God is so good!

The Lord is so good! Can I please tell you just a couple of the things He’s been showing me just in the past couple of days? Ok.

*1 Corinthians 16:13-14, “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.”  Should be my life verse, especially while I’m here.

*1 Corinthians 2:9, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” The God of this universe has prepared things for us, not only here on earth, but He has prepared Heaven and the things of Heaven for us! We cannot even begin to fathom the things the Lord has prepared for us, because He loves us, and all He asks is that we love Him.

Ephesians 3:17-20 and Romans 8:38-39- God. Loves. Us. Nothing can separate us from that. Nothing. He wants us to know He loves us and He wants us to understand the depth of His love for us. Will we? Probably not. But, He wants us to know and that’s what’s important. I like to think of it like this: you know how when you’ve made something really special for someone, and you’ve spent hours upon hours making it for them, because you love them and you know that it’s going to bring such a joy to their lives? You just want to bless them and show them how much you care about them and that you were thinking about them. That’s how it is with God! Only like 50 bazillion times more, because He loves us more, blesses us on a regular basis, and has spent so much time preparing not only Heaven for us, but everything that happens everyday for us! God is thinking about us all the time, and even though we hurt Him, He does not withhold blessings from us. His love is unconditional, whereas ours can be, and is many times, conditional. He blesses when we don’t deserve it. We bless, most of the time, when it’s convenient or feels good to bless. But God is always good, so He always blesses.

*In doing my studies over Philippians, I have been looking at the suffering that Paul went through. In Acts he talks about how he’s ready to die for Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 4 and 2 Corinthians 11 we see the way Paul was treated; the persecution, (being beaten and stoned) facing hunger and thirst, being despised and defamed, to truly suffer for Christ’s sake. And in all this, he says, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Phil. 4:11) Let us learn what it means to be content; to be truly satisfied in the Lord. To lack everything this world has to offer and be ok, because we still have the Lord. Paul knew his suffering was for the gospel’s sake, and he endured. He knew the Lord had a plan in it. Even though Paul faced all this persecution he stayed bold in sharing his faith. Would there be nothing greater than to be persecuted and suffer for Christ? For the gospel’s sake? John 15:13- “The greatest love is to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Is Jesus not our friend? He is our best friend! Let us be willing to lay down our lives for Him, to absolutely surrender to Him everything in our lives, our whole being.

*1 Corinthians 8:29-31- The time is short and the form of this world is passing away.

*1 Corinthians 9:16, “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.” Jeremiah 20:9, “But His Word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.”

*Wilderness experiences, according to Chuck Smith. The purpose of our legitimate wilderness experiences is that God uses them to prepare us to enter into the blessings He has for us and get us where we are going with Him. But is we resist His work in our lives and allow the wilderness experiences to make us bitter, and we don’t trust Him, but rebel against Him, we will find ourselves spending much more time in the wilderness than was necessary and than what He intended, which will be an illegitimate wilderness experience. Legitimate wilderness experiences are important parts of our growth as children of God. Illegitimate wilderness experiences are a complete waste of time.

On Monday I spent some time at the orphanage holding the sweetest babies ever. These children are so happy and so lovable. You just want to squeeze them! :) You would never know half the things these children have already been through by looking at their faces. They are so precious. I fed some of the 1-5 month olds and rocked them to sleep. It was amazing!

On Tuesday I taught a Bible Study with the girls at Bambejja, and they helped teach me more Luganda. Next week there will be a new group of girls coming in, so I’ll be teaching a Bible study as well as English, which I’m excited about.

Wednesday I had a Frontline meeting to go to. We’re going to a different slum next Wednesday, one where most of the boys who come on Saturdays live, and this is the slum where most of them get high. I guess there’s a lot of pretty crazy stuff that goes on there. I’m excited to finally be able to go. After the meeting I went to church, and got to pray with two girls to rededicate their lives to the Lord! Praise Him!

