I always have such good intentions when I start something. Take this blog, for instance. I started it as a way to amuse myself and it worked...for a time. My last post was a year and a half ago. It's been an interesting year and a half. I have gone to Uganda and had a job in the last year and a half. These are things I never would have thought I would do. Africa? Nothing doing. Never had a desire to go. Until I did. See, I registered to go back to China in 2017 but was hesitant about it even though I knew I felt drawn to go...somewhere. In the course of talking with my team leader (also a close friend), the subject of Uganda came up because China decided not to allow groups like ours to come back. The moment we started talking Uganda, I knew this was where I was being called. I started preparing: support letters went out, yard sale plans were made, pizza buffet fundraiser was scheduled. We covered these events in prayer and God blessed us. Our team of 7 went to Uganda in November. What an experience! Over 30 hours travel time (first flight to arriving in Buziika). Driving from Entebbe to Buziika in the dark. There were a whole lot more vehicles on the road than I was expecting! I think my thank-you/update letter is probably my best summary, so I'll copy and paste here:
It’s orange
dirt roads with bricks made of the same. A bolder green. Bananas growing on
trees. Piles of red clay bricks. Sweet potato mounds. Roaming dogs and
chickens. Tied up goats and cows. Brick, concrete, and wooden structures. Corn
stalks and papaya trees. Wide-eyed, brown-skinned children. Some faces full of
the joy of Christ, others hard and cold. Beautiful faces. Slabs of hanging meat.
Bicycles. Boda bodas (motorcycles). People everywhere. Schools. Signs of
encouragement on taxis (“be blessed”). Furniture on the side of the road. The
Nile River. Heavily armed police. Traffic circles. Jinja Full Gospel Church.
Little naked babies. Teaching Sunday School under a tree. Praising God with the
body. He inhabits the praises of his people. Scripture that goes with the
covenant study I was doing before the trip. Paved roads. Dirt roads. Clothes
drying on trees or the ground. Huge birds. Bridge being protected from
terrorists. Thatched roofs. Tin roofs. Roads so narrow you could reach out and
touch passing cars. Men sitting on boda bodas. Mud houses. Avocado trees. Rain
showers and sunshine.
I’m not even
sure where to begin, so I’ll start with thank you. Thank you for your prayers.
Thank you for donations and financial support. Thank you for allowing me to see
the body of Christ in a new way. I saw what true faith-based ministry means. The
people I encountered truly live by faith that God will provide their every need.
I’m thankful that God saw fit to allow our team (and church and others) to
provide some of their most pressing needs (underwear, pants for the boys,
disposable feminine hygiene products, onesies, formula, bottles, medications,
money to buy a mini refrigerator to store medications, and diapers).
We met many people and I will only be able to
recall some of them. Eric drove the bus. William rode with him to pick us up.
Josephine is in charge of pretty much everything at Canaan Children’s Home.
Papa Isaac and Mama Rebecca run Canaan Home. Florence cooked for us and runs
Pillars of Hope with her husband, Godfrey. Priscilla helped cook. Miriam works
in the clinic (and has an a-maz-ing voice). Jennifer and Sara are dorm moms.
Julius walked us to the schools. Henry and Tonny who work at the Canaan Primary
School as director and headmaster. Then there were the children: Pauline and
Victor who had only been there a couple months. Sophie who did our laundry.
Precious who held my hand from the beginning. Peninah who translated and sang
and helped everywhere she could. Stella and Jane, Derrick and Eddy. Mary and
Martha. Baby Scott and baby Cindy. Eric’s mother, who sells jewelry and
paintings in the tourist area of Jinja.
Each day was a different
schedule. We taught Sunday School (Jinja Full Gospel Church), read scripture
and encouraged the staff, played with the kids, went to the Kindergarten and
Primary schools to teach Bible, traveled to two different baby homes (Sangaalo
in Jinja and Pillars of Hope in Busia), spoke at church (Buziika Full Gospel
Church), and helped plant elephant grass (the cows eat it). We had a
celebration feast and a dance party. We worshipped with people whose skin
doesn’t look like ours, but we share the same spirit. We watched a man pray and
receive Christ as his savior.
We held babies at Pillars of Hope who had
never seen white people. Some of them were absolutely terrified of us at first. We held babies at the Sangaalo Baby Home who
are HIV positive. We sang and danced and played games with children at Canaan.
We heard stories of how God called the men and women to the work of running
these homes. We saw how the babies and children are absolutely loved and
cherished and are FAMILY to each other. There is joy and hope in those places.
(Incidentally, sangaalo means joy).
A few of us, at
various times, struggled with the purpose of this trip. We weren’t coming home
to advocate for adoption. Yes, we did go to update sponsorship files, but
Uganda’s goal is to reunite families. By Thursday, God spoke to me about the
purpose…or at least what he wanted me to learn and see. As believers, we are
the body of Christ. Our group did not go to change the way things are done. We
didn’t go to provide everything for them or to take over. We went to come
alongside them and work with them where they’re working and where God is
working. He used us and our words to give encouragement to a group of people
who are obviously hard working and tired. He used our actions to help get most
of a field planted with needed elephant grass. He used us to show love to
children who have suffered trauma…some of it unspeakable. He used us to bring
joy to faces. We were told over and over that we blessed them so much. I say
that they blessed us so much. We saw the great faith in God that they possess.
We saw the unconditional love that flowed freely around us. We saw the amazing
freedom to praise God and worship him when the Spirit moved. Yes, we may have
blessed them with our coming, but they blessed us as well.
I’m still
processing this mission trip. The many facets and activities require it. I’m
thankful that God allowed me to go and minister and be ministered to. And I’m
thankful that He made it possible through people like you.
And that's that. My friend is leading another team this year for a shorter time period. I am currently not feeling pulled to go, but that could change depending on current circumstances. (A whole other story for another time...)
So, I had a job for 4 months. I believe God called me to it for that period of time. It stretched me in ways I wasn't comfortable with. (Dealing with people will do that.) But, I survived it and grew and am thankful for the people I worked with and am thankful that my time was relatively short.
What I'm reading:
Unseen by Sara Hagerty,
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling,
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and
Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances by Kimberly Smith
I usually don't read this many books at once. The first book is my before bed one in an attempt to be off my electronic devices for 20-30 minutes before I go to sleep. HP is because my daughter asked me to read the series. The third one is because I started it and found I really like it; I have no idea how long it will take me to read all of it, though. The fourth was recommended and I already had it on my kindle.
This is probably a long-enough entry for today. Here's to aiming to keep up (again) for my non-existent readers.
