It’s that time again folks!
With only days left for my time in Uganda, I am again attempting to share the month with all of you lovely people. I admit I was excited to write about all that I was seeing and doing on this trip in the beginning, but like many long endeavors the ambition and excitement in the beginning of a journey has cooled to resignation and a bit of trepidation. Not that I don’t want to fill you guys in or not that I am not enjoying my time on the race. Quite the opposite my time overseas becomes that mush sweeter each day and my love for all my friends and family grows daily too. Simply sitting down and committing words to page is a more difficult discipline to master than expected. I was able to talk to my sister just the other day, and she reminded me to write. It really helped to encourage me to know that she looked forward to being kept in the loop, so thank you sissy this one is for you.
This month can simply be wrapped up in one word: sweet. My time spent with my team mates, our host, Charles, our house aunties, Irene and Sarah, and Irene’s baby Allen has been terribly wonderfully sweet. Our ministry this month has been helping Pastor Charles plant a church in the near by community. Pastor Charles has found a beautiful property owned by a woman of God who wants to rent the land for use of the church. Now it comes down to working on raising the first year’s rent before they can erect a temporary structure to worship and fellowship under. Tuesday through Friday after breakfast we go door to door in the neighborhood introducing ourselves, getting to know our neighbors, praying with them, and inviting them to evening bible study at 5pm Tuesday through Friday. Our friend who owns the land for the church graciously lets us hold the bible study in her front yard. Saturdays are our adventure day which for us usually involves going to a bigger town for the day to get WiFi and chat with friends and family from home. Sunday we will visit one of Pastor Charles’ friends churches. Whenever we visit a church, one of us will share our testimony and one of us will give the Word, aka share some of our insights into the Bible and living life as a follower of Jesus Christ. I have absolutely loved getting to watch my teammates share in front of others. They each have something so profound to say and speak so well. I am very proud to be on a team with them. Michaela, Laura, Ashely, and Annie each let the Holy Spirit lead when they share, and you can tell. Monday is our sabbath day, simply put to spend the day resting in God’s presence and prepare for the coming week.
We were fortunate enough to go and visit a school Pastor Charles has been working along with others to start. It is a very new start up. They have taken an old slightly dilapidated brick building with two rooms to use as the school. They have found three really good teachers, and slowly by slowly they are acquiring benches, chairs, and chalkboards. At the beginning they only had two students now they are up twenty-eight! Education is expensive here in Uganda and many families struggle to pay school fees. Right now they are welcoming all students and not worrying about fees for now. Charles and his friends want to make sure every child has access to a good education, the cost will come later. Eventually though the teachers will need to be payed. This Concerns Charles, but he is relying on God to provide the way. This was definitely a God given desire, so we can trust God will give them and us the trust and strength to see it through to His good will.
After last month that was filled with crazy schedules and lots of quick visits, it was such a blessing to have a sweet routine and build relationships with our new neighbors. God is here and moving in exciting ways! The first day we went out visiting, we broke up into two groups with one interpreter per group and each group got to witness a woman confess Jesus Christ as their lord and savior! Obviously God had been doing a great work in these women’s hearts before we arrived, but He gave us the honor of welcoming them into the family of God. The woman who I met and got to witness Pastor Charles lead her through a prayer of confession name is Moureen. She has a beautiful ten month old baby girl named Mitchell. Moureen and Mitchell came to all of our bible studies, and I came to feel close to her. I even got to give her, her own Bible! I will miss her and all our new friends.
Besides all the new relationships, I have come to enjoy my time in the presence of God. His presence is so palpable here as is his peace. I wake up most mornings with songs of praises echoing through my head, and I rush to my Bible in order to read a Psalms that reflects how I am feeling. My team mate Annie just recently gave me this book to read too called, The Practice of the Presence of God. They are an accumulation of letters by a monk who lived a long time ago called brother Lawrence. He talks about turning your mind back to God and His presence through out the day no matter what you are doing. Anytime is an acceptable time to praise God in your heart, and God delights in the simplest shortest of heartfelt prayers. I am endeavoring to practice this more and more. It is a wonderful exercise to start my day by basking in the coolness of morning and sitting in His presence. This has changed the way I look at my days. I have always felt His peace in my life, but it seems to me to have grown exponentially this past month as has my patience. I find it is easy to be patient when I have peace in my heart for where I am at and when I can find joy in any of my surroundings. To be fair I have yet to put this patience to a great test, but for waiting on others and waiting in long hot matatu rides, it has proven sufficient.
Something that has proven difficult this month has been seeing God’s people struggling to provide for themselves and their families needs. Seeing so many parents struggle to be able to pay to send their children to school hurts my heart as well. I just want to see these people thrive in this beautiful rich land they live in. Today I was trying to look up a certain verse in the Psalms and realized the whole chapter has a beautiful answer to my question of why do God’s people still struggle. Psalms 37. Perhaps it is less of a answer and more of a promise. I’m just going to quote the whole thing cause it is just that good!
Psalms 37
Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
Be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
And wither like the green herb.
Trust in the Lord, and do good:
Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
Trust in Him, and He will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him;
Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
Over the man who carries out evil devices!
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
Though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
And delight themselves in abundant peace.
The wicked plots against the righteous
And gnashes his teeth at him,
But the Lord laughs at the wicked,
For He sees that his day is coming.
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
To bring down the poor and needy,
To slay those whose way is upright;
Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous.
The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
And their heritage will remain forever,
They are not put to shame in evil times;
In the days of famine they have abundance.
But the wicked will perish;
The enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
They vanish— like smoke they vanish away.
The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
But the righteous is generous and gives;
For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,
But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
When he delights in His way;
Though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
For the Lord upholds his hand.
I have been young, and now am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his children begging for bread.
he is ever lending generously,
And his children become a blessing.
Turn away from evil and do good;
So shall you dwell forever.
For the Lord loves justice;
He will not forsake His saints.
They are preserved forever,
But the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
And his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.
The wicked watches for the righteous
And seeks to put him to death.
The Lord will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
And He will exalt you to inherit the land;
You will look on when the wicked are cut off.
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
Spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was not more;
Though I sought him, he could not be found.
Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
For there is a future for the man of peace.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
He delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in Him.
Go ahead and read this Psalms again aloud, for there is power is speaking the word aloud. And when you read remember, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Go ahead. I’ll wait……..
When I ask why do God’s children have to suffer, God responds that He has not forgotten them. He is still their refuge. It is better for them to have Jesus in their hearts and to live a life of righteous than to have an abundance of wealth and be far from God. This promise is to me and to you, to everyone who believes in the Son of God and His loving Father.