Thursday I taught my first Bible Study with the women of Jordan House (this is the widows and childrens ministry that’s located in the slums). I was expecting 10 women to show up and 34 women came! Praise the Lord! These women are so hungry for the Word and they are so excited about the Lord! I wish that I had the faith of some of them. Even though their situations look heartbreaking from an outside perspective, their faith doesn’t waiver. If anything it’s made stronger. It’s incredible! They love the Lord so much! Their hearts are filled with so much gratitude for any sort of teaching. We have so much teaching available pretty much anytime we want, and sometimes we don’t even go to church; we take it for granted. These women are starving for one or two teachings a week. Their hearts are so open to what the Lord wants to speak to them and they are so encouraged. He is going to do a mighty work in their lives. I just know it. They are so willing to allow Him work and to speak. It was such a blessing to be there and be a part of it.

As I prepare myself for this next month and the mission trips I’ll be going on, I get more and more excited, and more and more fear seems to overwhelm me. Fear about the things I’ll see and the things I’ll experience. Satan has even been attacking my dreams lately, some of the scariest dreams I’ve ever had. I keep hearing crazy stories about some of the things that happen in the villages I’ll be going to and I can’t believe I’m going. I don’t know if I’m ready for it or not, but I know the Lord has work He wants to do there and I want to be a part of it.

“God promises us many things, but He doesn’t promise us tomorrow.”

Romans 12:9-12, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, fervent in prayer.”

The Lord has been teaching me a lot about seeking Him now, because we aren’t promised tomorrow. Just like we evangelize to people all the time, “Today is the day of salvation, get right with the Lord now”, it’s the same for us too. Isaiah 32:17- God wants us to have a right relationship with Him and a right relationship with others, but we can’t have one without the other. When our relationship with God is right, our relationships with others will be right. And that will give us a life of peace, quietness, and assurance.

He is teaching me more and more about contentment and my complaining heart. These people have nothing and yet, you look at the faces of these kids and they are so happy. They don’t know they are lacking everything convenient, and everything unnecessary. The Lord gives them what they need for the day. He truly provides them with manna. I’m realizing I’m the one who has nothing, because I have everything. I don’t have to trust in the Lord for anything really, most of the time, because everything I want and need is pretty much at my fingertips. But for the people here, it’s not. Their dependency must be on something/ someone greater than themselves, and hopefully it’s in the Lord. They are content with nothing, and I am discontent with everything.

He is also teaching me to remember that He is a God of restoration, and the things that we can’t fix He can.

Psalm 136 and Psalm 33- God is great and He does wonderful things!

This weekend was so much fun! I’m so excited about the awesome ministry opportunities that are to come, especially this next month. The Lord is gonna do some amazing things, but I’m also anticipating it being rather difficult because of that. Satan will be working over time.

On Saturday we had sports day with the kids. We took them to a sports field to play basketball and football (soccer). They are some rowdy boys! As hard as I tried to get in there and play with them I was kind of scared for my life haha. After an hour or so of playing, we sat them down, did a skit for them on the story of Hannah, fed them, and off we went to one of the greatest nights of my life….Love Kampala Festival. It was probably the biggest festival Uganda’s ever seen, so I’m not gonna lie, I was a little nervous someone was gonna start dropping bombs, but Praise the Lord everything went really smooth! Thank you if you were praying. It reminded me a lot of the outreach we did last semester only on a much bigger scale. It was sort of like being at a Uganda Hillsong concert. They had motocross, a huge kids area with blow up castles and face painting, lots of food, a message, and lots of music. Papa San is this pretty big artist from Jamaica, who sings reggae music, and everyone loves him here, so when he got up to play everyone went crazy! I hadn’t danced so much in such a long time! Everyone here loves to dance, so it was so much fun! A lot of times even when the kids don’t have food, they’re content if they’re dancing.

The worship was really good too! As I listened, the words to Hosanna really tugged at my heart:

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like You have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Everything I am for Your Kingdoms cause

As I walk from earth into eternity

Let that be our prayer!!!

We had so much fun that Sunday after church we went back for the rest of the day. A lot of the kids came back too, which was awesome. It was pretty much the exact same thing again, but we had just as much fun as if we hadn’t been there the night before. My feet ached and my legs hurt, but it was all worth it!

