A Life of Obedience

Daydreaming

2010-05-08T21:51:00.001-04:00

The thing about memories are they last a lifetime…or at least that’s what all the Hallmark cards tell me. Most of us can think back to a time when we were much younger, under the age of 10, and we can remember a specific activity or event. It’s a memory our brain has chosen to save for whatever reason. Maybe we save memories to release good feelings or maybe we save memories to teach ourselves lessons. Whatever the reason the fact is years down the road you will be able to recall, with clarity, something that has happened in the last 6 months. You will be able to remember where you were at, what everything looked like, the smells, the textures, the people. I don’t understand how our minds work. I don’t understand how it’s possible to be able to flash back to a memory more than two years ago and feel like I am still there. It feels so real.Of course I am talking about Africa.

There is a woman in class with me who also loves Africa. She used to be a missionary there for some years. She enjoys talking about our beloved continent and we get to share our stories and our passion. Every time I see her on Thursday mornings I get a little excited because there is a good possibility by the end of the class that we will have gotten to talk about Africa or an aspect of what we miss. The other day when I got to class she randomly asked me if I ever daydream about Africa. I looked at her with a little shock because I didn’t really think other people did that. She began to tell me that sometimes she finds herself lost in her own thoughts just thinking about certain people or places. And it was at that moment I realized I wasn’t crazy for all the day dreaming I do. When things get stressful at work or school or in life in general I daydream. I immediately find myself back in Mutundwe amidst the dusty roads and banana trees. That’s my retreat. I remember walking down the bumpy road to work every day and greeting the women on the side of the road and laughing with the kids on their way to school. I remember riding bodas through the city and sitting on taxis for hours. I remember how hot it could get and how cold 70 degrees felt at night. I remember the people, the kids, my friends and I miss them all.

It’s weird to say but a part of me feels like I was made for Africa. My heart didn’t know it until I first stepped foot onto her soil in 2006. It wasn’t an immediate thing. I actually remember feeling quite ill most of my first trip to Africa but as soon as I got home I couldn’t shake the feeling that things would never be the same. I’m not sure what I was passionate about before Africa but I wouldn’t trade these memories for the world.

Just an Update

2009-06-26T15:23:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure how many people are even still reading this blog since I haven't posted anything in more than 3 months. But for those who do still check it on occasion here is an update.

I was living at home in FL when I returned from Uganda but I knew that wasn't the permanent location for me. I left Uganda to return to the US to go to seminary...not just any school, but the school another missionary in Uganda suggested. It was hard to leave Uganda because I definitely felt like I could have stayed another year, but I also knew if I wanted to serve long term I needed to take some bible classes.

In mid March I moved to Columbia, SC where I am attending Columbia International University. I work at Ben Lippen School, K-12 grade, as an event coordinator. I am in charge of all the fund raising events, back to school nights, parent orientations, homecoming, tailgating, etc. Basically if it is an event I have something to do with it. I am not an event planner by trade but all it really takes are some good organizational skills and ability to multi-task. Now that I can do.

Although I am not in Uganda anymore I am still working for Dwelling Places as the child sponsor coordinator. I am so excited to have a role with them and be connected even from the states. I am the one who updates sponsors and coordinates with the Ugandan staff for letter writing, etc. I am so excited to stay connected to Rita, the kids and the other missionaries at Dwelling Places. God is good.

A lot of people have asked how I am adjusting to life back in the US. Honestly most of the time it's fine. almost like I picked up where I left off. But then other days I look at pictures of Uganda or the kids and want to jump on a plane and go right back. I am thankful I am fairly poor because that prevents me from doing anything too dumb :) I would love to go back and visit for a few weeks but probably not to live for good. Part of the reason I came home was because I was feeling like my heart was for the unreached and I needed more training before I would be ready to go out to these people groups. I am praying for God's direction and hoping that he leads me back to Africa one day to work with his unreached. As much as my heart desire is for Africa I am trying to remain open to God's leading and direction. I can get so focused sometimes on my own ideas or my own plans for life. I have to lay down my life daily for God to use however he likes. I fail most times...become stubborn or just ignore God all together. But then there are those huge breakthrough moments when I hear God so clearly and I am able to respond with obedience. These are my happiest times.

I have learned through these tests of obedience that no matter how strange life seems all I need is Jesus. I never thought I would end up back in school and never in a million years did I think I would go to seminary. But God's plans are sometimes so different than our own. I rest in contentment knowing that as I pursue God he will continue to guide and direct me. All I have to do is say yes. Happiness doesn't come from a certain situation. As Paul writes in Philippians he learned the secret of being content living in plenty or in want (Phil. 4:12). He found contentment when being persecuted or being thrown in prison because he knew his life was being used for God's kingdom. He drew strength from the promises of God not his current situation.

Where do we draw our strength from? Do we try to be friends with people who seem to be really passionate and hope it rubs off on us? Or do we turn to the word of God and let it fill us like the bread of life it was always intended to be? We can do everything through Him who gives us strength. And we can find contentment and joy by being obedient to God and allowing him to have full control of our lives. Lord I lay lay down my life for your use and for your glory. I know my way won't always be what you have planned for me and I pray that I will stay connected to you so that I can feel and see where you are leading me next. May I never stray from the source of all my strength.

Glorify You

2009-03-01T15:54:00.001-05:00

I was in church today and we were closing our worship time with the Bebo Norman song “Nothing Without You”. I have heard this song tons of times but it never looses its power for me. The last few lines of the song say,

“Take my time here on this earth
And let it glorify all that You are worth”

I feel it in my soul when I say those words. Half the time I get such a tight knot in my throat I can barely whisper those words much less say or sing them. If I could pray one thing everyday for the rest of my life I think it would go something like those lyrics say. I give God my life…everyday… to be used in anyway he sees fit. I want my time here on earth to glorify God.

So what does it mean, or look like, to glorify God? I was reading a study by Beth Moore and she describes glory in the following way:

God’s glory is the way he makes himself known or shows himself mighty.
Giving glory to God is ascribing to him his full recognition.
God’s glory is the way he makes himself recognizable.
She finishes by saying, “We were created for the purpose of giving his invisible character a glimpse of visibility.”

The one I like most is giving God’s invisible qualities visibility through the way we live our lives. That’s powerful to me. God has chosen to use us. That’s his big plan. He has legions of angels, all the power and control in the world, could create some other super being and yet he has chosen his original, albeit slightly marred, creation to change the world. He chooses you and me to show himself through us so that other people might get just a small glimpse of the maker of heaven and earth. That’s crazy, and if you ask me it makes me a bit nervous. If we are the vessel for which God is using to show himself what about when we act in a way that isn’t in line with his word? What are we showing those who don’t know him yet?

Bringing God glory is a gift. We have the opportunity to reflect God to others and to bring God glory. We have chances everyday to show God we love him through our actions and obedience to his word. As soon as I typed that I immediately thought of how many times I am sure I have disappointed God. And although that is true I know God doesn’t want us to live with guilt of disappointment. He wants us to draw closer to him, to let his holy spirit who lives in us to speak to our hearts, to change our desires, to help us grow everyday. We will never reach perfection here on earth but we strive to live a life that glorifies God – even with all our quirks and failures. God uses us exactly as we are and continues to mold us and shape us. He can use anyone, we just have to be willing and open.

So here I am Lord. I pray that you would take my time here on earth…every friendship, job, roommate, conversation, decision, move…and let it glorify all that you are worth. May my life scream of your invisible qualities. May you use me in any way you see fit so that others may know you and come to your throne to worship you. I pray that you would ignite a fire in our hearts for you Lord. That we wouldn’t be able to sit still any longer but that we would be drawn into obedience to you. I pray that you would challenge us, open our eyes to the need and pain in the world and give us your strength to take those steps of faith. I give you my life to be poured out.

Blessed to be a Blessing

2009-02-03T20:53:00.001-05:00

I was back in DC for a few days and attended a Perspectives class at MBC with my friend Kendall. I remember this class so well because it is one of the many things God used to encourage my heart to be open to his leading to Uganda last year. The entire class focuses on teaching us to view God as a God of missions and the Bible to be read as a story of mission not just in Matthew or the New Testament but starting from Genesis with the covenant with Abraham. Jesus didn't decide after thirty years on this earth that it would be a great idea to send out his disciples to the ends of the earth. No, that was the plan from the beginning of time...it was never an after thought. One of the themes we were discussing in the first assignment was the idea of "Blessed to be a blessing."

When I think of this saying I immediately think of the US and how, in general, we as citizens of this country are infinitely more blessed than many other countries in the world. We have freedoms other countries will never experience, including the freedom of choosing our religion and the freedom to openly talk about God if we choose. This leads to me think of those places that don’t experience as many freedoms as we have or don’t have as much as we do and I want to GO. I want to sell everything I own, give up my freedoms in some cases, and try to bless others with the knowledge of who God is. That is my first reaction…

Today however I have started to consider what it means for me to be back in the house where I grew up, living with my parents and grandmother. I began to think perhaps I have been blessed with the experience of Africa and with the experience of God to be a blessing to my family. Maybe this is exactly where God wants me right now. I just keep thinking of how much longer until I can return to Africa and how I am so certain that’s where God wants to use me…but I think I am missing what he has put right before me.

I need to stop living 3 months in advance and start realizing God uses every situation and every moment to be able to point others to him. Why would this be any different? As painful as it always is, I need to slow down and just be still and dwell in God’s presence. There are so many decisions I feel like I need to make about where I should live, what job to pursue, what kind of car to get or how much money I should be spending…it is starting to overwhelm me and I am retreating into my corner in hopes that it will all just resolve itself. But I do trust that God has a plan for my life, today and 10 years from now. My life has been written and God knows every decision I will make so I can stop worrying. It’s all in control. I will continue to pray for wisdom and discernment but I will also continue to step out in faith and obedience.

Lord you are. I was going to write something else but I think that is enough. You ARE….you are hope, you are love, you are mercy, you are our comforter, our savior, our doctor, our judge, our father, our creator, and our redeemer. I love you. I want to continually be drawing closer to you. I want to forever be living life that brings you glory and honor. I want to worship you with every talent you have given me and every relationship you allow me to have with friends and family. You have blessed me so that I might be a blessing to others. Help me to see the opportunities you place before me everyday.

Back from Uganda...

2009-01-17T21:28:00.001-05:00

I was definitely nervous leaving Uganda and returning home to a culture and world I have always known but that seemed so very different now. I had questions flying through my head like: would I still be my old self around my family and friends or would they think I had changed? What would I do without a job, place to live, or definite direction? How could I explain how I was feeling about the past year and what I felt God was telling me to explore for my future? It was all overwhelming because I didn’t have any clear answers to the questions I knew I would get. I walked off the plane, went through customs, and was greeted by four friends, smiling and holding signs…and I cried. I was so happy to be home and yet seeing everyone made it official that I was so far away from Uganda and my other life I had fallen in love with.

It’s been almost a month now since I have been back in the US and I can say I finally feel like I am beginning to readjust to life here. The first two weeks I was in complete denial that I was home. I didn’t even unpack my suitcase. I didn’t want to admit that things were changing. In all honesty I would wake up each morning hoping that I somehow was back in my small bed, under my mosquito net in the cottage just down the road from 62 of the most wonderful kids in the world. I miss hugging baby Peter, playing cards with Judith and Christine, and kicking around the soccer ball with the boys. I miss the sounds in the morning, the dusty roads, crazy taxi park, and all the relationships I had developed over the past year.

My last few months in Uganda were some of the toughest times for me as I began to think and pray about what comes next. On many occasions during my prayer time I felt like I was wrestling with God…struggling to hear him or maybe even to obey what it was he was whispering into my heart. I would sit and pray that God would clearly show me direction for the next steps in my life. I wanted to know where he wanted me – Africa or the US? A part of me wanted to come back to Africa but the other larger part of me was scared about what life would look life if I said yes to coming back full time. In my mind saying yes to being a long term missionary means saying you are giving up the right to having a warm shower whenever you want one, to making money and being able to afford to buy things when you want them, to being far away from family and friends and only seeing them for short periods of time, and to that sense of belonging in your own culture. All of these things and so many other thoughts had me almost scared of saying yes to coming back to Africa.

But then I read this awesome prayer in one of my daily devotionals that said, “Father God, may the choices I make be the ones following your will for my life. As you direct according to your word and character, and as I follow, may I not look back and grieve what I left behind. Help us to listen and obey. Amen.” And there was the answer for me. My choices needed to follow God’s will and I needed to listen and obey. But most of all I needed to not grieve what he was asking me to leave behind. God was asking me to give up whatever conviences I had placed higher than Him and give it over to Him knowing whatever it is I am giving up can’t compare to the awesomeness we are all going to experience in eternity with the creator of the world. So if God wants to use these short few years I am on earth and make me a little uncomfortable…so be it. Our life here on earth is like a blink of an eye to God. I can so clearly remember giving my life to Christ more than 4 years ago and it has always been my prayer that God would use me for his glory. I want to live a life that is passionate about God, his people, and his desire that all should come to a saving knowledge of who he is and how he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins to offer us a way to salvation.

I don’t find it easy, and definitely didn’t find it easy at the time in that small room in Uganda, to say yes to God but I’m glad I did. Just like preparing to come to Uganda more than a year ago it seems that once I made a decision I had so much peace about it. It was a struggle right up to that point and then taking the step out of the boat just confirmed that this was where God wanted me to go. So now I am pursuing a longer term commitment with Africa Inland Mission to join one of their two-year TIMO (Training in Ministry Outreach) teams in 2010. I desire to make God known to the world, especially to those who have never had the chance to hear the gospel…to reach the unreached. My heart really is for people and sharing the hope and salvation I have found through Christ Jesus. And my heart, for whatever reason, is stuck in Africa and Lord willing I hope to go back.

So for this next year I am going to pursue earning a Bible Certificate at Columbia International University. I have two reasons for going to school: (1) In order to serve long term with AIM (and most other mission agencies) you need 30 credits of Bible classes. And since this is where I feel like I am headed I thought I could use this year before I head back to Africa to earn these credits. (2) I want to learn more. I want to learn how to be more effective in discipleship and evangelism and I want to learn more about God, his character and how to share the gospel.

And although I have a long term goal of getting back to Africa in 2010 I struggle every day with knowing what I should be doing, where I should be living and what job I should have for now until school starts. These are all details I know God is taking care of and I am trusting and praying that I will end up exactly where he wants me and can use me best.

The Final Chapter

2008-12-15T04:37:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to find the words to tell you all about how I am feeling and what has been going on in my life for the past few weeks. Every time I sit down at the computer I just can’t seem to get anything out in a cohesive sentence. But as they say here “time is small” and its now or never for this last posting considering I leave here in 48 hours.

Looking back over this year I sit in amazement at what God has done in my life and the opportunities he has given me to learn so much more about who he is and who he wants me to be.

I wish I could wrap up my time here in one neat story and let you know how I’m feeling and all the amazing things God has done over the past year in my life. But how do you put that sort of thing into words? How would you tell me the story of your life this past year in the matter of 4-5 paragraphs. You can’t. life is too complicated with too many intricacies to be summed up in a few sentences. We have interactions and events every day in our lives that is shaping us and molding us into the men and women God wants us to be. There are days a smile from a child on the street changes my whole perspective on whatever situation I am going through at the time. And there have been days I have struggled and felt like I would never fit in here in Uganda…when I try to speak Luganda and all I get is laughter or when I walk through town and am painfully aware I stand out by the calls of “muzungu” from every direction.

What I can say is my time here in Uganda has opened my eyes to stark contrasts of this world. You see poor people and orphaned children all the time on TV. The commercials that show a man holding a child with flies around her face asking you to consider paying a few dollars a day so her and her family can eat and live in a home. It’s sad, but for the most part those commercials don’t really cause me to act. Seeing it in person, every day for a year, that has changed my life. Poverty is real. It has affects on the nursing mother who can’t afford to buy enough food to give her baby the nutrients he needs to grow, or the man infected with HIV who can’t afford the ARVS or the transportation cost to go to the doctors to get the medication, or the 2 year old child who is sent to the streets to beg because there is nothing at his house and his mom is desperate. There is suffering here that I will never be able to understand. But there is also joy.

I have met men and women with great faith in who God is. They have faith not just in the blessings they desperately need from God but they have an even greater faith in God’s unchanging characteristics. God IS love. He doesn’t just show love through the things he gives us he is actually love. And this knowledge provides great joy and contentment in their lives. The staff at Dwelling Places sometimes doesn’t get paid in certain months due to lack of funds. This means they can’t pay their own bills or buy food for their homes and yet during our morning devotions they encourage one another with scripture and faith knowing God will provide in his timing and if they don’t have right now its ok because they will either get money in the future or learn to be content without it. There is no problem too big for God and we lift everything up to him in prayer.

I am going to miss so many things about Kampala, Dwelling Places and the kids. I am going to miss this place that I so lovingly call my home. But I am certain we go through things and experiences in our life for a reason and for a purpose that God can use. And I am holding on to the faith that God will use this year to shape me and form me into the woman he wants me to be.

I have found some answers as to what I think I might be doing next that I can’t wait to share with all of you. Some of you I will be able to connect with in person and others I hope to connect over the phone or a faster Internet connection :) I am excited to share my experiences with all of you and even more excited to hear what you have been up to this past year and how God has been working in each of your lives. Thank you for your continued support through prayer, emails, cards, packages, texts, etc. I feel lucky to have such an amazing support group and really thank God for each of you and the encouragement you have been to me throughout the year.

Some final prayer requests:

Please pray for me as I pack my bags and say my final goodbyes here in Kampala. It’s a mixture of emotions as you can imagine and some days I handle that better than others. I am praying that I can leave well and feel like I have closure.
Pray for Dwelling Places that God would provide a buyer for a piece of land we are trying to sell to help alleviate some of our debt and to provide money for resettlement this holiday and staff salaries.
Pray for the children in Dwelling Places this Christmas season. Some will not be with their families for Christmas and I pray that they will be in loving care either with staff or other members of the community.
Pray for my safety as I travel back to DC and Florida in the next week. I don’t exactly love flying so any extra prayers on Wednesday would be great :)

See you soon.

Hope in the Dark

2008-12-05T02:01:00.000-05:00

Just like any place else in the world, once you have lived somewhere you start to become numb to the blaringly obvious needs. When you see a child begging on the streets for the first time it turns your stomach. To see a child under the age of two having to sit in the scorching hot sun and hold out his hands begging for food or money will make your heart break. But the sad thing is when you see this every day it starts to loose its shock. It is not that my heart still doesn’t break for these kids its just that I expect to see it. I hate that seeing poverty, suffering and neglect is an expectation now in my daily life. I hate that sometimes I don’t see the people behind it all but rather I just see the need and feel inadequate that I can’t meet it for everyone.

I sometimes forget that the children in our home once lived a life much different from the one they live now. I see them playing, at school, sleeping in nice beds and I can’t imagine that for some, just a year ago they were living in dust bins and eating rubbish from the streets. I honestly don’t want to imagine that because it is just too sad. When I hear their stories of abuse and neglect I am so angry with a world that can do this to an innocent helpless child. I find myself asking what is wrong with this world? And yet I know the answer…it’s us. Ever since that day in the Garden of Eden the world was flooded with sin and it is this sin that has led to the downfall of man, the destruction of cities, the loss of innocence and the ruin of souls. I have hope…because I know this isn’t the end, the world will not be victorious because that battle has already been won by Jesus.

The other story I have to share with you needs a lot of prayer. There is a woman in our care who is from an area in Uganda that has been forgotten about by the government. There is war, famine, drought and little hope in Karamoja. She is terminally ill and was sent to Kampala on a 12-hour bus ride to get help because there are no good hospitals where she lives. Her husband died a few years ago and we care for 4 of her children on our program. We tried to find care at Hospice but they told us that unless she has HIV or Cancer they won’t offer their services. There is no place to take her, she has no family and she is dying from a heart condition. We have opened our health clinic to let her stay there but the chairman of the community where I live in has asked her to leave…because she is Karamajong. She has no family in Karamoja willing to help take care of her and if she leaves she won’t have access to any healthcare – she fears this trip back will kill her. Our hands are tied because of the political ties with Karamoja and we have to send her home if that is the request. Please join us in praying for this woman. Pray for her healing, pray for strength and pray that God would provide for her in whatever way he has planned. Sadly we are also praying that if it is his will that she should die than we pray that she would die in our care and not alone, away from her children in Karamoja. This woman is going to die and will leave behind 6 total orphans. And all we can do is pray.

