Back to the "normal" weekend routine

This weekend I was really able to get back into the swing of things: youth group, slides and announcements during this morning's services, lunch (well, I just had tea) at Flavours, teaching the kids and the girls, and finally dinner at Ling Ling (our Chinese restaurant). It was so nice to get back into normal life once again. I'm so a girl of routine, I know some people find it boring, but because it happens so rarely in life here, it's very much clung to when there's even a semblance of normality. There of course were little quirks that made this weekend not entirely normal, but it was close enough for me. I may have had a gnarly cold, I may have ended up making some of the BEST huevos rancheros of my life, and I may have had to have a super fun confrontation with a couple of the girls I teach, but such is life. I know you may get somewhat tired of hearing this, but it's really nice to be back!

A busy week of Youth Ministry

It's awesome to be back into the swing of things. This week was one that went by so fast that i honestly can't believe it's over. One cool opportunity we've had as a youth team is that we went into two schools this week for an outreach to those who are in Senior 1 (kind of like freshmen). We brought crates of soda, Ryan and Richard led worship, and then one of them taught. It was a really neat time to reach out to a group of students we may never have gotten a chance to otherwise.


Then today, we had a little youth party (or as we call it a mwena mwena). When it was all said and done, we had close to 100 students here. We had worship, a teaching (by yours truly), and tons of popcorn and sodas. It got a little crazy at times, but it was really all worth it because it was all for Him. I just pray that the students walked away with some lessons that they'll never forget about how we are called to be different and to change the stereotypes about Christians and actually live up to the name of "Little Christ". It really was a great week, and this next week looks to be even more ministry intensive. I LOVE IT AND AM SO THANKFUL THAT GOD HAS PUT ME IN A PLACE WHERE I CAN MINISTER IN THE CAPACITY THAT I AM, IT'S TRULY ALL HIS DOING AND ALL FOR HIS GLORY!!!!!!!!

Sunday = "family" day

I began the day with getting to have a really quick skype convo with all the Vertical students and leaders who were at a fellowship night at my friends, the Padilla's house. It hasn't even been a week yet, and it already seems like I've been gone so long. Then we had our two Sunday services, and I learned I need to drink A LOT more water (let's just say I had a little episode of dehydration). It was awesome getting to be back and seeing a lot of the ladies I had started to get close to right before I left. Then we (Judy, Rochelle, Ryan, Malia and I) partook in our ritual Sunday lunch at Flavours. After that I tried to recover some more from the morning's "episode", and then it was play time. I read the kids some of the new books I had gotten for them and then we just all hung around outside for the afternoon, it was a nice warm day with a great breeze which made it perfect for chillaxin' with the kiddos. The missionary residents of our compound then loaded up the car and we made the trek to a cool restaurant perched right over the Nile (view is pictured above) and had AMAZING ribs no matter where you are in the world. We finally got home and all watched a good ol'e classic western musical (I know what you're thinking, and it's probably right).

It was an awesome day with my "families" but it's hard because my flesh and blood family has been going through some crazy times this week, so please just keep them in prayer. it's only been five days, but I already feel super disconnected from everything.

First Night Back to Youth Group

So our youth group is one that you can't try and tame with any cookie cutter approach to youth groups. We have kids from 10-20 years old, middle school and high school, orphans and ones with parents, poor and rich, healthy kids and some who have AIDS. Trying to find ways to minister to them effectively is not always easy and us as a youth team are always trying to think of ways to better minister to the kids, to get them involved in ministry, help them to know their Bibles, and above all else get them to know their Savior. We went through a season of discouragement for a while with how the group was looking and honestly didn't know what to do, of course those are the times when God seems to shine the most. Tonight was my first night back to youth group and it was awesome! We had over 70 students crammed onto the veranda outside of the church and we began with some awesome worship that Ryan led and then a teaching by one of our pastors Stephen from 1 Peter, and then there was a pretty legit time of fellowship afterwards. It's encouraging to see not necessarily the numbers (although those help sometimes) but to also see the involvement of the kids, the older ones helping the younger ones find the passage, and when there weren't enough Bibles or seats the students who've been around for a while, actually got up to help out with those things. Just keep praying for our youth group, so much of me feels that we're on the brink of something really amazing, I just don't know what it is yet.

