After four years, sometimes I forget that I’m in a different culture, but then other events come around that a blaring reminders that I’m not in Kansas (or I guess I should say Albuquerque) anymore. One of those reminders came this past Saturday where we had quite an event go down for one of our long-time church members.

Here in Uganda, there are typically two very big events for couples: an introduction and a wedding. An introduction is where the groom is introduced to the brides’ family. It’s an absolutely huge “to-do”, where the groom brings all sorts of gifts to appreciate the family for their daughter. Before the event meetings are held primarily to figure out how the event will be funded because typically nobody really has the money to pull off the event by themselves so they send out “budgets” to friends and family asking for help in paying for everything from luggage, to goats, to seating for the event.

The day-of begins with everyone getting dressed up in their traditional wear of gomezi for the ladies (dresses with pointed sleeves, tons of fabric, and a huge belt) and kanzus for the men (basically off-white night gowns they wear with slacks and a suit jacket). Everyone is told the event is to begin at a certain time but everyone gets there about 2 hours after said time. If they are a part of the groom’s party, they meet at a certain location and then head out with a huge convoy bringing the guests and gifts from him to the location of the introduction. Once they get there, the women line up on one side and the men on the other and they make their grand entrance as the bride’s side is already seated. The guests come and sit and on each side there is an emcee to help run things, and it make the whole day a lot less painful if they’re more on the charismatic side (for this one, the emcee was from one political party, and the groom from another which helped for lots of playful banter). Then the whole ceremony is carried out in the language of the families (for this one it was Lusoga). There were several groups who came and danced in traditional wear and envelopes of money were given out to members of the bride’s family. And finally it’s time for the bride to make her big entrance wearing the first of several very fancy gomezi and the maid of honor (somehow) is to go and fetch the groom from among the crowd and bring him to his bride. Then it’s time for the groom’s side to bring in gifts. The women carry in baskets wrapped in cellophane filled with everything from bread to cooking oil to potatoes and they MUST carry them on their heads. The men bring in the bigger stuff like Matooke (green bananas), charcoal, and furniture. And it’s all placed before the bride’s family. Then there’s the cake and the food.

That’s what happens at the event, and now to personalize it a bit. I had never worn a gomezi 100% the traditional way until this event. I will admit I was pretty miserable. It is literally yards of fabric over a whole other layer in order to give you an ehem… figure. It rained the day of this introduction so the first part of the ceremony people were getting soaked and there’s nothing like using your gomezi that is hanging down to the floor to help soak up some of the water (or at least that’s what mine ended up doing). I will also admit though, that I loved my material and enjoyed the fact that Ugandans really appreciate when bazungu (westerners) support their traditions. I will also say that Davis looking unbelievably handsome in his kanzu and I found myself having to make a conscious effort to look at the bride and groom and not at him (hehe). Overall it was a really fun day and I’m so glad we were able to be there to support the bride and groom as they begin the process of beginning their lives together.

The past month

If you talk to me for even ten minutes chances are you will start hearing me get on my soapbox on how it is so so important to reach the 17 MILLION youth of Uganda. 17 million is a big number, a huge number even but the amazing thing is that God knows every single one of these students by name and created each one of them for a reason. To try and get a 15 year old girl in the heart of a Ugandan village to understand that is not necessarily an easy task but that was our goal for the events of this past month… to get these students to know and understand that God wants to use them… now… to change their families, their villages, and even this country.

Our heart at reaching the “17 million” isn’t to proselytize people to the American way of life or to add ticks next to our name. Our desire is to see even just one at a time, one student coming to know Christ but more than that, to live like Him. Can you imagine what could be done by 17 million students living their lives completely sold out for Christ? Loving like He told us to love, serving like He told us to serve, living like He told us to live? That’s where change happens, when people put others above themselves, when they seek to please God above all else, when they live with humility, compassion, and holiness… that’s where it’s at… and basically for the youth of this country to be passionate about Christ because He’s passionate about Him.

Sometimes I think that the kids here view themselves as the tuna (or whatever fish were caught in the net) in Finding Nemo (yes, I did just site an illustration from a child’s movie). They feel like they’re just one in millions, that they don’t count, that they are just merely trying to survive. But during this past month we basically bent over backwards to make sure the students we encountered would realize that their life is worth something… and specifically God cares enough about them to die for them.

