That saying "the calm before the storm", has been my life for the last couple of weeks. After the work at "Works" was finished, I had a lot more down time than I'm used to. I have streamlined my teachings so my study time needed is a lot less than it used to be. At first I wanted to start looking for new projects but knew that soon the calm would give way, and now I'm seeing that happen.
Starting this past Saturday we thought we would have a killer time for the Easter weekend. We began with watching the Passion and having communion. Our church had almost the whole youth group watching with tears in their eyes as they recognized what Christ did for them and His love for them. After the movie, we had a time of communion and one kid came back to give his life to Christ, it was pretty awesome! Then we headed out to the area of Works to do a youth outreach. It was a beautiful evening and it was definitely a time where it was all God. I had a great team helping me out, including some of my student leaders, and a lot of people heard about how God loved them and calls them to follow Him with all they have.
Yesterday, we celebrated Easter with over 200 people coming to celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive!
Then today we set out for an outreach to another local "slummish" area. At 7:30 a friend came and helped me make 45 PB&J sandwiches for our students. After a flat tire and literally our whole youth group of 45 students coming to serve with a visiting youth team, we headed out to the area. It was crazy as we had over 300 kids at our first location and trying to help the kids stay organized while they took part in all the different activities possibly took years off my life. One of which was face painting, and I learned the hard way what happens when you allow your students and your friends to get a hold of paintbrushes and some paint. We took our que from Jesus in His feeding of the 5,000 and got the students in circles of about 10-15 students as we handed out juice and cookies. Afterwards the sugar I think got to them and they were getting a little on the rowdy side, to try and get them away from the vehicles, some of my guys started running to the other side of the field. I will honestly never forget that scene as Richard and Davis (both rather tall) were sprinting and acting crazy with seriously 300 kids following them. We came back to the church for lunch and get ready for the next location. Our next location was smaller and so it went a lot more smoothly. By the end of the day over 500 people heard the Gospel, and I am yet again in awe of both my students and the team of leaders I get to serve alongside and even more in awe of the God we serve answering a whole lot of prayers and allowing us to be a part of what He's wanting to do in the lives of those students.
This is just the beginning. Next Saturday, we're going to have a huge sport's day in the same area for the older kids. So that's going to be another doozy but awesome opportunity. Then the next week the school holiday begins and with that comes more outreaches, but this time to other villages. We will begin with the closer village of Iguluibi for the first two days, then to another area called Bugiri where we'll actually stay the night, and then the next week to an area near Pallisa where again we'll get some nice village accommodations :) And then that will be followed by a youth conference here in Jinja. It will be a rather intense time but I'm so stoked for all that God seems to be bringing about already and doors that have been opening.
Needless to say, the storm that's beginning to rear it's head is a doozy, but it's super exciting and we are in serious need of prayers in these next few weeks as these outreaches take place. First and foremost we ask that He would be our focus and our goal, and that in ALL things we would be walking in His Spirit and glorifying Him.
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missions. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I love my job!
I know that may sound crazy to some, and like a "no duh" to others. But really... I absolutely LOVE what I get to wake up every morning to go and do. So often I'm quick to complain about the headaches, speed bumps, struggles, but fail to praise Him for the unbelievably awesome calling He has on my life. I echo David when he asks the question, "Who am I?" Who am I to get to live in this beautiful country? Who am I that I get to work with our amazing staff? Who am I that I get to learn from people who have been on the field since before I was in high school? Who am I that I get to hang out with students that amaze and humble me on a daily basis? Who am I that I get to witness the eternity changing work He's doing in and through these students? I'm surrounded by people who love me for who I am, I'm able to do what I love more than anything to do and that's teach and disciple people in their walks with Christ. I get to use my creativity, organizational abilities, and my lack of fear of public speaking, and even my quirkiness for HIs glory in a way I never dreamed possible. The most amazing thing about it is the fact that if I had my "ten year plan" of five years ago, I would be in an office consulting someone on how to run their business more efficiently (which isn't bad by any means). But instead, I get to go through nights without power, but get to see the contrast of the great power of HIs Spirit working in and through those around me. I cry more and experience more heart ache and disappointment than I ever thought possible but then I get to witness students lives changing before my very eyes as they recognize who they are in Christ and it makes all the pain more than worth it. God has taught me more about His sovereignty, grace, mercy, holiness, and love than can ever be learned in any book, and again I must ask the question, "Who am I?"
