Coming Home

The past few weeks it has been very hard to find internet let alone internet that works so I am sorry these past few updates have been coming in late.

SOROTI

I mentioned in my last letter, what we were doing the last week of outreach, but here is a recap/update on how the last week went. The last week of ministry, my outreach team joined together with the other outreach team for ministry. This week we were working with Catholic Catechists (like a pastor). These people have had no training at all on how to study the bible let alone teach the bible. All they have been trained in is the meaning of the sacraments. So our team came in and taught them how to study the bible as well as how to prepare a teaching. It was a challenge for most of us because only 2 out of 8 of us had a Catholic background. We thought it would be a challenge to relate to them because of such different beliefs. However, we found them very open to hear the teachings that we had to offer and they picked up the method of study very quickly.

COMING HOME

As I close out this school and pack my bags to come home, I am also closing out this year. At the beginning of the year, I left home for bible school not knowing that directly after graduating, I would be jumping on a plane to go to Africa as a bible teacher. The driving word that God gave me for this year as a confirmation to do the bible school was “Stop doing, be still, and get to know who I am. Then, let ME do through you.” Before this year, I was very works minded. I felt I had to earn God’s love so I had to be a good Christian to earn that. But God told me to STOP just know who God is. So the first part of that word was what the bible school was for me.  God used nine intense months of studying every word of the bible to really show me who God is. He showed me his character and I grew more intimately in love with my God. The second part of that word “let me do through you”, I later learned was the confirming/directing word to have become a bible teacher in Uganda. I know without a shadow of a doubt, God called me to commit to these two things this year. This word, “God doing through me” is really my testimony of these three months in Uganda. When I came, I was so tired and drained I did not feel I had the strength to pour out. It takes a lot of strength and responsibility, and selflessness to be a bible teacher (Check out James 31: if you don’t believe me). God reminded me of this word after I was here and showed me that my time in Uganda was the fulfillment of the second part of that word God had given me 1 year before. I wrestled in knowing how to not be works minded but still be zealous for good works. God showed me that works is not to be from my own strength anyway. But when works are done from HIS strength alone, is when they are good works. So he challenged me to step out in faith to do good works knowing that I did not have the will or strength to “DO”. When I did that, he would be faithful to meet me with grace. His grace is sufficient for me and his power is made perfect and displayed out of my weakness. This I saw many times. I saw this testimony true in every day and every teaching. Half of my teachings began with me breaking down just before because I did not have the strength to go on in ministry, and I was not prepared enough for the teaching ect. But when I surrendered my self and my desire to give a good “performance” but instead trust in God and put my confidence in him, that is when God’s power showed up. It was when I went to him as the source when I was empty did he fill me up, speak through me, and change people’s lives in Uganda. I thank God for this lesson he has taught me and for the powerful work he has done through me. I am so humbled that God would use me as a tool to advance his kingdom and bring such healing and discipleship to his people in Uganda. For these things I have to look to God and give him all the glory for this trip and this year. With out him, I would not have been able to continue through the challenges of this year. With out him, this ministry would have been meaningless and ineffective.

I thank God for this time in Uganda for what he has done in me personally, but also for all the ministry he has used me for. But it is now time to say goodbye to this chapter in my life (my “God Story” as the title of my blog says). I have not been home for a full year now and am very ready and so excited for a home coming. I can’t wait to see all of you family and friends (as well as eat some very missed chocolate and cheese! but not necessarily together)

PRAYER REQUESTS

Ministry is over but there are still prayer requests

• I am not coming directly home. A team member and I are stopping in Amsterdam (a city we had a lay over anyway). We will be there for 2 days. PLEASE Pray for our safety (not the safest city). Pray for good weather (it is commonly cold and rainy). Pray also that we can find good things to enjoy ourselves with that don’t cost a fortune so we can rest and have fun after a long year.
• Pray that travel goes well. It is winter and we fly into Minneapolis on Dec 21. Pray that there are no delays because of snow and/or Christmas rush. I also only have 2 hrs from landing time to go through customs and get on my next flight. There is a lot of potential for something to go wrong in travel so please lift that up in prayer.

A man can plan his future but God determines his steps

WEEK 9 ~ KAMPALA ~ Nov 27-Dec 3
Before we left for outreach, we had a plan on what we would be doing on outreach. Even though we have rough plans, every week and day, we take our plans to God as a team and pray, "What do YOU want us to do, go and say today". Then we listen for his direction. Last week, we planned to travel on Sunday to the capitol for a seminar on. We prayed and heard God say your time is not over yet, stay a few more days. So we did and later realized why that was. If you remember from the last blog, the ministry time we had with the boys and the women, that ministry time would not have happened if we had left. Also, we had visitors appear at our house (randomly) and if we had left, they would have traveled a long way for nothing. Then the third reason is that we discovered our seminar did not even start until Wednesday and we would not have had any place to stay. The second issue that came up was finances. As a Titus Project school, we had 8 students and we split up into two teams with one leader for each team. The other team has had an issue come up where they ran out of money due to very pour budgeting. So we prayed several times and for hours of what we were suppose to do. We were suppose to be joining with the second team for the last week of outreach in another town far away. Hearing that the money that we had as a team wouldn’t pay for all the expenses for both teams, we weren’t sure if we should go to the next town. However, God told us to go anyway and take a step of faith and go. We were viewing our $200 as the loaves and fishes. Ofcourse it would not provide for all of our necessary travel, food, and accommodations for 9 people for 2 ½ weeks. But God said to go so we went. After that we realized that we actually had over $400 left which was a miracle from God in and of it’s self.
So we went to Kampala for a 3 day seminar plus a double service preaching on Sunday. We prayed about what to teach and heard "how to study the bible" and teach that through the book of Jonah. We asked God what message he wanted to bring to the people through the seminar and he told us all to address their issue of pride. All these things God spoke to us before we knew the people of the church, and without discussing it among ourselves. When we got to Kampala and for the first two days we teach, we still did not understand why God had us there. Even though we had been begged to come and we had about 75-100 people at the seminar, we did not actually feel welcomed by the pastor like we had felt at all other churches we went to. We battled through our feelings and continued to ask God our purpose for coming and continued to be faithful to teach what he told us. God seemed to keep addressing pride and gave us messages to address pride in different ways.
Sunday, our amazing Ugandan team member (Becky), was suppose to preach. She was told to preach a double service with the same message. This is a rather big church so it could have been intimidating. She continued to trust God and have faith that God would give her the words and message that he wanted to give her. She prayed 120 hours nearly nonstop. Becky, will never teach or speak a message unless she knows she heard it from God. She will never just prepare a preaching from her own wisdom. So, Saturday night, she stayed up all night praying. Sunday morning came and she told me she still didn’t know what she was going to say only that since the beginning of the week, all she knew she was suppose to talk about was security but nothing more. At church, she walked on stage still waiting on God for the message. She began to speak, and gave a very powerful message. It sounded as if she had been trained in collage to prepare a preaching. It sounded as if she had put 120 hours just in preparation for her preaching. This is how God spoke through her. The messages in both services were different from each other but both addressed security and pride. The message was about not putting your confidence in your comfort zone, money, house, job status ect. But security should lie in God because he is also the giver of their job position, money, home ect. At the end of the message, an assistant pastor was called up to give an alter call. He came up looking very somber. He said, "A week ago, God convicted me of my pride. And after repenting, He charged me to speak on pride with my next message. But now, hearing Becky bring this same message that God was wanting me to preach, I know that this is from God and he really wants this church to be convicted of pride." So the church leader, in front of the whole congregation (maybe 250-300 people). Repented and was the first to come in front for the alter call to repent of pride. After that, so many people came up heavily convicted. We had to take out a few chairs in the front rows so that they could all fit standing in the front. Later, one of our friends in the church said, he looked around and most of the people there were big wigs. They were people with positions in the government, and presidents of companies and things like that. So this is the ministry that God did through our team, because all of us were faithful to bring the messages that God called us to. It was so amazing to see how God used especially Becky and her faith to walk on stage without notes for a sermon and preach the words directly from God’s mouth. God really ministered that day to people’s hearts. The whole rest of the day, people kept catching Becky and said, "I was the one that that message was for. I know you were looking at just me and God gave you that message for me." Becky insisted that she wasn’t looking at them the whole time (especially sense about 10 people said this to her). But this just shows how the Holy Spirit really spoke to their hearts and brought conviction as we were all praying would happen this week. We thank God for his guidance this week to bring us to Kampala and use us as a tool to work in this congregation.