TIA

2008-11-24T04:23:00.002-05:00

So I had one of the more exciting weeks of my experience here last week. It all started with a walk through town on Thursday evening after our prayer meeting. I was with my friend Sarah and we were heading back towards taxi park to get our taxis to go home. I was trying to cross the street and I could have sworn I looked both ways (which you have to do since traffic follows no normal pattern here) and just as I stepped out I hear Sarah scream my name and then I feel myself getting knocked down. I got run over by a guy on a bike (not a motorcycle thankfully) and fell down in the middle of the street. Besides this being a bit embarrassing to be laying in a skirt in the middle of the street it was also a bit painful. I had about 20 Ugandans immediately around me saying "soree muzungu, soree". I got up and walked to the sidewalk and then started laughing at the whole situation. I ended up with some good bruises on my legs and feet and a scrapped knee. Not too bad for getting run down in the street.

Sunday was the MTN Marathon day. I had originally signed up for the 1/2 marathon but was still feeling a bit sore so I dropped to the 10k. It was so unreal to see all these Ugandans in their bright yellow MTN t-shirts lined up for the race. It was well organized and even started on time. There were the typical start/finish line balloons and a big PA system. It was all so normal. I was shocked to see so many people though because most Ugandans don't run, at least not for fun. I go for runs all over the city and don't see many other people out enjoying a workout. So it was great to see so many people. I would say about half the people walked the 10k. I saw one girl running in jeans capris and socks, no shoes. I also saw a guy running in loafers and another girl in converse shoes. I would like to point out that I saw all three of these people as they passed me :)

So I finished the race with the help of my new Ugandan friend who decided he was going to set my pace for me. I don't think I have run that fast in a long time, it almost killed me. haha. There was a big tent sent up for after race supplies like fruit and water and stuff. I walked in with no problem but 20 minutes later as I was trying to walk out there was a huge crowd. Everyone was trying to get through this narrow path, both people coming in and out. So I joined the line but after a few minutes I could see things were starting to go bad. People were getting annoyed and started pushing and a minute later it was just chaos. I actually got squeezed up against a car parked near by and then thrown onto the hood of the car. I think the guy behind me was actually trying to protect me from getting hurt. It was quite scary for a few seconds and now I can see exactly how huge crowds can turn into mobs in seconds. I got off and was able to squeeze my way out of the area.

After the race the three of us girls decided we were going to go to church, in our running clothes. I didn't want to miss the last sermon on Hebrews and I only have two Sundays left at the church so we went, all sweaty and in bright yellow t-shirts and running clothes. It was well received by the pastor whose wife ran in the race that morning as well. I love this place.

As exciting as last week was I am really hoping this week is dull :)

Vacation with the DC girls

2008-11-18T03:09:00.002-05:00

Wow what a crazy week with the DC girls. Jill and Sarah and Betsy all flew in last weekend and on Monday we left Kampala to go on safari and take a trip down to Rwanda to visit Myal.

Looking at the schedule I thought there would be no way we would be able to accomplish everything on the list. I just figured the van would break down, or it would rain and delay us leaving, or some other typical deviation that is my life here. But none of those things happened and we actually were able to see and do everything we had planned – a first in Africa :)

Monday we left for Queen Elizabeth National Park and when we got there 7 hours later we jumped out of the van and immediately went on a chimpanzee tracking excursion through the forest. I stupidly thought we would be on some nice path and would just walk around…ok I admit I thought it would be like a zoo. I was wrong. We were hiking through the woods, not on a path most of the time, and covered with bugs and insects. It only took our guide like 10 minutes and he had found the chimps. It was incredible. One came down from the tree and sat in front of us for like 15 minutes and let us take his picture. We were only 8 feet away.

Tuesday morning we got up at the crack of dawn and went on safari. We saw 4 of the Big Five. We got within just a few feet of elephants, buffalo, lions, hippos, warthogs, impala, and even some birds. I had never seen a lion that close or in the wild. We went on a boat cruise that afternoon and saw more hippos, elephants and buffalo. The water was amazing and the sky is just so big and so blue here. I hate to admit it but I think I like looking at sky and water more than animals. I loved the cruise and just relaxing on the water and taking in the gorgeous scenery.

Wednesday we made our way to Kigali, Rwanda to visit Myal. We had gotten a phone call earlier in the week saying he had been in a motorcycle accident and broken his collar bone. When we got there he was moving a bit slow and had a sling on his arm and shoulder. It is a miracle that the broken collar bone was the only damage done when a car hit him and knocked him off his bike. We spent the day just hanging out and talking and then had a time to pray with him that night before he was getting on his plane to go to South Africa for surgery. Seeing him and hearing his story made me very aware of just how lucky I have been moving around Kampala on boda and never getting in an accident. I am so glad we were able to spend the day with him and just offer some encouragement and support.

Thursday we spent the day in Kigali and went to the Genocide Memorial and did some shopping. The memorial was incredibly sad and even angering at some points. It is hard to believe that almost 1million people could be killed in 100 days and the world stood by and did nothing. This was a planned attack against a specific tribe and thousands were killed for one reason…they were from the wrong tribe. That’s insane. Why do we as humans assume one race, one tribe, or one people group is better than another? I was upset to read the stories in the museum about the lack of support these people received from outside Rwanda. The world literally stood by and watched. After the museum we did a little craft shopping and then headed back to Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. Rwanda is gorgeous with its rolling hills and beautiful countryside. Kigali is very organized and very clean. The girls were laughing at me as I pointed out rubbish (trash) bins, and paved roads and street lights and sidewalks. It seems funny, but these just aren’t things we have in Kampala and our city is 3 times bigger.

We got back to Lake Bunyonyi at sunset and we took out the canoes on the lake. This seemed like a brilliant idea initially until we were in the canoes, away from shore, and realized none of us know how to do this. Jill and I were in one canoe and for the life of us we could not figure out how to go in a straight line. We spent a lot of time going in circles. Betsy and Sarah somehow figured things out a bit quicker but then even after taking their advice we still ended up going in circles. We were convinced our dug out canoe was obviously broken :) We had a “race” back to shore that ended with us paddling backwards since somehow that made us go straight. Hysterical.

We left early Friday morning after having breakfast and going to the overlook point to see all the islands that are part of Lake Bunyonyi. We had an 8 hour drive back to Kampala. We slept, read, talked and generally just enjoyed the countryside. We went to dinner in town that night…which looking back was probably a bad idea. We were exhausted but I wanted to take them to my favorite restaurant for some good food. We got into an accident in our taxi on the way to town and traffic in general was just awful. It took almost an hour and 45 minutes to get to the restaurant that is about 6 miles from my house. Love it. We had the joy though of walking through town at night and when it was very congested. I don’t think the girls were quite prepared for the craziness of it all.

Saturday we were invited for a late lunch at Diana’s house. Doreen met us in town to help guide us to her place. These are the two women in the PR Department at Dwelling Places and I was so excited that the girls got to meet both of them. Diana and Doreen told stories about the office and just generally picked on each other. It was a great afternoon and we had a ton of laughs. We had to make our way back through town later that day and I was relieved when we got to taxi park to find an empty taxi for Mutundwe. We didn’t even have to push to get on. What a relief.

The girls all left on Sunday to fly home. Betsy back to Mozambique and Sarah and Jill back to DC. It was such an amazing week to be around people I knew so well and who knew me. We laughed and told jokes and shared stories and even did a Bible study every night. I think that was the highlight for me…I do Bible studies on my own but it’s just not the same as doing it in a group. We spent the last evening praying for one another and praying for my last month in Uganda. I am so very grateful that God sent these women to encourage me my last few weeks out here and for the prayer and Bible study we had all week. It was exactly what I needed.

A Test

2008-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

I was put to the test this week. I got a phone call at 9:30pm on Tuesday night from the states saying I was out of money in my account and I would have to either contact my supporters for more funds or come home. Now this came as a complete shock considering I was over supported before I even stepped foot in Africa. And my first reaction to this news was outright indignation. Part of me was upset because I would have to approach people who already gave so much but the other part of me was just angry. I was angry because the budgeting was never clearly explained to me and how I thought my money was being managed was not the case. I was led to believe that there were two accounts: one account had my monthly living allowance and the other had my “work funds” which was any money raised over the needed support money. So every time I asked for my work funds balance to see how much I could give to Dwelling Places I was really getting the balance of all my money. Well I spent it all – gave every last penny away to Dwelling Places…all the while thinking I still had my monthly allowance to use for November and December. Um not so much.

So I am on the phone with the office in the US and at one point I can hear my voice getting raised and me getting stubborn and just not polite. I was mad. And as soon as I recognized it I immediately had to apologize to the guy I was speaking to. I felt so ashamed that I had let this situation corrupt my heart. I got off the phone and thought to myself wow that took all of 5 minutes for me to loose sight of God and put my faith in money. And Psalm 139:23-24 came to mind….Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

I know God uses every situation to teach us something, to grow our character to become more like his. And I could see that this would be one of those situations. It is by no mistake that I was over supported by almost $7,000 and was now completely out of money. And my reaction was the outpouring of my heart…in a sense it was good to see because it showed me I still have some things to work on. I literally saw my anxious thoughts being played out and my offensive attitude and anger towards someone else.

That night before I went to bed I was thinking about Job. And in the first chapter Satan says “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:10-11) And as I was praying I just told God I choose Him, that no matter what the outcome would be I would not loose focus on who God is and his faithfulness. I declared to God I would be content in plenty or in want and asked him to show me what he wanted me to do.

So Wednesday morning I went into the office to do some emailing. I emailed the office here in Uganda and asked what their advice to me would be. I knew the money was gone, no matter whose fault it was, I couldn’t make the money reappear. I got a call basically saying they were sorry and wanted to help but that I had to raise the support to be here for Nov-Dec or I would have to return home. I was in a taxi when I got the phone call and when I hung up I just prayed. I asked God to provide. I really felt like I couldn’t email my supporters and ask for more money, especially after being over supported in the first place and I just didn’t feel right about it. I was praying and telling God I had heard of so many stories from other missionaries that they never sent out a prayer letter asking for support but that people just donated. So I told God if he wanted me to be here that he would have to provide. I asked him to place me on someone’s heart to make a donation without me ever having to ask. I prayed that I would not be anxious but rather just give it over to God. So I continued on my way into town with $40 to my name to last me the next two months…haha. I went running with a friend in town and then later that night I got a phone call from a girl in the office here in Uganda saying not to worry I have money in my account for the next two months. Again I was shocked. I asked if they had found money in my account or where the money came from and she just said not to worry that it was all taken care of and the money was there.

I am telling this story because it is an answer to prayer and I want to give God the credit for what he did in less than 48 hours. It’s truly amazing! But I am also telling you this story because I learned so much about the attitude of my heart in the matter of a few hours. It is easy for me to tell people here who are in need that I will pray for them. It’s easy for me to sit with Rita and hear her talk about Dwelling Places and our need for money and offer to pray for her or offer money to meet a certain need. But it has never been personalized until now. I had a glimpse into what Rita must feel when she looks into the account and wonders how she is going to make $40 stretch between 26 staff members to pay salaries? Or how we will be able to afford the food budget for the kids in the home? I also had a glimpse into those dark corners of my heart and it was humbling to see that I still have so much that I need to let God have complete control over and to wash me clean.

God can do abundantly more than all we can ask or even imagine. And yet when I do pray and he hears and answers I am always shocked at his timing and awesomeness.

For the city to hear

2008-10-17T04:20:00.002-04:00

I had the opportunity to hear Joyce Meyer speak at a women's event last night held at Kampala Pentecostal Church (KPC). This is a HUGE church run by two Canadian muzungus and is one of the largest churches in Kampala. They do great work here with orphans and have a community where they care for orphans called Watoto. I love KPC and the work that they are doing and their solid Biblical teachings.

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of Joyce. I mean I think some of what she says is great and has solid Biblical backing and then there are other statements she makes that seem close to the truth and the word of God but take a left turn at the last minute into self help prosperity gospel type preaching.

No matter what my personal opinion is of Joyce Meyer I have to say last night was amazing. Amazing in the sense that there were hundreds of Ugandan women lined up around the church waiting to get in to hear and be fed by the word of God spoken through Joyce herself. KPC can probably hold about 2,000 people and was filled to overflowing…so much so that they had about another 500 chairs set up outside with a big screen and huge speakers for people to watch.

The night started with praise and worship songs led by a 50-person choir. I don’t take it for granted how awesome it was to be sitting outside under the dark African sky worshiping God freely and surrounded by hundreds of Ugandan women. When I say it was awesome despite my liking or disliking Joyce this is what I mean. I was sitting outside and singing and even dancing at some point and I just thought WOW….what a privilege we have here. I know of many missionaries working in unreached places and are being killed and persecuted for their love of Christ. They would probably love to have a night like this. I feel almost selfish.

I was also excited as I sat there and thought of all the people who would also hear the message and the songs and the worship. KPC is in the middle of downtown. People can’t help but pass by because it is on the main road running through the city center. So here we were outside singing and worshiping and sharing God’s word and there was an entire city being affected…whether they wanted to or not. I just began to pray that the songs and the words would reach beyond the parking lot where we were seated and that people would hear the truth and believe.

God gives us all opportunities like this. Maybe not in the massive scale he has given them to Joyce Meyer but reaching even just one person is HUGE. How many times have we been seated on the Metro and had someone ask us a question about a book we are reading? A conversation about a book overheard by 10-15 people could make an impact on someone. Or what about the times at a restaurant or on the sports field or in our offices where we spend most of our waking hours. God is giving us opportunity after opportunity to tell others about him and yet sometimes we remain silent. We all have our circles of influence – however small or large they are is not the point. God has placed someone in each of our lives he is dying for us to bring to his son Jesus. Let’s open our eyes and our ears today and ask God to show us who he has placed right in front of us for this very purpose. Let’s ask and believe in faith that God will grant us the words to say when given the opportunity to speak and let us never stop believing that our purpose here on earth is to tell everyone we meet about the son of God who died for all of our sins so that we might have eternal salvation through him.

I pray that today we would have the opportunity to share Christ’s love with someone. I pray that today might be the day we take a nervous step forward and share the gospel with one of our co-workers. I pray that today we wouldn’t miss the conversations, acts of kindness and service that God has placed before us to do and take part in. I am praying that today we would all draw just a little closer to God through our obedience to his desires for our lives.

Retreat Weekend

2008-10-09T06:45:00.001-04:00

I went on a retreat last weekend with my mission organization. Our unit, about 20 people, got together out in Jinja for a relaxing weekend. We had meetings about our vision and mission statement, how we can better pray for one another, and general praise and worship time. These weekends are always fun and such an adventure when you figure in that you have to take public transportation to get there.

There was a group of 5 of us that met up in town on Friday afternoon and found our way to the bus park. We figured a bus might be a little more comfortable than a taxi. The only problem is the bus usually takes much longer to fill than a taxi and you wait in the hot, sweaty, non-air conditioned bus. We had to wait about 30 minutes and then we were off…well sort of. We hit a jam just outside the park and waited another 20 minutes standing completely still. Hysterical. During the bus trip a young man got up and started walking up and down the aisle selling medicine, toothpaste and even tooth powder that he said would help prevent cavities. It was like a live infomercial.

We finally made it to Jinja and the first thing we did was drop our bags and jump in the pool. So refreshing after a 3.5 hour journey on taxi, bus and boda. It’s funny how much more I am aware of my safety or lack of safety here. I am constantly praying on public transport. Maybe this was God’s way of increasing my prayer life.

Saturday I spent the morning in fellowship and group meetings and then spent the afternoon with my accountability/prayer partner. I have a mentor here and we meet once a month to pray together and just talk about life. Today the subject was my plans for the future now that I am down to about 2 months left in country. Banange. I told her I was pretty much open to whatever. And I feel like that’s the problem. I can see like twelve different paths I can take from here. So here are my options:

Come back to Dwelling Places next March for another year to finish some work in the office and do staff training
Go home and go to Bible school to get the necessary credits needed to do missions full time. But where is a big question…DC? FL? SC?
Join TIMO and go to an unreached people group for two years
Go home to Florida and get a job
Go back to DC and get a job

If any of you have a strong opinion about what you think God wants me to do please feel free to chime in. I am at a loss at this point. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. I know I shouldn’t be and I know the scriptures that tell us not to be anxious but I am a bit anxious about coming home to no car, no home and no job. I just wish God would give me some sort of road map as to what he wants from me next. But I don’t think that’s how he works. I think he prefers to have us rely on him faithfully to provide for our future. It helps grow us in maturity in him. I hate this process.

I also am a bit scared to think of what the ramifications are of saying I want to be a full time missionary. My life would radically change from how it used to be. I don’t think I can say whether that is good or bad…it would just be different. It is nothing I ever considered before. I didn’t grow up in a church that hosted visiting missionaries. I didn’t even know what a missionary was until like 4 years ago. This was never a dream of mine. I always wanted to live in DC. Matter of fact I had my sights set nice and high – I wanted to be the press secretary for the President. Haha. I would hate that job now but living and working in DC was definitely a dream of mine. When I left there 9 months ago I left my dream life. Honestly. But maybe that was the point. Maybe it was too much mine and not enough of God’s dreams for me. Who knows. I am rambling at this point.

The weekend ended on Sunday with a nice long journey back to Kampala. I shouldn’t complain too much as I pretty much passed out as soon as we got on the taxi. Apparently the sunrise runs over the weekend tired me out. I woke up to the lady next to me resting her head on my shoulder as she and her baby slept. We hit a jam returning to town and had to take a huge detour. We went through some small villages and then got stuck trying to go up this muddy hill. Sarah and I were sharing a row and we both looked to our left to see how big the ditch was that was next to us. We both agreed it was a shallow ditch and if the bus were to tip it would be a short fall. Somehow this was reassuring to us. We made it up the hill after sliding sideways for a few feet and then finally made our way to taxi park in town. One more taxi until we are home.

After town I went over to a friend’s house for a goodbye dinner. He is returning back to the states after being out here for the past year serving in the HIV/AIDS ministry. Saying bye never gets any easier and it happens a lot here. I was counting, and I have had 10 roommates this year that have come and gone and many other friends. I have not stopped being amazed at how God has provided for such amazing friends this past year. I moved here not knowing anyone and yet I have been blessed with great roommates, close friends and people I know I will keep in touch with for a lifetime.

Please pray for short term missionaries. Many of them are trying to figure out what to do next just like me. We all struggle to make sense of our time in country and how that affects our world perspective and what that means for our futures. Please pray for missionaries around the world struggling to hear God’s leading in their lives and for strength, wisdom and discernment to make tough decisions.

Best part of the day

2008-09-26T07:06:00.002-04:00

The best part of my day is lunch time…and not for the obvious reason. Don’t get me wrong I love eating and lunch is definitely a highlight but the walk home is what really makes it such a great time of day.

As I leave the office to walk down our road to the cottage I am stopped and greeted by children returning home from school. They are the young ones in baby and top class (Kindergarten) that only go for half days and then go home at lunch. They usually spot me coming down the road then run full speed to give me a hug and burry their heads in my skirt. I always worry that they will just topple over from the speed they are running and the fact our road is anything but flat. But they usually get to me without much of an issue. They are smiling from ear to ear, giggling and grabbing my hand to walk with me home.

I love listening to their laughter. It is so pure and innocent. It’s like they don’t have a care in the world. I wish we could somehow hold on to that as adults. As they let go of my hand to start their return home some yell bye Aunty Donna. I just have to laugh because no matter how hard I try I just can’t convince them that my name is Jennifer. Donna was my old roommate from Scotland and she taught at that school for a few months. I mean I don’t look anything like Donna not to mention I am a good 6 inches taller than her. Perhaps kids can’t judge height. Or perhaps they think any muzungu is named Donna. It always makes me laugh.

One of my favorite days was when I was walking home and these three young kids ran up and gave me a hug and then handed over their thermos. They all started smiling and talking in Luanda and the fact that I was responding in English didn’t seem to matter too much to them. I got the hint they wanted me to drink whatever was in the thermos. After trying to politely decline it I realized I would probably do more damage by not drinking it than I would just to suck it up and take a sip of the mystery liquid. I could see their smiles getting even bigger and they started laughing and were so excited I took a sip. It ended up just being juice but was a truly bonding experience.

Here were three little kids offering to share their drink with me…just on the side of the road. I don’t ever stop someone and say hey I have something to drink, do you want some? I learn a lot about who Jesus is on my walks home from work. I learn what it looks like to experience pure joy. I learn about sharing what little I have with others. I learn that it’s ok to love someone even if you don’t know them and they are completely different from you. And most of all I learn to stop and notice people and to enjoy even the most simplest of actions…a walk home for lunch.

