Wow! I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted a blog! and that tomorrow we will be leaving our ministry site in Bugiri, Uganda. This month has definitely been different than our first month in Kenya. My team and I have been living in town in an apartment style compound with the 4 girls (and three mice) in one room and the two boys in a smaller room by itself. Our pastor, Tomas, his wife and two baby daughters live in the compound as well.
Our month in Uganda has been stretching, both hard and good. The first night in Bugiri one of my teammates, Stephen, was met with a serious bout of malaria and for the first time in my life, I know there was spiritual warfare going on in our midst. It was a crazy night praying over our rooms and the compound as Mike and Stephen went to the clinic. In a strange way, I'm thankful for the experience. Not that Stephen got sick, but that I got a small taste of the unrest the devil is capable of, as well as how powerful the Lord is. It would have been much easier to fall into the fear than to fight it, but we have been fighting it one smile at a time throughout the rest of our days in Bugiri. During the first week, almost no one smiled back, with the exception being the amazing kids around town, but as the days have gone by there has definitely been a bright change in the overall atmosphere.
Most of the month our team has not been able to do ministry all together, because all of us, at some point or another, have been sick. Sickness has ranged from upset stomach to fever to malaria and typhoid. Thank God for His healing because everyone is healthy now! The ministry our team did this month included going to around a dozen schools where we played with the kids and acted out Bible stories, went to an orphanage, prayed at the hospital, spoke at the prison, preached on Sundays at church (I spoke last week!), door to door evangelism on Lake Victoria, and filled water buckets for the women in the compound. Our squad leaders, Lucas Tillman and Sarah Schrack, even got to join us for a whole week, which was so great! They brought a refreshment that our team really needed this month.
God is continuing to grow me and each of the people on my team in so many ways. Ways that we often don't even realize until far after the fact. God continues to be present, even when I'm tired and sweaty and homesick and just plain bratty, sending just the right amount of encouagement I need like a few moments of much needed alone time, a simple facebook comment or message, or the opening of my Bible to the exact verse I need for that day. God is good. all. the. time.
Thank you once again for all of your prayers and support, even with my lack of communication this month. I am so completely blessed to have your support and encouragement throughout these 11 months! It's hard to believe that two months have already passed and there are 9 months to go.
In closing, here's a "little" excerpt from The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus:
"If you don't like the idea of being an innovator, that's fine. Just do whatever Jesus calls you to do the moment it is clear to you. Do not procrastinate; do not hesitate; do not deviate from whatever course of action He calls you to. But I want to warn you, the closer you walk with Christ, the greater the faith required. The more you trust Him, the more you'll risk on His behalf. The more you love Him, the more you will love others. If you genuinely embrace His sacrifice, you will joyfully embrace a sacrificial life. Your expectations of Jesus will change as you intimacy with Him deepens. When you begin to follow passionately after Jesus, you will inadvertently find yourself innovating. After all, Jesus is transforming lives, writing history, creating the future, and unleashing the kingdom of God."