I am broken...

So this week, I’ve been very busy, doing a lot of different ministries, but also taking a lot of time to read the Word and study a lot for the Bible studies I’ll be teaching while I’m here. Everything here is growing and stretching me, and preparing for Bible studies is teaching me so much!

Last Saturday the Frontline boys all got tested for HIV and AIDS. Most of them came back negative, but I think a couple came back positive L I love these kids so much, but some of them only speak Luganda, so the language barrier can be a huge hindrance, so I’m trying to learn some Luganda J I can speak about six words right now haha, but it’s enough to get me by. I’m starting to develop some sweet relationships with some of them though and I have so much fun just hanging out with them. They had this project they had to do from the week before, where they got in groups, were given a camera, and went out and took pictures of their favorite things or how they liked to spend their time. The winning picture was of a boy against a wall holding an empty cup and a woman in the back making food. The boy who took the picture said it symbolized the suffering they had to go through. Other pictures we saw were of the kids searching for coins and doing their laundry in the dirtiest, most disease infested water! So sad.

After working at Frontline, some of the people I work with took me to this annual Festival of the Arts, which was amazing! There were African dancers from Rwanda, a fashion show, and the Bayimba Kids Choir, made up of these orphan children, who were so cute! They sang and danced about the Lord, and so we sang and danced about the Lord! It was awesome! I was so stoked to finally get to show off my moves, and let me tell you, my African friends were thoroughly impressed ;) haha

Every Sunday morning there’s a service for the Frontline boys, and this week was my first Sunday with them. It was great, and then I went to the regular service. I love the worship here, and the teaching is always really good!

On the taxi ride home I got to share a little about Jesus with the guy sitting next to me. He said he knew about Jesus but that no one had ever sat down and talked to him about Him, so I was super excited to tell him. About the time I got started really talking to him it was his stop, but I’m hoping somehow I’ll see him again and get to tell him the Good News. The rest of my day was spent studying for a Bible study and resting, as I’ve been battling with a terrible cold. I’m praying it goes away fast so it doesn’t affect anything here.

The Lord is opening up so many doors and I’m beginning to be overwhelmed, but in a good way! I’m really stoked about all the opportunities He’s blessing me with! I never dreamed about doing ¾ of the things I’m doing here, but it’s all really good! I just feel so ill-equipped for all of this, but I’m willing to do it if this is what He’s calling me to.

Monday I went to the orphanage again and hung out with the kids J I held 3 week old Moses for as long as I possibly could. If there was one kid I could adopt while I was here it would be him. He is the sweetest thing. He is one that was left in a plastic bag on the side of the road by his mother. Someone walked by and kicked the bag and heard him cry. He came to the orphanage pretty much right after he was born.

Tuesday I taught my first Bible study with the girls of Bambejja. They were all so sweet and so grateful. I didn’t think I was going to have to share this week, but that I would just be introducing myself and getting to know them, so I had to think on my toes. But the Lord totally provided the words and I simply shared God’s love with them. They were so excited to have a white person teaching haha Most of them said they were saved, but a few of them were Muslim, so I tried to answer their questions about Jesus and God. There was one girl named Jackie, who said she loved God and wanted to be saved and forgiven, but she wanted to wait til next month for some reason. I gave her the “Repent brethren! For the Kingdom of God is at hand/ Today is the day of Salvation” talk. She said, “Ok, maybe when you come back Thursday.” I’m praying for her. To see someone come to the Lord here would be amazing!

Wednesday I went out into the slums again to visit some of the kids that come to Frontline. We sat and talked with them and I made a bracelet, which I was pretty stoked about J Then we had a Frontline meeting, where we talked about “contentment” and I realized just how discontent I am. And we found out that one of the kids that’s been part of the ministry for a while now was preaching on the street corner! Praise the Lord! I was blown away! Then I went to church, where the message totally convicted my heart, I pretty much had to rededicate my life to the Lord, and I came home.

