Ani?

This song was taught to us first by Rachel, at the school in Magamaga, while we were in Uganda. As I sit here and type, I realize it is just morning where she is, and she is preparing for a Monday morning at school. I miss it! Ha, talk about life-changing. I am always reminded of Uganda, either because someone asks what I did with my summer, or because God reminds me. I probably answer questions about Uganda or mention it every single day. It had a great and lasting impact on my life, and I'm sure it did on the people who we worked with. What an amazing place!

Anyway, it's a beautiful song which asks the question "who can sit on the throne of God?" In the beginning, the pastor (acting as a teacher--they teach English in the schools there, that's how you can tell who has been educated) comes into a classroom and writes "Ani?" on the board. It means "Who?" The next major scene is a married woman comes to the pastor (Wilson Bugembe) and asks why God won't let her conceive, so he says he will pray for her. Then, a school girl comes to the pastor who is pregnant and afraid to tell her mother, and he prays for her too. Then, through the irony of the situation, the pastor realizes that these situations are too much for people to handle and decipher, and that only God can handle it. It was really popular in Uganda, and Tammy, Daphne and I really began to love it! Who can sit on the throne of God? So simple, and so humbling.

I've been home for 25 days, and I miss it already. I love the people and spirit of Uganda!

want to help?

I've gotten a lot of responses to my blog saying that people wanted to help with the work that I was helping with in Jinja, Uganda. Well, here's the hospice website! http://hospicejinja.org/ There's a donation's tab where you can donate money to support them financially, or you can read through the website and see how to pray for the hospice.

Other ways you can help this missions project is to donate to the next group who goes in Summer 2011 (I will probably not be a part) and support InterVarsity's work there, or you can sponsor a child from Uganda, either though Compassion International ( compassion.org ) or World Vision ( worldvision.org ). It's $35-$38 per month to sponsor a child, which includes feeding them, sending them to school, providing activities, and sharing the gospel. You can also correspond with the child, and it's an awesome opportunity to be involved with missions on a personal level with a child across the world. I'll warn you--it was heartbreaking to have to sift through the children and choose one. Compassion International has an option where they pick the child for you, and choose a child who has been waiting over 6 months for someone to sponsor them. Maybe it would be good, though, to look through the pictures, and see how much need there is in the world. These companies only sponsor a fraction of the poor and needy, too.

Love you, hope you'll get involved!

James 1:27

But religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

_______________________________

"Turn Down the Music" by Shane & Shane

If you were hungry would we give you food?

If you were thirsty would we give you drink?

If you were a stranger would we let you in?

What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?

Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music

Turn down the noise

Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound

Of people broken, willing to love

Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

And if you were naked, would we give you clothes?

If you were an orphan would we give our home?

And if you were in prison, would we visit you?

What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?

Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?

Turn down the music

Turn down the noise

Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound

Of people broken, willing to love

Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in us

Let it be our worship

Let it be our true religion

In this world but not of it

Holding on to our confession

Tugende! (too GAEN day)

I’ve arrived at the end of my trip, and I’m realizing that real life comes back very soon. I’m very excited to see Austin and my family very soon (might even seen Matt in Dubai!) but I know I’ll miss this country, these people, and the experiences I’ve had here very much. I’ve grown exponentially in this last month, though at times I didn’t realize it or want to. All throughout this time I’ve had here, God has been moving in my heart, and the Spirit has been convicting and changing my heart.

Uganda is a beautiful, green place, but it is also a very poor place. Sunday night, our team stayed at Rainforest Lodge in Mariba Rainforest, and got to experience the lush green-ness of this country as well as the wildlife (I even saw a monkey!) but up until this point, and even on our way back from the rainforest, we saw and interacted with the very many poor of this land. Uganda has so much to offer, but developmentally, it has a long ways to go.

We learned, from one of the people who work for the Hospice Jinja, that Uganda has about a 65% unemployment rate. To put that in perspective, even in the state of our present economy, the United States of America only has about a 9% unemployment rate. We saw children wearing clothes that were so worn and tattered that we wouldn’t have even used their clothes as rags in the States. In fact, when I gave dresses away, the people were more appreciative than I was for any of my Christmas presents last year. This is not to say I don’t appreciate gifts; I definitely do, and I love to give them. The point is that we don’t have the right perspectives about “needs” as Americans, myself most definitely included.

Last Wednesday night, our team went to have dinner at Jeremiah’s Aunt’s house. She served an abundance of homemade Ugandan food, and we ate until we were more than satisfied, and enjoyed ourselves. The big difference between this home and an American home? Her “toilet” was an outhouse; she had electricity in one room. This family seemed closer than most American families, and was even close friends with several neighbors, who also came by to welcome us to their home. Talk about living in community!

In so many ways, I think that we, as Americans, pervert the meaning of the word “need.” There are poor people in our land that don’t have food or clothing, and so many times the Bible clearly calls us to love them as God does and give to them. Why don’t we? Why don’t I? Well, we literally think we “need” things that aren’t needs, and waste our money on selfish American treasures and spend the money that could sustain one person on a new pair of jeans (when I already have more than four). I think we walk a very dangerous line when we start to invent “needs,” which we have done as a culture, and are not good stewards of the things that God has given us. I know in more than one way, I myself am guilty of this. God has used my being here and seeing the desperation with which some of these people fight to provide for their family to convict me of my selfishness in many ways.