Coincidences

2008-09-19T02:11:00.001-04:00

I used to believe that there were just weird coincidences in life. Like when you would be thinking of someone all week that you hadn’t talked to in a while and then the randomly call one night. Or when you are sitting in a group praying and there is something on your heart you wanted to pray about and someone else mentions it. I used to just think…wow that’s funny I was just thinking that and dismiss it as nothing more than a mere coincidence.

My mother used to tell me there was no such thing as coincidences but rather it was God trying to tell us something. I don’t think I ever really believed her. Side note: I am positive that if I was to come back as a Bible character I would totally be doubting Thomas. I don’t know why I would doubt that God could use situations and people to remind us of Him. I guess I doubted he could be that good, that on top of his game, that he could not only create the heavens and the earth and hear everyone’s prayers at the same time but he could also love us so specifically and individually that he could speak to us on this level. I doubt a lot…but thankfully I seem to be learning something while I am here.

So on Thursday when we sat down to do our morning devotions at Dwelling Places and Maureen started to read from Esther 4 I was not surprised that it had been the same book and chapter I had just read earlier that morning in my own quiet time. I quickly realized God must be trying to tell me something so I sat and listened. The reason Maureen picked that passage is because Dwelling Places was recently accused of some stuff in the local media here. The accusations are 100% completely false but it puts a ton of stress on the staff, on Rita and on our ministry. It isn’t the first time this has happened, and it seems Satan likes to try to attack us in this way over and over. So Maureen was saying that in Esther chapter 4 Mordecai is trying to convince Queen Esther to approach the king on behalf of the Jews that Haman was trying to kill. Esther knew that to enter the courts without a meeting with the king could mean death. And then Mordecai answers her doubts and says “And who knows but that you have come to a royal position for such a time as this?”

And I thought to myself how often do I try to run from trials in my life? No one enjoys suffering or going through a hard time and our natural instinct is to run away or try to hide. But here is a trial Esther is facing and Mordecai points out that she shouldn’t try to run from it but rather see it as a divine appointment from God that she is where she is, at this exact time, for a reason. And it makes me think that God chose the staff members at Dwelling Places and had them here for such a time as this. He chose those people he knew would stand up for the children on his behalf and not allow others to bring evil into this ministry. He chose people he knew that wouldn’t remain silent and would stand strong in faith.

Maureen also reminded us that in the Bible it tells us to pray for those who persecute us and for our enemies. I was so taken aback when she said this as I was sitting there steaming over the fact that these people would even have the guts to make such crazy accusations that were clearly not true. If it was up to me I would yell at them (because I am sure that would accomplish so much) but then here was this reminder that it’s not up to me and I am not the one in control of punishing what I see as injustice – that’s up to God. The battle is His and it has already been won. We now walk the earth to be the light that Jesus has placed in us to lead others to himself. So the devotion time ended with the entire staff praying for those who brought the accusations against us and praying for the truth to come to light.

God can use trials and persecution to refine his servants. And I am certain God can use each and every situation in our life for the good of those who love him. So we offer up our prayers to the God of the universe and we praise him for being our commander in this battle and for promising us that he has plans to prosper us and offer us a hope and a future.

What a weekend

2008-09-15T01:30:00.002-04:00

So our big plan this weekend was to go up to this place called Prayer Mountain and camp out for a night. We started to head over on Friday but then the rains came and never really let up so we went to a friends house instead for dinner. As we got ready to leave after dinner it started to rain again and we realized we were going to be stuck. See when it rains here the roads (which are made of dirt) turn to mud. And when you live on top of a hill if the roads are mud then you can’t get up the hill. Plus riding on a boda through the rain, at night, in the mud just didn’t seem the brightest of moves. So we had an impromptu sleep over and watched movies and ate M&Ms all night.

Saturday I went home to attend an Introduction that was taking place in my backyard at the restaurant there called Henrietta’s. It was for a girl names Restie who is related to Rita and so they were hosting the Introduction. I had asked a woman from work to pick me up a traditional attire wear in town while she was there on Friday. You can’t just show up to these things in a skirt and shirt or even a dress…its traditional wear all the way. And the great thing is, that since there are so many introductions taking place all the time you can rent a Gomez (traditional dress) for like 10,000 shillings. So Maureen comes into the house and hands me my Gomez and I notice it looks a lot like hers. And I was thinking oh that’s fun I will get to be sisters with Maureen today since we are dressed the same. So I put it on and walk out of the house to find 4 other women in the exact same pattern and I didn’t really put it all together then so I walked through to the gardens to take my seat in the visitors tent when someone approached me and asked why I was sitting down? I was like um I am attending the Introduction….and then she says yes but you are a brides maid. HAHA. So that’s why we were all dressed alike. I get it now. I have no idea how this happened but I went from just attending a ceremony to being in it. That’s just the way things work here sometimes. It’s either a failure to communicate or they just assume it will be ok with you to be put in front of a hundred or so Ugandans and made to carry baskets and serve soda on your knees. It was a beautiful day though and a lovely ceremony and I was honored to be asked to be a part of it.

That night four of us went up to prayer mountain, which is only about a 10 minute boda ride from my house. It was all way more organized than I expected and when we got there you actually had to check in – much like a campsite would be back in the states. So we sit in this small office and wait our turn to check in. We finally get to the desk about 30 minutes later and he asks us all for ID. I was like um I don’t carry ID with me. He looked at me strangely like this was the weirdest thing in the world. When I explained that it wasn’t safe for us to travel around with our passports because of pick pockets he understood. There were four of us standing and he suggested we take a seat because we would be there a while. How in the world can checking in take 45 minutes? The sign in process was lengthy and painfully slow. They ask for your name, nationality, next of kin in Uganda, church you pray from regularly, etc, etc. Everything is hand written in a book with hand drawn lines…just like every other Ugandan organization.

Once that was all set we paid our 3,500 shillings (a little more than $2) for a tent and we were on our way, name tags and all. The tents were small but had two foam mattresses in each. What a great surprise as all we had brought were clothes and a sheet. So we sat outside our tents on the small benches and talked most of the evening about everything and nothing. We talked about the work each one of us was doing in Uganda, the fact that we all wanted to stay longer, family and friends back home, and things we could be praying for one another. It was great. We headed to bed around midnight and the other people at the camp were still going strong in their praying and singing. There was a group about 20 yards from our tent that met in a circle and sang 3-4 songs and then would break off and pray out loud for 30-40 minutes. When I say out loud I mean loudly. There was yelling and crying out to God and grunting and other noises. This went on all night until 3 or 4am. I guess we aren’t nearly as diligent in our praying as they are. We got up to catch the end of the sunrise and then we all went our separate ways doing some prayer walking and spending time alone with God. We met back up and headed down the hill and back to our friends house for an amazing home cooked breakfast (we even had bacon!).

The idea of prayer mountain is interesting to me. They have set aside a hill where anyone can come and pray for as long as they like. You can stay up to 7 days without question and anything longer you just have to apply with someone at the office. We were the only muzungus on the hill and that was refreshing as well. It was nice to see Ugandans praying for their country, their leaders, and each other and not being led by some white person. Jesus went to the hill and the mountains to pray. He left the people behind and went to a retreat where it was just him and God conversing. He stayed sometimes for days praying and fasting. I stayed one night, couldn’t even stay awake for the entire night to pray and I think I ended up getting sick from the cold damp air. I clearly need some more practice at this :)

Who would have guessed

2008-09-05T02:28:00.003-04:00

It’s always funny to me when God uses our current situation and ties it into a prayer request. I told you how I joined a running group on Monday nights. I joined it selfishly just for me, to keep in shape, and to keep sane. Running helps me process information because when I am running I am not talking to anyone and there isn’t much else to do other than think. So the running club was just for me…to get away and have some time to think.

As it turns out God intended something a bit different. I have gotten to know some of the people at the Monday night run and many of them are business men or rotary club members, etc. Meaning they are well connected in the Kampala community. So when conversation led to me talking about what I do here in Uganda I was excited to tell them about Dwelling Places. The more people who know about us the better right? I didn’t expect anything other than an opportunity to just share what is happening at Dwelling Places. Well as it turns out there is this guy who has like 20 pairs of sneakers he got as a donation and was waiting to find someplace to donate them. Our children’s home seemed like a good fit and we are now receiving 20 pairs of shoes next week. Praise God. Most of our kids have flip flops but very few have actual laced sneakers to run and play in. I cannot wait to see their faces next week when they receive they very own pair of shoes.

I would like to just say I take no credit for this…this is totally God and his timing. I mean I had no intentions of using the running group to advocate for Dwelling Places but as it turns out God had better ideas.

The other cool thing that happened this week came through another unexpected avenue…Frisbee. I have started to play ultimate Frisbee with the kids on Fridays. There was a contact made through the running club and these 4 guys come out every Friday to play with the kids at DP. This turned into us also taking some kids on Sunday to their practices in town. So now on Sunday evenings I go and play ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of local guys and girls. We started talking last Sunday about how to connect DP to their Frisbee league. They want to host a tournament in November. They would invite about 10 teams to come play and the coolest part (to me anyways) is they want to use the money raised and donate it to Dwelling Places. They are going to seek sponsors for the tournament to cover costs and they would have a raffle and all money from the raffle would be donated to Dwelling Places. They would take the money for cost of admission to support the league.

Not only will Dwelling Places receive a monetary donation from the event but they will receive publicity we could never pay for. Again I am amazed at how God has connected seemingly random events in my life to be used for his ministry and the work I was brought here to do. It is so cool to see how all of the pieces in our lives can be used for God’s glory.

Dwelling Places Youth Conference

2008-09-01T03:51:00.001-04:00

I had the opportunity this weekend to speak at a youth conference we held for the youth on the Dwelling Places program. The purpose of the three-day conference was to encourage the youth (ages 18 and older) that even though they will be asked to leave the DP home at age 18 we still have a plan for them and that we aren’t going to just kick them out and then move on. We walked through different sessions explaining that we will begin to prepare a youth for independent living starting at age 15 so that by age 18 or sooner they will feel prepared and not scared about leaving the Dwelling Places Home. We also walked through our Aftercare program for what will happen when they are living on their own (this is what applied to the ones at the conference). Our aftercare plan will closely follow an international model Rita found online. We will have a personal advisor for each youth and a DP staff member assigned to each one moving into Independent Living. There will be skill training seminars and other helpful information given throughout the year.

So my role at the conference was mainly assisting Rita with presenting this material. Coming up with a PowerPoint and editing other material. But I was also asked to lead a devotion on Saturday morning. At first I was like um…no. What do I know about leading a devotion for 20 African youth and staff members? I was a little scared I would have nothing impactful to say or that no one would understand me. I tend to speak quickly when I get nervous and I could imagine I would be nervous. But then a little voice crept into my head and said, “it isn’t you they want to hear from.” I was humbled pretty quickly and even laughed because I know it is God’s words and his time and all he is asking me to do is to be used by him…the one thing I always say I am so willing to do. How quickly I forgot.

Friday afternoon all the staff went over to the conference and we spent time one on one with each youth and did a Needs Assessment. And then we played some games and had a Q&A session. Saturday I got up early to come into the office to print some things out then headed over to the conference. My devotion focused on spiritual gifts/talents and how we each have at least one and how they can be used for God’s glory. We talked about Ephesians 2:10 and Joshua 1:9. It was a good morning and I felt blessed to be sitting with these kids and talking about Jesus and the Bible. 6-8 years ago I never would have imagined this is where I would end up. It was exciting.

The rest of the day was spent in different sessions and learning about different life skills, all the while encouraging them and reassuring them DP would be there for them even after they turned 18 years old. The conference ended on Sunday and it seemed that they all had gotten something out of it and they appreciated us taking the time to sit with them and explain everything…like adults. It was such a great weekend. And to top it off I went with two of our older kids to play Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday night. They have so much fun being out and running around with other people. They live in a group home and the only people they see most of the week is DP staff and other kids in the home. So to be out, in the city and playing Frisbee is a treat…for them and me. I am tired today but it’s ok because I know it was all time well spent this weekend.

Not my plan

2008-08-22T01:40:00.001-04:00

I was only in the office two days this week. I didn’t have it planned that way but thankfully God knew better, and he knew I needed a break. I went for a meeting on Monday morning and expected to be back in the office by 1pm. However, the weather had a different plan and it POURED for what seemed like forever and then even started to hail. Now when I saw pour it isn’t an exaggeration it literally was like the sky just parted and buckets of water came down. I was stuck at my meeting location until 3pm. By the time I got back home (through flooding, mud and downed power lines) I had just enough time to eat some lunch and get ready for the running club. Weather may delay public transport but it can’t hold a runner back J And luckily when we made it to the other side of town Monday night it wasn’t nearly as muddy as I expected. Apparently Mutundwe had received all the rain and town was fairly dry.

Tuesday we didn’t have power in the office so I used the time instead to hang out up at the kids home. I tried to skip rope with some of the older girls and quickly realized jumping up and down was way more tiring than I had remembered. I feel old on days like this. So I instead took a group of lazier ones with me inside the dining hall and we colored in a coloring book. Then we played the game…hang on aunty…this one isn’t as much fun as some of the others but it was nice to spend time with the kids in the middle of the day.

Wednesday was my day off (not that I needed one) and I went to the gym in the morning and then to town to pick up two packages from the post office – thanks Sarah/Lise and Mom and Dad. I spent the afternoon reading People Magazine and trying on some new tank tops that were sent in the packages. Nothing like a brand new colorful shirt to make you feel pretty J I don’t think I have taken off the red tank top since I got it. I feel like one of those kids who drags their blankie around with them everywhere they go. I’m not ashamed.

I knew last week I was feeling a bit stressed and even a little bitter and I couldn’t put my finger on it…but after the three days out of the office I came to work on Thursday so refreshed and happy and just ready to work. I may have not seen it but God knew I needed a break. I am so thankful for the power being out and for the rain and everything else that kept me away from the office this week.

Thursday morning I was woke up at 6am to the sound of my roommate calling my name. I was a bit thrown off at first and was trying to call back her name to see where she was (there was no power and it was dark in the house). She was really sick and was saying she might pass out. So we called for a private hire and went to an international 24/7 clinic in town. She has some sort of bacterial infection but is on meds now and doing better. You can pray for her full recovery and protection from any other sickness. I felt this sense of relief that I knew what to do in an emergency(ish) situation. I even had the number of the clinic in my phone from looking it up last week online thinking I never knew when I might need it. Clearly all in God’s timing.

Today we are playing Ultimate Frisbee again with the kids. They are really picking up the game and enjoying it. And I’m not going to lie, I like it too. I get to run around outside playing Frisbee at 2:30 every Friday as part of my job. Now if only I were getting paid to do this it could quite possibly be the most perfect job ever.

Another highlight from the week: One of my favorite guys came home from school this week. He is one of the young boys Rita is fostering and he is so much fun to have around the compound. He is really into music and is going to teach me and Kayla how to be DJs. I am sure this will go over real well.

God really does have the perfect timing. I know we can say that alot without meaning it but I have seen it multiple times this week when his timing was way more effective than what I had planned. I am thankful that he loves us all so personally in that he plans the details of each of our lives.

The importance of prayer

2008-08-15T01:34:00.001-04:00

I have read books on prayer, heard sermons, and even talked to friends about their prayer life. I get it. I know it is important. I mean if Jesus himself choose to have quiet time and pray to God then I am pretty sure we should be doing it to. But sometimes no matter how much my head understands its importance I can’t get my heart to agree.

My quite times haven’t been all that great this week. And I am pretty sure that is an understatement…my quite times have been awful. I just sit there. I know we need to be still and listen but there is also the side of actually praying and speaking to God through Jesus. I just haven’t felt like it though. I can’t bring myself to pray because I think in my heart I am doubting God will do anything about it. I sometimes get overwhelmed by the need and instead of just offering it up to God I sit and try to think how I can solve the problems I see everyday. And that is why it becomes overwhelming…because I try and do work in my own strength and not rely on him. Do I think I am bigger than God? Or that he doesn’t see exactly what I am seeing?

So I thought since I am struggling a bit this week with prayer I would ask my supporters to help me lift some of these situations up to God.

(1) I had written a prayer request for a young boy named Ivan. And God has heard our prayers and has provided for him. Our social worker was able to speak to the mother and grandmother and it was decided he would live with his grandmother for the time being with the support from his mother. This isn’t a long term solution but it has provided him with good loving care for now. We can continue to pray that God would show us what the next step is for Ivan and his brother to ensuring he is well cared for and loved.

(2) A friend’s dad has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His name is Mario. If we could all keep him in our prayers and ask that God would heal him and take away any cancerous cells in his body. And we could pray for the family as well, that God would be with them and that no matter what his plan is for Mario that they will all be drawn closer to God through this.

(3) My friend Sarah is doing a 3-day outreach to inner city kids in Washington, DC. She is leading the team and we could pray for unity among the team members and that God would open doors for her and her team to share the gospel through their acts of giving and just spending time with the kids they will meet. Pray also for wisdom and guidance through decisions she will have to make.

(4) At the beginning of September Dwelling Places will be renewing contracts for all staff members. I am asking for prayers for Rita for wisdom and discernment as she is left making decisions of how the organization and which staff will move forward into next year. And to that end there is a board meeting tonight for Dwelling Places. We could be praying for that time as well and that decisions being made would be in line with the vision for the ministry and with the word of God.

(5) Kids in Uganda are on holiday this month from school. Pray for their time at home with their families. Pray that they would be loved and welcomed back into their communities and that they would remain healthy.

(6) And I can’t help but think we should be praying for all those we know that don’t yet know God. I sometimes forget the world we live in is a constant battle between good and evil but the truth is Satan is out there everyday trying to win souls to his side. Pray for opportunities to share with our friends and family and pray that God would open people’s eyes and hearts to his truth.

Short updates:

The guys are coming back to Dwelling Places to do to continue with the lessons to teach the kids Ultimate Frisbee. I love that my job involves playing Frisbee in the middle of the afternoon.
I am going out to dinner tonight with the volunteers that have been here from the UK and living with me in the cottage. They leave on Sunday :(
We have a new volunteer arriving today from the US. His name is Ryan and he will be teaching at Dwelling Places until mid December.
My South African friend Sarah is having a birthday party on Saturday evening. I actually have plans to go out on a Saturday night. Sweet.

Just an update

2008-08-08T01:53:00.002-04:00

So I realized I haven't written much about my day to day activities in a while so I thought I would give you a quick update from my past week.

On Monday I went with a guy I know from Dwelling Places to a running club. I was thinking it was probably just a few guys that meet up every once in a while to run and they were nice enough to invite me. I was so wrong. It is a huge running club with about 150 members. There were more than 70 there on Monday night. I quickly realized though that I was one of 5 women and one of only 3 muzungus (white people). So I stood out a little. We ran for about an hour through small villages, on tarmac roads, through town and up and down many hills. It was so fun to be out again running and kind of exhilarating to try to keep up with all these guys. I was a little worried because I had no idea what the trail was and I thought if I lost them I would be lost forever…a little extra motivation to keep running.

After the run we all gathered around and they asked any newcomers to come into the center of this huge circle. At first I was trying to look inconspicuous and then realized what a futile effort that would be. I was nabbed quickly and brought into the middle with about 10 others guys. They make you get up on this crate and say your name, where you are from and what you do. I couldn’t think quick enough and announced I was a missionary which got lots of hoots and hollers and then was quickly asked if I was married. Haha. They sing some song and make you chug a soda as quickly as possible. This wasn’t so much fun chugging carbonation after just getting done running. They seem like a fun group though. And then we all got together and had dinner. They do this every Monday night in a new area of town and have the trail marked off prior to that evening. It is so very organized which is shocking. I can’t wait for next Monday.

I also got to see the new promotional DVD for Dwelling Places on Tuesday at the office. We had two short term volunteers here and one of them is a film student at a university back in the US. She did an awesome job in the two weeks she was here and made a 10 minute and 2 minute video. I am trying to get the 2-minute video posted on our website soon. It is awesome and I can’t wait for everyone to see it. I just love that no matter what skills we have to offer God can totally use them to help others. She was a film student and put together a video that we could have never dreamed of doing without her.

It rained twice this week. Seems silly to put that in my update but the funny part is we were at work when it started raining and totally forgot all of our clothes had been washed that morning and were outside on the line drying…yea not so much fun. So we had soaking wet clothes to bring into the house last night to store until we could bring them back out into the sun today. These are the things I am not totally trained yet to remember.