Thursday (today) as I sit here and write this (everything else has been written throughout the week, even the things below) I can’t really describe to you how I’m feeling. I’m broken. The Lord is breaking me of so many things. It is painful and honestly, I can’t tell you I’m excited for the rest of it. The only thing I’m excited for is the outcome. The Lord is showing me things here and within myself that I never thought I would see, that I never wanted to see within myself. As the Lord continues to work, Satan continues to attack, more and more each day. I am exhausted and I am weary; I feel so alone and yet I know I’m not. I’m here to do the Lord’s work, but in myself I am not equipped. My full dependence must be on Him. I feel a heaviness today that I haven’t felt in a long time! A heaviness for the people of Uganda, the things I see, and the things I would never want to see; and a heaviness within myself. My heart is burdened. I am broken.

Here are some of the things the Lord has been teaching me:

LOVE, LOVE, and more LOVE!!! But, in order to have a love like Christ’s, I need to have a life like Christ’s; His compassion needs to be the very breath and joy of my life.

Prayer, prayer, and more prayer! The Lord attaches great importance to the things that concern me; even those things that may seem insignificant. And He wants to have amazing fellowship with me, so I need to bring everything to Him, even those things that seem insignificant.

Isaiah 1:18-20- God was still patient and longsuffering, despite His people’s continual sin. He offered them a solution to their suffering. They could either choose to be obedient and be blessed, or to rebel and be devoured.

Realizing that God is on the throne all the time, not just in times of desperation. Anything that obstructs my view of God needs to die, so that I can see Him high and lifted up.

Isaiah 6:8-“Whom shall I send and who will go for Us? Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.”

He’s teaching me to find joy and contentment solely in Him.

Thank you so much for all your love, support, and prayers! Words alone cannot express my gratitude, but know that each and every post on my wall makes me smile a whole bunch! Your prayers are definitely felt over here, as I feel the Lord working in the ministries I’m a part of, as well as in my life personally so much! He is incredible! Akwagalanyo! That means I love you in Luganda J

Phil. 1:3-9- “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I HAVE YOU IN MY HEART, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of me with grace. For God is my witness, HOW GREATLY I LONG FOR YOU ALL WITH THE AFFECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

orphans, widows, and girls at risk

James 1:27, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

Thursday was my first day at the Jordan House, which is right in the middle of one of the slums. I went there to get a tour and we walked around to check in on some of the women and children. There is a residential facility for orphans from young to like 19 years old or so, and the women who live in "rooms" in the slums are widows who have anywhere from 2-5 children, most with different fathers, as polygamy is huge here! They get pregnant and a lot of times the men leave them. We prayed over an old lady who had malaria, she was very weak and wasn't well at all. We visited a few different ladies, talked to them and prayed with them in their rooms. The women make beads out of paper (it's really cool!) and turn them into necklaces, and then the woman who owns the facility has them taken to Australia and she sells them and that's how the women in the slums make money. The necklaces are beautiful! You would never know they were made out of paper.

We went to see this woman who had four children, one who was younger than a year, and her oldest was 6 years old. The mother had her six year old daughter give the baby a bath and she put the baby in boiling water! The baby suffered third degree burns and the mom didn't tell anyone. Praise the Lord she's ok and she's one of the happiest babies! So we saw the mom and her children. The mom has HIV and one of her four children also has HIV. They are being treated and will probably live 15-20 years. As we prayed over them I held back tears, but as soon as we walked out they came streaming down my face. This was even harder to see than the slum I saw Wednesday with the kids. It's something undesribable... overwhelming...i was left speechless. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but it continues to put things into perspective and is making me truly grateful for what I have. These people have nothing!! Nothing!! But they are some of the happiest people I have ever seen!

I have the blessing of being able to go there every Thursday from now on to teach a Bible study with the women in the morning and do house visits in the afternoon.

