Back in America

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back in the states at home safely! Not so sure how I feel about that... I already miss Uganda like crazy!!!!

Two days ledt in Africa :(

So, I have procrastinated in writing this blog..ha, mainly because I don't even know where to begin. These past few days have been a-m-a-z-i-n-g!! Tuesday was our last day with the kids at the orphanage. We had an amazing day with them! We took them to the agricultural show in town which had some zoo animals. They had a python, some monkeys, a crocodile, a cheetah, and some donkeys that you could ride. There was a snake show so all the kids got to pet the snake. They loved it... some were a little freaked out. Then we bought them all drinks and cookies. Also, we paid for all of them to ride the donkeys. They were too cute! The agricultural show also had some circus rides there, so we let them ride them. On the way back to the orphanage, we bought them all ice cream. I will never forget the joy on their faces all throughout the day! These kids pretty much go to school and to the orphanage. With close to 50 kids, it's a little hard to get them anywhere. But we wanted to show them how much we loved them. We just hung out with them the rest of the day. Every night, they sing and pray before they go to bed. This night after they sang and prayed, we shared the Gospel with them and talked about head knowledge versus knowing something in your heart. Then we just told them how much they meant to us. And how they will not be forgotten. We also shared with them the huge blessing to us they have been this summer. Within the second sentence, I started bawling. Then Tiffany followed. Then we could hear sniffles from the kids. All of us... Ms. Agnes, Grace, Stella, Tiffany, me, and the kids just sat in the silence crying. We gave them all hugs- some held on tight, others weren't so sure what to do. When it was time for the kids to get to bed, Tiffany and I walked to the toilet only to find about 3 girls crying their eyes out. It was so hard. I did not know a group that big could become a family so quickly! It's amazing! I am going to miss them SO much! We are going tomorrow to tell them our final goodbyes!
Wednesday morning we headed back to the hotel to work with Kelly Green Evangelistic Association. We went with the evangelism teams into some schools and marketplaces. It was awesome! Then that night we had a team meeting, which was amazing! The doctor, Jim, gave a devotion. It was amazing. Then we all prayed for the lost at home. We ended with worship and testimonies from the day.
Thursday was a very interesting day! Tiffany and I went with the evangelism teams again. At one of the schools we went to, a girl started almost like hyperventilating and rolling around on the ground. We took her outside and we all started praying for her. At first, everyone thought she was having a seizure, but she got up and started running around like a crazy person. It took about 4 or 5 people to contain her. The Ugandans were shouting out to God for this 13 year old girl. When you walked towards her, you could seriously feel a heaviness around her. She was demon possessed. We continues praying and she calmed down. Then she said a prayer to accept Christ into her life. The second she did that, you could literally feel the heaviness around her leave. The Lord's presence was there like I have never felt before. The enemy knew he would be defeated so he was using anything he could to distract. This precious girl started saying “Yesu, Yesu, Yesu...” which means “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”. It was amazing at the change in her life in a matter of minutes. There is NO LIMIT to what the Lord can use! I have realized that the presence of God is so strong here, therefore the presence of the enemy is very strong. The Christians here get up at like 4 am to pray EVERY MORNING! Prayer against the enemy is a matter of survival here. We have so much to learn. I think the enemy is very present in America, but we do not take it seriously. We rely on ourselves way too much, but the power of God is stronger than anything we could ever imagine doing on our own! After a few more schools, we went to a bible study at a church here. This church was an orange tarp held up with sticks in the middle of a field. But talk about some on fire for the Lord people. At the end of the study, we asked if anyone needed prayer. Many people came up asking for prayer for sicknesses and things of that nature. But one 7 year old girl, very soft spoken, came up and asked for prayer for wisdom... yes, wisdom. Wow! Within a matter of minutes, a 9 year old boy came up and asked for prayer for knowledge. Unbelievable. When I was 7 or 9, my prayers would have probably been for something so materialistic... never would I have asked for knowledge or wisdom at that age! Not long after these kids came up, a woman name Francis came up and prayed that she would be able to care for orphans. I was talking to her after the service was over and she told me that her and one other lady are caring for 16 orphans in her home!!! Her dream is to be able to care for more. I am just amazed more and more by the people here, children and adults alike.
Friday we went with the evangelism teams again. It was once again an amazing day. At the first school we went to I shared my testimony. As I was sharing, I noticed a Muslim lady standing in the back listening. During the skits, she was crying when Jesus was crucified. I could not stop looking at her. God really laid her on my heart for some reason, even though there were probably 200 kids before me. After the Gospel was presented and people were just hanging out before we left, I went over to talk to her and another Muslim lady that had come up. Over and over, she began to say thank you for the work that was done there and the message we brought. She then kept asking me when I was coming back. Even more amazing, she gave me her phone number and asked if we could stay in touch. God was really moving in her heart. I did not ask her if she had accepted the Lord because of another Muslim woman was with her. If they accept Christ, they basically are ostracized. But I have her phone number and plan on calling her soon to find out what God was doing in her heart. The last school we visited, I was sitting next to a 13 year old girl named Morrine. She kept asking me questions while people were sharing... deep questions though. Things like “Do people in America have the same struggles as people here?”. Then she told me that she was a born again Christian... Amen! When we were about to leave, she took me aside and said she wanted to talk to me. She began to cry and tell me her life story. Her father died when she was in about 3rd grade. Her mother could no longer support them, so she lives with her grandmother now. Her brothers are not in school because they can not afford school fees. She is in school only by the grace of God. She asked for me to continue praying for her that God would continue to provide fees for her to finish school. Then she handed me a bracelet that she was wearing and said “I want you to keep this, because I don't want you to ever forget me. Can we still be friends when you go back to America?”. Wow. I am speechless.
Saturday, I helped with a dental clinic, then went into town to be a tour guide for souvenir shopping with the team...ha!
Sunday was our last day at Pastor Henry's church. It was an awesome service. Afterwards, we were just saying our goodbyes and getting contact information. Man, I will miss them!
Just those few days have been overwhelming and so amazing all together. I have one day left here in Jinja. We fly out Wednesday night. I am not ready to leave these people! They have captured my heart!!!

