Please pray for Kampala!

Just when I had thought the riots had calmed down, there were riots right outside the office today, tear gas being sprayed on the streets, roads are blocked. There is just a lot of political unrest. There is also a food shortage, so the cost of food has been raised causing riots. Continue praying for the entire nation of Uganda! 'If my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray, He promises to heal the land.' Thank you all!

Please pray for Kampala, Uganda today!

Please pray for Kampala today! I got word that there were some political riots going on fairly close to where I'm currently staying. One of the presidential candidates was shot in the arm, nothing fatal. Currently, I'm away from the riots, so please do not be worried! Just please pray for peace. There is tear gas being sprayed in two areas. The Lord is in control and I'm not worried! For the Lord is my protection and my shield, I shall not fear.

4/11/11 Update!

Greetings! The Lord has truly been so good to me! He has brought some amazing friends into my life. I received a very nice journal from one of my friends named Shirley. She is employed by Watoto and she works in the medical department. We have really formed a connection and she is from Australia. I’ve also met another girl named Kim who is a nursery school teacher in Bbira village. All of us tend to hang out on the weekends. Saturday tends to be the main day of the week I plan to spend quality time with friends, meet at coffee shops, ect…and surprisingly they do have coffee shops in the city of Kampala J. It’s actually a neat reminder of home. The Lord has really been multiplying my friend base very quickly, which has made such a difference knowing people and having connections in a foreign land. The Lord led me to a lady in a coffee shop and while we were checking out so we began talking and she gave me her business card and we met last weekend. She is actually a dance instructor and the Lord has allowed her the opportunity to share His love through her passion for dancing. She is actually married to a Ugandan and believes the Lord may be leading her and her husband into counseling/ministry together, possibly counseling other cross culture couples. More and more individuals are marrying cross culturally. She told me individuals keep entering her life who are married cross culturally and she believes her and her husband are in the preparation process for ministering together. She said it’s as if the Lord has brought them through 10 years of marriage in just the 10 months they have been married. She told me it wasn’t even a desire of hers to get married (or at least a known desire, it was a hidden desire) and to be a mother someday. She was very independent, however, when her and her current husband began a friendship she did not even see him as an option until one day she distinctly remembers the Lord removing the blinders and showing her this man was the one. She told me it literally freaked her out so she told him she had to leave immediately. That part was hilarious the way she was telling the story. She’s very animated so it made the story that much more entertaining and exciting. Needless to say, the Lord made it very clear to both of them they were to get married and He really softened her heart. It turned out that Thomas, her husband, also had a child so she is not only a wife now, but a mother. The Lord is still teaching her so much, but her story was so neat of how the Lord can change our desires. If it’s in the Lord’s will for me to marry a Ugandan man, the Lord has already placed an amazing couple in my life to learn from. Based on my limited understanding of marriage, discussions with older friends who are married, and my own personal observations of those who are married, marriage is difficult within the same culture, especially when you mix in the cultural differences as well. So it’s that much more important that one is sure they’ve chosen the right one. I say all this to request your prayers in this area of my life.

I am still residing at the guesthouse and have looked at a few apartments, however, they are out of my price range. Please continue praying the Lord provides the perfect place, that is the most cost-effective. Brent has actually left for three weeks for meetings back in the US, so I moved over to his small cottage and I’ve been enjoying having a little cottage to myself for a few days. This Wed. I am planning on moving in with a lady named Tara, her husband is leaving to serve in Cape Town, South Africa. Watoto has expanded and is building a brand new village there, which is super exciting. So she said she could use the company. I will be staying in their basement for awhile until we can work out a more permanent place for me to live.

As I was talking to Brent, the international director of Watoto, who is my boss, he mentioned the possibility of eventually getting the opportunity to work in the trauma rehabilitation program and/or get to assist with the next Restour Tour. There may be a possibility of me getting to travel with them on their next tour. If I go this route, all my food and accommodations are paid for by Watoto. I am praying the right opportunities open up because the maintenance position I’m currently in is only temporary and soon they will need to hire someone full-time. Although I am grateful to be serving in such an amazing ministry, maintenance isn’t my passion. I see this current opportunity as a gateway to future opportunities that align with my heart beat, which is interacting with the Ugandan people.