Today (Friday) I went to check out this other organization called "Bombejja", which means "princess" in Luganda. It's a project foused on women at risk and children in the community. The girls are between the ages of 16-22 and the children there are in grade school. All of them come from abusive homes, and/or their parents have left them or died. The kids go to school during the day, and some of the kids and girls live there. I will be going there two days a week, teaching a Bible study for the girls and teaching some of them English. I've never done either of those things, so the Lord is totally taking me out of my comfort zone and stretching me. I can't believe I'm going to teach English haha! I have enough trouble speaking it myself. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to share with them and teach them!

Getting home today was a trip! It's so hard to get around here, because you have to take taxis everywhere, which are big vans that are supposed to hold 14 people, but hold 16-17 people) and it's super confusing! It took me about two hours to get home, when it should've probably taken an hour at the most. The people drive so crazy here! They hardly ever stop, and pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way. If the vehicle is bigger than you, you have to move! That's like the only rule of the road. Or you will get run over! In order to cross the street you have to weave in and out of cars and just pray a lot! Well, the kids were getting out of school, the taxis are driving really fast, one boy thought he could run right out into traffic and make it across the street, and my taxi driver hit him. It caused chaos in the street and I really thought someone was gonna get shot, but everyone was ok. The boy got right up and walked to the side of the road. Praise the Lord! But everyone was rioting! It was crazy! I'm absolutely exhausted today!

Lord, give me strength, give me Your love and a heart of compassion. Give me a prayerful spirit, one of intercession for them. Pour out your grace and mercy on every one of these people. Let Your hand of protection be upon them. Strengthen them. Heal them, if it be Your will. Pour out Your love on them. Lord, teach me to be content in everything and grateful for everything. In Jesus name.

Prayer requests: For the women and children here. For the Bible studies that I feel so privileged to be able to teach- that it would be the Lord's words and not mine. That the Holy Spirit would speak to them through it and they would walk away feeling the love of Christ! Please pray for the Christian music festivals that are going to the happening here. I think there is one this weekend and there's one the weekend of the 24-25, which is supposed to be the biggest festival Uganda's ever seen or something, so it's probably high risk for a bombing.

All they need is LOVE :)

1 Corinthians 13:4-8- LOVE IS THE GREATEST GIFT! self-sacrifice is the very essence of love. John 15:13- THE GREATEST LOVE! it is in very deed our calling to become exactly like Jesus in His love and self-sacrifice. we are in the world, just as Jesus was, to have fellowship with men, loving relationships with them, and to win them to the Father who created them! We are in the world that men might see and long for what we have, that they might glorify the Father (Matt. 5:16). We are not of the world, but are entirely independent of all that the world holds desirable or necessary, with principles and laws completely opposite of those that rule the world. the glory of God should be the aim of our existence!

i went to "Loving Hearts" orphanage on Monday and fell in love! those kids were quite possibly the cutest and most lovable kids i've ever seen. there are 19 children, ages 0-2 and they just want to be held and loved, and i felt so blessed to be able to be there with them, even just for a little bit. it's probably one of the nicest orphanages in all of Kampala. i will be helping out there one day a week, which is such a blessing!

i went to the legit slums for the first time today to follow up with some of the kids from Frontline. heart-wrenching to say the very least! i can't even really describe it. part of me is still very speechless and trying to take it all in. it looked somewhat like a lot of kampala, but seeing up close the way they live...they have nothing! nothing! and yet they are still so happy! it's dirty and smelly...some of the most terrible conditions i've ever seen and pretty much all of them have horrible diseases and viruses. they say "muzungu! muzungu!" which means "white person". and they are so excited that you've come to just spend time with them. i got to sit down with a few of the boys in their "home", if it can even be called that. it's the tiniest room that you wouldn't even think would house one person; and four boys work there, making things (i.e. necklaces and different things out of wood, which are amazing!) to sell, and sleep in there! they sleep on the ground, many times with nothing under them. i saw one room, even tinier than that one that 16 boys sleep in! yes, 16! how? i don't know, but they tried to show me. they would hold my hand, have me put my arms around them, want to take tons and tons of pictures, and just hang out. i saw two babies, whose mother had thrown them away along the side of the road, who were over a year old, but were so tiny! they went hungry a lot and it was incredibly hard to not be able to do anything for them. but above any material thing or food we could give them all they need and want is love, and the most important thing we can do is show them Jesus. although they are so blessed to have us there, it was so much more of a blessing for me to be there with them. (check out my facebook for pictures.)