　
ANSWERED PRAYERS

• Obviously from this blog post, you can see that God has spoken to us, given us direction, as well as wisdom to know where we were suppose to go, what we were to teach, and how to deal with the issue of the finances. PRAISE GOD!
• It is also an answer to prayer that God has provided for us and multiplied our money so that just our $400 (that was originally just $200) will stretch far enough to take care of all immediate needs (travel and accommodations) but also have a fun day and a special meal after our graduation. PRAISE GOD!
• Also, God has refreshed us after we came here to Soroti. Originally we did not want to come to Soroti. None of us desired to come. But as soon as we stepped off the bus, we were refreshed and ended up being such a relief to the other team as well.

　
NEXT WEEK
I know this blog is late because I have not had internet, but the week after this week I have written about is the week we have gone to Soroti (Dec 4-10). We are doing a seminar for Catholics Catacist. (A Catacist is the lowest level of teachers. It is kind of like a pastor. I believe they give bible readings on Sunday and give a short teaching from those readings as well. They have not had any training at all except on what the sacraments are). We are teaching them how to study the bible as well as how to prepare a teaching. We had planned to teach them bible overview but a day was canceled because one of their priests has passed away. We also have the opportunity to give the teaching on Sunday morning.


PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray that we can relate to the Catholics and have credibility with them even though we are different. Only 2 out of 8 of us are actually Catholic so it is a hard trying to relate to them with the differences of beliefs. Before coming this week, the other 6 of us didn’t know anything about Catholic beliefs.
• Pray that they really understand the method of study.We have taught them that when they study, they have to hold all their previous/current beliefs or ideas about the bible with an open hand and be ready to learn or for their beliefs to change as they study. So pray they really grasp this concept and can learn to teach the word of God, not just their religion.
• Pray for the unity of the two teams who are coming together. And reconciliation with the team and leader. There was/is the issue of money that was irresponsibly spent as well as some other issues that have hurt individual members of the team. Pray that this last week and a half, these feelings and issues can be resolved and we leave Uganda reconciled together.

Grace is sufficient for God’s power to be made perfect in our weakness but obedience

At the beginning of each week, before we start seminars or series of teachings, we all pray and hear from God what he wants us to teach, which teaching opportunities he wants us to take and share in ect. Then we all come back together and share what God spoke to us. This week, we heard that we were not suppose to minister in a church (that we had plans with), but we were to continue to pour into the boys here around our house, the women’s vocational school, and a village a few hours away.

BOYS: Forgiveness 

We prayed and asked God what to teach the boys and we all came to a unanimous answer when we came back together that we were suppose to teach how to study the bible using the book of Philemon. Yes, Philemon is a book in the bible, and if you look hard you can find it some place in the New Testament just after Titus and before Hebrews. Its there, I promise! When you read it, you may think, what is so life changing and powerful about this book? But each verse in the bible is God breathe, profitable for teaching…and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). Each verse is living and active sharper than any two edged sword. It penetrates to the heart (Heb 4:12). We taught this series over 4 days time and on Friday, we finished. The last day is learning how to apply scriptures to our lives; we take what we have learned, and do what the scriptures says (James 1:22-25). The message God gave us all to give to the boys was forgiveness and reconciliation. So on the day we teach application, after teaching the practical part, we always have a bit of a “sermon”. Friday night we had a great ministry time after teaching about forgiveness. God was really working in the hearts of the boys. We asked them to write their hurts and wrongs done to them on a piece of paper and give it over to God by burning it in the fire. As they did this and we prayed for them, bondage broke off them and they just began to weep and weep as God ministered to their spirit.

One boy asked that we talk with him because he can’t do this alone. So me and two other girls stepped outside with him. We talked with him for about an hour trying to get him to let go of his hurt and allow God to come and minister to him. He finally spoke and said that nine years ago, when the war was going on (when he was about 8) his uncle organized people to come and kill his parents. He watched as they hacked them to pieces in their hut and then had to stay there all night with them so he would not be killed as well. He then had to hide in the bush for two years to save his life. He has so much hurt, trauma, and unforgiveness toward his uncle (which is understandable). (He and his other brothers still have to live with his uncle today). This is the situation that God wanted to give him freedom in. By the end of talking to him, he finally made the decision to let go of his hurt and hatred toward his uncle and let God begin healing his heart. We all proclaimed freedom so loud that all the neighbors heard and of course after all this ministry time, we had a great celebration of what God has done.