Inductive Bible Study
We began the month-long school holiday with two weeks of the students of the youth group taking an inductive Bible study class (it was optional but they blew me away how for the whole time 25+ students showed up every single day). It was awesome seeing their eagerness to learn how to study their Bibles more even if they weren't able to grasp all of the concepts 100%, I like to consider it a time for them to get a good first coat of "how to study your Bible"

Girls Night
From there, we had our very first Girl's Night where some of the young adult women were able to pour into the girls of the youth group. We made s'mores, ate tons of food, watched princess bride, painted nails and stayed up way too late. But more than anything we wanted them to know their worth was more than just what they offered on the outside. It was seriously one of my most favorite nights and I'm blown away at how God worked everything out.

Youth Conference
Already, in a previous blog I wrote about our killer conference, I couldn't summarize this past month without adding at least a little bit about it... 250 students... learning about what it means to be a disciple based off of what Paul talks about in the book of Philippians. It was absolutely crazy, and me having Malaria during the midst of it definitely didn't help make things any easier but it definitely also forced me to trust in God more than I ever realized I could. In the end tons of students were ministered to, who quite possibly many have never even set foot inside of a church. I praise God for how it all turned out!

Orphanage VBS
If that wasn't a busy enough way to start the holiday, we also joined up with a team from Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale to do a VBS at a small orphanage outside of Jinja. It was great getting to see my students serve alongside the Ft. Lauderdale team in ministering to kids who definitely had much less than they do (even though most of my students also don't have a whole heck of a lot). I was blessed to see different people step up in certain ways fulfilling what James says about the religion God accepts.

Village Outreaches
And to top it all off, we hit six... that's right six different villages doing youth outreaches/conferences for churches we have connections with. With the first 3, we brought a 30 person shuttle packed with out students from Jinja to be a part of the ministry. The final three, we went with just a couple of students and then Rogers (our prison's pastor and a friend I had come along to help teach), and Davis. The theme for all of the events was the book of Judges with teachings on Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. The first two helped teach the students how God wants to use us, no matter who we are or where we come from. And Samson helped to teach what sin does in hindering us at being used by God in the ways He created us to be. It agains was an amazing time getting to watch my students serve and be stretched as they saw what it was like to be used by God to help change their country and fulfill being witnesses in their Judea and Samaria.

On one final note, I just had to say that Davis is hands down the world's best boyfriend... like seriously this past month would have killed myself and many innocent bistanders if God had not given me such an amazing man to serve alongside and be an extension of God's strength in my weakness. He's truly my knight in shining armor (sigh).

I truly am amazed at all God did over this past month... I'm sitting here and as I'm typing, I'm just shaking my head as I'm humbled and blown away at all of the opportunities and answered prayers. Thank you everyone for your encouragement, prayers, and even financial support during this hectic time. God used you in some amazing ways and we couldn't have done it without you. And to God be all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise!

250 and growing

It's hard to know where to begin on this one... Thursday and Friday were fabulous, unbelievable, chaotic, insane, and miserable all at the same time. We had our usual youth conference for this term's holiday. I had been thinking yet again it would be 200+ while honestly being ok if it was smaller because I don't know if I ever really recovered from the last conference. But as the days approached, the number kept climbing and 200 was passed. It was going to be another doozy, but then again, PRAISE GOD!

Now, it would have been one thing if I could have approached the event with 100% of my strength and gone for it, but as God would have it, Davis and I were out shopping for supplies on Wednesday and after a few days of random little symptoms I finally just felt so bad that I asked him to take me to the clinic because I had a feeling I had Malaria. After buying everything we stopped by my "usual" malaria testing clinic and as he came back with the results his exact words were "Eh! It is much this time!" It was then that I began really understanding that God wanted to do something big... not Kelli to do something big. So I went home took my meds and continued checking things off the to-do list and by 9 I was asleep.

Early the next morning (6 to be exact) Davis and I were out setting up benches and getting everything good to go. By 7:30 the rest of the leaders arrived, we had our coffee and chapattis and it was time to start day 1. Registration began and although the conference wasn't supposed to begin until 8:30, about 50 students were already handing around even before 8.

