel. Y.E.S Hostel, Youth Encouragement Services. They had a ping pong table, a badminton net, connect four and cards on computers, Brevin brought his computer and we watched movie clips, then went to sleep on amazingly comfortable beds. And that was the end of our week- oh no. Not yet. I almost forgot (how could I?!). About an hour our of Fort Portal, the coaster broke down. The brakes broke. Big time uh oh. Thankfully, we stopped right under a tree (a nice one to climb, we were still wearing pants). In just about a half an hour, a huge public bus came by. I wanted to go along with everyone, but I had to go in the car with my mom and Tiff and Tal. And Brevin and our obnoxious little brothers. :P Yep. I was bored. At least I had plenty of gonja (thanks mom!). Gonja are a type of bananas. The ones they sell along the road are roasted, and when eating them hot they're super good! Love those things. They're my favorite traveling snack. Anyway, we got home safely, and total that week I got about 45 hours of sleep. Just wait for my next post, the EYO camp. I get even less sleep then.


                                 Kara

           1 Corinthians 10:31- "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Birthday again.

                                     (Written on the 21st)

We have gotten back into the rhythm of things. Doing school, having the family group over, going to church, Etc. On Friday night we went down to the family meeting at Ebenezer for something important. We had known what this important thing was before, but the family didn’t. It was that the Ebenezer Family parents were going back to Jinja and someone else would take their place. Please pray for that, because I know that when they leave many of Ebenezer will be sad.

On Saturday my Mom and Dad went to Kampala to get rims for the car. Kara and I spent the day here on Secondary until the came back, and Toby Britton came about a half hour before they got home. You see, Toby was having a sleepover here at my house. So he came at about 4:30, we played DS until about a half hour before supper, (Acacia Britton was having a sleepover with Kara that night too, but she came later just before MacGyver) and watched a MacGyver before and during supper.

Then after supper Ebenezer came and we all watched the rest of Matthew. We had fun. Then after that Ebenezer left, we watched another MacGyver, Toby and I played some more DS then went to bed. The next morning Toby had to leave early after breakfast, but Acacia, Kara and I play DS for a while. Then we went to Church.

Last night we had the Brittons over for supper and us kids went out and play outside for a while after a VERY good supper. We had lots of fun as we played in the dark and then came in and danced to music until they left. Today I am going over to the Brittons again to play with Toby. As soon as i’m done with this, of course.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We all appreciate it very much. Thank you all for your prayers, it has been raining a lot lately again. Please keep praying for the kids in the Family group, as they struggle with the Family parents leaving. Please also pray for Future things, such as dry seasons and anything else you think of.

Micah

      Peterson

Back home.

(Written on the 14th)

So we got back from the National Basketball Tournament a little over two weeks ago. We had a lot of fun. When we got there after a 9 hour trip we dropped the Boys’ (team) stuff off, cause they were staying where the actual games were taking place, and went to where the Girls were staying. After all this we went to our (us and the Anderson family) Hotel.

The next day (Tuesday) was both of the teams’ first game. Both teams lost these games. Then the Boys played the next day (Wednesday), lost, didn’t play the next day (Thursday), played the next day (Friday), and won. The Girls played twice on Thursday, and lost both.

But the Girls and Boys were joyful after each loss and win, and everybody noticed it. Many people commented on it, saying they were different in their attitude after losing. They also made new friends, including ones that were on the opposite team.

So after two weeks of no school, we started again a week ago. We also had Ebenezer over to watch a movie that acts out Matthew.

Thank you all for you prayers and support. We are very grateful for it. It has been raining a lot lately again. Our cistern is filling up and the rain is once again slowing down. Please pray for future things.

Micah

      Peterson.

Happy Easter(Resurrection Day)!

        (Written on Monday the ninth)

Happy Easter everyone! Yes, some people get offended when we call it Easter. That’s why sometimes it’s better to say Resurrection Day. Because, in a sense, it makes more sense. What happened on Easter? Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Therefore, Resurrection Day makes sense.

The last few days have gone as regular, except for yesterday and today. We did school last week as usual. We went to the family group as usual also. On Friday night we had an actual Passover meal with bread, meat, and a special kind of juice.