WOMEN’S VOCATIONAL SCHOOL: Treasure of Truth

For the women, God gave me a clear word and a vision to speak about the bible. Not teach FROM the bible, but about the bible. He showed me how they are poor but have a great treasure in their hands that could change their way of life. They however don’t realize the value that it has and discard it as trash. After God told me this, I went to talk to my leader and she brought up the same thing God told me. She felt we were suppose to teach them the value of the bible. So it was confirmed. God told her the exact same thing as he told me (without previously discussing it before). So day 1 I taught on the Canon (how the books of the bible were written and put in the bible). This whole time through Day 1 and just before we taught on Day 2 we were not understanding fully why were were teaching these things. We could be teaching from the bible and giving them a good truth nugget to chew on. But we are teaching women who can’t even read, about the canon. Most Americans don’t know anything about the canon. But we remained faithful to what God told us knowing that he commanded to teach on this. So as we walked to the ministry, we were praying that God would show us and be faithful to speak through us. So day 2 another woman taught on the persecutions people went through to protect, translate, and put the bible in the hands of the people today. Before she taught, we saw more confirmation from God that we were teaching the right thing. The vision that I had days before, I saw actually happen in the class room before we taught. We both felt a powerful confirmation from God and heard him speak to us about what was on his heart.  We left that day very passionate about the message God gave us to share. Day 3 we taught on the value of the bible. This was a convicting message that was on God’s heart for us to give. It was the conviction that they have a treasure in their hands and they consider it rubbish. I won’t go into detail about this message but God really spoke. We walked to the ministry that morning and I said, “You know, I know what God put on my heart to share, and I have jotted them down a bit, but I really don’t know what I am going to say today.” We had no idea what the day was going to look like but I was faithful to be God’s mouth piece and we prayed the whole way as we walked there. As I spoke, I didn’t even look at my notes, I just shared (but at the end of the message looked at them and I had shared everything God had given me just out of order. I KNOW God was speaking through me and people were very convicted. God ministered to their spirits as well and it was a sobering, but great time. They were not only convicted, but repented, and were empowered to fix the problem they saw in their hearts. I encouraged them that even though they can not read, there are so many people around them that can that they can ask them to read to them and together have bible readings. If they don’t have a bible, there are so many people around them that do have bibles that they can borrow. So at the end of these teachings as well, we saw God’s faithfulness to command a message to be taught, give us every word we were suppose to share, to confirm 3 times that we were clearly on the right path. And then God was faithful to let his word penetrate into their hearts.

I wish I could share everything that God is doing and all the details, but they are too great. It humbles me to see how much God is working here and how he is using me and my team for his good work. He uses us when we submit ourselves to him, lay down our rights, and obey him. We step out in faith to obey what he says even though we are so weak and feel inadequate. But when we step out in faith, he meets us with his Holy Spirit that qualifies us and makes us adequate and his power is made perfect in our weakness through his grace (2 Chr 12:9). And through that, he does a great work in these people through us.

NEXT WEEK:

Determining what we are going to do this next week has been very complicated and we feel like we were just the ball in a tennis match but we have decided to leave Gulu and go to Kampala Wednesday morning. From there, we will do a seminar in a church and after that, we have NO IDEA. God has told us to step out in faith not knowing where we will be.

ANSWERED PRAYERS:

• Health in the team has improved. Everybody seems to be feeling better. Even the one with Malaria said he is feeling better today.
• As far a spiritual attacks, I think everybody has been receiving strength from God and our spirits have been raised. The circumstances still remain but it does not effect our ministry or spirits
• I myself no longer feel apathetic and I think the whole team is feeling recharged and ready to finish the remainder of ministry time strong (2 weeks left).
• As you can see, God has answered the prayer for him to stir in the hearts of the people we have been ministering. God is doing a great work.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• We really really need to continue to hear God’s voice in directing us where we should go. We have had a complicated issue arise that I may discuss in my next letter (but don’t have time or space to discuss now). Please pray for wisdom, discernment, and direction as to what we should do with our finances, where we should go after going to Kampala, and how to resolve this issue, and what we should do for ministry the remainder of our time, and if we should join with the second outreach team for the remainder of the time.
• Continue to pray for grace for us all and for God to refresh us all, and that we would have the strength to walk with God blindly but in faith where ever he is taking us. 

Ups and Downs

THIS WEEK IN SEMINARS:

This week has been characterized by some ups and downs. This week we had two seminars so we split our team up so that two went and taught bible overview in the evening at one church, and another team member and I went to another church in the morning. We taught at the same church that we had ministered at the previous Sunday. (This church is partnered with the ministry that has the women’s vocational school.) We prayed and decided to teach them 4 steps in how to study the bible. We did this by teaching through the book of 2 Timothy.

The first day was jumbled because of miscommunication and at the last minute, the teaching had to be condensed from three hours to one hour. By the end of the teaching, it was clear the people did not seem to hear or understand a word of it (which many factors played into that that were out of our control). It was initially discouraging but we kept hope. The second day, I taught the first two steps. It was the toughest class I ever had. They didn’t seem to grasp any concept no matter how simple I made it or how many ways I attempted to explain or teach it. By the end of the teaching, I was so discouraged that these ladies couldn’t learn (which I knew was a lie). I had begun to lose hope that they would understand anything. The whole experience was frustrating and discouraging but we continued to pray that God would be their teacher and give us the grace and and patience to teach. The next day, they really began to think for themselves and grasp the steps and understand the book more. The fourth day, I taught again. I was still so scared and tired. By this point, we had been ministering for two weeks straight without a day off, waking up at 6:30 and ministering, teaching, or preparing until about 10 pm (not good for an introvert). I was tired, weary, did not have much hope, and I didn’t feel prepared for the teaching. I felt attacked by the enemy who was wearing down my confidence. I prayed knowing that God would give me grace and strength to give the teaching and speak through me if I stepped out in obedience to him. I was actually crying just before I gave my teaching and was even trying to push back my tears as I began; but as I began to teach, God gave me strength. My spirits lifted and I felt God teaching through me and helping me. I began to teach very lively and even have good humor and peace as I taught. God was faithful to me as I was faithful and obedient to him. By the end of the teaching, I really began to see that the ladies really grasped the concepts as well as the teaching that we brought to them through the book.

By the end, they said these things to me in class:

“Before, I didn’t know how to study the bible. I didn’t understand the bible. I just waited for the pastor to tell me what it says. But now, I have the knowledge to study it for myself. Now I can go and teach others what I know. I am going to start with my family. I am going to begin having bible study with my family and teach them these steps as well as study the books in the bible.”

Another woman said:

“For me, I have not learned how to read. But I have crammed all this knowledge in my head so I am going to teach my children these steps so they can study with me. They can read and together we can study the bible for ourselves now there is nothing stopping me from understanding what the bible says.”

It was so rewarding to see that they understood how to study the bible for themselves and realize that it is not such a mystery or locked to them. They now have a weapon in their hands that they know how to use.

PREACHING

I also preached on Sunday. This was a huge step for me because that was what I feared greatest. Preaching here is much different from teaching. Preaching here (in presentation) looks like those faith healers or prosperity gospel people. They get so excited they sweat and spit a lot. They shout “Amen! Hallelujah! Praise God! God is Good, Oh, King of glory!” That kind of thing. I didn’t want to preach because I am so timid and shy, not loud, or expressive like that. But I knew that God was calling me to it this week so I was obedient to it and did my best to get really really excited (minus the spitting).