The Lord's been teaching me so much. I'm already having to depend on Him in ways I never have before. There are times I feel like I am so small and know so little...but it's then I have to remember that it's His wisdom I am to operate in, not my own and not to find confidence from what I "know" intellectually. I'm definitely being stretched, but I'm really enjoying it here. I love the people so much. I attended the Restour Tour last Friday evening at Watoto Church. I observed their final showing of this Tour. They had just returned from a six month tour around the world. This is the same Tour that went through Springfield, MO last Oct. It is a dramatized showing of what took place in Gulu. When the LRA Army abducted children and trained them for war and made them commit horrible atrocities we couldn't even imagine. Women were abducted as well, raped, and left destitute. It was awful. These kids and young adults stood up in front of crowds and told their story and how they forgave all those people who killed their families, ect...right before their eyes. It was a story of hope and forgiveness! How God restores! As I was sitting there taking it all in, I sensed the Lord gently whisper in my heart that my purpose here is very simple: it’s to bring joy into the hearts and lives of hurting, war-torn Ugandan’s. I've been amazed at how many individuals I've come into contact here have mentioned something about my cheerful attitude and my smile. I really do believe joy is a gift of the spirit the Lord's given me. Sometimes I can get caught up in what I know intellectually and what I don’t know, ect…That’s when I sensed the Lord reminding me of a quote I had heard many times before, but it seemed to hit home harder this time. “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” He told me… “just LOVE.” That really resonated in my spirit. That’s one thing I can do in the love He’s bestowed to me! So that, I will do… “walk in love” letting “everything I do to be done in love.” There is so much to learn here. Please pray I am able to learn what I need to when I need to. I love you all! God Bless!

Song: Thank You For Giving to The Lord

I believe the Lord reminded me of this song Brenda Woods use to sing at my home church when I was a child. I was on my way back from Gulu, Uganda and was thinking about the ministry the Lord has for me to do during my stay in Uganda. I believe He spoke to my heart in such a tender way and told me that I may never know who benefits from the work of my hands, the words of encouragement I have spoken, the love I've shown, the joy I've passed on by simply smiling at someone, ect...I pray the words bless your heart:

Thank You For Giving to the Lord
by Ray Boltz


I dreamed I went to Heaven, you were there with me.
We walked upon the streets of gold beside the Crystal Sea.
We heard the angels singing, then someone called your name.
You turned and saw this young man, and he was smiling as he came.

He said, "Friend you may not know me now," and then he said, "But wait -
You used to teach my Sunday School, when I was only eight.
And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start.
And one day when you said that prayer,
I asked Jesus in my heart."

Chorus
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.

Then another man stood before you, he said "Remember the time,
A missionary came to your church, His pictures made you cry.
You didn't have much money but you gave it anyway.
Jesus took that gift you gave
And that's why I'm in Heaven today"

Chorus
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.

One by one they came, far as your eyes could see.
Each life somehow touched by your generosity.
Little things that you had done, sacrifices that you made,
They were unnoticed on this earth
In Heaven now proclaimed.

Chorus
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave.

And I know up in Heaven you're not supposed to cry
But I am almost sure there were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand and you stood before the Lord
He said "My child look around you,
Great is your reward."

Chorus
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am so glad you gave,
I am so glad you gave.

