So, if you're wondering what's happening in my goal to return to Uganda, here's a little update. I feel that the time is getting close, but I still don't have any exact timeline. God is speaking to me so much about my vision, but as far as timing, He's just saying "wait and trust." I am dreaming with Him, writing down the ideas and strategies that He brings to my mind. It has been a wonderful experience, feeling closer to my goal.
I have begun fundraising. I have dreams of an orphanage and a facility where I can host mission teams, and possible a school someday. Buildings cost money, so I've created an account for people to donate online if that is easier. Find the link here if you are interested. http://www.gofundme.com/7vv030 - I also take personal checks for now, which is better for me since this website takes a small cut. I just know online donation methods are easier. ;)
I am also collecting recycling and turning it in for money here in California. Friends are bringing me their bags and I am digging in trash cans and picking stuff up off the roads. It's a sticky and tedious job, but I am willing to work for my dreams! For now, I'm working on getting to Uganda, 5 cents at a time! :) I am working 2 part time jobs now, trying to pull ahead financially and pay off my debts.
On the Uganda front, my brother and ministry partner Alex is planning to start building a home for us in January. His wife Violet will be giving birth to their 2nd child at the end of this year, and he has also adopted a couple older kids so they need a larger home. He plans to build big enough so that I will have a room when I arrive. I would like to begin sending him some of the money I've raised to contribute to the building of the home. He says he can build it for around $5000 and furnish it for another 5000. He's working to get the land planted so we will have food. We will work to minimize living expenses, but that requires some up front money to get started.
As far as my plans when I get there, what I have concluded right now is that I want to spend my first 6 months to a year just living there and getting to know the people and serving where I can before I launch any teaching type ministry. I want to build relationships and learn the culture. I think it would be arrogant to just hit the ground teaching. I am not 'big super American' with all the answers to their lives. I want to serve, find out where the greatest needs are and find ways I can meet those needs. Hopefully the Mzungu celebrity status will wear off with some time too. lol My hope is to find leaders during that time that will be able to continue what we start after I am gone if that is ever to happen. I want to provide them with whatever training I can so that they can be the leaders in their community. Eventually I want to get a children's home and school going, but that will take some time I believe. I have so many ideas, so many passions, it's hard to know where to start, but hopefully that first time period of building will give me the answers.
I am so grateful for those who have been contributing monthly to my vision. Knowing that people believe in me and my dream is so encouraging. When I get under the stress of "when" and "how", it helps to know that I have support from my friends and family. I have known since 2007 that Uganda was my destination, but God has been doing a lot of work in my heart to get me ready for this mission. I have grown so much, especially in the last 2 years since I moved to Bethel. I think the time is getting really close. I'm excited to get going, my heart longs to be back in Uganda.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Vision Update Pt 1
I want to share my vision, or at least pieces of it for those of you who want to know what my plans are. I don't know all the details, but I can share my heart and my passion.
Kids are my main focus at first. I want to be able to provide a home for children who have no one to look after them. It would be great if I could also have a school. Education is so important in Uganda, but I also want to be able to focus on helping the kids find their identity and then pursuing their own passions. I want them to be able to be kids, playing and not worrying about their next meal, or their futures. I want to encourage joy and personal freedom in who they are.
I will have lots of sports related activities of course, as that is a great way to build relationship and just have fun! Alex is the town soccer coach and has an amazing ministry already with the kids. His wife Violet is great at volleyball and other sports too. The kids love them!! Some may scoff at sports being a ministry, but solving practical needs is as important as anything "religious" might be. Tell a man about Jesus and leave him starving, what do you think will happen? Nothing. Alex has been such a good coach, his players have been receiving scholarships to better schools. Basic education need provided by what Alex is giving them. It's a great thing! I mostly want to have fun, but if there are other opportunities to be had, that's awesome!
I want to train up local people to love on the kids and become the teachers so that I work myself out of a job. I have watched as the teachers hit the students with sticks for stepping out of line. I hated seeing that! I want to share what I have learned from Danny Silk's book "Loving Your Kids on Purpose" - I want to see the kids grow in freedom and responsibility in the way that God grows us up. Fear of punishment doesn't lead to a lasting life of good choices. Once the fear is removed, they're free to do a lot of things that we thought that we'd convinced them not to do. I want to teach them how to make good choices because of love and understanding of natural consequences. Freedom is what Jesus came to give us, so why shouldn't children have that same right?
I recently heard of a place in South Africa I think where they housed orphans in homes of 8-10 kids with a set of parents in each home. Multiple homes made up a little community and the children had a chance to be a part of a family! I love this idea! I would love to find local couples that want to pour into the orphan children and love them into wholeness.