Where to begin...

We had an amazing time in Kampala! God did some amazing things. I will give details later because I am in an internet cafe and only have about 20 minutes to write. Needless to say, there is way too much to write about in that short amount of time! But we worked with the rally teams and actually got to go visit an orphanage called Kampala Children's Center with some girls we met from Vancouver, Canada and Manchester, England! The last day we were there, Pastor Ken called us and asked if we would go to Mbarara with part of the team to help with children at a women's conference. We were driving there and had to drive through a national park. We saw a herd of elephants (I took many picture for you Aunt Becky!!). We also saw warthogs, water buffalo, hippos, and antelope. I felt like I was in Lion King or something. The team we went with was absolutely amazing! There is no doubt that that team was put together by God. We became like family in a matter of days! They are from a church in Texas so...road trip to Texas sometime this year!!! We got there and ended up not working with children. We went with the evangelism team to schools and prisons. Yes, prisons. It was awesome. God used me to speak to men in prison! Like 500 of them. I could not have done it without Him enabling me! Then I fell in love with the people of Mbarara. We helped speak to single women at a women's conference. These women captured my heart.
After much prayer and talking, Tiffany and I are spending our last night at the orphanage tommorrow night. We were torn because Kelly Green Evangelistic Association's team is here and we want to work with them, but we still want to be with the kids at the orphanage. So tommorrow, Tiffany and I have arranged to take all the kids from the orphanage to a Circus they are having here! It is going to be an amazing last day with them! And last night Tiffany and I slept with all the girls in the classroom. It was so much fun!
I am in total disbelief that we only have about a week left here in Uganda. As excited as I am to see family and to share what God has done, I am going to miss this place. We have developed some of the most amazing friendships. We have seen the joy of the Lord and passionate hearts like never before. We have seen orphans singing that Jesus is all they need when they are living with close to nothing. We have seen people who have nothing give all they have to the Lord. We have seen true worship. We have seen demons cast out. We have had God reveal so much to us personally. We have met people who's lives are harder than we could ever imagine, yet Jesus is their everything. I could go on and on, but above all, we have seen the Lord orchestrate every little detail and work in mighty mighty ways! I wish all of you could have been here to experience it with me! There is no way to express everything. I just know one thing... this summer has changed my life forever!