Today we have two Ugandan guys coming to the kids home to teach them how to play ultimate Frisbee. They want to start some sort of league for street kids and I met one of them at the running group and was telling him about our home at Dwelling Places. I told the kids on Wednesday at family time two guys were coming to play Frisbee with them and to my disappointment no one seemed that excited…until I realized they had no idea what Frisbee was. So this should be a fun day watching them learn a new sport. They guys might be able to come back like once a week to practice with the kids and eventually form a team and play other street kids. Sounds cool.

Oh and this weekend most of the kids in the home will be leaving for their holiday break. It’s part of the rehabilitation and reconciliation process that the children we have living in the home slowly start getting plugged back into their communities. So they go home for short periods of time at first during the two years at the DP home and holidays provide the perfect time frame. So we can be praying for their safety in traveling home as well as provision for all their needs while at home. We will remain with about 30 kids for the holiday from now until Sep. 15th when they all come back for school. Also, we have a team of volunteers coming on Monday from Canada and they will be with us for about 10 days. Pray also for them that their time would be fruitful with the children and for their safety and health while away from home.

Prayer Request

2008-08-04T02:24:00.000-04:00

It was Saturday night and me and the other volunteers were sitting in the cottage doing our nightly devotional. We had all had long days running errands and such in town and were just winding up the night when we heard a knock at the door. It was about 9:30pm so I looked out the window first and saw that it was a young boy named Ivan from our program. He lives in the community with his mom (he isn’t at the DP house). So I go and open the door and he is standing there and I can hear him crying. The power was out that night and I couldn’t see much so I invited him in to find out what was wrong. He was holding his arm so I tried shinning my flash light to see what was paining him and you could immediately see a huge welt on his arm. And later we also saw that he had two long welts on his back. He had gotten beaten and was in pain and I am sure a little scared.

I don’t know about any of you but I am so unprepared to handle situations like this. I have never dealt with an abused child and in general I feel like I have 0 parenting skills. So we did the best we could which was offering him a frozen water bottle to put on his sore arms and back while I called around to find someone who could help us. He ended up telling us that he had gotten beaten because he didn’t cook dinner correctly. Can you believe that? He is only 12 and is expected to cook for his family because he is the oldest child and when it wasn’t done correctly he was beaten. I can’t tell you how angry it made me to see him so hurt and to know someone who is supposed to love and care for him did this to him. He is such a bright boy and is so loving. He is usually the first one to greet me when I go up to the home and he is always wanting to play football or just sit and talk. It was hard to see him in pain and not his smiling, joyful self. He ended up going to our social worker’s house just down the road and was placed in care for the night.

The next morning I get a call from the cottage (place where I live) saying Ivan had shown back up at the door. I was already in town heading to church. He apparently spent the night at his grandmother’s house and in the morning she told him to go back to his mom. When he got to his mom house she yelled at him and his brother and told them to leave and never come back, that she didn’t want them anymore?! I just can’t fathom how a mother could ever say that to her child.

So I am asking for your prayers for Ivan. He was placed in the care of his grandmother but she clearly can’t take care of him. She is very old and has a hard time keeping up with Ivan and his younger brothers. There isn’t really a solution at this point and we are praying for God’s wisdom and guidance to know what to do next. He may end up in the boy’s home for a time but even that isn’t a permanent residence. Pray also for Ivan’s healing – mentally, spiritually and physically. He was told by his mother that she no longer wanted him – may he know that God wants him and loves him and delights in him all the time. May he know love even if it doesn’t come from his mother.

You're Worthy

2008-08-01T01:42:00.002-04:00

I can’t seem to get this song out of my head. So you luck out and get to hear my thoughts on it. I don’t know much more of the song other than the chorus – which seems to be going around and around in my head.

You’re worthy, you’re worthy, you’re worthy…You’re worthy to be praised forever and a day.

God doesn’t only deserve our worship when everything in life is seemingly going as planned. He shouldn’t only be sung praises to when something good happens to us. He is worthy of our praise and worship all the time, in every situation, for all of eternity.

God is the same today, tomorrow and yesterday. Whether we found a friend today, lost a loved one, got a new job or had our heartbroken God is the same person and deserves the same praise. Circumstances in life will try to shake us – and it’s not only the bad ones we have to watch out for. Sometimes something so good can happen that we count ourselves as unworthy or get so caught up in the goodness we misplace the praise and can start thinking we did something to deserve it or that we were long overdue for that reward. We can forget where good flows from – and that is from the hand of God. We forget who the praise is due to. And then there are those heartbreaking times when circumstances in our life leave us crying out to God asking why he would allow us to feel so much pain. When days pass and we wish we could be hiding under a rock somewhere just so we could escape what tomorrow will hold. We forget in these times that God is the same today as he was yesterday and that he has a plan for us, a plan to prosper us and give us a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I admit, I fall into the habit of only praising God when good things are happening in my life. I rarely remember to offer praise through my tears of pain. But God is worthy of our praise – all the time, in good and in bad. He hasn’t promised us a life without pain or suffering but what he has promised is to never leave us nor forsake us (Deut. 31:6). He has promised that he will work all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). And he has also promised that we will be made strong in our weakness (2 Corin. 12:9). Which one of us could promise these things? But that’s the beauty of it and it’s why God is worthy of our praise. He has the big picture that we can’t see. He knows in advance all the little details that will affect us in our lives and he has the perfect plan of how to use us for his utmost glory.

I think we might be more willing or able to find God worthy at all times if we could ever truly give up ourselves to Him. If we truly understood that our lives are not our own and that they were bought at price wouldn’t we be more willing to suffer alongside Christ and see it as a blessing rather than a curse. Wouldn’t we be more like the apostles who found joy in their sufferings because it meant they were worthy of the gospel. They saw the bigger picture and knew God had called them to use their lives to spread the gospel – to tell the nations about Jesus and his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. They understood after seeing the resurrected Jesus that their lives would be for one purpose – to tell as many people as they could the truth they knew. So when they were suffering they praised God for counting them worthy to suffer for the cross. When they were hungry they praised God because they knew he would provide for their needs. When they had to leave friends and family to journey to the lost world they praised God because they knew, in their hearts, that they were created for just that purpose.

God’s worthiness is not found in the circumstances of life. He is worthy despite the circumstances. He is worthy of all praise. He is worthy of having control of our entire lives. He is worthy of using all circumstances to point back to himself. And he is worthy because he loves us before we ever loved him.

Be still and know that I am God

2008-07-25T09:13:00.000-04:00

I find it almost humorous how many times I can find myself on my knees just asking for God to guide my next move. I used to almost pride myself on being a person who knew what she wanted and was always in forward motion of striving to get the next thing. Whether it was applying for law school or taking classes in event planning if something interested me I went for it. And if you are reading this than you know how well both those things worked out for me. Instead I am sitting at a table in a small office in Africa. Looks like my plans weren’t exactly what God had in mind. So instead of me blindly running from one thing to the next I have realized it’s much better to let God lead. At first I thought this would make my life easier. I mean having the big man upstairs in control seems like the perfect plan. Yet no one warns you of the pains you will go through and how hard it is to just be still when you are dying to run…somewhere…anywhere.

Being still has to be one of the hardest things in the world for me to do and yet I feel like God asks for just that on a weekly basis. He asks for me to stop moving ahead with my own plans and to be still and listen for his directions. Sometimes this takes a few days and sometimes in our lives it can take months or even years. But the act of quieting ourselves and seeking God more is exactly what he wants from us.

How many of us have our agendas full each day? How many of us plan our entire day – hour by hour with events, prayer meetings, dinners, family time, running errands, playing sports, etc. Where do we leave room for God? Where in our busy days have we scheduled in time with God? Do we give him the first 10 minutes of our day with a quick morning devotional and prayer or do we not even recognize him until we eat lunch or dinner and say a prayer before the meal? It’s sad but we might need to schedule in time to be still until we can learn its importance and it comes naturally and we crave it. Wouldn’t it be awesome to wake up craving God like we crave our morning coffee? To not be able to do or think about anything until we drink him in. What if only God could waken us and open our eyes for the day that lay ahead. Don’t you wonder how this world might be different if we as Christians had the passion for Jesus that the Bible talks about? If we all were walking around shining our light as bright as possible and seeking God daily what could he do through his people? Who could he reach?

I find myself often saddened by the plight of the world. I am sad for the children found wandering the streets eating trash. I am sad for the families living in abject poverty fighting to stay alive just one more day. I am sad for the wars that ravish countries killing so many innocent people. And I am sad for those people still walking in darkness with no hope of their salvation. But my sadness doesn’t do any good. My compassion doesn’t help unless it is rooted in something more – that being the desire that everyone would know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. That the homeless child would know that Jesus died for him and loves him more than anyone in this world. That the wounded soldier would know that the savior of the world has already won this battle and he can rest assured God is in control. That the family who has had to watch their child starve to death would know our God is mighty and has a plan for every person, even the ones that suffer.

What do we have in this world if we don’t have hope? What keeps us going if not the desire to reach all those who don’t yet know the source of our hope? What is the purpose of walking around this earth if it isn’t to bring others into the light? We may gain a comfortable life but will lose in the joy of being part of something so much bigger than ourselves and part of an eternal plan.

Better late than never

2008-07-20T07:47:00.001-04:00

I totally forgot to post something on Friday. I mean part of it is I forgot and the other part is we didn’t have power or Internet anyways. They are doing some great work in our small village – even trying to make updates to the power lines. The bad part is this means they cut power every day from 8 or 9 am until 8 or 9 pm. This makes working in an office incredibly difficult and frustrating. But during our power outages I have had a chance to have some great conversations with the women I work with. Perhaps this is God’s way of telling us to get out from behind our computers and spend more time with each other. Message received….now turn the power back on :)

We received two teams of volunteers this week at Dwelling Places. There are three people here from the US and three from Ireland. They are all working in our spiritual welfare department and some are trying to help in the office when things are on and working. It is incredibly encouraging to see people coming to Dwelling Places and giving up their time and money to help the ministry….but it is also really draining as I work with the volunteer coordinator in planning all of their itineraries and then some of them end up living in the cottage. I am asking for prayers for grace and for strength as we push through a busy few months here at Dwelling Places and at the cottage where I live.

This weekend I have spent the majority of my time with my roommate Donna. She is the one I went to Egypt with. We have such good fun together and she is absolutely hysterical – great sense of humor which helps since I have terrible jokes and quirky humor. She is leaving on Wednesday to go home to Scotland. She has been out here for a year as a teacher in the Dwelling Places home school. I just sit back sometimes and watch the love she has for these kids. I have learned so much from here in my 7 months here and it will be a great loss to me and the organization as a whole to have to say goodbye to her. Please pray for her as she returns home into a world that isn’t very familiar to her anymore. Pray that she gets plugged back in and can find a way of uniting her year here and her life back home. And selfishly I ask for prayers for me as well – Donna is what makes living here not so bad. I am hundreds of miles away from friends and family back home but Donna and I get along so well and spend so much time together. I mean there are plenty of nights without power and nothing else to do but just talk…and yet we have never run out of things to talk or laugh about. I am really going to miss her.

And the final update for me this week is I joined a gym. I couldn’t stand being locked in my gate anymore and I was sick of not working out so I paid to join a gym for a month. It was a bit expensive so I probably won’t be able to keep it up but I am really enjoying going there on Wednesdays on my day off and on Saturdays. I was running yesterday on the treadmill and the power went off…haha. I was flung a bit forward at the abrupt stop and then laughed as power cuts seem to follow me wherever I go. Good things weights don’t require electricity.

I think that’s about it from me this week. Thanks for all the ongoing emails and cards and letters and things. You have all made it so much easier for me to be here and keep in touch with back home.

Accountability

2008-07-11T01:53:00.001-04:00

One of the things I had a chance to ask Kendall when she was out here visiting was how I am doing with communicating with the people back home who are supporting me. I got some really good feedback from her and about the blog and other emails I send and one thing she mentioned was including information about how the money you have given is being used specifically in my ministry. I think it’s important for accountability in being a good steward of the money you have so generously blessed this ministry with and also it keeps you involved with the details of the work taking place. So this is the report of how God is using all of your gifts.

The initial budget I needed to raise was $15,000, and as you know God provided over and above that need by almost $11,000. So how is this money being used? I get a monthly per diem from the $15k budgeted amount to pay for rent, food, transportation and living costs like buying shampoo, conditioner, etc. The money raised over and above the $15k is in an account for “work funds”. I am able to use work funds for any project that directly supports the Dwelling Places ministry. To date I have used my work funds for the following:

$3,000 to cover the food bill for the children’s home through the end of this year ($500/month).
$1,500 to pay for printing costs for materials Rita will need to take with her to the US for her fundraising efforts. This includes brochures, donation cards, child sponsorship cards, etc.
$200 to pay for rental fees for a projector for my Friday computer training classes and printing/photo copying of the handouts necessary for trainings

There are other projects I would like to contribute toward in the next 5 months and I am not sure how much money will be put towards each but here is the list:

Staff salaries
School fees
Nutrition – might include money for our farm to help start growing our own fruits and vegetables for the children’s home
Holistic care programs – paying for classes to be held that will benefit the youth in our care (ex: HIV/AIDS education, abstinence, parenting, etc)
Offering support to other AIM Missionaries

Thank you for entrusting me with your gifts to be used in a way that honors and glorifies God and the ministry he has placed me in. If you have questions about any of the projects I have mentioned above let me know. I would be happy to go into more detail about the need why I think it’s important to meet it now. Thank you for your selfless giving of not only your money but your time in emailing me and praying for me and offering me encouragement. I could not be here without the support of all my friends and family. God is using us all in this big work here and I am blessed to have such an amazing support group. Thank you.

Living in Fast Forward

2008-07-04T02:08:00.003-04:00

I feel like I am living this week in fast forward. Do you ever fell like that? That there are just so many things to do that you find yourself at Friday when the last thing you remembered was Monday. Because you have ten things to do each day you don't really count the days but start counting the tasks or events instead. I am having one of those weeks. Not in a bad way of course.

We got the chance to visit Lillian, the young girl Kendall sponsors in Kisumu on Monday. It was an awesome experience and reminded me a lot of the visits we did in Zambia. We arrived in a car with some of the staff and the women of the village came out to meet us with singing and dancing. We were treated like royalty the entire day and were fed enough food for 10 people. It was an incredible time to see Kendall being able to connect with a girl she has only known on paper for the last 5 years. Kendall had brought gifts for Lillian and her family and gave them out as we sat under a tree for shade. And then to our suprise Lillian's grandmother then handed gifts to not only Kendall but Ignacio and I as well. We had come to be a blessing to the family and as usual we were also blessed. I love the way God works that out. I delighted in seeing the smiles on the faces of the family and truly enjoyed the fellowship we were able to have that day with them.

We traveled back to Kampala on Wednesday and it was such a nice feeling to arrive back in town and it feel like home. I loved seeing Nairobi and visiting in Kisumu but I was really missing being home in Kampala and seeing the kids every day and the people I work with. I have grown more attached to this place than I had realized and it makes leaving the country, even for a few days, very hard. I kept telling Kendall how much she was going to love Kampala and all these small little tid bits…she wanted to kill me :) And now that we are back I am so excited to share pieces of my life here with a friend from back home. I wish you all could be traveling these roads with me and sharing in my experiences but I guess this blog is really the only way we can do that. So thanks for reading and for walking with me through this year.

Kendall and Ignacio have gone white water rafting today at the same place Myal and I went a few months back. I cannot wait to hear their stories and near death experiences…it’s definitely quite an experience. You can pray for their safety today in traveling the roads to and from Jinja and obviously the time they will spend on the river.

Story of the week: I was walking to work today as usual with Donna and a young teenage girl (Ruth) stopped and asked if she could ask us a question. (Donna and I later admitted we both immediately thought she was going to ask for school fees.) So we hesitantly said sure thinking we knew what she was going to ask. She surprised us both when she asked if she could share scripture with us…specifically Psalm 8. She had memorized it and needed to practice it and wanted to recite it to us. So as we walked down our dusty dirt road to work there was a young girl reciting Psalm 8 to us. I can’t tell you how awesome this was. She seemed to be pouring her heart into the words she was speaking and wasn’t just rattling them off. I looked around and was like this would never happen back home. Who stops you on the road to ask if they can recite scripture to you? She told us she was practicing for a speech event at her school tomorrow and then thanked us for listening. She thanked us?! Can you believe it? We went to devotions this morning and shared the story with the staff as a praise that God is clearly working on the hearts of people in our small village in Mutundwe. And we prayed that God would give us all hearts like this young girl who wasn’t afraid to approach strangers and ask if she could share the word of God with them. May we all be so bold and so in love with Jesus that we just can’t help but pour him out onto those around us. You can pray for Ruth today that God would continue to use her to encourage others and that through her boldness others may come to a real knowledge and understanding of who He is. Also pray that the spirit would work in the hearts of the Christians here and prompt them to share their faith with others.

Kendall is here!!!!!

2008-06-29T02:57:00.002-04:00

Well Kendall and Ignacio made it to Kenya and so did all of their luggage! I picked them up from Nairobi airport on Friday night and then we headed back to the guesthouse where we are staying. We spent the evening looking through all the amazing school supplies everyone from back home sent out with Kendall. A huge thank you as I know the kids will appreciate these things. I was telling Kendall that they don't own many items for themselves so even a simple notebook or cool pencil is a huge thing to them. I will definitely take pictures as Kendall hands this stuff out.

On Saturday we went on a 1/2 day safari to Nairobi National Park. It was amazing. The day started a bit slow and our guide was preparing us to not see too many animals. Deep down I was a bit nervous as I didn't want it to be disappointing. But within 20 minutes we came across about 150 zebras...right next to our car. We were probably only 10-15 feet from them. And the van we were in was cool too - the top opened up so you could stand up and look out. We got some great pictures I will have to post when I get back to Kampala. We saw buffalo, impala, ostrich, rhino and even giraffes. We were finishing up our time in the park and literally we were driving the last 1/4 mile or so when 6 giraffe crossed our path...right in front of the car. Igancio got a great video of it all while Kendall and I were screaming with excitement.

After the park we went to an elephant orphanage where we got to pet baby elephants and watch them get fed. After this we went to a place for lunch right on a lake. We had amazing food and got to walk around the lake afterwards and even play some soccer with some kids in the park. We had a good game going - even our driver Patrick joined in. He made our day when we got back into the car and he said today would be the best day of his year. He hadn't played soccer in more than 19 years. It was great to see him so excited and to see Kendall and Ignacio loving it as well.

The last stop was to the giraffe center where we got to hand feed these huge giraffe. In typical Kendall style she was the first to volunteer to feed the giraffe by mouth! I could barely handle the feeding my hand - their tounges feel like sand paper. I can't believe we got to feed a giraffe. I was so excited until we got back to the guesthouse and we were sharing our story with someone and they were like "yea we have a great place like that in Oregon" What?! dang it. It was cool none the less.

Today is Sunday and we are having a slow morning - even slept in, which is easy to do since we are sleeping on the most comfortabe matresses ever. I am loving it here. We are heading into town just to look around and then going to Carnivore Restaurant tonight for dinner. Apparently it's been voted top 50 restaurant world wide. Kendall is a vegetarian and yet she is the one who suggested we go - hilarious. Ignacio and I can't wait! I will have to report back on that one.

I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who prayed for the bus ride to Kenya - it went so smoothly and we even arrived 3 hours early (unheard of). The group of us will be traveling by bus to Kisumu on Monday and then to Kampala on Wednesday. Please keep us in your prayers.

Changes

2008-06-20T07:54:00.002-04:00

I had just typed a really long post and then lost the connection. Argh. The update for the week is that we are dong some restructuring in the office...some people have even resigned. I ask for prayers as we move forward at Dwelling Places, specifically for God's discernment on decisions we have to make. I am also praying for wisdom for Rita as she leads the organization. The staff restructuring is good in my mind but it is still disruptive initially and will require more work on those that remain behind. The goal is to get the right people on the bus in the right seats.

The other update is that Rita will not be coming to the US in July. We couldn't get a Visa soon enough so she will be trying to come in October. This is a huge relief and answer to prayer for me as I didn't think we could get everything done in time to send her properly. I will let everyone know dates when they have been decided. She is still planning on DC and Colorado but may go some place other than Chicago now.