My honest fear is that I will forget these things I’m seeing every day when I get back into America, and back into a more affluent culture. But, God really wants me to be held accountable, and to make a statement to y’all about the convictions He’s placed on my heart, and make a covenant with Him. The convictions that God has placed on my heart and that I now have to take back to the United States are as follows:

· Love the poor (giving, no treasures on this earth, the meek shall inherit the earth)

· Love like Christ (Luke 6:27-36)

· Increase prayer (pray constantly in Spirit & truth and by faith)

· Be bold in declaring the Gospel (Jesus is clear about this, so is the rest of the NT)

So, please hold me accountable to these things, and push me in love toward them, and remind me of them. Feel free to ask me about them, though I think I’ve posted blogs about each one if you want a quick reference. I’m excited to see how these things change in my life in America.

My verses for this trip:
“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is Lord of Lords and God of Gods; the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve Him, and hold fast to Him, and by His name you shall swear. He is your praise. He is your God who has done these great and terrifying things which your eyes have seen.”
-Deuteronomy 10:16-21

Leavin’ on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again… see you soon, Houston

Liz-ah

The people in Uganda can’t just say “Liz,” so they’ve been calling me “Liz-ah” since I got here, and the girls in my group have been too. They also call Daphne “Daphen”; we’ve just adopted them as our Ugandan names :)

I will be honest; I woke up today missing home more than ever. My parents are at the Neill Family Reunion, and I really wish I was there with them. But, I’ve grown so much here, and really seen God move in awesome ways, so I know he wanted me here for a reason. We only have nine days left on this continent, and I know God still has a lot planned for us!

Yesterday was the Jinja Youth Conference that we hosted on “Building Your Potential to Advance” from the book of Daniel. The idea behind the theme was that many Ugandans, we were told, have the basics of their faith right, but they aren’t necessarily discipled to be missional and to spread the Kingdom of God, they just internalize their faith. It’s a problem a lot of Americans have, too. But when you read the book of Daniel, you see he stood up, time after time, in faith, knowing that God would do amazing things in Babylon. I was the “secretary” of the event, which meant: running a ton of errands the day before, trying to get things organized, calling the worship band and getting that arranged, and counting the numbers of attendees the churches and schools gave us so we could make sure we would have enough food. It was a lot to handle, but really, I just turned to God, and He took care of it! Had I not, I would have just been one big ball of stress, which wouldn’t glorify God or help the people I was working for.

God made the conference work. We served breakfast to about 150 people at 9 am, and about 250 had shown up before worship started at 10 am. By lunch, we had 360+ people to serve! We have two main sessions with small group breakouts afterward, then lunch, which ran late, so we had one final session and an invitation at the end, where eight people declared that they wanted to know Christ as their Savior! It was pretty cool seeing it all come together. There were definitely a few times when I was stressed out, and God reminded me to love and give without expecting it back, and to serve, and to do so joyfully; He put me back on track right away! At the end of the day, we were all so glad that everything was finished, and that we had been able to serve so many and see so many come to know Jesus Christ. We got their information to their organizations so they can continue to be discipled. My hope is that the Word that was preached will be planted into the hearts of these people, and that they will grow.

This week, I will go to the Hospice twice: Monday is a “Day Care” day (or group therapy; the women come and make paper bead necklaces and tell their stories to the mzungus) and Wednesday we will go on visits with the Hospice. On Tuesday and Thursday, we will go to St Andrew’s Magamaga, and on Thursdays we will plant some trees there. Uganda has a lot of trees and is very lush and green, but the land the school is on has very little shade, so we are providing them shade and something to remember us by.

After that, we are going to Kampala on Friday and Saturday. Friday, Jeremiah’s family is throwing a big party, an “introduction of the Bride,” because his wife is coming to Uganda this week for the first time in their four years of marriage. Apparently they’re going to dress the mzungu girls in their traditional dresses, which should make for some entertaining pictures later on! Sunday and Monday we are going to a nearby rainforest for debrief time, and we have one day, Tuesday, back in Jinja before we fly out on Wednesday. We will be very busy this week, but I know God has some good things planned. I will be very, very sad to leave this country. I may even come back one day; I don’t know where in Africa God has called us to yet, but I know that He wants us on this continent. I’ve actually had several Ugandans ask me to stay, but I joke and tell them that I have to go home to see my boyfriend!

So, this week, be in prayer that:

-The Lord would continue to move in our hearts and sustain us as a group; He has been so good to us!
-We don’t start counting down the days until we go home, but we give it our all, and work hard to make sure that these people know we love them, and that love is because of Christ
-We receive funding; to my knowledge, Jeremiah is currently operating on a deficit, and will be pulled from the school when we get back until he repays it. We’ve cancelled the safari we were going to debrief on so we could cut back on expenses, but that wasn’t enough.

A Lesson in Service for a Hospitality Major

1 July 2010

We have been in this country for three weeks and one day, and things in this country still surprise me. I guess cultural adaptation takes a while! But, I like Uganda a lot. We have been painting the Vicarage (where the Vicar lives, who is about equivalent to a bishop) at St. Andrew’s Church Jinja the last couple of days, and it has been a really fun, team-building experience! Mike even slaughtered a chicken, and I got it on tape! But, it really struck me that these people are true servants; they bring around a basin for us to wash our hands with, serve us tea, then lunch, and afternoon tea (I already loved tea; this just makes me love Uganda! Ha) and thank us for coming to paint by sending us home with a fresh chicken and eggs! Even when we come to serve, we end up being served—it’s beautiful! If I take anything back to the U.S. with me, I’d love to bring back this serving spirit they have. They take the Word to heart when it says in 1 Peter that serving brings God glory, and they serve in love and in honor to their God. What would it look like for us to serve and to love, and to do so joyfully?

