Trent Renner

Laid Back Day in Africa…Saturday

What a good day. Very simple. AFter yesterday I needed a mental and emotional break. Today we went back to True Vine Ministry and visitied some of the same kids as we did on Wednesday. I guess we did more than just visit. We played basketball with the kids, the ladies in the group let the girls braid their hair, other guys in the group played soccer and volleyball. Today was just a relational day.

I had a chance to run downtown Torroro and purchased some soccer balls and basketballs to give to the ministry and school we visited. I took a motorcylce ride back. I went with a group of about 8 and we most definately stand out. We where the only white people in town. The Africans call us MUZUNGO…which means White and rich. Its not meant as a slam, just slang. Kinda like Gringo in the Mexican world. So as all 8 of us rode back on separate motorcyles and our drivers all lined up in a single file line people shouted Muzungo Train!

I have never met such a freindly and kind group of people. They actually see it as improper to not greet one another with a “Hello, How are you?” Everybody smiles. Its so refreshing. I think we Americans could work on this a bit. We have a tendency to be so independant and nervous around each other we’ve lost the art of friendliness. I want to challenge you for the rest of the day to say hello and smile to every person you make eye contact with.

One other quick story that is just fun and differnet and it proves that God is the creator of all things and He made everything very similar. So here’s the story. Just outside the front of our hotel is one giant tree that has a whole bunch of yellow birds. You know the kind you see only in cages in America. They are called Yellow Weavers. Beautiful bird. They are all making these round nests. Its seems like you could count 50 or so nests being woven together in this tree. The nests are round and about the size of a large Grapefruit. These Yellow Weavers hang upside down from the bottom of the nest and weave them together. In fact I found out that males are the ones who do all the work weaving these nests. You can watch these passionate men working away trying to make thier womans home just right and see all the energy and effort it takes. They leave a hole in the bottom of the nest and the birds enter the nest by flying up into it and then there is a flat inside the nest that they grab and rest and lay eggs in. Well after all the hard work of making the nest you can watch the male stop his work and sit on a branch close to the nest and he is chirping away with great pride at all his hard work. What happens next is amazing. The female then flies up into the bottom of the nest. She seems to remain inside for about 30 seconds to maybe a minute. If she approves of the nest, she flies out and then lands next to her male mate/husband and they chirp in agreement. If she doesn’t approve of the nest she flies out and lands just at where the Male Yellow weaver attached the nest with a braided string and she snips that string with her beak and the nest falls to the ground and is destroyed. The male looks at his work as it falls…seems to take a sigh…shake his head and then starts all over. Typical Wife….moving the furniture. God really did make all of creation very similar. You can tell there is only one great creative artist!!! LOL

Well, we’re back at the hotel. Its raining again. You can hear the rain coming down and you can actually hear monkeys running across the roof. Not sure what dinner is tonight, but I’m glad I get to blog a little early tonight and therefore get to bed earlier. .

Africa is outstanding. I hope you will plan on going someday. Traveling with Hope4Kids International makes it very simple.

I am so blessed to be here.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll update tomorrow. I’m going to an African Church service tomorrow…I have heard they can go on for many hours.
Gather with your church family tomorrow and celebrate how much God loves you. Don’t just go and attend a show…really give thanks to God. Bring your tithes and offering with you and sing out with all your love for God and take great notes as your preacher shares the Word of God. Then Go out and Be The Church!
The Hope of the World is the power of God working through your hands and feet and heart. Gather with people you love, enjoy the community of it all and keep being the Church! It really is the only hope our world has that lasts.

Love ya…
Trent

Arrival in Uganda Africa!

We left PHX, AZ at 10 am on Monday and arrived in Entebbe Uganda at 10 PM on Tuesday. Crazy Air Miles. My first 10 hour flight I sat next to a 25 year old lady who was born in Israel. She was raised in a cult-like church. The exact name is escaping me right now but I believe its called Hebrew Israelites. They practice animal sacrifices and have some major legalistic rules they must follow. This explains why she left it all and moved to America and was traveling home to visit her 10 other siblings. She was very outgoing. Told me all about how to use Mushrooms as a drug, but she didn’t recommend it because… “It will make you trip out like you’ve never experienced!” She has no idea. I”ve barely drank an entire beer in my life. Once I told her I was a Pastor she got out of the mushroom discussion and opened up the Marijuana one! Really! She explained all the diffrent kinds of highs you can get, etc. Anyway…she actually asked me a lot of questions about Church and about Jesus and she said that her biggest fear about the Bible is that it could be just a big hoax that somebody wrote. We talked through it all. I asked her if she would really take a good look at who Jesus is in the near future and she said she would. I wish I could tell you that I had her praying to Jesus and we all stopped the plane to do her baptism, but that isn’t the case. She did ask if my family facebook page would friend her on facebook though. Maybe someday she’ll fully acknowledge Jesus as Lord of her life. She was intereseting to speak with and she made the 10 hour flight go a little bit quicker.
That flight took me to Amsterdam where I had to run to catch the 8 hour flight to Uganda. We arrived and I have just checked into the hotel with a group with Hope 4 Kids International. There are about 60 of us. Big mix of people. Young and old from all over the US. Im in my hotel room right now typing this. The room is about 15 feet long and 8 feet wide with a single bed in it. The bathroom is decent and I”ll have to duck to get in the shower. I have always heard the phrase… “You can cut the air with a knife.” I’ve experienced humidity before, but now I know what it means to cut the air with a knife! Wow. No AC in my room. The window is open and there is zero air moving. Going to be a long night. Not complaining. I’m actually excited. What a wierd and cool expereince. I intend to be the hands and feet of Jesus tomorrow as we head out to meet the people of Africa! That’s it for now. Just been traveling and now am going to try to get some sleep. The time here is 9 hours ahead of AZ time. My clock is reading 1:02 A.M. right now, which means its 4 in the afternoon in PHX. I’ll represent AZ well. Stay tuned! I can’t really communicate with my family, but I sure miss them. Don’t take your family for granted. We may all irritate each other but its good…my heart goes out to military families. I can’t imagine the fear they think about daily and how their heart aches to be together. That is one extremely large ocean between me and my family. Love you all!
Trent