And my funny story I wanted to share was that earlier this week I decided to go out for my morning run. Well the gates have been locked later than usual lately and I exited to find that I couldn't get out of my compound. I checked all the gates and they were all locked. So me being the stubborn person I am I decided to just jump the gate to get out. I climbed up the back and made special effort to make sure my shoelaces wouldn't get caught in the pointy spikes at the top of the gate. Well I think I must have been too worried about my placement and wasn't really thinking when I jumped and hit the ground with my feet and then just as quickly onto my butt. There was a bit of a slope I didn't see in the early morning darkness. I got up and laughed as I checked my self for injuries. How dumb was that. And if I had gotten hurt I would have been locked out. Needless to say I am not running again until I can get a copy of the key to the gate. So dumb. Pray for my decision making :)

One week until Kendall comes to Africa!

The Day of the African Child

2008-06-15T05:30:00.004-04:00

The Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16th since 1991. The day commemorates the incident in Soweto, South Africa where a peaceful school protest turned into mass rioting. The day is celebrated as a way to draw attention to the children of Africa. This year Dwelling Places (DP) celebrated the day by drawing attention to the issue of child neglect in their community.

The day started at 8am with a march through Mutundwe. The Boys Brigade of Kampala was dropped off at our office and was anxious to start playing. Slowly the 4 different schools arrived with children all dressed in their uniforms. We handed out paper hats to everyone and you would have thought we were handing out a million dollars. Kids were going nuts for these hats and were so excited to wear them. Once we had gathered about 100 children we set off for our march through Mutundwe.

The march lasted about an hour and a half, but it doesn’t seem that long when you are marching to music and holding hands with cute kids. We marched up and down roads and even on the main tarmac road. We had police to block off the streets for us. The point of the march was to make noise and to get people to come see what we were doing. We invited people to join the march that would eventually end at the DP Office. It was a huge success as we gathered about another 50 kids/parents along the way.

The program for the day consisted of performances from the DP choir, school performances, speeches from two guest speakers, a question and answer forum, and finally a movie. I could not believe how well everything went – almost as planned. I was surprised because things never happen the way we plan them. Inevitably it will rain or the guest speaker won’t show because he doesn’t have transport money or someone is sick or a family member has died. God was definitely protecting the event today and even provided us with shade for most of the morning. It didn’t rain until 3pm when our program was ending…perfecting timing. And even after the rain started the schools kept performing songs and dances. They didn’t want the day to end and they didn’t care that it was raining.

I sat there watching the kids dancing and thought where in the US will I ever see something as neat as this. Usually we run and duck for cover when it starts raining, but here it’s just part of life…you go on. We sat in the rain and clapped our hands and had a great afternoon.

I was so impressed with the staff of DP and how they came together as a team to pull this day off. You can imagine this event happening in the US but trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time is hard to do here, especially since most people don’t have phones. I really was amazed at the hard work and it showed by how successful the day was.

My week

2008-06-06T04:51:00.001-04:00

I know I am in Africa and should have some amazing update to give you but it was a typical week at the office and I thought instead I would just tell you about it.

I found out this week that our Executive Director will be traveling to the US for 4 weeks on a fundraising tour starting in July. My first thought was “oh geese that’s a lot of work to prepare for in less than a month”. I have to create child sponsor cards, donation material, presentations, and general marketing materials. Ahhh. And then when I asked where she planned on going in the US I was jealous. Rita will be traveling to Washington, DC July 5-12 to speak at local churches there to tell them what the global church is doing in Uganda. I have started to contact McLean Bible Church, Reston Bible Church and Cherrydale Baptist. I chose these three because I knew people at each of the churches…however if you are in that area and have other ideas or a church where she might be able to speak let me know. She isn’t so much interested in preaching on a Sunday but rather getting plugged into meetings and fellowships held at the churches. For example I am contacting IPJM at Frontline to see if they could host a meeting on her behalf. If you have any awesome ideas or contacts let me know. I am just working with what I know and who I know off the top of my head. After DC she will go to Chicago and then to Denver. I wish I could hide in her suitcase and go along with her to visit home. I can’t believe that she might be standing out my church in DC in the next month and I won’t be there.

I attended a committee meeting on Thursday for Africa Inland Mission. I am on the committee that is planning the annual conference in January. This is the same one I attended the first week I got to Uganda I won’t be here for the conference but as it turned out my limited conference planning experience was needed. I again am jealous but this time that I won’t be in Africa to experience it. I should really make up my mind of where I want to be…here or the US. Depends on the day sometimes really.

This week also started the first of many professional development classes I am teaching at the office. I started thinking a few months back what my impact could be here in the office. I could continue to do tasks and update the website and write newsletters but when I left what would happen? They would be right back where they started and still needing help. So instead I decided a better use of my time was to train the staff that is here long term – the nationals. So today I started the course with an introduction to Microsoft Word. Most of our staff members have never been taught on a computer and any skills they have they have figured out for themselves. So I will be doing classes on professional emailing, Word, Excel and general computer skills. I am also offering classes to the PR department for training in Publisher and Photoshop. I laugh when I think about this plan as I have never taught a class like this in my life, much less to an entire staff of Africans. I find it funny the opportunities God has given me while I have been here, most of them aren’t things I feel I am good at and some even scare me a bit. From teaching an aerobics class to university students, to praying for and in front of the entire staff, to teaching a class on computer skills, and being asked to preach from the Bible at many different gatherings. I can feel God pushing me along through all these activities and am grateful for the opportunity to learn more and more it’s not about me at all and it’s all about God and the glory we can give him through our lives.

Fasting

2008-05-30T03:05:00.002-04:00

This week Dwelling Places staff suggested we go into a time of prayer and fasting as we were seeking God for provision of school fees, healing and doors to be opened in our ministry. This isn’t the first time I have ever fasted but it certainly was the first time I fasted for a week (from sun up to sun down) and with co-workers. We spent every day during the lunch hour in prayer and worship. We sang songs, prayed out loud together, prayed silently, danced, and read from the Bible…it was a great experience.

But I can remember the first time I was ever asked to fast – it was when I was part of the short term missions team that went to Zambia. I remember being told we would be fasting the day before our commissioning at church and I had no idea what that meant. I remember running home and getting online to figure out what all fasting included. I looked up every Bible reference I could find to read about what God said about fasting and even consulted some Christian websites just to make sure I was understanding it all correctly :) I was dumfounded when I realized fasting was a basic Christian principle I had been missing out on for years. It wasn’t for the elite or only designed for preachers but rather was a discipline Jesus himself modeled in his ministry on earth. In the Catholic church I grew up in I never learned or even heard about fasting. We celebrated lent every year when we were asked to “give up” something like chocolate, or buying clothes, or something like that but we were never asked to fast or taught how to. And now I wonder why when the Bible so clearly talks about it and its importance.

Here is just a short list of people mentioned in the Bible that fasted:

Paul fasted for three days without food or water – this was the first thing he did in his ministry. (Acts 9:9)
Cornelius fasted and prayed even before he was born again – and God saw this and sent him the Gospel through Peter. (Acts 10:30)
Paul fasted regularly not just when things were going wrong. (Act 13:1-2)
All of Judah fasted when faced with the possibility of war against the Moabites. (2 Chronicles. 20:1-3)
Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert when being tempted by the devil. (Mathew 4:1-11)
Esther fasted for three days before approaching the king on behalf of her people. (Esther 4:15-16)
David fasted for 7 days as a plea to God to save his son. (2 Samuel 12:15-20)
Moses fasted for 40 days when he was on the mountain receiving the 10 commandments (Deut. 9:9-18)

So I have to think that if Jesus himself fasted while on earth than it is something that he wants us to do as well. His life was a model for how we are all to live. His purpose here was to leave us with a path to follow. But just in case we aren’t convinced by his example he also spoke about fasting and said,” when you fast do not look somber…” (Matthew 6:16) The word WHEN in this sentence tells us everything we need to know. Jesus didn’t say IF you fast but rather WHEN you fast this is how you should do it. He was giving instruction just like he did when he taught about giving to the poor, or protecting the orphans and widows in our company. Fasting, as I have slowly realized, is no different than the call to pray or to give. Matter of fact those two items are talked about in the same chapter as fasting.

So why do we hear so many sermons on giving to the needy or making sure we are having time in prayer every day with God but hear so little about fasting? Why isn’t this talked about more? Taught to our children? Encouraged within small groups? Let us not become complacent where the Bible is clear. God calls his people to himself through fasting and prayer and we must be a people dedicated to the commands of God and his word. He is our provider and can meet and satisfy every need or hunger we have…we just have to trust him and humble ourselves before him.

Who decides fairness

2008-05-23T04:33:00.000-04:00

I sit and worry and pray for the health of my parents, family and friends because I can’t imagine life without them. I am already sad sometimes just knowing I will have to face a life without my parents at some point down the road. Who worries about such a thing? Today I am reminded of all those children up at Dwelling Places that have already lost their parents or brothers and sisters. Some are complete orphans, some have only lost one parent and some are abandoned. Not sure which is worse – having a parent die or having a parent willingly leave you for dead. And I just keep thinking “Lord, it’s not Fair!”

I know this life doesn’t promise us fairness or that we will never experience pain but I just don’t get it. These children seemingly never stood a chance. They have been living in poverty since birth, became street beggars, and then ended up in a group home. What kind of awful world do we live in where a child is put on the street with no food or water to beg for simple provisions? Can you even imagine the desperation he must feel knowing if no one stops that day he will go hungry again that night. Can you imagine how desperate and lonely you would feel if someone took everything you owned and put you on a street corner and said find your way – good luck. And even the ones we have rescued from the streets I wonder if they get enough love? Who hugs them good night before bed? Who is there sitting with them every day to ask about their day, to process the complexities of life with them or to offer encouragement? Who do they run to if they get scared in the middle of the night? We are offering as much as we can but it’s still so unfair. They deserve parents who love them and can care for them. They deserve a better life.

How can God bare to see his children in pain? How does God see all this and not cry all the time? Or maybe he does. Maybe his heart breaks, his throat closes up, his chest tightens and pains, his eyes water and he asks us “what have you done to my children?” And then he takes a look around and thinks who can I send to show these children my love? Who is willing to be used by me? Whose heart is open? Whose life is available for me to use for my glory? And that’s when we feel the Holy Spirit nudge us and we hear him say, “go”. We can choose to ignore it because it’s easy to say no when we are resting so easy in our houses stocked with food and surrounded by friends. BUT what would this world look like if we all said yes? Where would God lead you? Who would he lead you to? What difference could you make in this lost and dying world? What sacrifices would he require? And what’s holding you back?

There is pain and suffering in this world because of sin. But there is light and hope because of Jesus. I get angry and sad sometimes but I hold tightly to the knowledge that the battle has already been won and Jesus is the victor. Life here doesn’t seem fair but I have trust that God sees a bigger picture than I do. So I place my hope, trust, life, dreams, ambitions, fears, sadness, joy, hurt, pain and desires in the hands of Jesus and say “Have Your Way.”

Facing a giant

2008-05-15T05:49:00.001-04:00

This week I have been reminded that the work we do here at Dwelling Places is just a drop in the bucket of what actually needs to be done. And at first I started to feel overwhelmed and discouraged as to what we can actually do to make a difference. I mean the problem is just so big and our organization so small. There are 2 million orphans in Uganda alone. These children have lost their parents and have probably been forced to go live with an aunt or uncle nearby who already have 5-6 children of their own and can’t afford to take care of any more. These children are the ones we see on the streets because there is no place else for them to go. It’s not like the US where they are agencies set up to handle the massive influx of children who every day become orphans. There aren’t even strong government programs to help – there are just people like Rita who have seen a need and decided she couldn’t wait for the government or other people to do something and so she started to meet the need the best way she knew how. And that’s how Dwelling Places began. But we are one of a few organizations doing this work in Uganda. The need is bigger than we can ever be.

My thoughts turn to the story of David and Goliath when I start to put myself into this downward spiral of statistics and hopelessness. And I feel like I am looking down to my hands and seeing a small stone and thinking but God what do you expect me to do with this rock? Do you ever wonder if David was like yea right God you want me to do what? Throw this stone at Goliath…seriously is that the best plan you have? Perhaps I should go find another option – like a flame thrower or a bigger weapon. And then I can picture God patiently responding I have given you enough for you to do the work before you. It may only be a stone but I am asking you to use it in a mighty way – let me take care of the rest. God asked David to take one simple action – to throw the stone. He wasn’t asking David to come up with a 6 month work plan of how he could turn his small stone into a larger rock before he followed God’s leading. God was telling David use the talents you already have and bring down this giant who mocks me.

And so I have to believe and trust that the little stone and slingshot the Lord has equipped Dwelling Places with will be enough. That the Lord has provided today exactly what we need – no more and no less. And perhaps he gives us little because he wants to make a statement to others about His power. Dwelling Places operates most months without having enough money to pay the staff. People continue to come to work in faith that the money will come in and they will get paid for their work. When I say we work with little I am not exaggerating. We scrape by each month to find enough money to fund the projects we have started to benefit the orphans and vulnerable children of Uganda. We are David and we will not cower or turn away from the problem saying it is too big for us to do anything so we won’t even try.

I still wonder about how we can be more effective in our work or how we could grow to care for more children but I also know that we are doing exactly what God has asked us to do today and we will continue to do just that until he hands us a bigger stone.

Introduction Ceremony

2008-05-09T03:07:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to be a part of an introduction ceremony for a woman I work with in the PR Department – Diana. The purpose of the introduction ceremony is to literally introduce Diana to her fiancé’s family and for both sides to approve that they can be married. Now Diana has met Joel’s parents before but the official ceremony still exists. Diana asked Joelle, Donna and I to be part of her ceremony by being maids helping to greet and serve the guests. There were 12 of us total.

The day started with a group of us meeting up at the office at DP and all piling into the van we had rented for the day to take us to Jinja (about 2 hours north of Kampala). The ride was long and we stopped a few times to pick up more people on the way that we work with but lived in different areas. We get there right on time and the three of us are hurried into the house into a back room to begin dressing us in the traditional wear called Kikoye. It is much like chitenge cloth for those of you reading this who went to Zambia. They start by making you wrap a bead sheet around you – to make you fatter on the bottom and then the kikoye cloth goes around that. They literally wrap you like a mummy and put some safety pins in and this is your dress for the day.

After we got dressed we were told we needed to go out and greet Joel’s family with the group of other maids. Greeting here in Uganda is done on your knees. You walk up to someone, drop to your knees and recite the Luganda greeting. I had never done this before and was quite leery about getting down to my knees and back up in this cloth wrapping. Luckily all went well and I didn’t fall into anyone’s lap. His family got a good laugh at seeing these three white girls greeting on their knees. We served sodas to the group and then went back to the house.

Then it was time for formal greeting. There were mats set up in the middle of the three tents where each group would walk to the mat, greet on their knees, say a short speech and then leave. There were two groups of maids, aunts, young girls, and some other women who went out to greet. When it was our turn we had to carry out baskets on our hips doing this shuffle dance we learned seconds before and then once on the mat the MC asked that the muzungos greet in their own language. So we get passed the microphone and are told to greet the guests. Luckily Donna seemed game for this so she took the microphone and greeted them in English. Then it was back up, more shuffle dancing and back to the house.

Finally after about an hour of different people greeting Diana came out to greet Joel’s family. Her aunt then went into Joel’s tent to fetch him and bring him out. She brought Joel to Diana and placed their hands together. Joel and Diana did a traditional dance of sorts and then sat together. Then came the gifts. Bride price is still operating here in Africa. So Joel’s aunts and sisters left his tent to go fetch the gifts they would be offering to Diana’s family on behalf of receiving her into their family now. There brought so many baskets of stuff out and even a cow. The gifts just kept coming. There were also special gifts placed on the mat wrapped in blue wrapping paper. As I later found out the groom has to buy the bride’s aunt’s a special gift as they are seen as the ones who prepare a young woman for marriage. So they would have all received gomezi’s in those gifts. Gomezi is also a traditional outfit but more fancy and usually worn by older women here. The groom’s family also gave a chicken to Diana’s brother as a sign of respect.

Once gifts were given and accepted by Diana’s family there was a big celebration with cake and more dancing. After all this it was time to eat. Donna, Joelle and I helped serve the traditional food to what seemed like hundreds of people. Then it was back on the van to return to Kampala. We had so much fun on that ride home – there were probably about 16 of us in a 12 seater van – and everyone in the van worked for DP. We had such a good laugh just ragging on each other and being silly which doesn’t happen too much in the office so it was fun to let loose a little and just laugh.

It was a neat experience to see a traditional African ceremony. I didn’t understand a word of what was going on during the day but everything was later explained on the van ride home. I will be attending her official wedding tomorrow at a church in town. I have no idea what to expect. Although I have been told I have been requested to give a short speech on behalf of DP for Diana. Really? Out of everyone in the office you are asking me to speak to a crowd of Ugandans….this seems like a bad idea. Pray for me :)

Trip to Egypt

2008-05-02T03:24:00.003-04:00

I have just returned home from a short vacation to Egypt. Donna (one of my roommates here) and I left last Tuesday for a 6-day tour of Cairo and Luxor. We decided to take this trip on the premise that we wanted to see pyramids and ride a camel. We knew nothing about Egypt or its history or anything else you could do there, we just simply knew camels and pyramids would be cool. Thankfully we were smart enough to realize our lack of knowledge and signed up for a tour group before we left.

Cairo is amazing! It is the third largest city in the world (according to our tour guide) and has about 17 million people – which is almost the total population of the entire country of Uganda. It’s huge! We arrived to find 8 lanes of traffic, paved roads and air conditioning and immediately we knew this would be a good trip. It was almost culture shock to be in a city again that was more Western than African. We just kept commenting how everything was very smart and organized. You knew you were still in Africa though when we saw the camels and donkeys on the highways alongside the cars…gotta love it.

In Cairo we visited pyramids and even got to go inside one of them. Oddly enough inside isn’t that exciting – just a lot of stone and little air flow. But then again it’s cool just to say we got to go inside a pyramid. We went to the Egyptian Museum and were surprised that all of these ancient artifacts are just sitting in rows in this building – not behind protective glass and most times with no placard to tell you what you were looking at. Thankfully we had out guide who was amazed at this point of our lack of knowledge of anything Egyptian. We saw King Tut’s tomb and all the items that were found in his tomb – lots of gold and colored jewelry and such. Donna and I both agreed how sad it was that they placed all their faith in these multiple gods and that they prepared for death thinking they would be coming back to life at some point. They kept all the items in their tombs so when the god brought them back to life they would have all their stuff right there with them. We also went on a sail boat ride on the Nile, went shopping at a huge market, saw how papyrus is made, went to a perfume shop, rode a camel, visited a mosque, and went on a dinner cruise down the Nile. Camel riding was hysterical as we were being led around the desert by a small 10-year old boy who knew no English. He offered to take our picture (photo camera) but then proceeded to just snap haphazardly without ever looking to see if we were in it. This is my favorite one.

We took an overnight train to Luxor and spent 2 days there to see the Temple of Karnak and Luxor Temple. These structures are huge! There were so many pillars with hieroglyphic writing all the way around them all the way to the top. It must have taken years to build these structures. It was impressive to see temples and pyramids that were built at a time without all the gadgets and tools we have today. No cranes to help lift these huge stones on the pyramids and or to help pull a column into position. The Egyptians were so smart in their ideas for utilizing every day items to build these mammoth structures. I was in awe most of the time and Donna even laughed at me a few times as I stood with my mouth open. Just so impressive.

The real highlight of the trip was the accommodation. We slept in real beds with soft pillows and even had a bath! We were excited from the moment we stepped onto the plane and sat in the comfy chairs. Who knew planes were so posh. The hotel beds were real mattresses (with springs) as opposed to the foam mattresses we sleep on in Mutundwe. And the pillows – wow so soft. We were delighted to be living in such nice accommodations for 6 days. But I have to admit I missed “home” and oddly enough the home I kept thinking about returning to was Uganda. As much as I was loving the comforts of Egypt I missed the cottage and our other roommate Joelle and all the kids. I missed my daily routine. It was such a weird feeling to leave vacation knowing that my home was Uganda and not the US. It felt satisfying though as we flew into Entebbe to be relieved to be home. The last time I was at this airport was the first day I arrived in Uganda and everything obviously felt so strange. But this time as we flew in it was that feeling of peace of being home again. Cairo may have nicely paved roads and really comfy beds but it doesn’t have 70 adorable children waiting to greet their auntie and welcome her home. It feels good to be back.

This is what I was made for

2008-04-18T02:43:00.000-04:00

Tonight was family time with the children at Dwelling Places. Usually on Monday evenings we all gather in the dining hall and talk about “family issues”. It’s a time of encouragement, discipline and always some laughter. But tonight was much different because tonight we were gathered to say goodbye. There are 13 children that will leave the house tomorrow to be resettled with their families throughout the Kampala area. Some of these children have been in the home for 2-3 years and during that time they have made friends and we have become their family. This goodbye is bitter sweet.