Shem, the manager at Hospice Jinja, is a bubbly, 5’1 Ugandan man, always joking and laughing, and when he prays, you feel the Spirit; when he sings, his love for Christ pours out of him. Shem is just one example of the love and joy we’ve seen pour out of the churches and the people we’ve met here in Uganda. I love hearing the choirs sing hymns, English or Lusoga, and I love the passion with which the people pray. They spend a lot of time in prayer in their church services: praying for their country; praying against witch craft and child sacrifice; for their church; for us, their visitors. It is a blessing to be here and to experience this cultural immersion, and to learn what it is to truly live relationally. Sometimes customs are very different (you never know if a Ugandan will arrive on time or not, but that’s their culture) but so far, our group has done pretty well going with the flow.

We have two weeks left before we are back in Houston, and I know God still has a lot in store for us. In those two weeks, we have five work days (trips with the Hospice and to the school in Magamaga), and a “cultural experience” planned for next Friday. Jeremiah’s wife is coming to Uganda for the first time this Sunday, and since she has never been in their four years of marriage, they will have a presentation-of-the-bride huge celebration, with lots of dancing and food! We don’t know what to expect yet, but we are excited to go to Kampala and see what’s in store. Saturday following that, Callina and her father leave, and on Sunday our group is going to spend the night in a nearby rainforest. Hopefully we will get plenty of hiking in, and get to see some African animals! Then we have one day of rest, before we get on the plane to Dubai on Wednesday July 14, and I will try to meet my brother, Matt there! Pray for that opportunity, I haven’t seen him since Christmas, and a miracle may work out for me to see him for one hour when we get to Dubai! The next day we take a seventeen-hour flight, and we will be home. Two weeks seems like a long time right now, but I know it will be here before I know it, so I am soaking up as much as Uganda as possible.

1 Peter 4:9-11 (ESV)

“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace; whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength God supplies—in order than in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Please pray for:

-words from the Spirit to share the Gospel with the street boys/beggars we see every time we go to downtown Jinja

-funding of our trip, so Jeremiah doesn’t go home with a deficit – we know God will provide the $4,000+ we still need

-us to be flexible so God can use us as He wishes

“This World” by Caedmon’s Call (feat. Sandra McCracken)

They start us from a golden rule
and I want to jump from a ship of fools
Show me a place where hope is young
and a people who are not afraid to love

This world has nothing for me
and this world has everything
all that I could want and nothing that I need

This world is making me drunk on the spirits of fear
so when He says, “Who will go?” I am nowhere near

This world has nothing for me
and this world has everything
all that I could want and nothing that I need

And the least of these look like criminals to me
so I leave Christ on the street

This world has held my hand
and has led me into intolerance
And now I’m waking up, and now I’m breaking up
and now I’m making up for lost time

This world has nothing for me
and this world has everything
all that I could want and nothing that I need

Learning Curve

27 June 2010

I’m sitting in my room at the guest house that we are staying at, which the hospice owns, thinking about this life I have here in Uganda. I mean, I really am living here. We’ve moved in, we’re here for another two and a half weeks, and we are adapting this culture as best we can. In these last two and a half weeks we’ve been in this country, God has taught me an enormous amount of things, and I’ll do my best to summarize.

I’ve said before that God is teaching me the effectiveness and essentialness (Microsoft Word said that was a word, I won’t fight it) of prayer. It’s like breathing for a Christian. If we aren’t in prayer as we ought to be, then how are we supposed to hear from God? I’ll confess that I’ve gotten into times of my life where I hang up this prayer line that I’m supposed to keep open, but I know that when I leave it on, God speaks so clearly into my life. He shows me the things He wants for my life, and how He wants me to serve others.

Another huge thing is service. My family will readily agree that I enjoy being served. My mom will tell you that I like free pedicures, and free meals. But, they will also tell you that I take my brother’s laundry bin upstairs as well as his clothes when they’re clean—not because I’m asked to, but because it’s an easy way for me to serve. Lately God’s been teaching me to be more of a servant; not to expect anything in exchange for giving of myself to someone else. I’ve had the conviction in my heart for a while, but it seems to be louder here in Uganda. As human beings, we all like being served. It’s so easy to be selfish and demand things of others for our benefit, but as Christians, when the Spirit moves us to give of ourselves to others, we are blessed because we are a servant, and those who we serve see it, and wonder what is different. And there’s a difference, God says, between serving because I feel like I have to (some kind of guilt) and serving with a cheerful heart.

He’s also impressed on my heart what justice is. I’m reading a book (yes mom, I’m reading a book!) called Revolution in World Missions, written by the founder of Gospel for Asia. The book talks about the abundance with which God has blessed Americans, and asks this important question: “Why do you think God has allowed you to be born in North America or Europe rather than among the poor of Africa and Asia and to be blessed with such material and spiritual abundance?” It’s a tough question to answer. Considering this and the great commission, I had to ask myself if I were spending my money properly. I’m not. I don’t watch it closely enough. I know I spend money on things that are pointless, like Starbucks, and I know that money could go toward sustaining a missionary and spreading God’s Good News to people who are unreached.

This trip has been opening my eyes every day. I haven’t gotten used to seeing mud huts, and school buildings constructed out of long tree limbs and mud, falling apart. I still stare when we drive through towns and see most of the children are only half-clothed or that their shirts are hardly a shirt at all because the holes have overcome it. These are the children that the Lord wants to bring His justice to. These people are oppressed by evil here; witchcraft claims the lives of people here far too often, it’s actually a huge deal. Human sacrifice is something that Uganda is struggling against, but Satan is at work. Not to mention that just earlier this year Joseph Kony and his LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army –a misnomer, because he is possessed by something evil) finally left Uganda, though they are still a threat, as they are thought to be in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Joseph Kony and his rebel army used to rip children from their homes, rape them, and force them to be child soldiers as young at 6 years old. The DRC and Sudan are another story, especially DRC, with the violent warfare that is going on--it’s just next door to Uganda. You can’t even travel through the DRC without being ambushed; you have to fly over it to get to a neighboring country safely, because the violence is inescapable.