(oh, I forgot to add that 125 of them were street kids... so ummm... yeah...)

We began with worship, then Ricky teaching the theme of Be Disciples and then small group time. We then did a game where the volunteers had to be blindfolded and manage their way through an obstacle course in order to follow the example of their leaders.

Then it was time for Steven to teach on being focused and then it was lunch time. To feed 250+ people was definitely an interesting task but our ladies were AMAZING and did it all and we had just enough food for all the students (the leaders got samosas for lunch that day). We then had more worship and Jess taught on being humble. Talk about a tough subject but I pray the students were able to learn and be changed specifically in that area.

It was then game time. I can tell I wasn't feeling my best because the games were pretty tame this time but we still had fun. To demonstrate how we needed to be focused, we did a balance beam (basically a 2x6' balanced on 2 benches).

And then to teach about humbling ourselves and being willing to be uncomfortable, we had a game where one person had a half a water bottle they were to hold on their head while catching the water balloons their team threw at them. We had some more just chill time and then it was time for dinner.

At the dawn of day 2... all the students came back and then some and it was go time yet again. We had our tea and Mandazis and then quiet times where the kids were reading from 1 Peter. It never fails that my most favorite part of the conference is looking around and seeing all the students reading their Bibles. We also had the kids who couldn't read in small groups with leaders giving them small devotions.

We had worship, and then Rogers taught of being content... another doozy of a subject. And during small group time then we gave one student chocolate cookies and soda while the others got plain sugar cookies and water to test their level of contentment. You know... "I've learned to be content in all situations, chocolate, no chocolate... with coke or with water..." There was also a game where Jess got random things together for them to build houses with and use everything to make it into the best thing they could... teaching basically make the most of what God gives us.

Ryan taught about being joyful and then we had lunch... again... the meals... it was madness!

And then boy oh boy... we had presentations where several boys showed of their mad crazy dancing skills and all the kids were shoving to try and get a better view. If only that were the extent of the excitement that afternoon. As the presentations came to a close, the storm clouds slowly came in and during worship the rain came, and then came some more, and then some more and then the wind came seriously making the rain fall horizontally.

All the students were packed into the church (a building that normally doesn't get more than 120 people in it at a go) and our poor tent outside was beat into submission. And joy of joys, it was my turn to teach on being prayerful. I must say the storm gave for awesome illustrations tying together all the conference topics though. It was between my malaria and the storm that I knew God wanted to do something big and as chaotic as it was, and how many students (who many don't normally have the best behaviour), God kept their attention and they heard about how He cares for them, how we're to lay down our worries at His feet but more than anything we are know Him.

All in all, the students were fed the Word, loved on by leaders, had fellowship with one another, ate tons of food, and heard the Gospel in full force. You can't ask for much more than that?

I must say by dinner of the first day I was so done, the Malaria definitely gave me its best shot by then but praise Him that His grace is sufficient and that in His amazing grace He also blessed me with an awesome boyfriend. Davis was such a HUGE GIGANTIC WORDS CAN'T DESCRIBE IT blessing. He had it all taken care of for me. Before the conference and even before the Malaria he told me to tell him everything that needed to get done with the conference and he'd make sure it happened so I wouldn't have to be so stressed out. Even one of my students told me that I wasn't nearly as stressed this time as I've been in the past. I really would have been in the hospital on drip if it wasn't for him (well, you know, God working through him). So anyway, just have to give him props because he totally deserves it!

A night to remember

You know those moments where you couldn't imagine it being any more perfect and all you want to do is savor it and remember every detail? That was last night for me. At one point I was just sitting next to our bonfire as the girls were roasting marshmallows and making so many s'mores their stomachs hurt, laughing, talking, and sharing stories, with worship music in the background as sparks floated up into the starry night sky and thinking "this is what life's all about". Yesterday I was blessed to see one thing God's been laying on my heart for some time now finally come into fruition - a girl's night. Every last detail God was in... it blew and still does blow my mind to think about.