3/15/11 Update

Our God is absolutely amazing! I’m so humbled by His goodness that my eyes are literally filled with tears of absolute joy as I’m writing to you. I’m almost at a loss for words, but will try my best to convey all the workings of Almighty God that are in my spirit. I have such a burning desire to share with you all not only what God is doing in the nation of Uganda but how He is changing me as a result of what He’s revealing to me! I am absolutely blown away. You know we go on mission trips with the mindset of blessing others, serving others, and loving others. However, I’ve found once you go, you always come back with so much more than you left with. Once we yield to Christ, it’s amazing what He does in not only our lives, but in the lives of everyone we are surrounded by and also to those we may never meet this side of heaven. You go to bless, but the Lord blesses you twofold by those you came to serve. It’s amazing! A lot of you know my heart for the nation of Uganda. I traveled here about two years ago and literally fell in love with the Ugandan people. They are the most warm and welcoming community of people I’ve ever had the privilege to know. It sounds crazy, but even back home in the States, when I would see an African American and they didn’t even have to be a true native, something inside my spirit danced for joy almost. I would get all excited. I’m just drawn to them. I almost wish you could see through the eyes of my heart if only for a second just so I could allow you to capture it and see it from my perspective. I want to take just a second and speak to “the church.” To my church family, I am brought to tears truly every time I talk about you and you know who you are! Those of you who have watched me grow up and have seen me develop. I say this at every presentation I give, I always take you with me on every trip, everywhere I go. I’ve taken you all around the world. Some of you can’t go on the mission field, but give so generously to send me. Words cannot express how grateful I am for you! For your prayers, for your encouragement, for your love, and your financial support. I would not be here if it weren’t for you being obedient to the Lord’s will. It brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about all the rewards you are storing up for yourself in heaven and that He will say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant, for great is your reward.” So thank you truly from the bottom of my heart! And to my own flesh and blood: Mom and Dad, thank you! I would not be who I am and where I am today had it not been for your obedience to the Lord and raising me in the fear and admonition of the Lord! To know I have your blessing and wholehearted support despite the difficulty of not having me in your arms to hold means a world of words where there really are no words. I thank God for you all! Every single one of you! You have all blessed me in ways you may never know!