On Sunday, after church, we went down to the family group for an Easter lunch. We also celebrated the family group parent’s little boy’s birthday. After that we came back and played a football match in ‘Ebenezer Stadium’. Then we had them over for a Movie night and watched Courageous.

Today we are having the Family group over for a Basketball game. As soon as I finish this I will head over. We are also having a family group boy over for dinner. He is a fun guy. No pun intended.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We all appreciate it very much. We have not had much rain for a while and our cistern is getting empty. Please pray for that. There are also a few people who are having problems. Please pray for them. Thank you all very much once again.

Micah

    Peterson

Basketball Tournament again!!

Yes, there is another Basketball tournament for the Boys and Girls again. It is tomorrow and Thursday, and we will be leaving pretty early. This time Kara will play because she is also on the team now.
The days have been normal, which is doing school, plus having fun playing basketball. Plus going to our family groups on Tuesday nights. Plus going to church on Sunday. But there hasn't been a basketball tournament for a long time now.
There hasn't been much happening lately. We did have another basketball game here though. Lady Staff against the Girls again, and Men Staff against the Boys again. This time, though, the Girls won their game, and the Boys won their game. We had lots of fun, once again, watching the game, and playing at halftime and after it.
When we go to the tournament tomorrow, we will go to New Hope's Basketball court in the early morning and meet the Basketball teams, Boys and Girls, there. Then we will head out, them in the bus, us and others in our (Peterson's) car. We will have breakfast on the way, and should get there pretty early also.Then we will play, and come back home for the night. The next morning we will do the same thing, and once again come back home for the night.
On Friday morning we will head in to Kampala because my Dad is teaching IY(Investment Year). I will probably play with Joel Brown's little brother, Silas Brown, until IY is over, unless Joel comes back early. I don't remember where we are spending the night. Then on Saturday we will meet some friends who are leaving back to America on Sunday. We will spend time with them all day, spend the night in a Hotel with them, then see them off on Sunday.
 On Sunday we will meet one of our Ebenezer boys who is in school in Mukono. We will eat Lunch with him and then go shopping after he leaves. Then after we go shopping, we will come back here to New Hope. Hopefully these days will be fun.
Thank you all for your prayers. Please pray that the trip will go well, and the tournaments too. Keep praying for future stuff too. This Year is a busy one. Thank you all again for your prayers and support, we all appreciate it.

                                Micah
                                    Peterson.

The Regular.

        We have gotten back on our regular schedule of our weeks. We started school again on February 27th. We are going to the Ebenezer family group every Tuesday night again, and we are helping them in their gardens almost every Saturday morning.
        Friday evening we had the Ebenezer family group over for a football game. We played from 2:00 to 4:00, and we had lots of fun. We also did a basketball game from 4:00 to about 6:00. We had fun doing that too. I had a sleepover at Toby Britton's house(see previous blogs) that night. The best part about that sleepover was that we stayed up until 1:00 A.M.!!!! We had fun the next morning also.
        On Sunday we went to Church, of course, and ate lunch after. Then in the afternoon, the lady staff(including my Mom) played basketball against the girl's team(including my sister). The lady staff won that game. Then after that the Stallions(boy's team) played basketball against the men staff(including my Dad). The men staff won that one. My family(the Petersons) had our family night that night also. We had lots of fun that weekend.
        Today I have finished school all but this blog. After I am finished I will wait for my Dad to get back from a meeting and then we will go play some Basketball. Last week we couldn't play together because my Dad was teaching the institute all week.
        Thank you all for your prayers. We appreciate them very much. Please keep praying for anything that is coming. Right now I am listening to some thunder that rumbles every few seconds. Hopefully it will rain soon. Our cistern is filling up, for that, we are grateful. Thank you all and please keep praying for us!

                              Micah
                                    Peterson.

Beginning the New Year 2012

I just hate it when you have to write down the date for something, but instead of writing the current year, you write down the year that had just finished? Or is that just me? Could be. 2011 has been amazing. This was one of the best changes in my life, moving to Uganda. I've made awesome
friends, gone out of my comfort zone and had fun, had fun in my comfort zone, done things I'd never have
imagined two years ago, found talents and shared them with many people, worked hard, lazed around, found God
more extensively than I had in the states, and found family in places I wouldn't have dared to dream even less
then a year ago. I've learned lessons the easy way and hard way, became sick more than a few times, recovered
to bless His Name, received amazing pets and more blessings than I could ever ask for. I do love it here! But now
I am able so say that next year, we are going on furlough. It's not a bad thing, no not at all. I just hope we'll be
back this way after visiting the States, if we don't, I'm going to miss everything, everyone, here.