Africa is a hurting continent, with warfare, genocide, rape, witchcraft, and overwhelming political corruption at every turn. It’s heartbreaking to think about, because these things seem to relentlessly oppress this continent. If you want to help, here are some websites that I can think of off the top of my head that you can donate to, or just find out more information so you may pray (please, please pray!) for Africa. God hears prayers. Cry out to Him, that His Spirit would come to this continent and save these people from this oppression.

· fallingwhistles.com –a simply devastating truth about child soldiers too small to carry a gun being used as a barrier against enemy fire… heartbreaking.

· invisiblechildren.com – has great information on the political past of Uganda (so does Wikipedia!) and ways you can help – donations for schooling and other opportunities

· livingwater.com-bring clean water to those who don’t have it: the shocking reality of half of the world (what Austin and I want to do in Africa)

· worldvision.com – sponsor a child in Africa to go eat and go to school!

· compassion international (not sure of the website) – same premise as the above

Feel free to comment if you know of more!

Thank you for being in prayer for our team here in Jinja, Uganda :)

Bujagali Falls and Rafting the Nile

26 June 2010

I am proud to say that I have officially gone white water rafting on the Nile River! You probably read that on Facebook, but I just don’t know very many people who have. I didn’t even know you could do that: I thought there were crocodiles and hippos and the like, so you couldn’t feasibly do it. Well, our guide told us that there are parts of the Nile that that is true of, but we didn’t go anywhere near it. We rafted through four class 3 rapids, and were on the river for about 2.5 hours. It was a 15-kilometer trip, and it was quite a workout! They fed us a delicious breakfast before, and an awesome BBQ after (I actually had everything but the meat—side note, turns out I don’t have to eat meat here!) and we stayed the night in rooms at their campground, which was included in their rafting fees. It was a pretty good deal. We went to celebrate the fact that we have made it halfway through the trip, and have only 18 days left before we are in America. It was also a bit of a retreat, and we got to relax. We even had toilets and HOT WATER—that was an unexpected treat!

After the rafting, Tammy, Daphne and I went just outside the campgrounds to where the shops were. They were mzungu price, (higher because tourists come and pay what is asked of them) so I didn’t get anything, but we went through a few shops. In the second shop, an adorable little boy, probably two years old and covered in the red dirt that is abundant in Uganda, came and laid down on the floor and just smiled, sticking his limbs into the air. He was one of the few

Ugandan children that we’d met that was not afraid of mzungus, we learned this was because his mother owned the shop next door. We played with him a little bit, and he followed us to his mom’s store. Then he came and hugged my legs like he wanted to be picked up, so of course I picked him up! He was absolutely adorable, but covered in dirt! We played with him some more, and he followed us to the next shop. He was pretty sad when we took him back to his mom’s store and didn’t understand why his friends were leaving, but this little boy brought smiles to our hearts.

Reading this story from an American frame of reference, you would think that it’s weird that his mother let him wander off. Actually, it’s all too common in Uganda for the children to wander on their own; mothers seem to worry about their children less and providing for their family more. Often, older children (6 and up) will tote around younger ones (1-2 or so). It’s also not uncommon to see three children under the age of 10 walk a few miles to the nearest water pump. If they are slightly well-off, they will have a bike to tote the yellow jerry cans on. If not, their tiny frames will carry the 20-pound jugs both ways.

For those of you who I told we were going on a Safari on the last few days on the trip, the Safari has been cancelled. We don’t have enough funds for it, and we decided that the conference we are putting on July 3^rd is more important, because it feeds both the body (breakfast and lunch) and soul of 15-25 year olds in the community, for free. The conference is relatively inexpensive, considering that we are paying travel fees for the worship group we invited and our one Ugandan guest speaker, as well as all the food costs. Two people from our group will be speaking, Tammy and Jeremiah, and I am acting as secretary, gathering numbers of attendees from the 23 local churches and secondary schools we invited to the conference, as well as fielding any questions these churches may have. Ultimately, our team felt that we should forsake the Safari entirely so that the people of this community could be ministered to through us by God.

How I Was Lead to Uganda

24 June 2010

So, I know a lot of people are reading this, and I thought it would be good to tell you why and how I got to Africa! Although I first felt God call me to be a missionary when I was only fifteen years old, I tried to walk away from that call and build my own future. Last year, this time, I would never have dreamed that I would be here, in Uganda, on a mission trip. At that time, I was in a sorority, which God had me sever from the sorority and move out of the sorority house, so that I could draw near to Him. It was a hard fall semester after that, but God has been growing me in so many ways since then. In the fall, He made it clear, after I prayed, that He wanted my heart to hurt like His does for Africa. So I did some research on the country, and every time I talked about Africa, I would compulsively cry. I don’t like crying in front of people, so that was pretty huge to me. I realized that God wanted me to be a missionary in Africa.

Sometime in the fall semester, my friend, Mike Ryan, invited me to go to a retreat with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is the group I am on this mission trip with. I went on the retreat in November, after attending a few of their bible studies (I was, and still am, a faithful member of the Baptist Student Ministries, which is where I met Austin, and a large amount of my current friends). At the retreat, I talked to Jeremiah, one of the staff workers and the “Global Director” of this trip, and told him my testimony and how I felt God was calling me to missions in Africa. It was a totally random conversation, but had we not had it, I am sure I would not be here, in Uganda, right now. The next day at the retreat, he announced the trip to Uganda that would last six weeks. He later told me that he had to hold it in when he spoke so he could make the announcement before their entire fellowship, but that he really felt strongly that I should go.