The team and I traveled into Northern Uganda Friday evening into a town called Gulu. This was actually my first trip there and it is at the heart of where the war took place around 1994. Gulu is where the Lord’s Resistance Army set up command centers in order to raise up child soldiers. These children were forced to witness unimaginable atrocities. Children were forced to kill their family members and were forced to watch their family members be mutilated and killed right before their eyes. The children were threatened with their lives if they did not obey the commands to kill their family. Many of the women were abducted, taken into the bush and raped, beaten, and left desolate. The violence was horrific and like nothing you could imagine. Gulu is about four hours from Kampala, where I’m currently residing. Our purpose for traveling there was to team up with an Engineer Missions International (EMI) team. This team is made up of experts that specialize in architecture, agriculture, and various other disciples. This team was put together by Almighty God and His fingerprints were all over it. This team came together from all over the world and worked together on formulating a master plan for what is to be called Koch Agriculture Technical College in Gulu. This team has been working extensively all day and all night for a solid week in preparation for the presentation in which we heard today. This college is designed to bring hope to not only the surrounding villages and community in which it borders, but also will target students in Watoto that have graduated from the Watoto villages that have a passion for learning how to farm, grow crops, raise livestock, ect. There was a particular lady by the name of Kristin. She is a native from Gulu herself and I was just blown away at how to Lord is using her. To me, she was an individual in which when she speaks, people listen. I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat, hanging on every word she was saying. What she was saying was so interesting. This project began about three years ago when Watoto purchased 150 acres to build this college on. However, she stated you have to understand the Acholi culture in order to truly grasp how inspired this project is by the Lord. The Acholi people view land as their inheritance. It is the only thing in which they have possession of being so poor, so naturally it is something they hold very near and dear and is extremely difficult for them to let go of. It means a great deal to them. So for them to come together and believe with Watoto that this college will bring hope and lasting change not only to those who travel through this college, but for them and their entire community, they bought into this belief in order to release their inheritance (their inheritance being the land that Watoto purchased to build this college on). One of the amazing things about Watoto Ministry is that it doesn’t just touch the lives of those it’s designed to care for, orphans and widows. It not only brings hope to the lives of the orphans, widows, and vulnerable women who have been abducted, raped, and who are now HIV+, but that hope spills over the boundary lines of Watoto’s physical property lines into the lives of the surrounding community and in turn the Lord brings healing to this war impoverished community. I am so humbled to be a part of this amazing kingdom work the Lord is doing. It’s so broad scale. Because you see it’s so much more than teams coming together to build schools, village homes, or an agricultural school. It’s about being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ and bringing hope to a community who has literally been through hell and back. You see we all have our own sphere of influence. Those only we can reach as Christ paves the way. Kingdom work has such a ripple effect. Similar to when you throw a rock in a body of water, the ripple begins small, but begins to grow. The larger the ripple grows, the more people are touched by Christ’s love shining through you and me. The same is true when a believer is doing God’s work. One may never know what a difference one person can make in another’s life. We may never understand this side of heaven how the Lord has used the work of our hands to benefit so many lives. That excites me in ways I can’t even begin to describe to you! It puts the work I am doing into perspective as well. Facilities Management isn’t exactly my passion above passions. But I see this position as the gateway to unlimited possibilities. So right now there is a need and I’m serving diligently to meet that need for the betterment of the children, the house mothers, and the teachers. I love people! I love interacting with them, observing them, learning about them, ministering to them, serving them, ect…just offering them my presence because to me that’s what Christ did. He loved, He served, and He gave. So I’ve adopted that as my motto for my stay here. I’m here to love the Ugandan community, to serve them, and to give to them. That’s what I see as my mission. To be an extension of the hands and feet of Christ. After the presentation today there were several points it just brought tears to my eyes. Just to think about those things that may seem small to us, the work that we are doing, may at times seem so small and maybe insignificant. But when you look at it in the light of the cross, wow, it’s absolutely amazing! God only knows who you are touching through Christ both in the present and in the future. You may never know whose life you are touching with your ripple. So whenever you feel your work in the kingdom may be insignificant, be reminded of this. No work for Christ is ever insignificant. Don’t believe the lies of the enemy. The mayor of Gulu was at this presentation also and the government supports Watoto and the work they are doing in the community which I think is amazing in itself. After the presentation he spoke and asked when are we getting this thing on the ground because he believes it will change this entire community. The hope is to also teach the surrounding villages how to grow their own crops for their families and reach out and train them as well in addition to the students in the college. Amazing! After the presentation, our team traveled to what they call Living Hope. Living Hope is a branch off Watoto that specifically ministers to vulnerable women. Every woman in Living Hope resides in their facility and has been abducted by the Rebels, most of which have been beaten and raped. All the women in the Living Hope Program are HIV+. Living Hope is designed to restore dignity to these women. The purpose is to keep these women alive so they are able to care for their children. They are also taught life skills and Watoto provides them with a trade such as sewing, making sanitary pads, ect. Gulu has recently begun a new project making sanitary pads for women. In Uganda teenage girls began to drop out of school and not finish their studies because they have to miss a week of school every month because of their period. They had no sanitary pads and no way to clean themselves so they had to stay home. So an individual actually invented a way to make sanitary pads out of papyrus and paper. They go through an entire assembly line process in Living Hope that the vulnerable women assist with to keep teenage girls in school, which enables them to finish their education. As we toured through the facility, Kristin, the same individual at the presentation I spoke of earlier gave us the tour. We entered a room full of about 50-75 women all HIV+. Every women had a story, every women had been abducted in the war. Here I am standing in front of these women as they are each seated in front of their sewing machines, making dolls for the Watoto Choir to sell and make money for the Minstry and as I just look into their eyes, I’m brought to tears. I would try to scan through the room, looking into their eyes, but I was brought to tears every tim. Everything is my life that remotely concerns me is completely erased and it so insignificant when you look these women in the eyes. Wow! Talk about humbling. Every scar they have tells a story. Some women have been mutilated, having their ears cut or pieces of their body cut by the Rebels. Every one of them has a story to tell. It’s in moments like that one is brought into the reality of what really matters in life. Then to hear Kristin talk about how much joy they have. Yes, they have been through more than any of us can ever imagine, however, they understand they are not defined by what’s happened to them in the past and they understand they don’t have to live chained to their past. Their circumstances do not define them! Christ defines them. Kristin was saying once they realize that, they are filled with such hope, and they just let it all go by the Lord’s grace. Each women journey’s through the Trauma Rehabilitation Program, which is extensive counseling before they enter into the Living Hope Program. It is here they learn to forgive. They learn that forgiveness is a choice. Kristin told us that in a lot of cases the very individuals who abducted them still live in their villages and these women come into contact with their abductor’s daily. She said at first these women just want to kill their abductors, however, once they learn that forgiveness is a choice, it changes everything. Unforgiveness acts as a poison that slowly kills you. It’s only when they choose to forgive and let that go, they find freedom. Kristin compared it to a poisoness snake. The faster you run, the faster is kills you.

I pray this entry has blessed your heart and has allowed you to capture only a small taste of all the amazing things the Lord is doing in the nation of Uganda! I love you all!

3/12/11 Update!