There, that's a good start. I will post more in another update. My vision covers many arenas.
Kids are my main focus at first. I want to be able to provide a home for children who have no one to look after them. It would be great if I could also have a school. Education is so important in Uganda, but I also want to be able to focus on helping the kids find their identity and then pursuing their own passions. I want them to be able to be kids, playing and not worrying about their next meal, or their futures. I want to encourage joy and personal freedom in who they are.
I will have lots of sports related activities of course, as that is a great way to build relationship and just have fun! Alex is the town soccer coach and has an amazing ministry already with the kids. His wife Violet is great at volleyball and other sports too. The kids love them!! Some may scoff at sports being a ministry, but solving practical needs is as important as anything "religious" might be. Tell a man about Jesus and leave him starving, what do you think will happen? Nothing. Alex has been such a good coach, his players have been receiving scholarships to better schools. Basic education need provided by what Alex is giving them. It's a great thing! I mostly want to have fun, but if there are other opportunities to be had, that's awesome!
I want to train up local people to love on the kids and become the teachers so that I work myself out of a job. I have watched as the teachers hit the students with sticks for stepping out of line. I hated seeing that! I want to share what I have learned from Danny Silk's book "Loving Your Kids on Purpose" - I want to see the kids grow in freedom and responsibility in the way that God grows us up. Fear of punishment doesn't lead to a lasting life of good choices. Once the fear is removed, they're free to do a lot of things that we thought that we'd convinced them not to do. I want to teach them how to make good choices because of love and understanding of natural consequences. Freedom is what Jesus came to give us, so why shouldn't children have that same right?
I recently heard of a place in South Africa I think where they housed orphans in homes of 8-10 kids with a set of parents in each home. Multiple homes made up a little community and the children had a chance to be a part of a family! I love this idea! I would love to find local couples that want to pour into the orphan children and love them into wholeness.
There, that's a good start. I will post more in another update. My vision covers many arenas.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
To update anyone still following this.... I am still moving toward a goal of full time life in Uganda. I'm currently in Redding, CA attending Bethel Church in order to get as much growth as possible in a short time. I have had an incredible year and a half of encountering God and learning to receive His love and in turn, to trust Him more and more. He has proven Himself so faithful in this process. I'm getting involved as much as possible in all the classes available to me here so I can fill up my toolbelt. I still don't know the exact timeline, but I feel it is soon!!
My in country contact, Alex, is still my ministry partner. He is an amazing man of God who just recently had opportunity to prove how trustworthy he is during a difficult adventure he found himself on in Turkey. I am so proud to call Alex my brother and look forward to what God has for us as we join forces in the future.
My in country contact, Alex, is still my ministry partner. He is an amazing man of God who just recently had opportunity to prove how trustworthy he is during a difficult adventure he found himself on in Turkey. I am so proud to call Alex my brother and look forward to what God has for us as we join forces in the future.
Monday, November 12, 2012
October 29 - Heading home
Today we got a new breakfast! After 2 weeks of eggs and toast, we got pancakes! Everyone was so excited! And that is all my journal says. LOL We had to say goodbye to the interns first, they were heading out for a short vacation to Jinja. Lots of hugs and tears as we said farewell to this amazing group of ladies. : (
We left at 11 to go to the airport, had some odd food as we waited. The airport is where we first heard about Sandy, so there was some wondering if we'd make it home. One of our team was from New Jersey, so we weren't sure if she would be able to make it or not. The guys were still up for ministry and had opportunity to pray for this UN soldier from Ghana. We had to say goodbye to 3 more of our team here who had later flights.
Finally boarded and flew to Ethiopia. It seems that our last stop there landed us in the ghetto section of the airport, cuz where we were this time was really nice. As we headed to our gate, we suddenly heard a familiar voice! Chris O!! His flight the day before had been cancelled because of the hurricane I guess, so he had been put on our flight. That was fun running into him. This was the long flight, so it was awesome that it wasn't full and a few of us had the chance to stretch out across 3 seats and get some rest. We touched down in Rome for a re-fuel, so I can sort of say I've been there. : ) Not quite the way I wanted though. There was an autistic kid a few rows back that kept vocalizing loudly, so that was hard, but I understand. I had headphones to help me sleep.
Landed in Toronto finally and a number of us didn't get our bags. A guy took our luggage tags and went and found most of them, so we headed on through the US Customs (in Canada?) and got some "real food" - The final flight to San Fran and we were almost home. Our ride was waiting for us, so we hopped the Bethel van and headed north. We stopped in Vacaville and ate at In-n-Out. I'm not a huge fan, but a real cheeseburger was wonderful after 2 weeks of Ugandan food! I finished my double burger before the boys, but then they went back for seconds, and I did not. They were sick after that. : ) Here is a pic of the aftermath. We fell asleep in the van after that, arrived at the church after 8 and went our separate ways.