I said I've made awesome friends. Well, I have. And not just Ugandans or Missionaries either. When the
Kansas team came back in November, there were a few people I had never met before. So within the week they
were here, I made friends with most if not all of them, just, not quite as well as I would have liked. Thanks Emilee
for being a great new friend for the short time you were here! Miranda, if you ever see this, *rolling eyes* you
were pretty awesome too. As for Paige.... Must I say more? :P Just kidding. Oh and Leah, I didn't forget you
just to let you know. ;) Yes, there are also many awesome Ugandan friends. I met most of them on the basketball
court, many in the Heart of Worship Team and For Him team, one or two of them actually just continued to say
hello to me until I learned their names. Notice I didn't mention meeting friends in Ebenezer family. The reason for
that is, they are all my brothers and sisters. They could be friends, but I like to think of family as family.

The first time I went out of my comfort zone and had fun was back in February. Uncle Ronnie and Hannah both
wanted me to join Heart of Worship team. I was very reluctant, because I wasn't confident in my singing, and I
only knew one person in the group really well. But I took a chance and went to practice the first time. I loved it!
Probably one of the reasons I loved it so much was because this girl, named Peace, who I didn't really know at
all, invited me over to sit by her because I was sitting alone. That was what made it so amazing I think. The
second time was in May. Some of my friends kept asking me if I was going to this EYO Camp that was
happening. I didn't really want to go but everyone encouraged me to, so I did. I went, and I had a blast! I've done
a lot of things within my comfort zone, like played basketball with the big boys. It's not so bad if you know what
to do around them. I've gotten knocked down once or twice but that's part of playing. Who cares as long as you
don't break or fracture or sprain anything?

Some of the things I've done that I would never have imagined two years ago would be to lead worship songs,
eat goat meat roasted off the bones and liked it, learned a few words in Luganda, an African language, and much,
much more.

Most of you readers know what my talents are, although I don't really brag about them (if I do, it'd be nice to
know). I found my talent for basketball, I already knew I had artistic talent, I found out I could sing, playing
piano... Though the piano thing took six years of practice. I've shared my basketball talent by helping out in the
staff team when they don't have enough people, and helping the girls learn how to play. I can't really remember a
time when I shared my art, although maybe cooking is an art, in that case I've shared art countless times! I've
shared my singing by helping lead worship and helping different people find harmonies to different songs,
performing a song with three others by taking someone's place... Piano? I've played quite a few times for worship
nights and for Sunday worship services.

Working hard comes from helping around our house which isn't really working hard compared to when you're
working in the Family gardens. I've gotten blisters tons of times, hoeing, slashing, harvesting... Lazing around?
Really, that only comes when the holiday's come. This day today, because I have a fever, I had to stay home and
laze around. I don't like it so much, I'm kinda a girl who has to be active, using my mind or body, working or
playing. Anyway...

I think the reason I've found God more extensively, is because I'm around different people who love God
differently, wider view. Also, because I'm more active in helping out in the church which means I'm included in
Bible studies, and even those worship practices when we're just focusing on God. Thanks to the Kansas team,
who brought my Bible and two Bible study books, even in the short time I've had them, I feel closer to Him. I
hope this year, 2012, I'll become ever closer, so I'll never be able to pull away.

Family is important. Ebenezer family is important to me. All of them, from the eldest to the youngest, associates
and parents. They have all played a part in my life, in my growth. I know that none of them will ever see this post,
but I want to thank all of them, starting with Aunt Lydia and ending with little Faith. You guys are my African
family, and whatever happens in the future, I will not forget any of you!

Let's just say, for the easy lessons and hard, God has had a hand in all of them. He's The Teacher, and I'll never
forget it. Mostly when I learn my lesson the hard way, it's when I make a mistake in life. That's the hard way to
learn, learning how to mend the mistake, and if it's not possible, give it up to God and in the process, learning not
to make the same mistake again. The easy lessons come when I read His Word and take it to heart, putting it into
practice whenever the time comes.