THIS NEXT WEEK WE HAVE 3 SEMINARS:

• Two people will go to a village Wed-Fri and teach church leaders
• We will continue our teachings with the boys here and teach them inductive bible study method through a book of the bible.
• We will continue to teach in the women’s vocational school Wed-Fri. We have taught them how to study the bible and use the weapon that they have but God has put it on our hearts to teach them the value and treasure of the bible. With this, we are going to teach them church history/canonicity of the bible or how they got the bible, what it went through to get into their hands, and it’s power today to transform.

ANSWERED PRAYERS:

The power is back on!!! We are so excited about this. It is still Africa, so it seems to be turned off city wide more than it is turned on, but it is actually working at our house when the government chooses to give it to us.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Pray against weariness/apathy:

To be honest, this last week was really hard for me spiritually. I know that it was tiring because we hadn’t had a day off to rest, but I think I am being attacked spiritually as well. The enemy has been attacking my confidence in God and myself. Teaching is a very vulnerable place to be because it is so far out of my comfort zone that I have to force myself to go. When I am attacked there in that place, any insult, or lie can go very deep. I keep standing up to fight against these attacks but when I do, and seem to overcome, another one seems to come in from another angle. I am finding myself growing apathetic and weary. It has been a very long year and coming here, I didn’t feel I had the strength to teach at all. God has carried me a long way, but I need prayer to have the strength to continue to overcome. I know that God will not leave me hanging but will continue to carry me the rest of the way (4 more weeks). But I would really appreciate your prayers in this.

• Pray for health: Everybody on the team is feeling sick. One with a relapse of malaria, one has lost their voice completely, one with dizziness and fatigue, and then the other two are sick as well.
• Pray for our team, there has been a lot of spiritual attacks as well. Pray that we will have the strength to finish and continue to fight against these attacks.
• Pray for these next seminars that God would continue to stir in the hearts of the people and continue to build on this foundation we have been laying

GOD DOES NOT CALL THE QUALIFIED, HE QUALIFIES THE CALLED

We came to Gulu a week earlier than we planned because previous plans in another town fell through. We were not sure what God had planned or why he changed our plans. However, as the week began to unfold, we realized God had bigger plans to work in the hearts of the people here when we had no plans at all. As we began the week here, we all prayed about what to do, and we all received the same word from God on what to do, so we did it.

BOYS BIBLE STUDY
First, I should tell you that in Gulu, we stay in a house and in our house about 8 teenage boys live with us. They lost their parents in the genocide and some are even former soldiers. These boys have gone through so much hardships, but i have never seen a group so hungry for God. Before and after school, they are in our house talking about God, and asking questions about the bible. Because of their hunger, we decided to have bible study every night and disciple them. This week we traced God's plan of redemption from creation and the fall, to Jesus' crucifixion and second coming. The last night, we talked of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Second coming. At the end, we gave the invitation to pray with anybody who would like to receive the Holy Spirit or commit their lives to God. Nine out of Ten people in the bible study came forward because of deep conviction. It brings me to tears because of how their hunger for God blesses me. When I learned that we were "baptizing in the Holy Spirit" I was nervous. I didn't know we were doing that that night. I was thinking, "I don't know how to do this"and I felt very inadequate to "baptize somebody in the Holy Spirit". So, I just began to pray. It was the most pathetic prayer something like, "God... I pray for... What is your name?... God i pray for Feona that your Holy Spirit would come upon her". God quickly taught me that it is not about me but God will do through me when I am obedient. I felt unqualified and inadequate but i learned that God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. When I began to pray my seemingly insignificant pathetic prayer, God began to move on her and broke bondage off of her. This woman became a christian just the day before. She told one of my team members while she was doing laundry, that she wanted to be born again. When asked why, she said, "I just love Jesus so much". She was very convicted and realized she needed to give her life to God. So God ministered to her, not because I am great at praying and "calling down fire", but because I was obedient and God chose to use me to work. All of these boys were ministered to by God and it was very encouraging to see God restore, and renew these boys that are so passionate for God. 


WOMEN'S VOCATIONAL SCHOOL

Second, we have been teaching in a womans vocational school. The first day, we did bible overview of the plan of redemption. The second day, I taught on the nature and character of God and the third day, a team member taught on their identity in God. At the end of our 3 day teaching, these women were so convicted and ministered to of their value and worth even though they have gone through so much because of the war as well. These women were spiritually oppressed and when we prayed for them, this oppression broke in such a tangible and obvious way. 


I don't tell you these stories in pride that it was anything that we did except obey God. None of us feel adequate or qualified, but we know that God qualifies the called. We learn every day as we teach and preach that it is not about us, and our teaching skills but God's power to take our words (that we speak in obedience) and take them to penetrate people's hearts. 


PREACHING

After teaching in the women's vocational school, we were invited to the church to teach the bible class before preaching (like sunday school). I decided to teach first. I had God put a message on my heart and it was clear it was from God so i prepared and taught on what it means to be adopted by God. The same passage God put on my heart, he put on another team member's heart to preach. As i was obedient to share my half, the other person brought the other half of the message that God wanted to bring to these people. Again, we saw God move in the hearts of the people and a deep conviction fell on some, and others were overwhelmed with God's love and mercy.




It is clear that God is moving in these people and he canceled our previous plans in another town for a reason. I have learned that God's plans are bigger than my plans and it doesn't matter how qualified I feel to do his work it is the fact that I am obedient to God and live by his Spirit.

Next Week
Next week, we at least have two seminars. These will be 3 hours long for 4 days. We also would like to continue our bible studies with the boys. We will break up into two teams to juggle this so I will be continuing to teach where the women's vocational school is and where we went to church and taught. We will teach how to study the bible and teach it using the book of 2 Timothy. I am excited for what God has planned for this week.

Answered Prayers
The team member who had malaria recovered very quickly and even had mild symptoms. This we praise God for because it can be a serious and terrible sickness.

Prayer Requests

• Our power is still not turned on which makes life a bit more complicated. 
• Pray for these upcoming seminars, for unity in the team, for strength to serve, and God would continue to stir in the hearts of the people.

Pader

Pader was so amazing. First, thing I have to tell you is we traveled with 28 people on a 9 passenger taxi that was falling apart. It took 5.5 hours to travel there because the roads were so washed out and muddy. Many times I thought the car was going to get stuck or fall apart. When we got to Pader, we had a late lunch at about 5:30 pm. But sense dinner was also normally at  6:30, we had 2 feasts back to back. We ate as much as we could eat and then had to eat another HUGE meal. We were in pain by the end. It is cultural to finish ALL the food put before you but they cook for about 15 people when we only have 5 people. (We were in this situation many times with back to back meals and had to stuff our selves with a 6 course meal every meal.