After probably two months of praying about this trip, and talking it over with my parents, I finally decided to go. To be honest, I wasn’t gung-ho on going from the start. The whopping price tag of $4,200 seemed really overwhelming, especially since I wanted to go to Peru with my church as well, and I had never, ever raised money for a trip before, let alone that much money.

In March, I mailed out support letters to all the family and friends that I could possibly think of. It was a much shorter list than I thought I could compile, but God knew I had asked just the right amount of people. In the first few weeks after sending out the letter, I had reached $1,500. I was amazed. I knew, without a doubt, that God would provide all the money I needed. And He DID! More than that, He showed me how much both sides of my family, as well as Austin’s family, valued me, as they encouraged me and told me that they would be praying for me. Even my friends told me they were praying for me and my trip – I was so blessed. I am still so blessed. God got me to Africa! If that’s not a miracle and a blessing, I don’t know what is. There was a lot of effort put into this, but I know that He has a reason for getting me here, and will keep using me for the next twenty or so days we have left.

So, how does Austin feel about this? Well, let’s backtrack a bit! I met Austin (the “one”) in September. I was in no way looking for a relationship, but I did think he was a handsome, tall, blonde engineer, and I was interested! We got to hang out (who knew he deliberately invited me to Second Baptist’s college stuff?) and get to know each other throughout the fall semester. I didn’t learn that he felt the call to go to Africa and use his Civil Engineering skills to build/dig wells as a missionary, but when I did, I just liked him even more! We went on some dates in December, and we’ve been together since. We know that we are going to end up together, somewhere in Africa (no that’s not official, but you will all know when it is! Hahaha) so this is just a taste for me. When we first started dating, I told him about the trip, but we weren’t sure how serious we were, and in January, June seems pretty far off. The closer this trip and the Peru trip got, the more he realized how much he would miss me, (and likewise, I would miss him) but we both knew that God wanted this for me this summer, so He could mold both of us through this.

It’s a crazy and long story, but I think it’s beautiful. God is working things together in my life for His glory.

Philippians 1:4-6 (NIV)

“In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Hangman

22 June 2010

At the school today, I played some Frisbee with the primary school kids. The first time I played with them, it ended well, because it was only a small crowd and no one got hurt, and the kids left their break time to go back to class (they have more than one recess, kids in America should be jealous). The second time they came for their break, right before lunch, the boys started getting aggressive over who got the Frisbee, and hurting little girls, and after two warnings, I walked away. I don’t know if the English was bad or if the little boys didn’t think I was serious, but I was.

Before lunch, a group of Senior 2 girls was let out of class early, so I taught them how to play hangman outside using my journal. It was really good English practice for them, because I noticed they misspelled a few things (“combine” was spelled c-o-m-b-a-i-n) but they enjoyed it, and hopefully learned something. Another group watched, learned, and was playing in one of the rooms as well! Who knew hangman was that fun? It definitely helped build their trust and a relationship, which is a big goal here: build trust and relationships now, so when the groups who come back in the next two summers come, they can do even more things in this community.

After having my fill of posho and beans with avocado (the avocados here are HUGE—easily twice

the size of the Haas avocados in America) I played with some primary school aged kids who did not have a uniform, which probably meant they weren’t in school, because they couldn’t afford it. Even after meeting Sarah, it still blows my mind that their school may cost as little as 36 USD (75,000 UGX) and they can’t afford it. Seeing some of the places they live—the mud huts—it makes more sense, but it is still absolutely heartbreaking.

Since I arrived in Uganda, God has been teaching me to increase my prayer life; to pray hard and expect big results. One cool story from the beginning of this trip that I forgot to mention was an answered prayer the second day of our travel. Stuart didn’t get a standard, yellow immunization form from his clinic, so we didn’t think he would be able to get into the country, and we didn’t find out until we were on our way to Dubai. When we arrived in Entebbe airport, after finally reaching the front of the long visa line, our group paid for our visas, and the man did not check for our immunizations! We still need to get it before we return to the States, but it was amazing that we prayed that day that God would grant us travel mercies and see a way for Stuart to get in. It didn’t seem like a huge deal, but it definitely could have been! Thank you, also, to those of you who prayed for travel mercies for us! God heard you. It was an encouraging start to the trip, and since then, God has been answering prayers left and right, and my prayer life has definitely increased.

2 Chronicles 7:14
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Healing of Uganda is an awesome prayer to pray. I definitely encourage you to meditate on this verse, and let God teach you something from it!

I love you guys!! Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.

PS – if you read some of the Psalms that David wrote, like Psalm 86, you’ll see that he really cries out to God. When I read it I thought, “when was the last time I cried out to God like that?” How about you?

PPS - Sarah's school has been paid for!