This wasn't my plan, this wasn't my "dream", but it was His. He did all the work, opened all the doors, and all but shoved me through those doors so His good and perfect plan could take shape. When people ask me how long I plan to be here and I say "indefinitely" they can't quite comprehend why I would say that, but I honestly can't imagine doing anything else in the entire world. All that to say, "I LOVE MY JOB!" and He deserves ALL the honor, glory, and praise for it.
This wasn't my plan, this wasn't my "dream", but it was His. He did all the work, opened all the doors, and all but shoved me through those doors so His good and perfect plan could take shape. When people ask me how long I plan to be here and I say "indefinitely" they can't quite comprehend why I would say that, but I honestly can't imagine doing anything else in the entire world. All that to say, "I LOVE MY JOB!" and He deserves ALL the honor, glory, and praise for it.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Construction Zone
Whenever short term teams set out they often hear (or should hear) that those endeavors honestly are more for what God wants to do IN them than THROUGH them. Sometimes when you're on the mission field you can sometimes forget that the same principle can still apply to you.
For the past 3 weeks we have been building homes to replace those lost in the fire. It has been one crazy endeavor as we honestly bit off a little more than we originally bargained for. You see, it's not just about going and everyone working together as one happy family kind of Extreme Makeover Home Edition style. There's a lot more stretching (physical, emotional, and spiritual) than one might expect in dealing with a task like this. We didn't know what it would entail, but God did. He knew EXACTLY how he wanted to use this whole thing to teach and stretch all of us involved and to drive some pretty big lessons into some fairly thick skulls (I may or may not be talking about myself).
One thing I definitely learned about is how our God is so unbelievably patient and forgiving and how insanely much... I am not. Over and over through my quiet times God would lay the smack down on how I wasn't glorifying him in certain ways, namely in my anger when people were found to be dishonest. I'll have to admit the "Irish" (and not the good part) in me reared it's head several times, but I'm hoping I've learned my lesson through it all as I realize that it's not good that they're lying/stealing/etc... but it's also not good for me to allow myself to be provoked to wrath and that I need to love them. One story that really hit me hard was when Jesus ate with the "sinners" and tax collectors. The people living in this area are well-known for being the opposite of anyone you'd want living near you, and a government official even said the people there were lazy and stupid. Recognizing that they are "sinners" and why should I be surprised when they sin? Why should I stop loving them because they have sinned against me, because if God worked that way we'd all be in big trouble!
I also learned things like where to buy bricks, plywood, and roofing materials... and I'll admit that I would have really loved a Lowe's after spending an hour waiting at just the roofing place.
Along with the internal and practical lessons, I also just had an absolute blast working alongside of some pretty amazing people! The Longs, Peterson's, Shalom, Davis, John, and Asimwe along with some other volunteers made it incredibly fun and made the hard stuff bearable. I honestly LOVED working on this project (even though it was hard at times) and am so thankful for the opportunity God gave me to be a part of it!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The story of ministry
Ministry is not easy, anyone who tells you otherwise is obviously not in ministry. You invest sleepless nights, money, time, energy, and tears into various people and projects and many times you find yourself briefly asking the question "What on earth am I doing this for?" Sometimes it's rhetorical, sometimes you don't know, and sometimes God gives you a glimpse as to why He gave you that opportunity.
This past week has been one very long week, and I'm walking around today in a somewhat comatose state after we had the grand finale of kind of phase one and two of the fire relief. We spent every night feeding 60+ people, greeting them (sometimes being bouncers) washing dishes, filling drinking cups, and getting to work as the Body of Christ as people from different organizations and churches joined in to help. Seeing just how hungry these people were and hearing their sincerity as they said thank you made all of it worth it.
Yesterday was a very LONG day. We began the day sorting the donations of goods people gave and then shopping for everything else we felt were "needs" with the money people donated as well. It was definitely an adventure as while we were in the market, the people started to beat up the Mayor... yeah long story. My friend Jen, and two of my students ended up filling the back of Jen's SUV with sigiri stoves, basins, sauce pans, cooking oil, paraffin, soap, and mingling spoons. Heading back to the church in 2 hours we tackled sorting out everything so that it was evenly distributed amongst the 26 families who lost their homes. At the end of the sorting, I was smelling of paraffin, was covered in oil, sunburned, dehydrated, and exhausted and it was time for youth group.