MINISTRY

Now about the ministry. We had a 5 day seminar. 4 days we taught the inductive method and on the 5^th day we taught bible over view. The inductive method teaches them how to study the bible and bible overview shows God’s plan for redemption from creation to Jesus’ second coming. We taught the method through the book of Jonah and the last day (day to teach application) we taught how they should forgive. The Assyrians (people of Nineveh) did very similar things to the Israelites that the LRA has done to them so they could identify well with Jonah. So we challenged them to forgive the LRA for torturing their land and people. It was a very powerful service that even brought me (who rarely cries) to tears because I was seeing God move in these people’s lives. We learned more about what the LRA had done (even in that very town). They would cook children’s parents alive and make them watch. They are never aloud to look away or cry. Then they would force them to eat their flesh. It is really disturbing what these people have been through and hearing their stories but God is doing a greater work there and it is evident.

When I was working so closely with this church, I felt like I was living in the Acts church of the bible. Christianity there is relatively new to Northern Uganda so those who are “born again” are so passionate for God. They don’t have a traditional church to follow their example from, they just have the church in Acts to model their new churches after. It is so refreshing and encouraging to see.

HUT-TO-HUT EVANGELISM

In the morning everyday we would go do hut to hut evangelism. Evangelism here is very straight forward, we invite ourselves in, say, “I am here to tell you about Jesus, have you heard of him.” And the ones I had talked to said, “I have heard of Jesus but I don’t know anything about him”. Then we share, and they usually are eager to accept the free gift of salvation. One morning, we went out, we came to a hut and began speaking to a lady, she said that she needed prayer for some family issues and she had a lot of confusion as well. We shared Jesus with her and she decided to give her life to God. Then at the end (and after praying for her), a younger man came in, we tried to talk to him also about God but he was clear he did not want us Christians there and he did not want us talking to him about God. Our time was up so after some chatting we left. Later that day, we talked with the other girl who had gone out for evangelism. She told us how she spoke to a young man who needed prayer for his mother who was a drunk and mistreated the family. She told him about Jesus but he at first did not want anything to do with it. He was a Mormon and did not believe in heaven, hell, or anything spiritual. Eventually, he got saved too after a long conversation. As we talked with this girl, we found out it was the same guy that we had talked to in the hut who came later. So we saw how God was pursuing him (his name is Chris). And his mother who he was worried about and needed prayer for, was the lady who me an another girl had talked to and gave her life to Christ. So this family God saved on the same day, but in such a divine way. When we did the bible overview seminar, nobody showed up but then Chris came, and we decided to start and do it just for him and preach our hearts out. Unfortunately, he left early and did not hear the whole message. Pray for him that God continues to pursue him.

HEALING

One other thing that was really cool was a healing. On the first day of evangelism, we met this little 6 girl who was on a mat outside. She was drooling all over herself and did not have the strength almost even to sit up or keep her eyes open. She was SO sick. One of the Ugandan team members prayed for her and later that evening, we saw the little girl running and playing and all better again. It was really such a blessing to see because we know it was a God Story.

PADER GIRLS ACADEMY

One thing that really broke my heart was the Pader girls academy. It is a school with hundreds of young girls (even 12 years) who had been raped by the LRA and now have 1-5 children because of it. They give them education and they have services to pray. The thing that was sad was they don’t have any kind of discipleship for the girls. If you asked them, “What is salvation or eternal life” they would not be able to tell you. This is a very common problem in all of Africa. I had the honor to go to church service with about 300 of these girls. There was one girl introduced to the group who had been in the bush for 11 years with the LRA and just returned and came to the school 2 days ago. This school broke my heart because even though they don’t know much about God, they love God and Jesus and when you hear them pray, it sound like they are doing battle against the powers of hell. And when you look at their faces, when they worship, you can tell they really have a love for God. It broke my heart that they don’t have discipleship.

We had planned to go to Lira for a week but those connections fell through so we are back in Gulu. We are still praying about what to do this week sense we did not have anything planned for this week in Gulu. However, we will pray about what to do and make sure we keep busy.

ANSWERED PRAYERS

My teachings went really well which I know was the power of God. I became known in the town as the Professor. I was getting affirmed the entire time I stayed there. I know it was God because I was so unprepared, so tired, and actually in tears just before teaching.

PRAY REQUESTS

• One of our team members has gotten Malaria so pray he recovers quickly.
• Pray for the electricity to be turned on at our house. There is some wire that is down or some unknown reason why the power is not on AT ALL. Pray that gets fixed, the electricity company does not want to come out to fix it and we don’t have money to hire an electrician.
• If you would like to donate to our team, it is never too late, we are on a very tight budget so those from Uganda could go on out reach. Every little bit of money would help us. 

Plans for first 2 weeks of Outreach

We are going to Pader this week and then straight to Lira from there. We will most likely not have electricity, staying in mud huts with grass roofs, sleeping on the ground on a grass mat. It is very rural to say the least. We are expecting 150 pastors and church leaders from the surrounding area to come to our seminar. We have prayed and decided to teach the Inductive bible study method and teach through the book of Jonah emphasizing the need to forgive (because Jonah was not willing to go bring the good news to the Assyrians who resemble the LRA). We have seminar in the evening (2 hrs for 4 days). In the mornings, we will go to a refugee camp for internally displaced people, and a girls boarding home/school for girls who have been raped and have children by the LRA. We will be evangelizing and encouraging people in these places. We each on our own have heard different specific prophetic words from God about this trip and are all excited about what God is doing. 

PRAYER REQUESTS: 

•  It is a bit intimidating training pastors because it is easy to feel in adequate and I can not identify with what they have been through. Pray this does not hinder me or others on my team of 5. 
• Pray that the hearts of the people would be open. 
• Pray against the enemy who has already been trying to stop us from getting there.
• Pray for safety in traveling and in general as some on the team are getting sick now. 

Thank you for your prayers they are heard by God and felt by our team.

Here is my story of traveling to the Northern territory and how the enemy is trying to stop and discourage us. 