Sickness is a part of life. I'm sick right now, as I'm writing this. Just a slight cold, sinus flu, however you'd like to
look at it, but I've got a fever. Anyway, we learn to push through the sicknesses we encounter, the mild ones at
least. God controls the bad ones, when we become sick enough so it's possible we might die, all we can do is
trust Him that he knows what he's doing. I've never before in my life, that I can remember, come close to death.
And I'm not bragging about it, but I don't think it would be fun to brush past death. Malaria isn't that bad, you
people who are scared of it. If you realize you have it at the beginning stages, it's over in a few days, just leaving
you weak and tired. If you don't know that you have it until weeks pass, it's very possible you can die. I've had
malaria before. It's just like having a really bad fever and aches. Fortunately, I didn't throw up like a lot of people
do if they have malaria, that's what I hate most. Throwing up. Thank you Lord that I haven't thrown up for over
six months! Why am I talking about this?

Our pets are amazing. Well, ok. Pet. One pet is. Nutmeg (cat). She's amazing. Right now, Domino (cat) and
Neptune (rooster) are just plain annoying. Granny, (a chicken) she's ok, even though she only lays like, ten eggs a
month. But I'm thankful all the same for all of them. Other blessings? This house for one. Beautiful sunsets,
wonderful people, even just being here in Africa doing His work. The list of blessings could go on and on and
on..... But if I continued to write all of them, it'd probably be weeks or months or even years to write them all.
That's the long overview of 2011. I had fun.

Here's the quick over view of what has happened in 2011. January through December.

January's main event consisted of moving into our new house. Now we almost have most of our furniture and two
months ago we started doing our floor.

February, for me, was exciting because I joined the Heart of Worship team and was up front for my first
Worship Night.

March, gee, what happened in March? Oh, looking back at pictures in March, we planted our first

sweet corn in our garden.

April we gained a new family member, Nutmeg! She was a tiny kitten then, as big as her head is now!

:)

In May Micah had his first bout of Malaria, and I went to the EYO (Emmanuel Youth Outreach) Camp

June was my birthday which got celebrated five times in one week. I was sung to, like, eight times?

Then mom and dad had their 19th anniversary also.

July was Micah's birthday! Which he celebrated with an Ebenezer family member, John.

August was New Hope's Thanksgiving Day, all the families march around the roundabout and sing,

praise God, wave flags and tree branches then gather together in the Church. Plus we went to Kenya and

pet a CHEETAH!

September was our first basketball tournament and the first time I led two songs for worship night.

October held two birthdays, Mwine and Dad's. We went to Entebbe for Dad's birthday, then to

Kampala a week later for Mwine's!

November was when the Kansas team came! We had a blast together with them, going on Safari,

swimming, visiting Musana Camps... All that good stuff.

December, the Month of Many Things. First of all, we went on a family trip with Ebenezer family to

Jinja. I loved that time, we swam, took tours, ate good food, watched Mr. Bean (LOL) and got to be apart of

the Father's Blessing that went on the morning we left. Then, we took John and Mwine to Kampala right

before they left to go to their home. Those are the two closest brothers I've ever had besides Micah.

Awesome brothers at that. Spending time with them was mom's birthday present, a good one too. Then,

Christmas of course. I had fun time practicing a Christmas song and performing it Christmas morning in

church with Jeremiah, Joseph and Johnny. I did the piano and sang along with them, unfortunately the mic

was so far from my mouth. Then of course, there's New Years Eve. We stayed up until eleven at night

playing Scrabble, then prayed together as a family (Peterson family that is, most of the kids on New Hope

are with their families somewhere else) and crashed into bed. BOOOOOMMMMM........ And that ended

2011. We can just say that it went out with a bang.

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your laws, we wait for you; Your name and renown are the desire of

our hearts."

Isaiah 26:8

Thanks Jesus.

Kara

The first pic is of Aunt Lydia, her son Joshua and baby Faith, my mom especially likes this picture! The second is
one of my favorite pictures of a person and a guitar. I fixed it up better on my computer, but whatever.