Youth group went amazingly well! I'm so blessed by those students each and every week. We are getting a lot of new students these days and I'm just excited to see what God has in store. I had them all make a logo for themselves as we began our journey through the book of John. It was a blast, yet with a rather heavy theological punch. God totally blessed our time together and although it was "work" it gave me a new burst of energy for the rest of the evening.
After youth group I invited the students to hang around as we served the fire victims one last time. Seeing my students out there serving these people was one of the coolest things! After the food was done, we handed out the donations to the people. I heard later that they were saying how it was like they never lost anything as some of them got things they never had before. While we were doing that Johnny and Jesse brought the projector and screen to the site of the fire and showed the Jesus film. Although we had some technical difficulties and were not able to finish the film, it was quite possibly one of my favorite times of ministry as my students were sitting at the truck watching the back side of the screen. Talking and laughing with them and then acting like a heater some of my girls who were freezing was a moment I wished I had a camera for but realize that it was too precious to capture.
By the end of the night, it was about 11:00 and everything was torn down. I couldn't help to feel so blessed even in the midst of my exhaustion. We were able to pour into a group of people who normally never set foot in a church. We served people who have been known to talk about us and not be our number one fans. And in doing so, we were able to show them the love of Christ in the biggest possible ways. We pray that they don't turn and thank us, but they thank Him as we were the ones who were merely the tools He used to care for them. We recognize that it was not an accident that the fire happened basically in our backyard and God challenged us to make the most of that opportunity. I just pray that lives were changed and people came to know Him through it.
At the beginning of this post I said how sometimes you ask "what am I doing this for?", and this morning as I looked and people came and sat in church wearing clothes I remember sorting. As our second service is currently in progress I know of several people who are there because of what God has done in this past week, and first service was the same. I praise Him for the opportunity, the provision, and the reaction of the people. TO HIM BE ALL THE HONOR, ALL THE GLORY, AND ALL THE PRAISE.
This past week has been one very long week, and I'm walking around today in a somewhat comatose state after we had the grand finale of kind of phase one and two of the fire relief. We spent every night feeding 60+ people, greeting them (sometimes being bouncers) washing dishes, filling drinking cups, and getting to work as the Body of Christ as people from different organizations and churches joined in to help. Seeing just how hungry these people were and hearing their sincerity as they said thank you made all of it worth it.
Yesterday was a very LONG day. We began the day sorting the donations of goods people gave and then shopping for everything else we felt were "needs" with the money people donated as well. It was definitely an adventure as while we were in the market, the people started to beat up the Mayor... yeah long story. My friend Jen, and two of my students ended up filling the back of Jen's SUV with sigiri stoves, basins, sauce pans, cooking oil, paraffin, soap, and mingling spoons. Heading back to the church in 2 hours we tackled sorting out everything so that it was evenly distributed amongst the 26 families who lost their homes. At the end of the sorting, I was smelling of paraffin, was covered in oil, sunburned, dehydrated, and exhausted and it was time for youth group.
Youth group went amazingly well! I'm so blessed by those students each and every week. We are getting a lot of new students these days and I'm just excited to see what God has in store. I had them all make a logo for themselves as we began our journey through the book of John. It was a blast, yet with a rather heavy theological punch. God totally blessed our time together and although it was "work" it gave me a new burst of energy for the rest of the evening.
After youth group I invited the students to hang around as we served the fire victims one last time. Seeing my students out there serving these people was one of the coolest things! After the food was done, we handed out the donations to the people. I heard later that they were saying how it was like they never lost anything as some of them got things they never had before. While we were doing that Johnny and Jesse brought the projector and screen to the site of the fire and showed the Jesus film. Although we had some technical difficulties and were not able to finish the film, it was quite possibly one of my favorite times of ministry as my students were sitting at the truck watching the back side of the screen. Talking and laughing with them and then acting like a heater some of my girls who were freezing was a moment I wished I had a camera for but realize that it was too precious to capture.