Stranded in an African game park for 3 hours 

We woke up at 4 am and began our journey at 5 am. We reached Kampala at 7 and waited on a bus until 9am before it filled up and we could leave. 5 min into the journey, we get stopped for a while because the truck in front got stuck in the mud. We begin driving again and 20 min later we stop for gas. We all go to the bathroom sense we didn’t have the opportunity sense 5. We use the mens because the women’s line is going too slow (even though a man said you are trespassing). I was the last one in line and almost get left. I ran to the bus as it was pulling out and was already on the road; I chase it down and jump on. 20 min later down the road, BANG! I thought a meteor had fallen from the sky, but the giant tire (diesel size) had popped. Stranded for about 30 min until they change the tire. Begin driving again. Something doesn’t sound right, we stop. Gasses are pouring out of the radiator. Stranded for about 30-40 more minutes. Begin driving again, slowly now. “Ca-clunk ca-clunk ca-cluck” the engine says over and over again. 30 min later, we drive slower and slower and slower and stop. There are cows in the road, I hope that is why we are stopping…. No actually, the engine gave out. We all come out of the bus, and sit in the dirt. There are no trees now and it is very hot. 1 hour goes by. “What is going to happen?” Rumor has it there is another bus coming to pick us up. 2 hours goes by. “We want our money refunded so we can hitch a ride or walk (20 miles) to the nearest town and get another bus” “Sorry, the man with all the money from all the passengers has ran away into town at the very beginning when the bust first broke down. He paid the police not to come out here so that we could continue to rip you off” (not actual words).

It turns out, when the bus broke the angry mob was going to kill the man with the money if they did not give him refunds so he escaped. The bus driver was denying being the bus driver but when the angry mob was ganging against him, he finally admitted that he was the driver, but not the owner (but he was). They were threatening to beat the bust to pieces if he was not the owner then (because if he was not the owner, he would not care). The driver was laughing the whole time even though they were all ready to beat him. There were 3 mothers with infants and one mother with 2 small children.

This is all taking place in what we found out to be a game park. As in, a wild safari area with many lions and dangerous kinds of animals. It is 5 pm now and the sun is going to set soon. Not many cars pass by, about 1 every 10 min and no body is willing to stop. When one does, people make a mad dash to be the first one to jump on (leaving the mothers with babies on the side of the road).

3 hours go by and the bust comes that was suppose to take us, but wait. They can only take 5 passengers. 5 jump on leaving the mothers with babies on the road once again.

30 min later, another bus comes and we stand in the road to make it stop. We tell them we desperately need a ride. They cram about 20 more people on a already VERY packed buss. Every extra floor space was occupied by people standing for the rest of the 2.5 hour bus ride. People were also practically sitting on other people’s laps as we continued the journey. 30 min in. POP! “NOOOOOO I have heard that sound already today, not the tire again” Luckily, for some odd reason, they did not stop to fix it but what ever. So, our 5 hour journey, turned into a 15 or 16 hour journey. And most importantly, I am safe in Gulu Uganda. (Although when we crossed the Nile into the Northern territory a Ugandan said, “prepare to die”) But mom, don’t worry, I will be fine. 

THE AGE OLD QUESTION OF “WHY?”

Why does God allow horrible things happen to innocent people. This is not the first time this question has been asked. David asked this, the prophet Habakkuk, and Jeremiah in “Lamentations” asked this question to God. God’s sovereignty is a hard thing to accept when we as mortal men can not see the  fullness of God’s plan. I watched the documentary “War Dance” (on instant play on Netflix. Watch it). It follows the stories of 4 children affected by the genocide in Uganda that ended 5 years ago. It is one thing to hear these stories from the comfort of your home in America as you sit on your sofa with a bag of popcorn. It is another thing to be here in Uganda in the middle of all of this. The places affected by the genocide, I am going to and God has called me to minister to these very people. My heart broke as I watched this. It is like a horror movie that we would watch for entertainment but this is the reality of people’s lives. Being forced to hack their parents to death with garden hoes, they are not allowed to cover their eyes, not allowed to cry or react. Or going to the only place you think is safe, hoping and praying God would make you invisible as the rebels come and hack the door open with an axe then abduct you.

My heart broke and it brought me to tears, as I asked God “WHY?! How could you allow such innocent children and families that you love go through such horror.” This is what He said.

GOD: “Just as a father, I was forced to watch my beloved people be slaughtered as sheep. My heart broke and still breaks for my people.”

ME: “But you are sovereign God, you have the power and control to stop this. Why are they not under your pinions? Where is your shepherd’s staff to protect them?”

GOD: “This is true, I AM Sovereign. But my control and plan is greater than you can see. I am a God of redemption and that is my plan. Look at my work in the past. When you read my word, you see hardships brings people to me and is the refining fire for my precious gold. I do not enjoy what has to happen to bring refinement but I want my people. Man has brought tears in this world. I created Joseph Kony, I knew what he would do but I am looking past that at the good I will bring. Joseph had free will and that is his choice. But I redeem what man has done and bring redemption. Do you believe I am good in all things?”

ME: “I know that in the end, it is good. Every story in the bible or that I know or other peoples circumstances as well as my own, it always ends for the good even if bad things happen. I know you have taught me that you never leave, but are faithful, and always good.”

God has called me to teach this message and be and a vehicle to bring this redemption. I was nervous about preaching this message. God’s sovereignty and this question of “Why?” or “Where were you?” are huge questions. It is a big message to preach God was, and is in control. How will this be received, I would be angry and more hurt if I were them. But I can’t judge God’s message and tell God the people aren’t ready for that message. God knows the people and their hearts. It is not something that will be easily received, but a message and truth that needs to begin to be wrestled with in people’s hearts. God went on to speak more to me specifically. He said, “Northern Uganda is a barren land in appearance. It looks like a waste land, but it is fertile soil and is waiting for workers to come, till the ground, plant the seeds, and water.” I personally love to garden and God spoke to me in my passions of gardening. He said to me, 

“You must see the potential in this land. See the potential that I see, not the barrenness. Care for my garden.”

I don’t know if this stirs your heart like it does mine, but I hope it does and that you would passionately pray for God’s people and my team. Your prayers are being answered. I am getting God’s heart for these people. I don’t mind so much any more that I will be sleeping in a mud hut, in a hotter climate than now, with more malaria carrying mosquitoes, no electricity, no more alone time, worse food than now ect. It is selfish for me to want those things. I need to be grateful and honored that God is choosing to use me when He could do these things himself, or send angels to bring his messages. And I am honored realizing this. God said, “Therefore Go!” And this is the command that I must and will follow.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Pray that God continues to show me exactly what I am to do/say to his people and how to love.

Pray for continued grace as there will be many challenges on outreach.

Headed North

We are about done with our training now. This week we have learned how to teach inductive method through a small book, how to teach bible overview (God’s plan of salvation from Creation to the second coming), how to teach in teams, personality types, and how to minister in teams. We have also found out where we are going on outreach. We are splitting up into two teams. One team is going to the Southern villages/cities. And The other team is going deeper into the village to the Northern part of Uganda. I am on this second team going to the North.