It was a beautiful trip, sad to see it end, but I know it won't be my last. I know without a doubt that God has built me for Uganda, everything makes sense there and it feels like home to me. I will be back. Thank you Papa for this amazing opportunity, what a precious gift You have given to me!
We left at 11 to go to the airport, had some odd food as we waited. The airport is where we first heard about Sandy, so there was some wondering if we'd make it home. One of our team was from New Jersey, so we weren't sure if she would be able to make it or not. The guys were still up for ministry and had opportunity to pray for this UN soldier from Ghana. We had to say goodbye to 3 more of our team here who had later flights. Finally boarded and flew to Ethiopia. It seems that our last stop there landed us in the ghetto section of the airport, cuz where we were this time was really nice. As we headed to our gate, we suddenly heard a familiar voice! Chris O!! His flight the day before had been cancelled because of the hurricane I guess, so he had been put on our flight. That was fun running into him. This was the long flight, so it was awesome that it wasn't full and a few of us had the chance to stretch out across 3 seats and get some rest. We touched down in Rome for a re-fuel, so I can sort of say I've been there. : ) Not quite the way I wanted though. There was an autistic kid a few rows back that kept vocalizing loudly, so that was hard, but I understand. I had headphones to help me sleep.
Landed in Toronto finally and a number of us didn't get our bags. A guy took our luggage tags and went and found most of them, so we headed on through the US Customs (in Canada?) and got some "real food" - The final flight to San Fran and we were almost home. Our ride was waiting for us, so we hopped the Bethel van and headed north. We stopped in Vacaville and ate at In-n-Out. I'm not a huge fan, but a real cheeseburger was wonderful after 2 weeks of Ugandan food! I finished my double burger before the boys, but then they went back for seconds, and I did not. They were sick after that. : ) Here is a pic of the aftermath. We fell asleep in the van after that, arrived at the church after 8 and went our separate ways. It was a beautiful trip, sad to see it end, but I know it won't be my last. I know without a doubt that God has built me for Uganda, everything makes sense there and it feels like home to me. I will be back. Thank you Papa for this amazing opportunity, what a precious gift You have given to me!
October 28, 2012 - Sunday
Sunday's crusade was a morning and evening session. Chris preached again this morning, more to the church this time, not to the unsaved. I remembered to bring my earplugs this time, so I was able to handle the noise much better. After the meeting, a few of our team had to leave. It got pretty sad from here on out. This group has become such good friends, it's hard to start saying goodbye. Chris and Stefanie had to head out to get back to Bethel for a conference, and Maggie, Karen, and Kristy left us as well, and then Ruby. So before everyone left, we got team photos of our 3 smaller teams. That was a lot of fun.
Team Richard / Sarah
Team Jacob / Juho 
Team Michael / Charlie
What a fun group!! So, with our fearless leader headed to the airport, someone else had to speak at the evening crusade meeting. Richard led the meeting, and Jacob, Juho, and Brittany spoke. They all did so awesome!! Jacob was funny as he started yelling like Chris. He shared his testimony and we just all had a lot of fun! That's a cool thing about Jacob, he's all about having fun with Holy Spirit! The crowd was loving it, joining him in jumping around and having a blast! Poor Pastor Bob finally lost his voice and had to be replaced as translator in the middle of Juho's speech. He was the best translator we had, so it was sad to see him have to step down. After we finished we headed back to the Field of Dreams and just had a fun last night.
October 27, 2012
Today we did Say No to Hunger again. Last time they had combined two groups into one for the day, but this time we just had the one, a small group of about 10 kids. Some of our team did a lesson on the armor of God for the kids, it was pretty funny. The interns have been teaching this group things like - I am special, I am valuable... It's neat to see them so eager to learn, and so excited to hear that they are worth so much to God, and to us. This picture shows the makeshift armor. It was funny, but you use what you can. I personally liked the baseball bat sword. :) We fed the kids again and then headed out. 
Another Crusade night. I went into this one with a dehydration style headache coming on, so I was pretty miserable with all the loudness. This was the night of the biggest most tangible miracle we saw though. A crippled girl crawled up on stage, she seemed to walk on her hands and feet, totally doubled over. I looked and saw that her foot was twisted up and curled inward. Chris prayed for her and told her to stand up and walk across the stage. She did it! She was staggering, but what do you expect for someone who has never walked upright? I watched her feet and saw that twisted foot straighten out!! That was crazy amazing!! The smile on her face was so big as she walked back and forth, back and forth! The crowd was going wild, obviously they knew this girl, knew her handicap, and were seeing an awesome miracle!
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