Culture Shock

We have been out of America for 14 days now. I’d say I’m getting used to the culture, but somehow, something new surprises me, often. Yesterday we went to St. Andrew’s Anglican Church for their service, where they welcomed and honored us, because we are teaching at their Secondary School. We sat in the front of the church, but the way it is laid out, everyone could see us. We each introduced ourselves with a 30-second testimony, after all the church officials were introduced to us. They interpreted everything into English, just for us, and sang songs in Lusoga and then translated them into English, again, just for us. As Americans, it was a bit overwhelming, and uncomfortable for some. From a Ugandan perspective, they wanted to make sure we felt a warm welcome and their deep appreciation for getting involved in the community. After all, the aim of this project is to come back for the next two summers. Having learned about the way their culture works, it makes perfect sense that they would welcome us in this way. They take a long time to introduce and do welcomes, even in informal situations, because, as I’ve said before, they like to make sure everyone feels valued. They value people more than time; a valuable lesson for Americans, who are always on-the-go. Afterward we went to one house for a delicious, huge, home-made Ugandan meal, followed by drinks (sodas in bottles, it’s so fun) at another person’s house, and then we headed home, so James could catch his football match.
Today was a tiring day, though it doesn’t seem like I’ve done much. Mike, Walter and I went out with the Hospice, and we did two clinic visits and three home visits, for a total of 11 patients. They were pretty far out from Jinja, where we are, and we got to ride on some tough roads, some of which weren’t even roads! It feels like riding a bull, without being bucked off. Literally. The roads in developing nations, well, the two I’ve been in this summer, are pretty terrible. They have potholes that aren’t usually filled in, and our awesome driver, James, maneuvers like a stunt driver, but often the bumps and rocks are unavoidable. Again today, we saw children wearing clothes that may be their only pair, and encountered patients that had HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other terminal illnesses. Every day on these visits, I try to spend some time in prayer for these people, for their pain, and for their families. We’ve heard that some patients, because of the medicines, will be able to walk, which they couldn’t before, or will otherwise benefit greatly from the medicines.
God has been doing amazing things in my heart… and it may be few days until I can post again, but please keep us in your prayers, that God will continue to work in our lives like this! We still need $8,000, as far as we know, to perform all the things on this trip that we had planned to.

Sangala Sangala

Yesterday was a heck of a day at the high school! We played two games of “netball,” which is like basketball but when you have the ball, you cannot move, so there is some ultimate Frisbee incorporated, too, if you’re familiar with that. After the first game, we had some manzani, which are like fried balls of dough (not quite as sweet as donuts) and tea, and then rested until another game came around. Usually, the girls play netball and the boys play soccer, and the girls really get in to netball. They were pretty competitive, but any time the other team got to their goal, I was down there with my hands up, and prevented most of the shots. When you shoot in netball, you can’t jump, and Ugandans do not usually get to be very tall, so… it wasn’t hard for me, at 5’10 to be good on defense J

(me, talking to the primary kids after lunch, before scouting)

Then we had lunch, which was posho and beans, again. I wonder if they get tired of it, but I know that at the very least they are fed every day, Monday through Friday. I didn’t quite finish mine, which would be very rude in Ugandan culture, but at the school, with this meal, it is acceptable (I learned this because Gladys, our Ugandan host who goes with the team who goes to school, never finishes her posho at the school).

Afterward, we learned what “scouting” is. It’s a game theatre kids would love! You stand in a circle, and one person starts a traditional Ugandan song or one they all know, and then does movements the rest of the group follows. Sometimes the dance moves go with the songs, other times they are ambiguous, but it was always funny when the mzungus did it!! There was one song where I was the one in the circle, but since I don’t know their songs, someone else sang, and I had to dance!! It was so much fun, because they pulled two of the other mzungus in as well, and I know we were entertaining. Afterward I took some pictures with the high school kids and the street kids that had come out to see what was going on.

I loved how the culture radiated through this activity, and how I felt more connected to these kids. The Ugandan culture is very interesting: I knew handshakes were important, but greetings are vital, and long. And I knew they liked to talk, and to give, and are great hosts, because Jeremiah, our leader, informed us of such, but it’s really true, and to a larger extent than I imagined. They value people very much, and I think there is something to gain from that.

"Sangala Sangala, nowukeni yena asangala."

This is a song that means, "when the host is happy, everyone is happy!" This is so true of Ugandan culture, too! They really live this out as hosts to us. They serve in almost everything they do.

Water

This is a picture from the last home visit we did today. This is her home.

I have been here a week, and I am in my first Ugandan power outage. I had to type this on Word before posting. They say that is very common here, and I knew to expect it. I’m glad it is during the day, but there is no telling when I will be able to post this. Five minutes! Here it is! I don’t know if it is a generator or not.

Today was quite the day. I went with the hospice team on two home visits and one Clinic visit, to see a total of four patients. What I was struck with today was when I was on the road, and I noticed all of the Jerry cans. I would start to count, but they seem infinite. I saw a young boy, maybe six or seven, carrying two twenty-pound jugs barefoot up a hill, and my heart hurt for him. I wanted to take them for him. At Passion2010, Living Water came and had a demonstration, where we carried two cans, like him, for an eighth of a mile. It was very hard, and I am much older, and I know he carried it much farther. There is also red dirt everywhere, which means that his water probably got some into his water, and the already contaminated water gets even dirtier.

We abuse water in America. We run it when we don’t need it, and we throw it away instead of drinking it. They need it. It’s so heart-breaking.

More and more, I’ve been feeling a conviction about water; it’s good because that is why Austin is a Civil Engineer, to bring water to people, and because I know that social justice, caring for widows and orphans and the like, please God as an act of our worship. So, I am praying about what God’s will is for Austin and I in the future with water, and observing its purpose in third-world countries.

God has also been working in my heart about the allocation of my resources (time, money) and how to glorify Him with it, which incorporates into the Social Justice idea. Austin sent me a passage from Amos 5 the other day that paired well with the Jon Foreman song (the song is based off of it) and as the song continued to ring through my ears, I asked God what He wanted me to do with this conviction. In America, I used to feel these heart stings. Being here, and seeing the poverty and the need, it increases. And I am here, praying for these people who are hurting, and praying for a way to help them.