next wednesday i'll be going to an even worse slum area, where the kids get high and girls prostitute themselves. i can't imagine anything worse than what i saw today, but what i hear is that i have to see it. it's not something that can be described.

our verses for the boys who are a part of Frontline:

Romans 8:35-39- "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distresses, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: 'For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' Yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ephesians 3:17-19- "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

i still can't believe i'm here doing this! as heartbreaking as it is, there's no other place i would rather be right now. it's one of the most blessed experiences i've ever had!

other than that this week i attended a class at the Bible College, went to a women's Bible study, went to church (which is sweet and people accept the Lord at about every service!) and babysat the kids here at the house. we colored and read bedtime stories :) their kids are awesome!

my prayer: Lord, give me the desire to live as You lived, and to love as You love. Cleanse my heart and purify my mind. Teach us all how You would use us to manifest Your love to the world. Fill us full of Your love, so that we may walk in love, even as Christ loved us. May we live everyday as people who have the Holy Spirit to enable us to love everyone with whom we come into contact. Under every possible circumstance, let us love with a love that is not of us, but of Yourself. Amen. Let that be our prayer!

Update :)

"When we are complacent and satisfied with our lack of spiritual growth and we fail to continue in our spiritual journey full force, we too set ourselves up for failure."

this past weekend has been filled with blessings! here's an update on what's been going on. i'm still in awe of everything around me, trying to take it all in. it's such a different environment and totally different change of pace. the cattle herding in the middle of the road, the chickens always crossing the road, and the goats make me smile :) the kids with the big stomachs and the ones sitting on the side of the road begging for money because their parents make them is heart wrenching to say the least. i hugged my first little black girl on thursday!!! it was awesome! she was the cutest and sweetest little girl begging for money right outside the church and i was immediately drawn to her. she kept looking at me with the biggest smile on her face (which was probably because i was white, "muzungu", and she wanted money, but i like to tell myself she just wanted a hug). because everything in the city is so crazy i was forced to keep walking, but as i looked behind me she started walking toward me and gave me a hug :) i wanted to take her home and keep her forever.

i tried my first african food on thursday as well. it's called matoke. it's like a mashed banana or plantain. this one was more like a plantain with indian curry on the outside!!! it was amazing! i've tried a couple more foods since then but they're very plain. since i'm living with americans i'm very blessed to be fed some of what i would normally eat, but even american food tastes different here.

i've been spending a lot of time at the church the past few days, getting my schedule figured out and whatnot. last saturday was my first day with Frontline (the street kids ministry). i loved them from the moment i saw all of them. there were about 30-50 boys who were some of the most dirty and smelly, torn up kids, but i loved them and wanted to hug all of them. most of them come to get food and then go back out onto the streets, but while they are there on saturdays they do worship and have a message, and this time i got to draw with them and paint with them, serve them food and just hang out with them. i got to here come of their stories, which are insane! some of them have been on the streets for months and some for years. i can't imagine living on the streets anywhere, but especially here. they steal to get money and food, and then they sell whatever they steal to get money. they get beaten by cops if the cops catch them. but while they're at the church and safe on saturdays they have so much fun! the people i'm going to be working with are great and have such a heart for these kids.

after that we all went to the discipleship house, where some of the boys who show a willingness to change live and are taken care of by one of the people who works there. when i say house, i mean a very very small two room shack, that has three sets of bunkbeds in one room with three beds on each bunk, and the other room is the sitting room thats about the size of our mail room. so small! we played cards, ate bread and tea (tea is huge here and its very good) and we had a great time!

