the glory of care packages

Today I got an awesome care package from some of the lovely ladies at Calvary who are pretty much amazing.

a little break from the norm

Today I was able to take care of Naziwa (Harriet). She has Malaria, but on top of that, she's got sickle cell anemia and a bone disease. She's the most precious little thing, she's 7 and is so smart, but is in so much pain, so today in before school and in between classes I was able to spend some time taking care of her. We played on my computer and she fell asleep on my lap and then we watched some Shrek and ate some glorious gold fish crackers.

It's funny how God works sometimes

In life, there are certain struggles we all face, but I've found that when I'm dealing with a certain issue, God is faithful to bring one of my girls or someone else who is seeking counsel on a similar problem and that while I share with them and encourage them in how to handle something and God's sovereignty in it all, He is reminding me of those things as well. It reminds me of how Nathan confronted David about Bathsheba through giving him a story to truly make it hit David, that's what God does with me. I don't really get it, until I have to share it with someone else.

morning sounds

So I try and think of all that is different here that I kind of don't realize and right now I've just woken up before anyone back in the states has gone to bed under my mosquito net and I woke up to hearing security guards running and chanting like the army does, birds chirping, and roosters crowing. It's funny how different even just the morning sounds are, but it's fun because every morning it's kind of like I wake up and just get to go "yup, I'm in Africa alright."

up and running

So we've been having some issues with our internet lately, but hopefully it's back to working again. I made another video blog so hopefully I can post that soon. These past couple of days have been pretty good, just continued encouragement about how God is using me here. Today, I went to Jinja Modern which is a high school and visited Joy, Joyce, and Linda. They asked me to come and teach and so I may be doing that soon too. I then just kind of hung out in town for a little bit and got myself a coffee and walked home. I love these girls here so much! And I just pray that God gives me the words to minister to them as effectively as possible.

Just another day in paradise

ok, so I don't know if "paradise" is the right word, but yesterday was probably the biggest day I've every had ministry wise and I'm just so amazed at the opportunities God had for me. The first thing that happened was some of my girls asked me to go to their school on Wednesday and hang out with them, so I'm excited about that and am curious to see what all that may include. Then on Friday, I had a cool witnessing opportunity with Bev and met this one girl named Suzanne who was 24 and I invited her to come to church, and she actually came yesterday! I was so excited! I ended up talking with her after service for a while and she said she had been praying for God to bring someone into her life to encourage her in her walk, and she actually got diagnosed with HIV about a month ago and has a 3 year old son and all sorts of other stuff. I was just amazing to think that God is answering someone's pray with me. I seriously feel like David when he said, "who am I God that you allow me to be a part of this?" Then this guys came up to me who I think had Polio and he told me that he volunteered at a place where people with disabilities are able to learn different trades and told me how he could tell that I'm disabled (I guess I can't hide it as well as I thought) and wanted me to come and speak to the people there. Then I walked with one of my girls Brenda to a school called PMM which is about 5 km away in the middle of the day (needless to say I've got a nice sunburn right now) and we visited a Carol, who lives there and were able to encourage her a little bit. I took a pichi pichi home and went straight to teaching at the Bible study. The rest of the night consisted of having a couple of egg rolls at the Chinese restaurant, watched Elf and going to bed at about 10. I'm wiped, but am truly in awe of what God is doing and I'm just so humbled that He has allowed me to be used by Him in the capacity that He has.

Indian Food and Youth Group

Today consisted of me having some different food, youth group and an intense movie. I'm getting a little more comfortable with Indian food, and I must say it's quite an acquired taste. It was good though, and hopefully soon I'll be obsessed with it like many people I know. As with every Saturday, we rocked youth group, it's neat starting to get more of an idea of how the kids think and where they're at in their walks. One of my most favorite things is just to sit back and watch them. Tonight my highlight was watching Dennis (one of the boys living on the compound) getting into one of the worship songs. He's about 12 or so and is so quiet, but he was having so much fun with the motions and everything. Oh yeah, after youth group I also watched Ghost in the Darkness which was quite an interesting thing due to the lack of my enjoyment in having things jump out and the others who were there with me I think were watching me for my reaction than they were the movie. Right now I'm getting ready to go to bed hearing a rain storm just starting and there's seriously nothing like the sound of an African thunder storm or the smell for that matter (we have a sewage plant and a tannery very close to us and so there are times when the smell can become a little intense.