Thanks for your continued prayers! God is being so good to us.

Amos 5:21-24

"I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

"I Hate All Your Show" by Jon Foreman

I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show
Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stomp on my ears when you're singing 'em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you're praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There's blood on your hands
You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don't fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There's blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let's argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let's argue this out
You'll be one of the clouds
Let's argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can't love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can't stand at all, all
I hate all your show

What "show" is there in my life? Change me, O God.

Olyotya Mzungu!

You get another Lusoga lesson today! A "mzungu" is the Texas equivalent to "gringo."

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go with a few other people on my team to a private school, called St. Andrews Secondary School. There are only about 200 students because it is a new school, and yes, they are high school age. The school system in Uganda works very differently, because the British came in and colonized here (they even drive on the left side!) and now their school system reflects that. They go to Primary School for Forms (grades) 1-7 and have Secondary School Forms 1-4 and 5-6, then University (potentially, for the smart or rich). Sometimes public schools are too far from their village, so they will go to a Church-started private school (like this one) which they would have to pay for, but would offer a better education than the public schools typically would. Therefore, many children (like Sarah) who cannot afford school or cannot get to a school just don't go. We saw many of these children wander through the playground during recess, and you could tell they wished they were in school.

We arrived at the school, and we saw a large field, and two buildings. The kids were already in class because we ran late today (a very Ugandan thing to do). When they got out of the class they were in, the girls came and played "net ball," which is like basketball with ultimate frisbee rules, with Tammy and I. After we wore ourselves out, we ate some Posho, a cheap Ugandan dish that is like grainier, thick grits, and beans. Afterward, the kids taught me and Tammy a song (they think it's funny to hear a mzungu try to say these words) which, I think, we butchered! Hah, but they enjoyed it. We are definitely their entertainment! I took a break outside the classroom afterward because the Posho definitely affected my stomach, and I felt a little nauseated. I talked to one of the teachers about the poverty in Uganda. He said that 40% of Ugandans are what we would call "dirt poor," but he could not understand homelessness. These people have a home, or a hut, or anything they can have. Property is their pride. But, often, they are not about to feed their (usually large) families more than twice a day. Many of these families have low-paying jobs or just live off their land, and there are many self-sustaining farms.

At the end of the class that was after lunch, and before we had to leave for a Ugandan Bible study, (early--their school is from 8am-5pm!) we went into a class that a teacher had not shown up to teach, and learned another song! I wish I remembered it, but I will get Tammy to remind me, and post it on here.

I love you all, and I appreciate your prayers. Every day is a new day, and a blessing from God to be used by Him to make Him known. Keep praying for us, those we interact with (especially Sarah) including the people working at the Hospice and their patients, as well as the students at St. Andrews.

Love you!

Sarah.

Today at the Hospice, they had a "Day Care." It is a day for patients to come, talk about their lives, (including their illnesses) and make crafts. They dance and sing, too! Despite their illnesses, these women were so joyful. It came from the Lord! One woman was brought to the Hospice, and got out of the car, walking. She couldn't walk for months, but because of the medicine the Hospice provides, she walked! The women at the Day Care did their African cheer/shout (hard to describe, but SO cool to hear) and sang an awesome praise to God for her walking. I love hearing them sing! Yesterday, in church, it made my heart so happy, even though I couldn't understand the words, I felt the worship and the joy. These people have so little, but they LOVE so much! During the day care, the women made necklaces, so of course I bought some. :) If you've seen the paper bead necklaces that are made by Ugandan women (some are sold in the states, if you know Abby Tracey, she sold some at Tallowood recently) and they make them during the day care.

Before it started, however, I met Sarah. She is thirteen, has AIDS, and is a patient of the Hospice. You can see the rash on her skin, as it covers her body. She scratches at it often, she got tired at about 1 pm, and she said she sometimes has pains in many different areas. I was intrigued by her, so I asked Sarah many questions today, trying to find out more about her. Her story, like many Ugandans living with AIDS or Cancer, is very dark, and very sad.

Sarah told me that she had two siblings, and that they have both passed away. Her mother is dead, and her father is still alive, working as a mechanic. Sadly for Sarah, he remarried to a woman who thinks Sarah is useless because she has AIDS. Her stepmother might feed her one time a day, and that is all. Sarah also told me that her uncle is involved in witchcraft, a traditional form of sorcery here. He is greedy, she said, and he wants to kill Sarah's father for his land. She said that her brother died at a young age because of her Uncle's witchcraft.

Sarah is only thirteen. She has seen more pain in her life, and will endure more, than I have in my twenty-one years. I wanted to cry, listening to her tell me that she desperately wants to be in school (which is rare to hear from an American child) and that she wants to learn. She can't do basic math. But, her sweet voice and her smile are still signs of hope from a hurting, thirteen-year-old, Ugandan little girl, who loves Jesus Christ, and probably learned about Him from the Hospice. They have a great ministry here! I guess you could say that a thirteen-year-old Ugandan girl stole my heart.

Pray for Sarah! Pray for healing physically and spiritually. Pray that God provides a way for her to go to school.

Pray for our team - we are bonding well, but now my prayer is that we would give of ourselves as much as possible, to really be incorporated into their way of life here. We also still need several thousand dollars of support. Mine was raised, I know many of you all heard, but some members of our team weren't so fortunate. So, please pray for that funding.

Olyotya!

Hello!

It has been another long day. We got back from the Hospice, and I slept for an hour and a half before dinner! Hopefully soon, God will grant us more rest so we can live more in community at the end of the day, rather than be so tired we all just go to bed (myself especially).