By the end of the night, it was about 11:00 and everything was torn down. I couldn't help to feel so blessed even in the midst of my exhaustion. We were able to pour into a group of people who normally never set foot in a church. We served people who have been known to talk about us and not be our number one fans. And in doing so, we were able to show them the love of Christ in the biggest possible ways. We pray that they don't turn and thank us, but they thank Him as we were the ones who were merely the tools He used to care for them. We recognize that it was not an accident that the fire happened basically in our backyard and God challenged us to make the most of that opportunity. I just pray that lives were changed and people came to know Him through it.
At the beginning of this post I said how sometimes you ask "what am I doing this for?", and this morning as I looked and people came and sat in church wearing clothes I remember sorting. As our second service is currently in progress I know of several people who are there because of what God has done in this past week, and first service was the same. I praise Him for the opportunity, the provision, and the reaction of the people. TO HIM BE ALL THE HONOR, ALL THE GLORY, AND ALL THE PRAISE.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
After the fire...
"The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ". - 1 Corinthians 12:12
After the initial reaction to fire, it was time to kick it in to another gear. Our church members gave of what little they had, some giving money, clothes, etc... to try and help the people who lost everything. We found out that it was a total of 26 homes that were lost.
Some fellow missionaries who also live in the area also got involved in trying to minister to these people. Combining our efforts, we are now working to try to feed the people a meal a day for the next few days. Last night having people from different groups working together to share the love of Christ was really just the coolest thing! Families with their kids came to hand out food and serve these people. And as the week continues we also continue to pray about the wisest ways to help these people get back on their feet. I'm so blessed to see our church, staff, and my fellow missionaries stepping up to meet this need. And honestly it is one of the most beautiful depictions of the body of Christ I've seen.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Coming home
It's 5:30 in the morning and in the background behind my worship music I can hear the mosque doing their 5:30 call to prayer. It really is one of the coolest yet scariest sounds as it reminds me all the time of the lost people that are all around this town, country and world.
On a lighter note though, it was so awesome to get to sleep in my bed that's 7ft in the air with my fan blowing on me (praise God we had power last night). I'm up right now, but thinking, hoping and praying that the jet lag isn't too bad. Slept all night the night I got in, and then last night I went to bed at 10:30 and got up just a couple of times so we shall see how quickly I get adjusted to being 10hrs ahead of what had been my past 2 months.
I got in at around 11:30pm on Tuesday night and it was amazing getting off the plane in 75 degree weather. My amazing friend Emily picked me up. We stuffed my 5 bags into the car and headed to her house in Kampala. She was such a trooper as we didn't get home and get to bed until around 1:30, thankfully though I was able to sleep until about 8:30.
By noon I was rendezvousing with Bev to then head back to Jinja. When I got to Jinja as we came into the compound, several of our staff members were waiting inside the gate singing and dancing, and the little kiddos were there to welcome me. It was awesome getting to have that sort of welcome from people who I've been missing so much. Then getting to my apartment there was a sign that Jess made welcoming home, and then another one from Mary and Steven's gang. It really just made my day.
I got into my apartment to find it cleaner than it's really ever been as Bev worked so hard to make it a place that was nice to come home to. I have a confession that in my life of going 110 miles a minute, my house is pretty much my last priority and so that was so so sweet of her!
And after a little settling in and unpacking, it was basically time for Bible study where yet again I definitely was feeling the love. Amazingly I was able to stay awake as normally the jet lag sets in around that time. Afterwards I had three of my kiddos who had just come back from school tackle me and it honestly just melted my heart.
Needless to say, it's good to be home.
On a lighter note though, it was so awesome to get to sleep in my bed that's 7ft in the air with my fan blowing on me (praise God we had power last night). I'm up right now, but thinking, hoping and praying that the jet lag isn't too bad. Slept all night the night I got in, and then last night I went to bed at 10:30 and got up just a couple of times so we shall see how quickly I get adjusted to being 10hrs ahead of what had been my past 2 months.
I got in at around 11:30pm on Tuesday night and it was amazing getting off the plane in 75 degree weather. My amazing friend Emily picked me up. We stuffed my 5 bags into the car and headed to her house in Kampala. She was such a trooper as we didn't get home and get to bed until around 1:30, thankfully though I was able to sleep until about 8:30.
By noon I was rendezvousing with Bev to then head back to Jinja. When I got to Jinja as we came into the compound, several of our staff members were waiting inside the gate singing and dancing, and the little kiddos were there to welcome me. It was awesome getting to have that sort of welcome from people who I've been missing so much. Then getting to my apartment there was a sign that Jess made welcoming home, and then another one from Mary and Steven's gang. It really just made my day.