As the children stood one at a time as their names were being called all I could think of was the 12 apostles being commissioned to go out to take the message to the world. Here we stood telling these 13 that it’s time that they go home but that our prayers and the love of God would be going with them. We had the opportunity near the end to gather around the 13 and lay our hands on them and then all at once we spoke to God our hopes for these children. I usually get distracted with this African type praying when everyone just starts speaking at once but tonight I could hear the voices but no words were standing out. There is something powerful about being in a room with 80 people who are all calling on God for his protection and provision for 13 His children. There is something powerful about hearing 70 small voices singing praises to God in their own language. It was echoing at one point because of how loud they were singing – it was beautiful. And I of course lost all ability to speak or pray and instead for a brief moment I just cried…out of sheer happiness. If this night was the sole purpose that God created me I could die happy. I was overwhelmed by the signing, I was overwhelmed by the mere touch of my skin on theirs as we prayed and I was overwhelmed with the feeling that God was standing right next to us just smiling knowing he has this all under control. God knew this night would take place whether I was here or not and I am so thankful that he allowed me to be here to participate in worshiping Him and to witness his glory.

I am thankful beyond words for this opportunity to be here right now in this place. I could not imagine a sweeter sound or wish for a more perfect day. I have only been here 3 months but in that time I have grown attached to these children and just seeing the 13 leave reminds me that at some point I will be the one leaving – and again I am thankful to God that my time to leave isn’t here yet.

These children were created by God for his purpose and for his glory and Dwelling Places seems to see what the world cannot. We see children on the street and know that their father in heaven wants us to love them just as he has loved us. We see children on the streets and know we have been given much and so we must give much in return. And what we have to offer is the love of Christ and that seems to be enough. We don’t always have money, we don’t always have supplies, and we don’t always have electricity but what we do have that never runs out is God’s love, his grace and his unending mercies. And this sees us through.

If you are reading this I would ask that you pause and take a minute out of your day today and pray for these children. Pray that God would provide them with good health, full bellies, warm beds to lay their heads at night and above all that God would call them to himself. May they be so aware that they walk with Jesus every day and can call out to him in any situation. May they know how much they are LOVED not just by their earthly parents and aunties but by the savior of the world.

Rafting on the river Nile

2008-04-11T04:12:00.002-04:00

I debated what to write about this week and decided that my adventure from white water was way too awesome to not share – lucky you.

Myal and three of his friends from Rwanda came up to Kampala on Sunday night. We were all able to meet up at the bus station and then went for a quick bite to eat with my roommates. Monday was an early start as we boarded our bus at 7am that would be taking us to Jinja. On the bus we were asked to fill in some paper work – I think we were signing something stating we wouldn’t sue if we died on the river. Sweet. As part of the form you had to put down your age. As the sheet got around to Myal and I we quickly realized we were the oldest people on the bus by 2-3 years. I have never felt that old before now. Who knew at 27 and 29 you could feel ancient :)

We arrived about 2.5 hours later to the rafting company and had our first look at the Nile. It is absolutely gorgeous. We were up on this plateau of sorts and were looking down into the river. The only thing you could see for miles was the river, lush greenery on the side and a few huts scattered along the sides of the river. It was like out of a movie. This is where I would put a picture had I been smart of enough to bring a camera with me. The pictures in this posting are just from the rafting company's website.

The rafting at this place on the Nile is considered to be the best in the world. It was literally voted #1 in some sort of voting poll for the number of rapids in one run. We signed up for the full day rafting experience and they told us that would include 5 class 5 rapids and about 2-3 class 3 and class 4 rapids. I consider myself an adventurous person but when they told me how many class 5s we would be going down in one day I knew I was in trouble. You can get lucky on one or two but eventually the river will win and knock you out of the boat. And because of this impending doom the first thing you do on the river in the still water is practice two things (1) what it will feel like to be trapped under the boat and (2) how to be rescued by a kayak. They have 5-6 guys in kayaks that go through the rapids with you and help give you something to hold on to if you aren’t lucky enough to remain in the raft on the way down.

We went through a few rapids at the beginning without much fuss. And I was thinking this isn’t so bad. Then right before breaking for lunch we went through what our rafting guide Tutu called Big Brother. As we approached the rapid he yelled the command to duck and cover – which means you get off your set and hover in the middle of the boat facing out and holding on to the rope on the side of the boat so when it flips you have something to keep hold of. This is a good thought in theory. I was sitting behind Myal and Paul (second row) and could see the rushing water a head of us. The nose of the boat dipped down and a huge wave crashed over us. And if that wasn’t enough the rapid then sent the left side of the boat flying into the air securely knocking us all out of the boat. I immediately got sucked under the water only to pop out and see more water coming over my head. No such luck for air on that try. I found the surface again a few second later gulped in some air and a few gallons of the Nile and went under for round two. Finally the river had had enough and spit me out a few feet down the river. I can remember just popping up above the water, seeing our raft and yelling to Tutu to come save me. I could of sworn he was smiling when he paddled over – I think I looked a little scared.

I was relieved after getting back into the boat that we would soon be stopping for lunch. I needed to gain some courage before going through that again. We stopped off at this island in the middle of the river and got off to find a pavilion with benches and everything and a ton of food set up and ready for us. I dined on salami sandwiches and pineapple on the Nile. After about an hour we got back in the raft. We had 3 more class 5s to take on before the day ended. Before we got to the last few rapids we had about 45 minutes of paddling to do on flat water. Here we were in a raft laughing, singing and recounting the day while looking around and just taking in the fact here we were in Africa on the Nile river. It doesn’t get much sweeter than this.

In the afternoon we got to go over a 6-foot waterfall, which I am proud to say we remained in the boat for. As we were paddling toward the final rapid of the day we were told to paddle toward the shore. As it turns out there is a class 6 rapid that leads into our class 5 and we weren’t allowed to go over the 6 – thank the Lord. So we got out and these men carried our boat over the hill and put it in further down the river. We jumped in one last time and headed down. It was so alarming each time to see so much water rushing towards us and knowing we weren’t getting out of the way but rather aiming right for it. We hit the wall of water and Myal and Paul went flying out the front. I had stopped paddling at this point and was just holding on to the rope for dear life. I am such a team player. We made it through the last rapid, picked up Myal and Paul on the way down and spent the last 30 minutes just relaxing as we drifted toward the end point.

I have honestly never been so scared and excited at the same time in my life. There were definitely points were I was thinking man you could easily drown out here and then times when we were just able to relax and take in the amazing scenery and sheer quietness of the day. I am so glad I was able to meet up with Myal and his friends and I am so thankful for God’s hand of protection on everyone in our raft. What an experience…not one I will soon forget.

Praise and Prayer

2008-04-04T09:52:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about some of the things I have said on this blog and realized in everything I have written I haven’t stopped to give praise where praise is due. So I would like to use this time to give an update on all the answers to prayer and some recent prayer requests.

PRAISE
My Health
The last time I was in Africa I felt ill almost every day. As it turned out it was the malaria medicine that was making my stomach upset. I was a bit nervous when I knew I would be coming back to Africa for a year. I couldn’t imagine feeling that ill for an entire year. I chose the same brand as last time and just prayed that I would not feel sick because of the medicine. I have yet to fall ill since being here almost 3 months now.

Work relations
We were having problems with a person in the PR Department. We wanted to approach the administration but was finding it hard to find a way to bring up the subject (cultural thing). We had been praying for about a week for an opportunity to speak to administration about this problem and then one day in a separate meeting he noticed the problem himself and suggested we have a meeting. God has opened a door for us to speak.

Safety
You all must be praying over time. I take public transportation 4-5 times a week. I am on old taxis buses that need a push start to begin moving, on bodas going in between cars and down pothole filled roads, and walking in town with ½ million other people and yet I have been completely safe. Please continue prayer for travel and transportation here.

Friends
I honestly feel so blessed to be in Kampala. God has provided not only two great roommates that I get along with and have so much in common with but he has also provided numerous other short term missionaries as friends. We have a group of about 7 of us that hang out on a regular basis. I have women I go to church with each Sunday, friends to invite over for dinner and even people to watch movies with on our laptops.

PowerPoint
I laugh just writing this but honestly this is a huge praise. I have been in charge of creating two presentations for Rita to take with her on her fundraising trip to the UK. I know how to use PowerPoint fairly well but have found myself praying through the process. Today I was praying that software would download before the Internet timed out so I could convert files into MP3 to be able to play on the PowerPoint. I also prayed that God would direct me to the information I needed when I realized I had no idea how to attach two separate song files. I was blessed this past week with power and Internet at the office to be able to do my work on these two presentations and I was able to complete the task with information I was able to find online. Praise God for his help on this project. (how many of us in the US have ever prayed for something to download? So many opportunities for prayer here J )

Visitors
My friend Myal will be coming to Kampala on Sunday for a quick visit. He currently lives in Rwanda working for World Relief. He will be staying in Mutundwe for two nights and on Monday we will be going to Jinja to go white water rafting. I am so excited to see a friend from back home.

PRAYER
Fundraising
Our Executive Director/Founder (Rita) will be traveling to the UK April 11 – May 16th. She will be attending meetings at churches and other organizations to fundraise for Dwelling Places. She will be telling people about our organization and ways they can get involved. Please pray for her safety in traveling, for her continued health while she is there and for a successful fundraising trip. Pray that their hearts and eyes will be opened to the need of the children of Uganda and that they would be cheerful givers as God would have them give.

White water trip
On Monday Myal and I and a group of friends will be traveling by bus to Jinja (about an hour from Kampala) to go white water rafting. Please pray for the safety of travel to and from Jinja and for the time on the river. Also Myal will be continuing his vacation from Kampala and traveling to Kenya later in the week. Pray for safety in his travels and for time being able to be spent with friends relaxing.

Vacation
My roommate Donna and I will be traveling to Egypt April 22-28. We are going for one purpose – to relax and get out of Uganda J haha. I am excited for the trip and thankful to God for providing me with roommates I get along so well with. I am asking for prayer for the trip. We have two flights to and from Egypt and for our safety while in the country. We will be traveling by train once we get there to visit some different areas. Pray our luggage arrives, that nothing gets stolen while we are there, for our health and that we can enjoy the time away from the office and truly relax for a few days.

I can’t wait to give an update next week on my time with Myal and our white water rafting trip. Thanks again to everyone who has been praying for me throughout the year. I appreciate your prayers and your constant support and letters of encouragement.

Am I giving God my best?

2008-03-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

This thought came out of one of my daily devotional books and I had to stop and really think about this one. I mean seemingly in my mind I am totally giving my best. I sold my stuff, quit my job and moved to Africa all to follow God’s leading – that’s my best isn’t it? Or is it?

When I started to think of this question I immediately thought of how hard I trained to run the marathon. I would wake up at 5 am just to get in an 8-mile run before work knowing I had plans after work that couldn’t be changed. I would run at 6am on the weekends. I joined a running group to help hold me accountable to my running and to encourage me along the way. I would make sure I was getting 8 hours of sleep every night knowing my body was tired. I would drink more water during the day knowing I was getting dehydrated running such long distances. I never missed a run, I never said I was too tired or too busy. I found time. I made time. I knew what it would take to train myself to be able to complete the 26.2 miles.

That was my best. That was everything I could give. I held nothing back. And I am so ashamed reading that list and thinking I am so willingly to do all that just for a silly race but what do I do in my training as a Christian so that I am able to give my best? What could be more important than learning who God is, how to share the gospel and knowing what he wants us to do on his behalf? And the only way we can know those things is by going into training. The Bible says “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)

See training will require that we place God before everything else. That he controls our schedules – that we schedule devotion time first and then everything else can fall around it. That we would get up at 5am for a “long run” with God if that was the only time that day we have available. That we would see the importance of time with God – knowing we won’t be able to go the distance in this life without the proper preparation. That we would join a group (bible study) in order to have people to hold us accountable to our growth and our walk with Christ. That we would feed our bodies what it would need and drink in the words of God in mass knowing there would be times when we would run dry and would need those reserves.

We cannot persevere in this world without going into the proper training. To persevere means that in the face of challenges and set backs we will have the knowledge that we are prepared and can handle whatever it is and keep moving forward. I knew running the marathon that there would be times when I would want to walk or even quit but because of all the training I also knew I could run all 26 miles. So when I felt tired I just had to tell my body that I’m sorry it was tired but we were going to keep going because we had a race to finish. And the same is true in being a Christian. The more we read the Bible and have quiet time with God the better trained and prepared we are for what life will throw at us. So when we think we just can’t take another step we can tell ourselves the truth of the word of God that we have hidden in our hearts. And this will see us through…nothing else. And at the end of the day I hope we can say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7) I have given God my best.

He is Risen

2008-03-24T05:14:00.004-04:00

I was a bit afraid that celebrating the holidays in Uganda would be a little sad to be away from family and friends and my home church. But to my surprise and delight yesterday was one of the most joyous days I have had since being here.

I spent the morning at Calvary Chapel celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best worship service ever. There was singing and dancing, and when I say dancing I mean people were going all out - hands waving, feet moving, clapping and rejoicing. It felt so alive in that building and we were all so excited to be worshiping the God that defeated death and died on a cross for our sins. The sermon was as filled with joy and celebration as the worship. Our pastor spoke about the resurrection and three things we could know for sure.

(1) We can know for sure Jesus rose from the dead. The one point that stood out for me was when our pastor was saying s0ome people say the apostles were lying about Jesus being alive again. But he brought up a good point. If they really were lying why would they be so willing to be persecuted and even killed for this lie? The apostles knew this was truth and that's why they had such fervor in spreading the news. They had seen Jesus in person after he rose from the dead. They knew the truth and knew everyone else was in need of it.

(2) Jesus is better. He is better than all other Gods because he is the only one who has died and risen again. We serve a LIVING God and no other religion can claim this. Jesus (and in turn Christianity) is better. He gave an example: there is a man walking down the road and he comes to a fork and on one side is a dead man and on the other is a man who is alive...who would you ask for directions?

(3) We can have hope in life and in death. We have hope in this life because Jesus walks with us and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And we can have hope in death because the Bible promises an everlasting salvation for those that love God and believe in his son.

The church service though was just the beginning of a great day. There was a group of 6 of us who went out to a nice lunch and then walked through town in the pouring rain. We didn't have umbrellas and it didn't seem to matter yesterday we were all just so content walking (I dare say strolling) through town just enjoying the company of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We then cam back to our home in Mutundwe and went up to see the kids at Dwelling Places. They were all singing and dancing and celebrating in the dining hall. We stayed and enjoyed the excitement, handed out some sweets and then headed home...still in the rain. We got home, there was no power so we lit candles and just sat around talking, playing cards and even eating pudding Joelle had made for us.

It was such a simple day but yet it was so amazing. I felt so comfortable yesterday, like I was exactly where I was supposed to be with the exact people I was supposed to be with. I loved walking in the rain in no hurry to be anywhere but just celebrating the day.

I hope you all had a very Happy Easter and were able to celebrate in your own unique ways.

Who we call when we are in need

2008-03-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

I am reminded of who God is today by the actions of his people. I was sitting outside having a meeting with Abel this afternoon when a girl from the office runs out and falls down suddenly. A woman runs out after her and calls for the man I am having the meeting with to help. The girl who has fallen is writhing on the ground having what I can only assume is a seizure. Her eyes are rolling to the back of her head, her body is violently shaking, she is grunting and she is foaming at the mouth. My first thought is why is no one calling 911? And then I remembered where I was. I was standing still unable to move, for some reason I was scared…maybe I was scared because I didn’t think there was anyone there who could help her. And then, there in the midst of it all, I finally hear it…above the grunts and other noises…there is prayer.

The man I was meeting with, Abel, is in charge of our spiritual welfare department at Dwelling Places. That’s why he was called because the girl needed prayer, she needed God’s healing hand to cover her at that very moment. The woman didn’t call for a doctor (we actually have a nurse on staff) and she didn’t sit idly by like me just watching and wondering what she could do. No, she called Abel…to come pray. The girl hit the ground and I immediately thought we need to call for help and the woman did just that – she called for help from the savior of the world. There was prayer but where was I?

It’s kind of funny to me because I just finished a study on Acts and have really been struggling with the idea that at Stephen’s last hour while being stoned he calls out to God to forgive his brothers because they don’t know what they are doing. Then he calls to God to receive his spirit. I have been thinking, I wonder how I would react in the midst of pain or crisis…and I got my answer today. I apparently will just stand still and watch, feeling helpless because I don’t know who to call.

I’m not accustomed to the faith you experience here. I am not used to going to God in prayer for all my needs. Back home if I’m hungry I go to the grocery store and get food. If I am sick I go to the doctor to get medicine. And if I am feeling depressed or in need of encouragement I call a friend or send a quick email. Where does my life allow room for God to work and provide? What more would God like to be doing in my life that I haven’t allowed him to do because I don’t need faith when I am seemingly able to provide for all my own needs. Africa in the eyes of most of the West looks like a continent in dire need but I would like to tell you it’s us that are in need. Africa has it figured out in some ways – yes there is corruption and political strife – but there is also this overwhelming sense that God is invited to walk alongside the people here and not pushed to the corner someplace and only called on in the most desperate of situations. He is spoken to daily for every need and praised for every blessing; even the simple things like rain, clouds or sunshine. God is big here, he is powerful, he is praised and he gets all the glory. It’s my belief we could all learn from our brothers and sisters in Africa. I know I am…daily.

Don't forget I'm broken

2008-03-07T04:07:00.002-05:00

These are the words I hear over and over in my head every time I go to the girls and boys home after work to spend time with the kids there. These are the words that reverberate off the walls of my mind every time I pass a begging child on the streets. And these are the words that I am afraid will haunt me forever because I didn’t do enough.

From the outside, the children at Dwelling Places look normal. They are clean, well dressed, have school uniforms, and are seemingly always smiling. They run and play with each other like they are one big family. But these children aren’t a family and most of them come to us so broken and neglected. They have been forced to live a life on the streets. For those with parents they have been forced to sit on the sidewalks, in the hot sun for hours asking for money and food only to return to their tin roof huts at night to sleep on the dirty floors. For those without parents they not only beg during the day but then they sleep in alley ways and on store front steps at night. Life isn’t secure for them, life isn’t easy for them, and there is no promise of it ever getting any better.

These are the broken and the weary Jesus talks about in the Bible when he says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) These are the needy and the poor Jesus tells us to feed and to take care of. Jesus tells us to “spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10) But how? How do we rebuild a life that has been discarded by the world? How do we show this one child that the God of the universe loves them more than they will ever understand when they have never been shown love from anyone else? How can you convince a child who has had to steel for every piece of food that they can rely on you now to provide? How do you ever come to grips with the knowledge that the kids you see on the streets today might be dead tomorrow because no one stopped to help?

Who is God placing in our lives right now that we can help? Maybe it’s offering them our money to help buy food or clothes or pay a water bill. Or maybe it’s offering them our time. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s offering a smile, a warm hello and a helping hand. We are asked to be Jesus’ hands and feet and Jesus worked in big and small ways. He fed 5,000 one day and then washed the feet of his disciples the next. He worked where God had placed him and he didn’t worry about the details of the task or the magnitude of the word. He just kept moving forward – reaching the people that were placed in front of him. I can’t save every hungry, needy or homeless child in Uganda…but I can offer the ones I do meet the same love Jesus has offered me. And who knows how that will look, but I guess it will be exactly as he wants.

Not so qualified

2008-02-29T06:28:00.003-05:00

I would like to admit in advance I have no idea what I am doing. I think God is having a good laugh up there watching me try to help others and yet each and every time being taught something myself. My praise this week is for the gift of laughter.

I have been helping my roommate Donna in the evenings with homework time for the kids. Every night from 8-9:30pm all the kids who live in the DP housing (about 70 kids in all) are required to meet in the dining hall to do their homework. This is for two reasons (1) obviously to make sure they are doing their homework and (2) this is the only room with electricity.

We arrive at 8pm to find the kids yelling, running around and playing. And this is where I would like to point out one of the best features of this room – it’s large and is almost completely empty (minus a few tables and benches) which provides for an amazing, defining echo. We take the next 10 minutes to get everyone under control, seated silently and starting their homework. We have kids in the dining hall ranging in age from 6-16, in different classes, working on different subjects, and Donna and I are expected to (a) keep this group under control and (b) actually help with their homework. If you don’t have homework for that night you are still expected to come and sit quietly or sleep.