Headed to Kampala

So, praise God! I am better!! Thanks to all who have been praying! This is just going to be a quick update. Yesterday Tiffany and I were able to visit the orphanage for a few hours. It was awesome to see the kids again! It's only been a week and I missed them like crazy! It's amazing how quick a place can become a home. They greeted us with giant smiles and hugs!
We are headed to Kampala, Uganda today until Saturday. We will be working with Ken Gallyean and his wife as well as a team from the US that comes in today. They are through a ministry called Call to Africa. We will be doing evangelism rallies, women's conferences, and some other things. Please be in prayer that God would do mighty things! I will update you when we get back.

Rough Day...

Today has been an extremely rough, emotional day! I was feeling much better today. So Tiffany and I decided to go into town. Well after being in town about 15 minutes, I threw up again. So we came back to the hotel. I had an emotional breakdown. For about 2 hours, I just cried. I am just really discouraged by all this. I don't see purpose in it. I didn't come to Uganda to sit in a hotel room. I feel like an inconvenience to every one around me. I want to be with the kids at the orphanage or out doing ministry- not sitting in a hotel room. I am homesick. I guess just sitting in the same room for 5 days makes you more emotional than normal. Then, I talked to my parents. My mom tells me that they stopped a bible study to pray for me. Then, Ms. Agnes was here. She tells me that there are about 6 people (Grace, Stella, and some of the kids) at the orphanage who have been fasting and praying for me today! Then she prays over me for healing! It's just been an emotional roller coaster today!!! I know God has purpose in all this, but I just don't see it right now!

We're Not Gonna Get Malaria...ha!

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000002200 StartFragment:0000000489 EndFragment:0000002183

So, it has been a week since I have blogged. I have been in bed the past 3 days with malaria. Most of you already know this! Tuesday I woke up feeling really sick... fever, vomiting, headache, chills, sweats, nausea, diarrhea... basically everything in one. I just dealt with it pretty much all day Tuesday until about 5. I then decided I should go to a clinic so I did. They drew blood and found malaria. Tuesday night I was up all night throwing up. Wednesday I was feeling better. I held down breakfast, but not lunch or dinner. Yesterday I held down everything I ate, which is a good sign. It has been a rough few days. I still have nausea, but everything else is good! Malaria is very common here, so it is nothing to worry too much about. It is only deathly if not treated. There's a funny story about all this though. Tiffany was watching something on her computer last night and laughing really hard. I asked her what she was watching. We have been making videos since we got here and she was watching the first video we made at the orphanage. We were under our mosquito nets and she said “I feel pretty chlostrophobic”. I started chanting, “It's ok, cuz we're not gonna get malaria”... ha... and look who has malaria. It makes me laugh- the irony in it all.

But this past weekend was really good at the orphanage. Saturday we made banners with the kid's handprints on them along with Ms. Agnes, Grace, and Stella. They turned out super cute. On Sunday we went to church at the orphanage. It was awesome. The kdis have their own little praise team and choir. It was too cute!  

Almost a month here...

We will not be at the hotel this weekend. We are not going on the safari either! We are staying at the orphanage so we can go to church there on Sunday! But the rest of this week has been good! Thursday we just stayed at the orphanage. It was a nice day to journal, read, and spend time with the kids! One of the girls got a package. It was so awesome! It was her birthday package from a couple in the states. Babra did not even know it was her birthday. I can't fathom that! But she was so thankful. It was awesome to see! She prayed, thanking God for it before she even opened it. I have never seen a little girl so excited to get crayons, paper, a doll, and 2 shirts! She was truly thankful. She could not stop smiling! It was beautiful!
I am sitting here, in disbelief that it has already been one month here almost! I can not imagine leaving these kids. It is going to be so hard! I have gotten so attached to them. Maybe I will finish college and move back next year... we'll see where God takes me!