We had about 15 girls show up, all between the ages of 10-17. They come from all sorts of backgrounds but one thing was constant with all of them, they all need to hear and hear again just who they are to their heavenly Father. I'll be honest, sometimes I buck against the cliche themes for girls/women's events (don't hate me) but this time I knew God really wanted them to hear those "cliche" things because just because everyone hears about them doesn't mean they remember them or live them. I wanted them to leave knowing they are precious to God and that God's purpose for them is more than just living for a boy or to please their friends. I also had five women who don't just talk the talk, but they walk the walk in order to encourage my younger girls to stay strong and to see Ugandan women (some in their twenties, some older) who truly live passionately for Christ.

The day began after many of them finished with the Inductive Bible Study class Jess is teaching to the youth. We began with having chalk numbers written on the ground and then a di was rolled and the number it landed on was the number that the girl standing on that number had to answer a question from the game "Loaded Questions". It was fun and very telling and I may or may not have been the subject of some of the answers as they gave me a hard time about my current relationship status :). We did that for about an hour and then it was time for dinner and then for the bon fire.

Let me just say that it was an awesome bonfire! (and I'm not just saying it because Davis made it). Then the girls were instructed in the way of s'mores. I wasn't sure if they would enjoy them but boy howdy did they! It was hilarious! Even the "Big girls" partook in the marshmallowy goodness. Then Mary shared some of what was on her heart about God's timing and not rushing into doing things just because your friends say that you should. The other women also shared a little bit. We asked questions, and discussed issues and then it was time to go in.

My friend Anne brought the idea of spin the nail polish bottle... now before you judge, this is how it works: you take turns with each girl picking a color and then they spin the nail polish bottle and whoever it points to is the one you paint one finger the color you choose. It was hilarious and we definitely disrupted the rest of the building with our laughter.

We ate cookies, watched Princess Bride, and then finally by 1am everyone had a place to sleep as we packed into the girls dorm... I was EXHAUSTED!

By 5 I was awake again to work on a couple of things and also just to breathe and compose myself before the girls woke up. Davis helped make the tea so I could finish making the notes I made for each girl. We had tea, chapattis, and then I shared with them about what type of character we should have using examples of women in Scripture. We then just painted nails again - that's what nail polish remover is for - and tried to do our own version of American Idol (not so successfully though) and then it was time to go home.

I'm so blown away by how it went. Thank you for all of you who prayed for this event! Your prayers were answered in HUGE ways!

One Scary Afternoon

We live in a fallen world and I can't help but echo the psalm and Romans where "there is no one who is good... not even one." Sin and evil are everywhere, but praise God that He too is everywhere and promises to never leave us nor forsake us.

Yesterday afternoon, I had what was most definitely the scariest experience of my life. I had just gotten back from town and was getting to work on some projects when I heard Bev scream, at first I thought she was just yelling at some kids but then I could hear her yelling "Jesse!" and I knew something was wrong. I ran out screaming for Jess as well and had no idea that I would find what I did, I thought maybe it was an accident or something but when Steven, Jess and I got out of our gate I found Bev in her car and a car that was blocking her path and she point at it and said "Thief!" Steven tried to reach in and pull the guy out of the car but he sped off, as we were distracted with the car we didn't realize that the guy on the other side of Bev's car were two other thieves, and he was holding what I've been told was an AK-47. We thought that maybe he had just been a security guy who had come to help but then as he was shouting for the money and Jess started to yell for Bev to get out of the car, we were about to run and the guy shot out Bev's window. Just as she was getting out. Us girls ran to my veranda while Steven ran after the guy and Jess got in the truck to head him off the other way. Then Davis ran out to go and help them.

It didn't take long for the mob justice to form as the area around the corner came to help out. Literally hundreds of people came and as Steven had caught who we believe was the shooter at a local school, the group came and began beating and stoning the thief with every intention of killing him then and there (that's just how it's normally done here as not a lot of stock is taken in our police). But our guys protected the man and even Davis and Joseph got hurt in the process because the people were just so upset. Our guys dragged the guy to the church and brought him in the gate and I was the lucky one who had to keep everyone out and only open it for police and the others who were really a part of the situation. All of our guys did unbelievably between chasing the guy down, protecting him in order to save his life and be sure he was around to give the names of his friends, and trying to recover what had been stolen. Afterwards, the police came and fingerprinted the car and Jess, Bev, and Steven have had to be at police for hours giving their statements and so far the guy they caught has given up some information. Along with the mob justice, another way they deal with people here is they fill a jerrycan of petrol and begin burning the person who was caught in order to make them talk... I'm still kind of in shock about that one.