North Uganda has experienced the trauma of a 20 year genocide by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). This genocide has moved out of Uganda only 5 years ago! Joseph Kony is the possessed man in charge of this and is not dead yet, but hiding out in another country. He twisted bible scripture to manipulate people into being in his cultic army. He said that the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove and gave him the mission by God to destroy all the Acholi people in Northern Uganda. He abducted thousands of boys to be his child soldiers, raped many young girls and/or sold them into slavery, and killed many of the adults. (I recommend watching the documentary “War Dance”. It is about this genocide and I believe it is on instant play on Netflix.)

We are going to these Northern villages to show them how to study the word, but also serve and do our best to begin the healing process through the word. We feel that that is the word that God has given us for this outreach. God wants to bring healing and will do this through the washing of his word. We will not only be teaching the inductive method, but also be doing a lot of ministering. I will give more detailed information on what we will be doing as we get closer to outreach time and/or begin ministry. I can tell you though, the first location, we are expecting to stay in mud huts with grass thatched roofs with no electricity. Maybe that gives you an idea what “outreach” looks like.

There are two Ugandan’s on my team and one, maybe two, on the other team. If you would like to donate, it is still not too late. We are going on outreach regardless or our budget. We are trusting God for all of the money to come in. We do not just want enough money to survive and have food and shelter. We want to have funds to also bless the communities. We would like to be able to help provide for the hundreds of pastors who are traveling from near-by villages to be apart of our seminars. We would like to have funds to buy bible dictionaries and things for pastors who do not have access to internet or libraries with external bible resources. So if God puts it on your heart to help fund this trip and be apart of the healing God wants to do, please contact me. You can email me at heartablaze1215@yahoo.com or follow the directions to donate from the “Donate” tab at the top of the page. If you have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to ask. When ever internet is available, I will respond ASAP.

ENGLISH MISUNDERSTANDINGS:

“Pants” means “Underwear/Underpants”. This explains why the Ugandans have been surprised when we ask if we are allowed to wear pants on Fun day or wear pants into town. “OF COURSE! PLEASE wear pants all the time”.

“Smart” Does not mean “having knowledge”. It means well dressed. This explains why my African 2 year old friend always looks so confused and says “What?” When I say, “You are Smart Abbey”. She must be thinking, “I am not wearing any clothes and I am covered in mud, why am I smart?”

The word “bug” does not exist in Ugandan language (Although the bugs themselves infest the country). You must say insects. This explains why the kids were so confused when I asked them if they want to catch bugs. “….. OOOOH Do you mean Insects?!”

What mine is yours and what yours is mine. In Africa, it is very community based, you share everything from your house, your food, your shoes, tooth brush, your bed, and your kids. You will be eating a special food (such as cookies from home) and a Ugandan walks in and says, “OH! You brought us cookies!” A man came over yesterday, walked in a few bedrooms looking for “our” shoes and then came in wearing “our” shoes and looked for “our” food.

7 O’clock does not mean 7:00 AM sharp. It means any time in the 7^th hour 7:59 AM is still 7 O’clock. (This is inconvenient when Dinner is at “6 O’clock”.

If you are offered old fish brains to eat and you say, "Oh thank you but that is ok". Normally that is a polite way of saying "No" but "thats ok" means "This is a great idea". 

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray for Grace and strength as I teach, minister, serve, and rough it. It sounds like it is going to be a very tiring, going going going trip. Which can be hard on an introvert. Pray God helps me refuel with him and have the strength to pour so much of me out for the people.
• I have been feeling faint and light headed a lot lately (every day/all day). I can not figure out what is wrong. It could be lack of nutrition in the diet but who knows. Pray for healing so that it is not a stumbling block in ministry.
• Pray God gives me his heart for the people and that he works in my heart as well so that ministry feeds me rather than drains me. I know God wants to grow me in this trip as well. Teach me how to selflessly love others and be willing to obey him in ANYTHING he calls me to.
• Pray God works through our team and that we would be unified as a family and one body. (This is actually a major prayer request). Pray we learn to really love each other.
• Pray for guidance, protection, and provision as we still need to make some decisions concerning location and which kind of seminars/messages in the different locations.

Trained and Equipped

WOW I can not believe that it has already been two weeks sense arriving in Uganda. And yet, two more weeks of training and then I go on outreach to teach and train pastors.

In classes, I have been so enlightened, equipped, and trained. This week, I have learned all about learning styles (how individuals take in info differently), different styles of how info is stored in each individual’s brains, as well as the different styles of how info is then repeated or used. This has enlightened me to know how to teach in such a way that each person’s mind is fully engaged, comprehending and focusing on my teaching to its fullest capabilities.

Secondly, we have learned about how to teach to oral communicators. Oral communicators are usually illiterate as well as from cultures who tell stories to teach. With that being said, I have been learning to become a STORY TELLER. Everybody loves stories, especially Africans. Saturday night, we had a bon fire guess what the entertainment was at the fire. STORIES passed down from African tribes to the generation today. This is the standard I have to meet. I have begun telling stories and have learned to thoroughly enjoy it.

On top of becoming a story teller, I am learning to be a teacher. I have given a 45 min practice teaching (teaching inductive method). On Monday, I will give another (practice) sermon. On Sunday, I am going to church. I was asked to teach, but considering the fact that I have never even had the opportunity to go to church in Uganda yet, I have decided to teach next Sunday. This Sunday, I will build relationships, learn my audience, and learn how they do church in Uganda. (This is my plan, but often they like to surprise Americans by calling them up to preach anyway so I will be prepared with a sermon anyway). 

As I said at the beginning, we have 2 more weeks before we finish with our training and go on outreach to teach. There are a few Ugandan’s in my class who would like to go on outreach with us as well. They have completed all of the bible courses and training that I have. They have so much to offer as they understand the culture, have had experiences that relate so well with the people, (such as being abducted by the LRA [A rebel army lead by Joseph Koney who raided Uganda killing thousands). These people are not able to raise support like Americans can. They are from poverty stricken villages and can not come up with the money but God has called them to teach truth to people who have had the same experiences. Please consider donating for them to go on outreach with us as Uganda is so hungry for teachers of the word.

WHAT IS IT LIKE IN AFRICA?

As I write this, it is raining outside. Infact, it has been raining for the past 18.5 hours with out letting up at all. Now I know what “rainy season means”.

Laundry is done by hand. It took me 2 hours to hand wash 2 American/washing machine size loads of laundry. At the end of it, my hands were raw and blistered.

When I sleep, there are bugs crawling on me all the time.

Chickens walk through the (indoor) kitchen.

Cooking is done over a earthen stove with a fire inside (something you would see in an Indian hut when the mayflower came over).

The people are extremely hospitable. If you go to a person’s house (even if their house is 5 sq feet, they will do everything in their power (even borrow from neighbors and go into debt to them) to feed you and show hospitality.