i rode my first boda boda on the way home. i was really nervous haha it had been rainging really hard earlier that day so all the roads were wet. they are not safe and the drivers are crazy, weaving in and out of traffic! sometimes they get into accidents and people get very injured on them, but sometimes you're forced to take them. on the main roads they go super fast and on the back gravel roads there are so many potholes, that they have to swerve a lot and you feel like you're going to tip over. the women ride sideways on them, but they're crazy! the taxis are like big 16 or 17 passenger vans that everyone rides in, which is normally what i take, because it's the cheapest mode of transportation. i feel much safer in a vehicle. i almost get run over by a boda boda or a taxi everyday here haha but it keeps me on my toes.

i went to my first tribal dance/cultural night last night with some friends from frontline. it was absolutely awesome and definitely something i've been wanting to do while i'm here! i was kinda nervous because there were a lot of american tourists there but the Lord's hand was upon the event and we had such a good time!

i got my first full night of sleep last night since i've been here, which was amazing and definitely needed. and i'm going to get all my shots tomorrow.

so, along with frontline, which i'm super stoked about working with, there are many other ministry opportunites available for me:

*jordan house- works with women and children in the slums. it's a community based program to teach them how to live. the children stay in a residential facility and the women come and go for a month or more. i'll learn more about this when i meet with the lady that runs it this week. i'll be taking a tour of the facility, which is based in the slums.

*bombesia-this is a project for women at risk or women who used to be prostitutes, visiting them in the slums and ministering to them. i'm going to be meeting with the lady that runs this later this week as well.

*there is an orphanage that i will be visiting today, to see if thats a possibility. i get to hold some little black babies!!!

*i'll be going out into villages and maybe schools to show the Jesus film, which brings many people to the Lord! so stoked! that's one of the things i really wanted to do, was to go out into the villages and show this film. never thought it would be possible.

*i'm going to be helping teach a Bible study with the girls who work with Frontline Ministries, which will be awesome! i've never taught a Bible study before, but i feel like the Lord's been wanting me to for a while.

*So Sweet!!! i may have the opportunity to go up to northern Uganda, to Kitgum, to work at a church for about a week or so. this is where the LRA and child soldiers were, so i may have the opportunity to minister to these people who have been completely traumatized by everything that happened! i can't even imagine! for more information on the LRA check out www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm

*other than that i will be doing office work at the church and helping out with anything else they might need.

so there's a nutshell of whats been going on. the Lord is teaching me a lot personally and i'm excited to see what else He has in store.

thank you again for your prayers! God is great and greatly to be praised! I feel more than blessed to be here and be a part of everything! I can't believe I'm here doing this right now!

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

Everything is crazy here from day to day. A couple months ago there was a bombing here in Kampala that killed 60-70 people at an Ethiopian restaurant that is very close to the house I'm staying at now. They just reopened the restaurant today with a lot of security. There are eight more bombs that they're looking for here in Kampala, and there was a bomb threat again just a couple days ago. When the last bombing happened they only knew a couple days in advance, so I'm kind of just expecting it to happen sometime in the near future. They have been at high risk for a while now, but even moreso since a couple days ago. They are targeting Americans, Ethiopians, and Christians. Well, that's two out of three for me and many others here. We have security at the church and an armed guard there on Sundays, but I don't think you can ever be too prepared for a bombing. We have to stay away from any public places where there are large crouds of people (i.e. soccer games, etc.). I think there are even travel advisories out right now about not traveling to Uganda because of everything that's been going on, but I'm not sure. Bombings can happen anywhere, even in the United States, but because of what's been happening here in the past few months it honestly makes me a little nervous. I have to remind myself that the Lord is in control. Please pray for salvations and the safety of everyone over here, especially those who are being targeted. Thank you so much for your prayers! Much love and God Bless!

i'm here!

getting here was a little pre-adventure, adventure :) i had a 6 hour layover in London, so i decided to get on a bus and tour the city for a while. i went to Windsor Castle, which is where the Queen lives when she's there, and that's also where they do the Changing of the Guards, which i missed by a couple hours. i walked around, took some pictures, really just wanting to see one of those cute little red telephone booths. i turned the last corner and there it was! i was so stoked. then i took the bus back just in time to catch my flight.

