Well, my sweet friends.. In case you hadn't already heard…
I'M GOING BACK TO UGANDA!
I'm excited. Can you tell?
April 17th. The ticket is bought. So the question has been, "What are you going to be doing?"
And what a valid question that is. Really.
So this is my explanation post, for all of you curious supporters out there. 🙂
My heart has been for Uganda from the day I set foot in the country almost 4 years ago. I absolutely fell in love with it. It wasn't necessarily that I felt God say "You MUST go to Uganda" or "You are CALLED to Uganda" but more that He has always said "You CAN go to Uganda. There is a piece of your heart that comes alive there in a way that it doesn't anywhere else. You can go back."
That was after some doors closed and He had me go on the Race instead, (praise Him, it was the best year ever and you can read all about that in my other blogs), but now I feel that He is letting me go back.
So here's the vision.
The plan (I hold that word very loosely at this point) is that this trip will launch me into full-time ministry. My ticket is for 6 months with a couple of goals while I'm there and some big goals for the end of it.
While I'm there, I plan on..
-doing research and needs-based assesment. I don't want to hop into a country assuming that I know what is best and what is most needed. I don't. This trip is designed to give me the flexibility to figure some of things things out.
-exploring different organizations with possible long-term potential.
-settling. I have done my previous 4 trips to Uganda within 2 years of each other, but now it has been almost 2 years since I've been back. A lot can change in a country in that amount of time, and the Race has changed a lot in MY life, so I want to go back and simply make sure that I still have a peace about being there.
-serving those that are already there. The Race really developed in me a heart for long-term missionaries throughout the world. I LOVED going in and being available for people who are already serving. I have several close friends already in Uganda full-time and I am excited about the opportunity to simply be available to help out where needed. I also am going to try to do some assesment here and find out what the needs are (both ministry-related and personally) of those serving full-time.
To sum it all up (but thanks for reading the rest of that!), my goal by the end is to either find an organization with an available long-term position that I can step into or find a need that I can help meet if I am to create a long-term position for myself.
So. There it is!
I am actually having the wonderful opportunity to do this trip through Adventures in Missions, so if you would like to make a tax-deductible donation towards my effort, please feel free to do so by clicking the "support me!" link on the left on the page.
I know that this was a really logistical, boring blog.. But I appreciate you reading it. 🙂 More to come soon!