Provision

So often (and even more so in this economy) we talk about God's provision, how He's Jehovah Jireh, and we go into quoting the book of Matthew and about the lilies and the birds, and so on and so forth. Well, I'm definitely not knocking the fact that He provides materially for us what we need, because I can testify the truth of that, but this morning God opened to my eyes in a really big way another way He provides for us: spiritually. 1 Peter 1:3 says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of HIm who called us by HIs own glory and goodness." He has provided us with everything we need to live a life that pleases Him, I mean EVERYTHING. How amazing to think about that, we have absolutely no excuse for spiritual immaturity, He knows where we're at and He knows what we need, and He wants to give it to us to help us to walk more closely with Him, but we have to make ourselves available for that and then take those opportunities when He brings them. Reading in Romans about he work of Adam vs. the work of Christ, it made me think about the HUGE gap sin caused between us and God, and how because of what Jesus did, we are able to do as Micah 6:8 says and "walk humbly WITH our God". We are able to have fellowship with Him, we can call Him our friend and our Father, but so often we take that unfortunately for granted, we forget what that really means, what a privilege that is. I mean think of the fact that you can't even get in to see your doctor without filling out a ream of paper's worth of paperwork, or get your Passport without all but signing your first born child over, but you can come to the feet of God and know Him personally, what an awesome thing it is! And what a sad thing it is that I grow lazy in taking every possibly opportunity I can to "take walks with Him" so to speak, where He can share with me what He desires from me, for Him to minister to me, and many times to rebuke me in order to make me more into the person He made me to be. I personally need to put more effort into this relationship because He truly has provided everything for me to know Him and walk with HIm, I just need to get off my butt and open my eyes to what an amazing priceless thing that really is.

Day 1: back to reality

After taking a magical little pill to help me to sleep through the night, I ended up waking up this morning at 11. I spent the rest of what was left of the day unpacking and trying to organize everything (note the key word "trying"). Aryanna and Kenny were spending most of their time outside my door popping bubble wrap and trying to talk to me through the window, so finally I just decided to go out and hang out with them. It was back to the usual of Aryanna trying to copy every last thing Kenny did. The older kids gradually began to come back home and so I was able to give them the gifts that some of you got for them. They were so excited and incredibly blessed. I wasn't able to hand it all out because i was trying to kind of do it in somewhat of a covert manner but here are some pictures of those who did get theirs today.

Gift Distribution

Home Sweet Home

After going through the worst traveling experience of my life, I finally got to Uganda. One of the girls from Vertical prayed that this trip would be a memorable one, and boy howdy was that prayer answered. I know that God was in control of the whole trip, so that kept me from having perpetual breakdowns, but it was still tough. I spent some time sorting out the details of getting a piece of luggage that was lost, and finally I was able to walk out and be greeted by Judy, her daughter Malia, and Ryan. I've missed my big "brother" and "sister" so much and it was so awesome to get to see them! We stayed at a friend's house in Entebbe and afte a bout of jet lag and getting up at 5 but then falling back to bed until 7:30, we set off on our way to Jinja (with a couple of shopping stops in Kampala in between).
Getting here, I was greeted by a lot of our staff with huge hugs that really did make me melt. When I saw Kenny he just ran at me full force and gave me a huge hug. Aryanna, on the other hand, spent a little time warming up to me but by the end of the afternoon we were back to normal. I took a little cat nap, unpacked a little bit, went to service where Jess finished the book of Genesis, had my most favorite meal of Fajitas and then we had carrot cake for desert, and then ended the evening just watching a movie. It was a perfect way to end the day.
Now, I'm in my apartment with the tubs all around me and the sounds of Africa outside my window. I'm so happy to be back, although I miss everyone in the States more than I'd like to admit, I know this is home for me now. I'm so excited to see what God has in store for this next chapter of my life in Africa.