Wow! It's been over a month since I left Missouri. It's gone by so fast actually already! The Lord continues to pour out His blessings! I pray the Lord is using my updates to bless your hearts as well! Every morning I make it my prayer to walk in love, walk in light, and to walk in His strength and not my own. My motto is simply this...and I remind myself of it often...I'm here to love, serve, encourage, and give. Flexibility and patience are my new middle names :-). I'm still working on making a life here, it's interesting learning how to live and make a life for myself here, while maintaining relationships back home. Please pray for wisdom and discernment there!

On 3/5/11 I was invited to a Ugandan wedding introduction where the bride's side of the family meets the groom's family. It was very interesting. The ladies wore traditional African dress and the men also wore what they call a dress as well. Moses knew the individuals getting married so he invited me to go. Moses has been a huge help to me and is usually the one who drives me around the city and to the villages for work. The celebration lasted the entire day and several groups of individuals performed various tribal dances.

I have finished walking through all the schools: vocational, secondary, primary, and what they call prep, which is kindergarten schools. I have now began to write up my findings in a written report. Last week I traveled to Bbira village to get oriented and will soon begin to walk through all the village homes, schools, and teacher apartments there as well. As Moses and I were traveling through the villages we had a train of children walking with us, holding our hands, ect...they are so precious. So we got to spend the rest of the afternoon just loving on the children in the village and interacting with them. A little girl named Rachael walked right out of her home, right up next to me and just grabbed my hand and stood right next to me. It was so precious. I talked with her awhile and spun her around until we were both dizzy and we'd just laugh. Then another little boy named Benjamin held my hand through the entire village as we walked around as well. They just warm your heart so much!

When I was in Uganda two years ago, I met a Watoto teacher named Elizabeth. We instantly formed a friendship and shared prayer requests and have kept in touch this entire time, for two years. She has a little girl named Shannon. For two years, we wrote handwritten letters back and forth. We sent pictures and Christmas cards, ect. We also kept in touch via e-mail. Before I came to Uganda this time I had e-mailed her and told her when I would be in Uganda so we could meet. I had been trying to track her down the first month I was in Uganda. I had thought she was in Bbira village, but it turns out she actually teaches at Suubi village where I had been working the first month or so of my stay here. It was such a God thing how we met actually. Tom and I were in Suubi one day walking through the teacher apartments and this cute little girl kept talking to me through her apartment window. I asked her what her name was but I couldn't understand her through the window. So Tom and I ended up entering her home to look for items that needed repair and I asked her again what her name was. She said it was Shannon. So I asked her if her mothers name was Elizabeth and she said, "yes." I asked her if she remembered writing me? She said, "yes." So I told her to be sure and tell her mom that Charity from the US is here looking for her. So the next day Tom and I were walking through the schools and I asked one of the teachers which building Elizabeth taught at. So soon after, she came walking in with a few ladies and we hugged and it was so exciting to see her again. Later that evening I ran into her again and she welcomed me into her home and fed me fruit and passion fruit juice. She gave me a wooden wall decoration that said "With Love From Uganda." She had handwritten a message on the back and she had remembered my birthday last year and just hadn't sent it yet. It was such a blessing. She told me she could teach me how to cook Ugandan food. God is so good!

Last night Barbara, Brent, Moses, and two other guys on a build team traveled to Gulu where the majority of the war took place. We will be here until Tuesday of next week. I'm trying to get it worked out where I can observe the Trauma Rehabilitation team. They do hands on counseling, discipling with the individuals who have been in the war and have seen unimaginable atrocities. I see my current position as a gateway into something that more fits my passion, which is interacting and really working and ministering into the lives of these beautiful and precious people. I love them so much. So please pray the Lord continues to lead me where He wants me to be even within Watoto Ministries because it's such a huge ministry with so many facets.

I was also able to get in touch with Roy, who is in charge of the worship/music ministry of Watoto Church. He has invited me to attend weekly practices with the band so I can observe what goes on and see where I desire to get plugged in at.

Although the Lord has blessed me so much, I've faced a few challenges as well. Please pray for supernatural wisdom and continued strength and courage to stand on the truths in His Word. The days can be long and hot and there's so much to observe and take in. I know He has called me here, but I can often feel so small at the end of the day and feel like I know so little.