The people are extremely friendly. Yesterday, I was walking down the road by myself. I came to 2 boys, I had never met before, and they said hello and gave me a hug. I chatted a bit and walked further, then the preschool had just let out and about 10 toddlers came running full speed toward me with their arms wide open. I did not know what was happening until they reached me and all of them gave me a great big group hug and would not let go. I am still a bit confused as to what the hugs were fore because then other people from Colorado came walking behind me and they did not hug them, just said hello.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Every student gets their money for outreach as well as extra so we can serve the communities we go to.
• I fell yesterday as I was running from the storm that was as black as night. I hurt my knee and walking is now difficult. Pray for quick recovery and against infection (I have many gashes and scrapes all over).
• Continue to pray for those villages that we will have an opportunity to bring teaching to. They are very hungry for the word.
• Continue to pray for grace for all of us as teachers that the Holy Spirit would help us. Some of us have been experiencing spiritual conflict as the enemy has resolved to hinder and stop the word from going out.
• As I pray where I am to go on outreach, continue to pray that God would guide me to the right place with the right team members (as the 9 of us are splitting into 2 teams to impact about 7 villages in Uganda). 

PLEASE IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I CAN PERSONALLY EMAIL YOU OR ADD IT IN THE NEXT BLOG.

What makes a good teacher?

TID-BIT ON TITUS PROJECT

In Titus Project (the name of my 3 month training/ministry) I have four weeks of training where I am learning how to teach different cultures the word of God. Then I will go for 6 weeks to train pastors in bible overview as well as teach them how to study the bible for themselves. This will bring tremendous discipleship as the pastors will be disciples and handed the tools to continue being a student of the bible and teach others in Uganda. On top of daily training seminars for many different churches, I will be giving sermons in different churches to continue to bring discipleship to the people of Uganda.

WHAT GOD IS TEACHING ME

What makes a good teacher? I am learning just how challenging being a teacher is going to be and how much I am going to need to grow. I am learning just how much I need to learn to die to self, lay down my rights, and leave my comfort zone behind. This counting others better than myself, counting all as loss.

When being a teacher, I must not only have a good presentation of truth in word, but my life must be a model of Christ. So much of American mindset is a lackadaisical Christianity. We pick and choose how much we will sacrifice to serve God. We put on a front that looks good, but our heart is not to serve others before ourselves.

Loving and serving as Jesus does. This is a hard thing to learn and model. When I first arrived, I felt I had no strength to serve any more. I was so weary that I did not want to be out of my comfort zone any longer. I realized that I needed to step out and serve but did not even desire to be in Africa at this time (and not confident in public speaking). I did not want to step out and serve out of works, but grace in faith as an expression of worship to God and a reflection of his servant hood and love. I wrestled with God of how to serve without my natural works oriented mind taking over. I did not know how to receive grace. God showed me that because I was at the point that I said “I have nothing to give”, God’s grace will meet me in that point. By taking the first step of faith to choose to serve and have a good attitude, God will meet me with grace so I could continue.

I did this and God proved to be faithful to meet me with abundant grace and strength. I am enjoying my time in Uganda much more and am getting excited for what is to come. I do not so much mind sleeping on my dirty foam pad with bugs crawling on me, eating rice and beans for lunch and dinner (1bread roll for breakfast) every single day. I am learning to understand the people of Uganda better and building relationships. God is teaching me how to love like he loves (although I am far from being an example).

PRAYER REQUESTS

• I am learning soon where I will go on outreach. There are going to be two teams. I don’t know much yet. Pray God will guide me to the right place and the right team members.
• Pray for continued grace and strength to serve and learn to love, sacrifice, and serve as Jesus has done. That I would step out of my own comfort and find a new comfort in laying down my rights and following Christ.
• Pray God would mold me into a great teacher not just in the classroom/church but in modeling Christ through my actions.

Thank you so much for your prayers. I know they are helping me tremendously and being a source of strength. 

·   

Welcome to Africa

I am in Uganda. We got our visas just fine (PRAISE GOD). Going to Amsterdam, they didn’t even care we had a passport.

 I am experiencing a bit of culture shock from not having time or opportunity to prepare what to expect when coming to Africa. It is much more third world than I expected (and I am even in the most developed area). So please pray for me as I am still a bit worn out from my intense 9 month bible course. I don’t feel that flexible for adventure and roughing it but would like comforts of home sense I was homesick at the end of SBS. I need supernatural refreshment (even though we jump right into class in the morning).

I will actually be in Jinja for 4 weeks then go on outreach for the next 2 months. They want to split us up into 2 outreach teams. The team that will go to the north will be in the more rural area (sleeping on the ground in a thatched hut). The other team I think will be staying here in Jinja. We still don’t know many details and I don’t even know how official those details are.

* Driving here, we saw a demonstration to prevent/end child sacrifices

* I rode a motorcycle today (common mode of transportation like a taxi)

* To my surprise, my flight from Amsterdam to Uganda landed in Rwanda WHAT!? Yeah, that was confusing when we got on the flight and they say “welcome to Rwanda” (a whole different country). 
*There are soldiers EVERYWHERE

Here Goes it

Well, here it goes. The day I have been looking forward to for months. I depart for Uganda tomorrow morning (Sept 29th). I will be flying with 1 other girl. When we arrive in Uganda, we will be staying 2 nights and 1 day before we meet up with our contacts with YWAM.
*Pray for safety for us while we are alone and traveling.

Also, we do not have visa's. The country itself allows you to get them upon arrival but some airlines do not care and will not let you on the plane unless you have a visa. We found this out when it was too late to apply for a visa.
*Please pray there are no complications with visas.

Also, honestly, I am a bit tired from doing an extremely intense 9 month course and then jumping into another intense adventure. Because I have been gone from home so long, I am already a bit homesick. I don't know what to expect in Africa and am preparing for complete culture shock. Please pray for me as I am a bit uneasy and unprepared to go.
*Pray God gives me grace and peace to make a smooth transition from one intense season to another.

I know this is going to be an adventure with God and although I have no idea what to expect, God knows and he has me in his hand as I continue to faithfully follow him in obedience.

Thank You for your prayers and support it means a great deal to me and are greatly needed.

The New Blog

Nobody knows what the future holds, only that life is a journey and an adventure. For me, my life's journey has been a God story. God knows my future, and he has a plan. He is writing my story and in my God story, it has been a road of miracles that God has worked to get me at this place in life that I am now at. My life is a God story, I know the title of the next chapter but not what adventure it holds. 



God has called me to be a long-term missionary. 
A life characterized by obedience and reliance on him as I walk into the unknown of where he guides me and do the work that he sets before me. 
I have a rough idea of the steps I will take in the next few years, but all I really know is that he has huge plans and has called me to be apart of them. 
I know God is shaping me to use me for big things. 


This new blog is a blog so that you can keep up with me in this journey, know how to pray, and praise God for the work he does.