We were the subject of several tv and radio interviews and so many people were just so upset that these thieves would rob from us, and specifically Bev because God has used this ministry to help so so many people. We all are still kind of reeling from the whole ordeal and we're all praising God for his protection because Bev, Jess, Steven, myself, Davis, Joseph, Rogers or any of the others could have easily been shot. Now we're just praying that 1) thieves have gotten the memo don't mess with us 2) the crowd was able to see God's mercy in how we dealt with the thief and 3) that the thieves would be caught so they wouldn't do this to someone else and potentially with a much worse outcome.

Gearing up...

Every three months the schools go on holiday, and basically for me it means it's game time. During the school term I'm busy in teaching at Jinja SS, youth group, and meeting with individuals, but when the holiday comes I get to ramp up the program and really try to facilitate opportunity after opportunity for the students to grow deeper in their walks. This next holiday begins at the beginning of August, and I'm in shock how quickly it has crept up on me this time. So currently I'm just trying to plan and pray and see what all God wants to have take place this holiday be it outreaches to villages, large events here in Jinja, various service projects, and one event I'm getting really excited about which will be a girls' night where I hope to have women from all walks of life (missionary and Ugandan) to be able to pour into the girls from the youth group. A night of testimonies, teachings, food, girliness (but not too much considering I'm the one organizing it :) ).

I'm currently just asking for prayer for all that God wants to do during this holiday. Please pray that the plans would be God's plans, that I personally wouldn't be so distracted by the "programs" that I'm missing the main thing. Pray that the students grow in huge and awesome ways and that lives are changed over the next month.

Divine encouragement

"you have searched me and know me..."

Our God is so huge, so powerful, so awesome and yet He knows us and knows what we need and the exact time we need it the most. Lately I've been experiencing the pain of being the subject matter or some rather gnarly gossip, with nearly all of it having fallacies as its base. People say, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" yeah... that's a lie. Words hurt, and I've definitely learned from being on the receiving end that it's really bad juju to slander, gossip, etc... others. I continue to remind myself to "love my enemies", that Jesus and others in the Bible dealt with the same thing, and that I constantly just need to make sure I'm being blameless before God and not allowing others sin to be an excuse for sin in my own life. But I'll be honest, it's sometimes nearly unbearable as I just feel like there's sometimes no pleasing anyone, short of becoming a hermit, and even then I will probably still do/say something that will be fodder for some juicy story.

That being said, this afternoon I was feeling incredibly discouraged. After I got home from Jinja SS, I was just on my knees crying out to Him about how to deal with a lot of what is going on and during that time, I got a call from one of my girls who I've had a lot of history with. One time I had to go and basically rescue her from getting beat to a pulp by a woman in her community who was tired of how the girl was living. Since then she's gone to live in another part of the country to get her out of the environment and temptations that were around her before. She recently came back for a quick visit and I was able to see her and give her a big hug. Then tonight she called simply to say hi. It's funny how that helped make my day but it was an answer to the prayer of "God, what am I doing here?!" Before that, at Jinja SS I could tell another one of my girls (her father passed away just over a year ago and the only place she could think of to go was my veranda) was having a tough time and she finally told me that a boy was saying all sorts of mean things to her, I cried as I could definitely empathize with the sting that words can have. Being able to be there for her to confide in and help was another huge encouragement of the truth that God is at work in/through me. Then earlier today I got a card that was a part of a series of cards that one of my old students from the States arranged for me to get intermittently over the past couple of months. Those things combined really were exactly what God knew I needed to keep on, knowing that I am living right before Him, that I am doing what He wants me to be doing, and that I am exactly where He wants me to be. He is so good in how He cares for His children, it's just so important to look for the light He shines around you as you feel like you're engulfed by the darkness of discouragement that the enemy tries to send your way to try and distract and paralyze you.