As I walk around I sit with kids and ask if they need help and when they say yes I laugh to myself knowing I just offered something I probably can’t give. Let me give you an example of some of the questions I have been asked and either didn’t have an answer to or gave the wrong answer:
(1) What is crop rotation? I had to ask one of the older kids to help me with this answer. I still don’t think I understand what it is.
(2) Why do we iron our clothes? I thought I had this one – obviously to keep them neatly pressed. Um nope...they iron here because clothes are dried on clothes lines or more likely grass and bugs get into them. You iron them to kill the insects. Which I will now start doing with mine as well. Good to know.
(3) What is an example of a crop cover? I still don’t know the answer.
(4) Draw a map of the main rivers in Uganda: I can name one river – not a huge help.
(5) Name two groups of nonliving things? Just so your head doesn’t hurt as much as mine did thinking about this one the answer is Artificial (man made) and Natural (God Made).

All homework is done from memory – no text books. Schools don’t have enough money to provide a text book for each child so the ones they have are kept in the classrooms to be shared during class. Children get up at 5am to get ready and leave around 6:30 to walk to school. They come home, have chores to do, eat supper and then homework from 8-9:30pm. So 5am – 9:30pm….I’m not even sure I could do this, yet these kids go to school, do their homework and you never hear them complain. They are just so excited to be given the opportunity to have an education.

I am humbled yet again as I think of the blessings in my life I have taken for granted. For me, college wasn’t a matter of IF I was going but rather which school I wanted to go to. I never worried about getting kicked out of school half way through the semester for lack of fees paid. And I never saw this as a blessing but rather something I was entitled to. I wonder how many other things in my life I have overlooked or withheld giving God the praise for?

2 hours I will never get back

2008-02-22T10:18:00.001-05:00

I was so excited on Thursday night when Donna (my roommate) told me the post office had called to let her know they had 5 packages for me waiting to be picked up. I love that we are on a first name basis with the post office in Kibuya. So today, knowing I would not be able to carry all 5 packages on the boda, I asked JB at the office if he would drive me down to the post office to pick my packages. I offered to pay for his gas.

So we get to the post office and I go in and Joan (post office lady) says Hello Jennifer - I love Africa - and then hands me 5 slips of paper. I look at her kind of funny and she says my packages are at the post office downtown. I was like seriously?! (a) That would have been good to know before getting here with the guy sitting in the car waiting for me and (b) how can they be downtown when my PO Box is with this post office. As it turns out anything bigger than a shoe box or anything heavy gets dropped at the main post office downtown.

I walk out feeling so stupid and tell JB that as it turns out the message was incorrect and the packages are downtown. He smiles and says OK let's go. This is a huge deal because it’s not like the states where you can get in your car drive 10 minutes and be someplace. It’s more like get in your car, dodge some cows, 10 bodas, a few taxis and a guy walking a bike pilled sky high with bananas…it’s quite a journey to go anywhere. So the fact that he has said yes to begin with and now was willing to take me into town (a craziness of its own) is a big deal.

We arrive downtown and he drops me at the door of the post office. I go up the three flights of stairs to the parcel pick up room. The guy behind the counter says sorry we are closed for lunch (it's 1:30 by the way). So I said what time will you be open again...2pm...ok. I go back down to let JB know so he doesn’t think I got lost or something. Minor problem I didn’t know where he was. I was walking down the street and spotted his car and noticed him talking to a man on the side of the road. I walk up and he is getting a parking ticket. Argh! I feel horrible and offer to pay. Total cost 4,000 UGx – about $3. haha. I tell him the delay he says we’ve come this far just go wait and get your stuff. Ok back up the stairs….

At exactly at 2pm they call me to the counter and look at my slips of paper and then ask for my Passport at which time I tell them I don’t have it. (because at my post office, which is where I thought the packages were, you don’t need a passport to pick up your own mail). Needless to say no matter how much I smiled or spoke nicely there was no way they were giving me my packages. Of course, the one business in Africa that follows protocol and it’s the post office. Seriously?!

So back down the stairs to the car totally defeated and feeling terrible that I just dragged JB to two post offices. Thankfully he was just laughing about the whole thing. And now I will get the joy of taking public transport (aka boda and taxi) back to the post office tomorrow morning to pick the packages. No idea how I will carry them all through the city but at least it will provide another fun story. You can’t make this stuff up.

Her name is Grace

2008-02-15T09:59:00.003-05:00

I thought I would share the story of just one of the many children supported by sponsorships through Dwelling Places.

Her name is grace and her smile tells you where she got her name. Her laughter is contagious and within seconds she can have you dying with laughter. She doesn’t giggle like a 6 year old should but rather laughs like she knows the dangers out there and chooses laughter and joy. This is her story:

Her mother had Grace at a young age, wasn’t married and didn’t have an occupation. This meant that they lived in the slums outside Kampala at night and during the day went into town to beg on the streets. She would be placed down on the sidewalk alone to beg while her mother sat in the shade of a building. Kids are used as pawns here – any money or food you give them actually goes to their mother or keeper – they usually see very little of any handout they get. Grace was not only begging on the streets but she was also being abused. Her mother would take out her anger on Grace. She would beat her and kick her. When Grace arrived at Dwelling Places she was an abandoned baby and couldn’t even walk – she had to be taken to the ER. Her mother had beaten her so severely that she had broken her back. Grace could not sit, stand or walk for the first few months in our care. Slowly she began to heal and would sit for a few minutes at a time, then one day she was able to stand and soon after she was walking and running. Grace is a miracle – not only for the healing in her back but for the healing of her spirit that has allowed her to smile and laugh. She doesn’t recoil from your hugs or touch like a wounded child would – instead she leaps into your arms and smiles from the time you arrive until the time you leave.

I guarantee if you met Grace you would have no idea that she had a mother that abused and abandoned her. You would hear her laugh and see her smile and know that she has been loved. This is the power of God…this healing was done for his glory.

Couldn't think of a catchy title...

2008-02-10T09:18:00.000-05:00

This week has been amazing. I have experienced so much joy in working alongside the staff at Dwelling Places, playing with the kids, hearing the word of God, and watching as prayers were answered right before our eyes. Here are some of the stories.

Devotions:
As the staff of Dwelling Places we meet every morning to pray and worship God together. Rita is adamant that we start God’s work every day by praying for his leading and dedicating our day to him. Each morning a staff member is asked to share something from the word of God. If this doesn’t encourage you to read your Bible daily I don’t know what would J On Tuesday morning Ann was asked to share what she was reading from the Word. She said she had been learning who God was and that today God was showing her he was a God of provision. What came next challenged me more than any sermon I have ever heard…perhaps it’s because of the personal touch as I was sitting next to her as she spoke.

Ann shared that we shouldn’t worry or complain when we don’t have enough money or food to eat that day. We shouldn’t complain when we are hungry but rather we should rest in the knowledge that God will provide. She used the example from Matthew 14 when Jesus fed 5,000. Her point was two fold (1) if Jesus can feed 5,000 he can surely feed us and (2) Jesus says “You give them something to eat” (v.16) Jesus commanded his followers (that would be us) to give the hungry something to eat. We are called to trust that God will provide and we are also called to be providers for those in need. If we have we must give and do so with a joyful heart.

This story comes from a woman who hasn’t gotten paid yet this month because there are no available funds. She speaks from a place of want and yet speaks confidently that her God will provide. Amen.

A Game between friends:
On Wednesday I made the best purchase since I have been here. I bought a futbol – for those of us unaware of the European influence in Africa that means a soccer ball. I came home from being in town all day and played a game of keep away with 4 of the boys that live in the house next to mine. We had a wide range of ages from 7 – 26 and it was an absolute blast. After about 2 hours of running around we were all drenched, but it was so much fun. These boys are amazing and have incredible skills. One of the younger ones Brian was showing me how good he was at juggling – he had 57 at one point and only stopped because someone else came up and started trying to distract him – he’s 12. I think he will be my juggling tutor from here on out. Perhaps I will be the next Pele by the time I get back – watch out Frontline soccer.

Our new pet:
I think I have gotten a little too comfortable here. This morning when we were all sitting around the table for breakfast we see something scurry across the kitchen floor. And then we see that it’s a mouse – and instead of screaming which I think is always the appropriate reaction to a mouse in your kitchen we all get up to try to take a closer look at him. He was a small guy and we all agreed we couldn’t kill him and there was no way we were going to catch him so we now have a pet mouse. I hope he eats cockroaches.

Angels around us:
I’m not sure how many have experienced horrible road conditions but the roads in Africa have to be some of the most dangerous in the world…I’m convinced. The roads in and around Kampala are mostly dirt roads with pot holes, speed bumps, and deep crevices where dirt has washed away. There is no pavement, no lines, and no order most of the time. Add to this that most taxis, bodas, and cars aren’t in the best working conditions. This causes for many car accidents. As if that wasn’t bad enough they have a thing called “mob rule” here. Which means if you are driving down the road and hit another car, or quite easily a person, when you stop your car the local villagers where you are will most likely come to your car to pull you out to either beat you (in the case that you’ve hit an actual person) or at least steal all your stuff. So knowing all this when I got a text message saying my roommate Donna and her mom had been in a car accident I immediately went to my knees in prayer.

They were traveling back from a local village and their driver had to swerve to miss a car and over corrected and ended up heading toward on coming traffic. They managed to miss the oncoming cars but then were headed for a broken down tanker truck on the side of the road. Donna said she just sat back and smiled because she knew it was time to go – she thought they were going to die. At the last second she said the car yanked back tt he left to barely miss the tanker. As it jolted forward it then ran over a boda driver and then 4 metal steaks in the ground. When the car came to a stop there were about 100 people immediately gathered around their car banging on the windows and doors.

And here is where the story clearly starts pointing toward God: As Donna looked behind her she noticed not one of the steaks they had just run over were knocked down. She also noticed no one in the car had moved an inch – and all of this without seat belts. As she sat in the car for the next 30 minutes waiting for the police to arrive her door handle was constantly being jingled by people trying to open her door – and for whatever reason the door was jammed and wouldn’t open. Her mother was in the driver side and her window was down yet not one person realized this or tried to reach in to steal her purse which was just resting at her feet. After the police arrived they actually came to apologize that Donna and her mom had to sit through that and that they would like to give them an escort back home. The car then started (!) and they drove home. When she pulled up she opened the door that had been jammed for the past hour and waked out. Not one of them harmed and so serenely protected by God. PRAISE GOD! I know this was a long story but I wanted to share how awesome God is and the protection only he can offer.

Prayer Requests:
After the events of this week and ongoing request is for safety for not only myself, the other missionaries here but also the people who live here and take public transport every day.

That I would have opportunity to develop relationships with some of the older girls in DP housing. The boys get more attention than the girls because they act out more and have more free time. The girls are busy doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc and I just really feel as a woman I have a great opportunity to minister to these young women. I just haven’t found my in yet.

Kenya and Chad – both countries are still experiencing unstable governments. Pray for a peaceful resolution and for protection of those that don’t have anywhere to flee. Pray also for the leadership making decisions.

Quirks of Kampala

2008-02-05T01:23:00.001-05:00

(1) Just because it’s on the menu doesn’t mean the restaurant (a) actually serves that kind of food and (b) has any left of what you order. I tried to order a small chicken teriyaki regular sub for lunch and they said they didn’t have a regular sub in that flavor. So I tried another flavor sub in a regular size…no luck. This went on for a few minutes until I finally asked do you not have the chicken or do you not have the regular size? Ahh and then we were finally communicating; they didn’t have regular subs only small. So I tried again…and then got the answer the last small sub was just ordered before me. Haha.

(2) When on a taxi you can get off at any point along the road. There are no designated stops so when you are ready you say “stop sir” (Masow Ssebo). The best part of this process is that if someone gets off but your stop is 10 feet down the road it’s perfectly OK, and not rude oddly enough, to stop again 10 feet later. No one even flinches. This makes me laugh.

(3) If you are walking down a road and it’s only you and one other car you should still assume that car will hit you. Normally, (like in the US) when you are on the side of a road and a car is coming they swerve a little to the right to give more room to let you know they aren’t aiming for you. Um yea, not here. The car will remain in its line and it’s your job to jump out of the way – even though the rest of the road is open. The boy scout motto always be prepared was clearly created here.

(4) When there is no electricity for more than two days you get to eat everything in your fridge…everything. There have been some interesting meals made this way.

(5) Being called fat is actually a compliment. When a woman in the village says she hasn’t seen you in a few days and you are looking nice and fat you should smile. This one is my favorite. See if you are fat here it means you have enough money to eat. It’s a compliment…but you still flinch when you hear it.

These have been some of my favorite quirks about my new home. I laugh daily. God has such a great sense of humor.

I also wanted to briefly tell you about an amazing man we heard preach today at church. We went to a new church near the big university downtown (Makerere University). There was a guest preacher from Kenya and his sermon was on the command to love your neighbor. He told us he had to evacuate his home because his neighbor of 10 years threatened to hurt his family because of the tribe he belonged to. They were friends until one day, one vote changed everything. See the issues coming out of Kenya aren’t solely about this vote – they are about deeper issues that were never brought to the surface to deal with until now. It’s the last straw that opened this huge crack in their society. He was saying to be loving to our neighbors we must be holding one another accountable. We must address issues today and not wait for months or years to pass and then one day everything explodes. We must love another enough to hold each other accountable to living a life that is honorable to God. The second point he made was asking what our church was doing to love those in need? When Jesus preached to crowds he was preaching to those that were a mess, that didn’t have their lives in order…they were thieves, murderers, adulterers, and so on. But, these people felt welcomed at the feet of Jesus, they felt welcomed in the church. Are our churches welcoming those that are messed up, that need help? Or do we pretend to be put together and put on a facade that those that truly need help can’t break through?

Sorry for the late post. No electricty or Internet the past two days :)

A Typical Sunday

2008-01-27T08:23:00.000-05:00

I wake up at 6:30 am, not because I want to but because that is when the chickens and other animals wake up that live around our house. I am pretty sure they like me best and that’s why they sit under my window and talk loudly to one another. I lay in bed for another hour or so pretending they didn’t wake me up and that I will be able to go back to sleep. This proves futile so I sit in bed and read…I am going to blow through some books pretty quick at this rate.

Around 9:20am we leave the house and walk down to the corner where there are always a half dozen boda drivers hanging out waiting in hopes someone will need a ride. And on Sundays we are their first customers. We take a quick 5 minute drive down the hill to the taxi stop…I should back up here and say the only way you would know it’s a taxi stop is the fact that there are people just hanging out on the corner. There are no signs or any other giveaways to an outsider that a taxi would ever stop here. It’s a dirt road lined with trees…literally no stores, very few houses, and no signs.

The taxi comes and we all pile in…literally, sometimes with people sitting on your lap. The taxi takes us into downtown to the taxi park – I have found out that everything happens at the taxi park. I mean everything. You can buy groceries, a frosted cake (seriously), shoes, clothing…anything. And it’s also the place thousands of people crowd into trying to get a taxi. The scene is hysterical…I am not sure if the taxis out number the people or the other way around. You squeeze through the taxis looking for these little red signs with yellow writing – I can’t pronounce the name of our stop but I now it starts with an M and ends with “wmba”….seriously this is how I get around.

Once in the city we walk ¼ mile to Calvary Chapel church. Again you wouldn’t know it was a church because there are no signs, but we enter into a yellow building, walk up 4 flights of stairs and then enter a small room lined with chairs and a stage in the front. There are fans…and this makes me excited because it’s the closest thing to air conditioning you will get here. We start the service with 30 minutes of singing worship songs and then the pastor gives his sermon. Church is much like the one back home. The words of the songs are projected on the front screen and there is even a handout when you walk in. I think I may try to join the people greeting there in the mornings…home sweet home.

After church is lunch and email time! We walk another ½ mile or so to the Internet Café where we can not only get online but also get lunch and Fanta Berry. It costs about 2,000 USh per hour (less than $1.20). The Internet Café is amazing…quiet, cheap and allows me to connect to all of you back home.

The end of this trip is just as exciting as the beginning because it’s back to the taxi park to go home. We walk through the city which in itself is quite the accomplishment to make it from point A to B without getting hit by a car, boda driver or tripping and falling on the cracked sidewalks. Once back at the taxi park you fight your way through the crowd looking for the small red sign that has the destination of the taxi…well that is unless more people want to go somewhere else then your taxi could change destinations after you have boarded. You load onto the taxi and then you sit there and wait. The taxis won’t leave until there are at least 14 people. What this means is you get to sit on a taxi with no air and wait – anywhere from 10-50 minutes. The taxi park is so busy that there are traffic jams even to get out and on to the main road. The drivers are incredible as they inch their way through people, road side stands and other taxis. The roads are rough and it’s hot but it’s an experience I won’t soon forget…mainly because I will be doing it again this Sunday :)

Lesson Learned...I Hope

2008-01-20T06:54:00.000-05:00

I debated on what to write about this week on my update. I mean I definitely have had some great experiences here this past week with getting my hair cut, moving into my home and finding a church. But what I really want to share with you is a great lesson I learned.

It has been my prayer for the past few months that I would come here to Uganda with my heart and eyes open and prepared to seize the opportunities God would give me to encourage or minister to his people. I have to pause here and inject a thought I had. I find it funny (or perhaps sad is a better word) that I have waited to seek God’s opportunities until I moved to Africa. I have waited to be bold until now, but what about the homeless men and women I passed every morning on my way to work? Did I see them as opportunities to share Christ’s love or share the gospel? I have to answer no. A lost opportunity, walking with my eyes shut.

But my story isn’t about what I may have missed out on while living in DC but rather an example of how I am still missing it here. There is a group of new short term missionaries that all got in around the same time. So we have been doing this week long orientation together. Part of our orientation has been some brief classes about culture and on Monday we went into town to visit Kasubi Tombs. I won’t bore you with all the details but it’s important to Ugandan culture because of the 4 kings that are buried at these tombs (you can tell how well I pay attention). This isn’t the important part of story…we had a tour guide, Frederick, that was explaining the history of the tombs. At the end of the tour we were in a little hut that served as both a registration area and also a small shop. Frederick had found out earlier in the tour that we were all missionaries and it was at this point he tells us he is a born again Christian and has been confused about something and wanted to ask us some questions. We are standing in this small hut and he goes to the registration desk, goes behind it, and pulls out a book. He brings it over and I see it’s the book of Mormon. He says he knows the Bible but that this book is confusing him and he doesn’t know what to do or what to say to the people who gave it to him.

I have to admit, we had walked a mile or so in the heat to get to the tombs and had been on a one-hour tour that I hardly understood and I was tired, hungry and ready to leave so I wasn’t paying attention to Frederick or his question really. Someone else in the group answered that the Bible was truth and that the other book wasn’t necessary. After a few more minutes Frederick surmised that if the people came back, who gave him the book, to talk to him he would tell them the Bible was sufficient for him and he didn’t need their book. And then we left.

We left and walked out of an opportunity that God had put right before us. Here was a chance to speak with a man who was asking and seeking and instead we gave a three word answer, let him grapple with it, and then said thank you and went along. Why didn’t we stop and pray with this man? It was obviously OK to be out and the open about being a Christian and he had questions and admitted he was being confused and pursued by theses people - so why weren’t we pursuing him in the same way. A missed opportunity – and this one was obvious….how many more have I missed that I didn’t even see.

I tell you this story in part to admit to my own shortcomings but also to perhaps challenge all of us in how we live our lives. If you are like me you walk with a purpose – to get from point A to point B with the least amount of hassle or interruptions. You get on the Metro, push past everyone to get to the middle of the car, stand with your headphones on, then exit in a hurry to get to your next destination. Which is fine if the purpose of life is about being on time and getting places quickly. However, if the purpose of life is to build relationships and to bring others to Christ I dare say we are missing it.

Are we seeing the opportunities God is placing right in front of our eyes? Are we seeking out people to share Christ’s love with? Or are we too busy, too hungry, or too self absorbed? How do we train our eyes and ears to see God’s people and not just our surroundings? I have failed this time but I am sure God is going to give me another chance…I pray this time I am ready and I am walking with my eyes open to the opportunities God gives us to partner with him.

Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)

My first week in Uganda

2008-01-13T07:47:00.000-05:00

It’s been about a week since I left home in Florida and I am still not to my new home in Kampala yet. So much has happened in these 7 short days so I will try and sum it up in three parts. I will be posting to this blog every Sunday - as that is the day I get into town to use the Internet. Life is so wonderfully different here :)

(1) Traveling to Uganda.
As anyone might suspect it is no short trip to make your way from NY to Uganda. We flew out on a Saturday and arrived in Kampala on Monday. I had a 12-hour layover in London which was spent in fast forward looking at Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey and London Tower. It was great to get up and moving and out of an airport or airplane, but at the same time exhausting as I was working on 2 hours of sleep. So when I arrived in Entebee to find I did not have any luggage that arrived with me I was sort of devastated. It was one of those moments you knew was going to be ok but at the time it just seemed terrible. I was pretty sure God was trying to tell me something about living simply. I am happy to report that my luggage did finally arrive on Wednesday – soaking wet…and it was at that time I could not have been more thankful that I was living on the Equator (my clothes dried within 2 hours) :) The ride from the airport was some of the most gorgeous scenery I have ever seen. Uganda is lush with banana tress, green grass, hundreds of hills and clear blue skies. It almost feels like you are on some tropical island. And the best part is because of all the hills you can gaze out over Lake Victoria or just some smaller villages. I have so many pictures I want to share and will try posting them soon.

(2) First trip to Kampala.
I am staying at the AIM headquarters office in Uganda called Matoke Inn which is about 8 miles outside of downtown Kampala. I am staying here until next Friday (Jan. 18) for orientation and training. So on Tuesday I had the opportunity to go into downtown because we needed to register at the US Embassy, exchange money and of course try the local food. To get into town you first get on a Boda, which is a small motorbike that travels faster than you want it to and in between cars. You sit sideways, if you are a woman, on the back of the bike and hold onto the small handrail behind you. It was the ride of my life – I was a bit scared but honestly it was so much fun. After you take the Boda down to the main highway you then get in a taxi with about 15-20 of your closest friends. The taxis here are like minivans that should hold about 10-11 people at max. They are small, overcrowded and so hot. Again though this too was even fun – however I can see how this could loose its coolness very quickly after living here awhile. Downtown Kampala is busy, I was trying to think of a good analogy and the best I can come up with is to imagine downtown DC near Metro Center at 5pm and then times that by 4 or 5…and then we are getting close. There are more people than there is space on the “sidewalks” and taxis and Bodas rule the roads…in no particular order. There are no lines in the road, no road signals and no crosswalks for people…and yet everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going and didn’t mind the occasional interruption from someone walking in front of their vehicle.

(3) Conference.
Most of you probably don’t know I am at a week-long missions conference mainly because I didn’t even know I would be attending this when I got here. On Wednesday I left Matoke Inn (AIM office) to travel about 10 miles down the road to Ranch on The Lake. It’s a “country club” on Lake Victoria with gorgeous views and amenities such as running water and flushing toilets. Yes, these are now amenities and not givens. The purpose of the conference is to bring together AIM missionaries working in the central region (Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Chad, Tanzania, DAR) to share a time of relaxation and rejuvenation. It hasn’t quite served that purpose for me as I haven’t been out on the field for months and months like these people have but rather it has given me the opportunity to meet others who will be living near where I will be living (within 10-15 miles) and to speak with amazing men and women of God who have dedicated their lives to discipling the people of Africa. There are entire families that have moved to the mission field in Africa and live in huts with no water, no electricity and no kitchen. And they have done so because like any of us they have heard a specific calling from God in their lives to bring the good news to the people of Africa and they have come and shown such faith in doing so. I am humbled to even be considered in the same group as these faithful servants. They have truly given their lives to the work of God and have seen much fruit from their commitment to obedience in the Father.

(4) THANK YOU.
Thank you to all of you who have written emails, sent letters in advance through Jill and are praying for me. I can't quite explain the elation each morning I have when I wake up to know there is a letter waiting for me from a friend back home. Thank you for your encouragement - it is allowing me to try to be more of myself here and be an encouragement to others as well.

A peace that surpasses all understanding

2008-01-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

I found this title fitting as I have been struggling with finding peace in my life for the past few weeks. Leaving DC and all my friends and my job was much harder than I expected it to be. I foolishly thought well God has called me to Africa so this won't be hard to pick up and leave...it's what I am supposed to do. And I haven't doubted the calling but when it came time to actually pack and leave it tore my heart out. I then moved home for two weeks and spent time with my mom, dad and grandmother. The tearful goodbye again was harder than I thought it would be.

So now I am in NY - for a three day orientation at the Africa Inland Mission office. To be honest I didn't understand and couldn't see what the benefit would be to come here for three days before leaving for Africa. What in the world could AIM possibly tell me in three days that could help prepare me for a year in Uganda? Oh how I doubt how the Lord works...

These past two days have been phenomenal. I have met 8 other people moving to Africa to serve God's people there. I have heard God stories from how they heard their calling to go to how support money just flowed in. I have been poured into by the staff and been prayed over and feel a peace that surpasses anything I could imagine. I get it now...see AIM knows that we leave families and friends behind and we arrive here a little broken. And without these three days we wouldn't be prepared spiritually or mentally to arrive on the field. To have time to really sit and pray and just have the truth of the word wash over me has really calmed my spirit and once again I find myself at the feet of the throne in awe of God and just so grateful he has a plan and that I am part of it in some small way.

I don't doubt that this is where I am supposed to be and I am so excited to meet the people at Dwelling Places I will have the opportunity work alongside and to meet God's family in Uganda. It is an honor to serve the living God and it is my pleasure to follow in obedience to what he has called me to do.

My heart is in Africa...and I too will be there soon.

Prayer Requests:
- For my flight to London on Jan 5th and my flight to Entebee on Jan. 7th.
- That I would find common ground to relate to my two rommates
- And that the Lord would guide and direct my path in what he would have for me to do in this next year. That I would look to him for guidance and not act out of my own understanding.

Support Money

2007-11-30T14:13:00.000-05:00

I wanted to clarify what happens with all the money that has been raised over and above the $15,000 I needed for this trip. Right now I currently have $21,000 which is about $6,000 more than what was required to raise.

Any extra money will go to one of two places.

I can donate the money to another missionary working with Africa Inland Mission (the same organization as me)
I can donate the money to any project funded by Africa Inland Mission in any country in Africa. This means it could go towards building a well, building a school, AIDS education, etc. I do not have to designate where the money is donated at any given time...meaning I can wait until I get there and get settled to see if there is a need that can be met with the extra funding that was raised.

I know there are still some people who had wanted to make a donation so I wanted to be clear as to where the money would be spent. I think it's important to keep my supporters as informed as I can about where your donation is going. If you have any questions I would be happy to help answer as many as I can or find out the answers for you from Africa Inland Mission.

Thanks again to everyone who has so generously donated toward my year in Uganda. It has been an overwhelming response of support in the last month. Yep, I have only been fundraising for a month - isn't God amazing!

On the way...to who knows what

2007-11-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

It hit me the other night as I was sitting on the couch with my roommate that I would eventually have to actually leave. And yea that probably seems silly since I have been talking about this move for the last few months but I have also been fundraising, and selling things, and filling out paper work, and applying for passports, and getting shots, and….and then it all stopped. And here is God’s voice once again whispering “Be still and know I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

In the still quiet times of my day it all becomes a reality that in two weeks I will have to pack up what’s left of my apartment, drive home to Florida and say good bye to 4 years of a life I have loved in DC. See I became a Christian 3 years ago after I moved here - so everything I have experienced as a Christian has been here in this place I call home. All my friends, my support network and my church is here and a part of me is selfish and doesn’t want to give all that up. I dare say a very large part of me :)

But then I am drawn to the word of God and can almost hear him telling me “Therefore, I urge you (Jennifer), brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1). God wants us – 100% of us 100% of the time. He wants to be in control of our lives and he wants us to willingly choose to offer ourselves to Him for His use. And if I want to be obedient I need to be obedient to death – and not a physical death but a spiritual death of dying to myself so that I no longer exist but God exists through me. I used to hate the idea of being “used” by God…it had such a negative connotation for me…why am I here if I am just to be used by someone else? But what could be more humbling than the creator of the universe wanting to use you, specifically, uniquely you, to partner with him in his work. So after I fight my way through my emotions and God’s word I come to the conclusion that God has given me friends here that I love and a job that I enjoy and roommates and a church family all in part of his master plan so that I might be filled up to overflowing and be poured out where he sees fit. It is not for my benefit but for His. I am not the main character He is.

I want to worship God through my obedience – because I am pretty sure that’s his love language. And it’s easy to be obedient when you know someone has your best interest in mind. It’s like a father asking his child to trust him, to trust that he has a plan for his life and that he can see things his child can’t right now. I call my father all the time for advice because I do trust him and know that the advice he gives is for my benefit because he wants to see me succeed and wants to see me prosper. And if my earthly father can have such a heart for me I cannot even fathom how God must feel toward me.

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

And so I pray that as I begin to leave my home and say goodbye to friends and family that I would remember that the God of the universe is in control, that my heavenly Father has a plan specifically for me and that I will find hope and a future if I follow his leading. I also pray that God would break my heart for the things that break his heart and that my eyes would be open to the people he has placed in my life for reasons I may never understand.

Children Soldiers of Uganda

2007-11-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered what you could do for a child soldier half way around the world? What could you possibly have to contribute or have in common with a child who has been kidnapped from their family and forced into an army set out to kill and destroy their own people? If you have ever wondered how you could be a light in this dark world here is your chance....

War/Dance is a new documentary movie about three brutalized children of Northern Uganda and their dream of musical expression. The documentary is set amidst the violence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (L.R.A.), who kidnap sleeping children to abuse them and force them into rebellion and murder, sometimes even murder of their own families. Despite the horror, War/Dance has captured a beautiful story about the epic, unbreakable spirits of these children.

The movie is being shown in DC on November 16th at E Street Cinema (555 11th St. NW). All proceeds of this movie will go directly to the children of Northern Uganda refugee camps. So please, watch this movie and spread the word.

http://www.wardance.org/

You may be one person, and there are so many hurting and needy people in the world but you, specifically you with all the unique abilities and gifts God has given you, can help others. Not only can you but you are called to.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27

Let The Games Begin

2007-10-16T08:57:00.000-04:00

So as most of you know, I sent out my support letters last week. I sent them to about 60-70 people I had addresses for and handed some out at my soccer game and to a few people at work. My mom has been asking me what I was going to do for a fundraiser to raise $15,000 for Africa. I told her I really felt God was telling me to "be still" and just pray. Which for anyone who knows me knows this is nearly impossible for me to do. But whenever I even start to think about planning anything I get an uneasy feeling so for now I am being still.

And here is the amazing part. In less than one week I have received over $6,500 support for this trip!!!! I am blessed to be a part of this amazing experience and I praise God for the money he is providing through my friends and family. I have no doubts God will provide the full $15,000 before the deadline.

Every day is a struggle for control over this situation and so many others in my life and every day I wake up and have to give the control to God. It's not like he ever looses the control it's just I forget my place sometimes :)

"Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God" - William Carey

Schedule

2007-10-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

So here is my schedule before I take off. I would love to see as many of you as I can which is why I am just throwing out the dates.

Oct. 19-21 - In Jacksonville, FL (Ben, Scott, Joe, Conrad, Justin & Sarah - let's meet up)

Nov. 9-11 - In Florida for Lisa's wedding

Dec. 7 - Last day of work

Dec. 9 - being commissioned at Frontline 5:30pm service
Thinking of having a going away party that night after the service

Dec. 17-18 - Driving home to Seminole, FL to unload my stuff at my parents house (not sure what date I am leaving yet)

Dec. 18 -Jan.2 - Hanging out in Florida. If you are in FL or nearby I would love to see you. (Keri, Mel, Lisa)

Jan. 2-4 - I will be in NY for AIM orientation

Jan. 4 - on the plane to Uganda

Jan. 2009 - back to DC :)

Answering Prayer

2007-10-05T15:57:00.001-04:00

So I know I said I wasn't going to post something more than once a week but I have to praise God right now for all the awesome answers to specific prayers this week!

(1) Review at work: my yearly review was today at 2pm. I was nervous having to go into my boss' office and tell her I was leaving the company to move to Uganda. I was nervous because I didn't know how she would react and I was hoping she would let me stay on as long as possible before I needed to leave.
PRAYER REQUEST: That my boss would take the news well and she would want me to stay on until I was ready to leave and not replace me sooner.
ANSWER: She was so understanding and said I could tell her whenever my last day would be and that she would help me get everything ready to hand over my work to someone else.

(2) Date for leaving: I haven't known yet when exactly I would be leaving for Africa. I needed to know so that I could give my boss more accurate time lines of when things might happen.
PRAYER REQUEST: Being able to tell her a date during my review that I would be leaving for Africa, which would then effect when I would have my last day at the office.
ANSWER: God answered my prayer 3 minutes before I needed to talk to my boss - AIM emailed me to tell me plans for orientation and that I would be leaving from NY on Jan. 4th for Uganda!

(3) Plane Trip: I have been praying about the airplane ride over. I am scared of flying and the idea of being on a plane by myself for 18 hours was a bit unnerving.
PRAYER REQUEST: That God would provide me someone to talk to on the plane (seems silly I know). That I could have just one person to connect with to put me at ease.
ANSWER: When I leave from NY on Jan 4th I will be traveling to Africa with 15 other people!!! I asked for one but got 15 :) Craziness. I will be in orientation at AIM headquarters Jan2-4 with 15 other people like me who are preparing to move to Africa for a year. Then on the 4th we all board a plane and fly to Europe and then from there we split way and fly to our designated countries.

God is good and provides exactly what we need at the exact time we need it...and not a minute before. Why do we ever doubt his awesomeness :)

Why Worry

2007-10-03T16:44:00.001-04:00

I love that when other people worry I am the first to respond to their emails with my favorite verse from Phillipians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
So why have I forgotten that today?

The thought of every little detail that needs to be accomplished before I can leave for Africa is overwhelming at best. I am not just talking about the obvious of securing a flight and raising money but also getting a visa, work permit, selling all my stuff including my car, packing, finding a roommate to take my spot, the right time to quite my job, and how I will be able to see all of my family before I leave who live in AZ, MA, GA, and FL. How will all of this work?

Well I know the answer - God is going to make all of this work. In our weaknesses he is made strong. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9) And I can guarantee you I am very weak right now - there is no way I could make all of these things happen by my own human strength. But I love how God works - he makes sure the credit can only go to Him. So I am game...I am going to keep praying for the items I know I need and watch God work in this situation.

I am still aiming to leave in mid January which means I need a total of $9,000 by December 1st. If I don't meet that goal then it just pushes back my leave date which means I could be out of a job before I leave for Africa. Wow.

So if you are reading this please pray for the details - that God would take control of every detail in this process and make sure paper work doesn't get lost between organizations and all the fund are raised by December 1st.

I've trusted God with my life and my path up to this point and I am not turning back anytime soon. So watch out - this is going to be quite the amazing journey.

Official Acceptance

2007-09-28T11:43:00.000-04:00

So it's official - I have been accepted by Africa Inland Missions for a short-term (one-year) trip to Africa! I can't believe it....I started the application process back in March but have been praying about this opportunity since last November. God has been slowly working on my heart and showing me what he has planned for this next year and my next steps. I am now just waiting on final confirmation on budget and send date. I have requested a January departure and now it's up to God to show me when and how this is all going to work....but I'm in....100%.

So here is what I know so far:

I need to raise 60% of my support by December and the other 40% can be sent in, in the form of pledges. Meaning money not in hand but a piece of paper saying someone plans to donate a specific amount each month. I don't have the final number yet but I have been told it will be anywhere between $15k-$18k for the year.

I will be living in Kampala, Uganda - the capital and working for Dwelling Places. Here is a little about the two offices I will have the opportunity to work in.

Dwelling Places has two offices. One is right in the heart of Kampala; it's the Public Relation's Office. More than likely, I will be spending a lot of time there. It has Internet access :) Also living in the city provides easy access to copy machines, printers, etc. Having a lot more variety in your lunch menu options. Easy access to pretty modern grocery stores.

The other office is the Baby's Home in Mutundwe (a suburb of Kampala). I will also spend a lot of time here. It is right around the corner from the Girl's home and the boy's home, where all of the resident kids stay. Working here will provide one-hour morning devotions with the staff. Comfy couches. Being surrounded by banana trees. A very laid-back, easy approach to work. Easy 10 minute walk from the cottage (where all the volunteers stay). Having all the kids right around the corner when they are on school holidays. There is no Internet here and food choices are extremely limited (mostly posho and beans)

And here are my prayer requests:

Fundraising - that I would be able to raise 60% of my total budget by December
Health - that I am able to get doctors appointments here in the US in the next month so I am able to turn all my paper work in on time in order to get my Visa approved
Visa - I haven't even applied for one yet. Pray for this process and that all the paper work goes through without any problems.
Laptop - I will need a laptop in Africa in order to be on email to keep in touch with family and friends in the states. I don't own a computer currently and don't have much money to purchase one. Pray that I am able to find one cheaply on Craigslist that will work while I'm there.
Running - these will seem silly to most but for those that know me best know that I am a running feign. I love it - I don't do it to lose weight but rather I love running, the act of moving in a direction, toward a goal and spending time with no noise. I am praying for a running buddy in Africa. When I was in Zambia last December they were saying women don't run by themselves and rarely at all. Maybe Uganda is different :)

I will be updating this page with other prayer requests and praises throughout the next few months. I appreciate all the support from my friends and family.

Totally Awesome!

2007-09-14T23:03:00.000-04:00

I was moved to tears tonight as I opened my mail. See I am trying to follow what I believe is God's calling in my life right now - and that is to move to Africa for a year to work with orphans in Uganda. In order to do this many things need to "fall into place". (Side note: I love this saying as I am not even sure where the "place" is that things should be falling.) For starters I must be fully accepted into the Africa Inland Missions program, I must raise more than $15k, I must be able to sublease my apartment, store/sell all of my stuff and quit my job all before January. These seem daunting to me but not as daunting as working with the US Government to get my passport renewed...and here is where we pick up with the opening line.

I realized my passport was going to expire after my departure for Uganda in January about 3 months ago. But I didn't do anything about it. Not sure why. Then about 3 weeks ago I was reading on the Govt website about how long it takes to get passports turned around (6-8 weeks) these days. I FREAKED out. I thought there is no way I will get it back in time to apply for a Visa to go to Uganda. So I prayed about it - I asked God to send me my passport back in time for all the details to fall into place if this next year in Uganda is what he had for me. In a sense the passport was a confirmation test. So I sent it in on September 7th and I received it back today in the mail! And that's when I started crying. I was crying because God is just so good and he has been confirming each little step throughout this entire process of applying with AIM, deciding on where in Africa to go and what my ministry will be. The passport was just another confirmation - and a huge answer to prayer.

We serve an awesome God - one who cares about the details of our everyday lives. One who has our schedule and everyone's else's under control - impressively without the use of a computer, iPhone or any other tech gadget. He is God and he created heaven and earth and everything in between. He reigns and his kingdom will last forever. I am blessed that God has called me and asked me to take part in his ultimate plan. And I am blessed that he has chosen to show me his confirmations over and over again.

I am following God because he deserves my worship - everyday. And I am hoping and praying that others will want to know this awesome God I serve.

In need of encouragement

2007-09-04T17:44:00.000-04:00

Encouragement is defined as the act of giving hope or support to someone. In application this could be lending a hand to someone moving, praying with a friend through a hard time, letting your co-worker know you appreciate their help on a project, or maybe it’s just smiling at the man or woman behind the counter at the grocery store.

No matter how you can apply this definition to your life you must do so every day. See God tells us in Hebrews 3:13 to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.” We are commanded to encourage one another DAILY. Not when we feel like it or when we think we have been encouraged then we will return the favor, but rather selflessly we are called to give encouragement to everyone.

This word is easily defined yet so rarely put into practice. I wonder why we have such a hard time stepping outside of ourselves to see others and their needs. What is it that keeps us from reaching out to our friends, stranger, co-workers, and family and offering a word of encouragement or just a smile? For me I just simply forget…I forget sometimes that people matter more to God than my job, or my schedule/agenda, or my feelings. I forget that I have been placed here on earth to act as a missionary for God in my workplace, at my home, in the grocery store and everywhere else I go. It’s not that I don’t want to encourage others or think it’s important but rather with everything else going on (distractions) I have simply forgotten.

May today we not forget to encourage one another. Let us look out through God’s eyes to see His people and let us take a step of obedience and open our mouths and widen our smiles and tell people the reason for why we have hope and the reason for why we love.

Our lives are not our own – they were bought and paid for at a high price. We exist to honor and glorify God and we must constantly seek His will for our lives.