i landed in Uganda about 8 am their time. it was one of the greenest places i had ever seen...so beautiful! the trees looked like little broccoli stocks haha. the clouds looked as if they were touching the ground. it was like Nahum 1:3: like the Lord woke up and decided to take a stroll across Africa and left cloud puffs from His footprints. haha (E.C. that's for you) i stepped out of the plane, got my visa, and was greeted by my house mom that i'll be staying with for the first couple weeks that i'm here. she's super sweet and it was so nice to have someone to talk to. the weather here was in the 80's and not that humid, a nice change from California. they drive on the opposite side of the road and you sit on the opposite side of the car, just like in Europe, which was really weird for me to get used to.

driving here is crazy! people pass on small streets, don't necessarily stay in their lanes, go whenever they want to, pass when cars are only ten feet away coming in the opposite direction (which looks like it's going to be a head on collision). for me it's weird. for them, it's normal. they have "boda boda's" here, which are like motorcycles that they use to transport different things, from people to animals haha to food, tires, etc. you can see them riding around with chickens, goats, dogs, cows, everything and anything on the back, and they are the craziest drivers ever!

there are baby goats and chickens everywhere!!! we also saw a boy herding cattle down the middle of the street! haha

women really carry baskets of banana's on their heads! it's so crazy! they'll have tons of stuff on their heads and also be carrying their baby on their backs. some of the women will have their kids stand by the street and put their hands out begging for food, and they'll go hide and watch them, and then come back later and get them. these are like the kids you see on tv with the big stomachs. :(

many of the houses are like what you think you would see. it's very dirty here. i'm staying in one of the nice parts of town. it's very protected with a gate and security. they live relatively close to the restaurant that got bombed a couple months ago. we drove by it today. so crazy! they say there are still eight bombs here in Kampala that they are looking for, so when you go to public places, like restaurants, security checks you and your cars. you see government military and security all over on the streets and in churches and any other public places with big guns, like it's nothing. there is also going to be a preisdential election here in February, so the months leading up to it can be kind of crazy, with riots and stuff.

a lot of the cars here have stickers about Jesus on them. almost everyone here has heard of Jesus, but doesn't have a relationship with Him. i went to church tonight, which was cool: there's two different Calvary Chapel locations here. there are about 200 people that come Wednesday nights and about 1,100 that come on Sundays. i'm so stoked to start working with the kids! they're having an outreach Friday that i'm hoping to be a part of, talking to and teaching the kids that are living on the streets.

i'm in AFRICA!!! i can't believe i'm here! i feel like everyday will be such an adventure and i'm looking forward to it.

thank you to everyone who put something in my box! those letters were so encouraging and really blessed me :) i love you all very much!

prayer requests: the women and children i'll be ministering to.
                         safety, as it's kind of crazy over here right now.
                         that Jesus would continually be working on and changing my heart to have an eternal perspective.

thank you so much! love you!

i'm really doing this

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands

To the suffering and the lean

To the ones the world has cast aside

Where you want me I will be

I will go, I will go

I will go, Lord send me

To the world, To the lost

To the poor and hungry

Take everything I am

I'm clay within your hands

I will go, I will go, send me

Let me not be blind with privilege

Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me

Not be spent on me in vain

Let this life be used for change

I wanna live for you

Go where you lead me

I wanna follow you

Send me!

i'm 30 minutes away from leaving for the airport with so many mixed emotions. am i really doing this? i can't believe i'm doing this. am i ready? i'm not prepared. i'm excited. i'm sad. i know the Lord is going to work. i can't wait to see everything. i can't wait to see someone accept the Lord. i want to go on a safari! i want to see a kangaroo!


i'm all over the place, but the bottom line is: the Lord opened ridiculous doors for me to be able to go and i am to glorify Him in this. this is His trip. not mine. i must take myself and my feelings out of this and replace them with Him and His desires. an eternal perspective.


i love all of you! words cannot express my gratitude for your love, prayers, and support. i will try to update this as much as i can. i'll see you all in three and a half months.