This post is definitely intended for my mom. For all of you, but this is especially for her:

Today, the first thing we did with the Hospice workers was to go on a home visit. These people lived, seven of them, in a hut that was probably eight or nine feet in diameter. They build them out of mud/clay, from what I can tell, and the roof comes to a point in the middle above it, made of some kind of leaves or grass. There were three small boys, one small girl, and one older girl, maybe fifteen or a little older. Their father was a patient of the hospice, and their mother was beautiful and sweet. Their father had a large tumor, probably the size of my fist, growing where his two smallest toes were on his left foot. It was yellow because the medicine they gave him to put on it to keep infection away is yellow. He washes it, crushes yellow tablets, and covers the tumor with it. In January, he actually had the tumor removed, along with his two smallest toes, but the tumor, which is rather aggressive, came back. It is heartbreaking to see these things, mostly because in America, he could get insurance, get chemotherapy, and probably get rid of this aggressive cancer that, though it started in his toe, is caused by the bone marrow, so he will eventually die from it. All the Hospice can do is give these people the best life possible for as long as possible, which is largely possible because of pain medications they issue. Watching the Hospice nurses give out morphine is far from uncommon.

So, where does my mom come in to this? Well for one, I am incredibly grateful for my whole family. The fact that they are alive and well is amazing, and that we still have each other, though we are spread out all across the world. Matt is in Baghdad, Sam is in Dunedin, my parents are in Houston, and here I am, in Jinja, Uganda – sleeping a short walk from the source of the Nile River! Secondly, not to get too distracted, but my mom is an amazing woman. She made fourteen dresses for me to take to Uganda. They are made from pillowcases or spare fabric, and the people at the Hospice were so thankful and excited about them, I can’t even express it. So, this family gets the equivalent of two dollars every two weeks from the Hospice (when they come on the home visit) to give them a little something extra. It is not enough to survive on, so they are not dependant on the Hospice, but it helps them get a couple of the more expensive things, like rice and sugar (yes, rice is considered expensive here) occasionally.

The Hospice workers told me, as we sat at that home visit, that they wanted me to give the two girls a dress. I did my best to get a tall enough dress for the older girl, and gave her a shirt my mom had bought, and put the smaller dress on the smaller girl. It was absolutely adorable. They spoke Lusoga, and no English, so I couldn’t communicate, but the mother was incredibly grateful, and I know these dresses made a difference.

Day One in Uganda

I don’t know how often I can post, or what detail I can post in, because this takes time, and I need to e-mail my family and Austin when we get to internet cafés.

Today. Wow. It was a long day. I went with Mike and Walter with three workers from the Hospice Jinja, Christina, Mase, and James, and we did outreach and home visits. Outreach is where we meet patients halfway between the Hospice and their home, and see if some people qualify to be Hospice patients. This usually takes place, from what I observed today, at a clinic. People only qualify if they can be diagnosed by the nurses as terminally ill, or if they were diagnosed as such by a hospital. For instance, the first patient we saw on a home visit was a potential patient that they accepted into the Hospice program because she has HIV. She has lost a substantial amount of weight, and suffers from chronic pain. She was given medicine to help her pain and her nerves, as well as NyQuil for her cough. The nurses here can give out medicines.

The second potential patient we saw was at a clinic on the first outreach. It was a very little girl in a cute green dress, like one you would see on a girl her age in America. Her illness may have made her look younger, but I think she was about 18 months old. She was beautiful. I can’t even tell you how beautiful this girl is. The hospice could not take her yet, because she hasn’t been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I didn’t find this out until I sat and prayed silently that God would not take her life, and that she would live. She hardly kept her eyes open she was so lethargic, and she was thin, with a seemingly large head (which is why I thought she may be older and underdeveloped). I eventually got her attention and wave to her. She looked at me with those beautiful eyes, struggling to keep them open to look at me. Christina and Mase told the child’s grandmother that she had to take the child back to the hospital and get x-rays and other checkups in order to properly diagnose her, and that she may not be terminally ill. She is adorable... It’s heart-breaking to think that there are sick kids in other countries (other than America) that could be helped easily in the U.S, but aren’t in other places. We learned today that only 60% of Ugandans ever get heathcare, and most can’t afford healthcare insurance.

It’s still sinking in that I will be here for a month, mostly because I have never been this far for that long, and because I am missing y’all so much!

Please pray that God would be my patience, because I am not a patient person. To be honest, this culture is very different in that they interact in a way that is relationally-based, no hurry, and meeting times are generalized, while Americans act on a timeline of events, communication is clear, and meetings and events are pretty prompt. It’s a struggle, and something God has convicted me of before, but I haven’t acted in a struggle against. So, it is finally happening! Haha. He keeps reminding me that A) I have nowhere else to be but with these people wherever they send/put me, and B) being more concerned with my time and my schedule than people isn’t a life He wants for me anyway.

I’m not entirely sure I will make sense, I’m sorry. It’s 10:00 pm, my body is still adjusting, and I am exhausted after today. Pray that God would be our strength, love, and understanding! (Their accents are thick!!)

10 June 2010

Dubai

This is brief, but, we are in Dubai! I am going to be in Uganda in about 7 hours. We flew 14 hours straight from Houston to Dubai yesterday.. Emirates is THE way to fly! I can't wait to get to the country... it is going to be an adventure! God is already doing amazing things, I love this group of 7. Names (so you can pray by name) Stu, Walter, Mike, Daphne, Tammy, our leader Jeremiah, and me!

Please pray for us, we still need $9,000 to get to do the conference. My goals/funds are raised, but some others weren't as fortunate.

Here we go... Goodbye UAE, hello UGANDA!!!

Love always,

Liz