I got into my apartment to find it cleaner than it's really ever been as Bev worked so hard to make it a place that was nice to come home to. I have a confession that in my life of going 110 miles a minute, my house is pretty much my last priority and so that was so so sweet of her!
And after a little settling in and unpacking, it was basically time for Bible study where yet again I definitely was feeling the love. Amazingly I was able to stay awake as normally the jet lag sets in around that time. Afterwards I had three of my kiddos who had just come back from school tackle me and it honestly just melted my heart.
Needless to say, it's good to be home.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Goodbye ABQ
Well, all I can say is this furlough rocked the hisouse! It was such an amazing encouragement and I am in awe of all of the opportunities God gave me to share what He's been doing and what He's fixin' to do with the youth of Uganda. I'm currently in the Washington DC airport (it's funny how airports are where I tend to write a lot of my posts) and I have just said goodbye to a whole LOT of people who I love more than words can say. I hate this time of traveling after saying goodbyes like what happened this morning because it's like you're in such limbo. You ache for those people you just left yet are anticipating what God's got for you at your destination, and as you fly there is such an element of loneliness that you can almost touch. But as I'm spending that time alone, I have some time to just think on how awesome God has been in just caring for me and answering some killer prayers especially over the past couple of days. Everything from provision, to smooth luggage drop off, to comfort, He's been there. I love that He never leaves us, even when you're the only one sitting in the row 30,000 feet in the air I look forward to the fact that within less than 24 hours now I will be in the country that I now call home, and pray for those who I just left in what was my original home.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Rendezvous recap
200 meetings
4 radio interviews
10 home fellowships
5 ministry visitations/interviews
1 5th grade classroom presentation
1 reception
8 plane rides
countless cups of coffee
**Numbers are approximations
That really seems to sum up my furlough (at least the social/catching up/sharing aspect). Even today, I had 9 meetings and one of which was at 6:15 in the morning, but really it was worth it because the guys who I shared with were a huge blessing and encouragement. I have had SO many sweet opportunities to share with SO many people about what God has been doing with the youth of Uganda and I'm just so humbled by what God has allowed me to be a part of in my time here in the States. My time on furlough is coming to a close (I leave in 5 days) and I'm just still trying to process all God brought about in these two short months. I was able to re-connect with amazing old friends, students, supporters, family, and new friends. I was able to share with who knows how many about how God is an awesome huge God who desires none of the 17 million students under the age of 15 to perish. I was also able to encourage many in their callings right now being that He calls us all to make disciples, not just those who live 8,000 miles away. I won't lie, my favorite meetings I had with people were where I could hear about their lives and what God was teaching them and not necessarily do all of the talking. For all of you who I was able to meet and share with, even if I never personally met you, i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to convey in even some small way about how awesome our God is. I'm now spending these final few days really enjoying time with my family and getting all packed, and really praising Him for one awesome furlough!
4 radio interviews
10 home fellowships
5 ministry visitations/interviews
1 5th grade classroom presentation
1 reception
8 plane rides
countless cups of coffee
**Numbers are approximations
That really seems to sum up my furlough (at least the social/catching up/sharing aspect). Even today, I had 9 meetings and one of which was at 6:15 in the morning, but really it was worth it because the guys who I shared with were a huge blessing and encouragement. I have had SO many sweet opportunities to share with SO many people about what God has been doing with the youth of Uganda and I'm just so humbled by what God has allowed me to be a part of in my time here in the States. My time on furlough is coming to a close (I leave in 5 days) and I'm just still trying to process all God brought about in these two short months. I was able to re-connect with amazing old friends, students, supporters, family, and new friends. I was able to share with who knows how many about how God is an awesome huge God who desires none of the 17 million students under the age of 15 to perish. I was also able to encourage many in their callings right now being that He calls us all to make disciples, not just those who live 8,000 miles away. I won't lie, my favorite meetings I had with people were where I could hear about their lives and what God was teaching them and not necessarily do all of the talking. For all of you who I was able to meet and share with, even if I never personally met you, i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to convey in even some small way about how awesome our God is. I'm now spending these final few days really enjoying time with my family and getting all packed, and really praising Him for one awesome furlough!
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