Yom Cwiny (A Full Heart)

I’m home!!! I feel so blessed to have made it home safely to my family after a month of missing them a lot, but saying goodbye was hard…

The Acholi people don’t really have one specific word for “goodbye” and I am very thankful for this because saying bye to the girls was hard enough without using a lot of words. I thought I was going to be fine until I looked up and saw silent tears streaming down sweet Charlotte’s face, which started a very quick chain reaction until there wasn’t a dry eye in the Zion Project compound. The hardest part was when they all asked me if I was going to come back and all I could say was, “I hope so…” I was so sad to leave them and I miss them already, but I got in the car to start my long journey home with a heart full of undeserved joy.

The people here have stolen my heart and I have learned so much from all of them this summer. I’m almost glad that I will miss them because that means that I will always remember to be praying for them. Leaving people that you love is so much easier when you can rest assured that the God of the universe will never leave them in any way. His love is so strong.

I miss it there so much already. I love the place and the African red dirt roads and the weird fruits and the smell of beans and posho when I walk past a hut in the afternoon. I miss all of those things but who I long for are the people. My sixteen sweet Zion girls, the loud and enthusiastic Congolese Zion women, my Ugandan friends who took me into their lives and loved me so well, and even the toothless old Acholi man yelling “MUNU!” at me every time I walked past the market. Uganda is called the “pearl of Africa”, because of it’s beauty, natural resources, Lake Victoria, and the Nile River. All of those things are beautiful creations of God, but there is no doubt in me that the real pearls of Africa are the people.

Why have so many of us, myself included, almost subconsciously allowed ourselves to become so numb to the need around us? To the vision of the Kingdom that this earth could be? The majority of the people in northern Uganda live day to day with virtually no earthly possessions to their name, yet they live with such passion and energy. It is so common in the America that I’ve lived in to become numb; to become slaves to the daily routine of our schedule, surrounded by our stuff. This past month affirmed in me that there is life and life to the full when we go from being slaves to the people and things around us and begin trying to live as servant of Christ.

I used to sit and ask myself the question, “What is God’s calling for my life?” Throughout the past year my outlook on that question has changed a lot. I used to view things like mission work abroad by asking, “Where is God sending me?” and now I think of it more as where God is blessing me with the opportunity to go to meet Him there and fully allow Him to work through my one little life. I am so sure that God calls each one of us to different countries, different neighborhoods, different churches, different schools, to speak different languages, etc. at different times in each of our very short time on this earth. Sometimes though, it’s easy to get caught up in our specific and personal callings and neglect the COMMAND that Jesus gave us all: to make Him, His ways, His love, His salvation, His glory, His greatness, everything about Him known among all nations, all peoples, all tribes, and all languages. No matter where we are, what we are doing from day to day, and who we are surrounded by, I think that this is what should be the greatest calling in each of our lives.

I want to say thank you so much to you all for any prayers for me and for the girls that I was with in Uganda. I also want to ask you to please keep praying for them. I wish I could be with them every day, but for now all I can do is to pray and have confidence that if I never see them again on this earth, I will see them when we go to meet our glorious Savior!

“When we risk our lives to run after Christ, we discover the safety that is found only in His sovereignty, the security that is found only in His love, and the satisfaction that is found only in His presence. He Himself is the eternally great reward, and we would be foolish to settle for anything less.”- David Platt

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold: service was joy.”- Rabindranath Tagore

“Support me by the strength of Heaven…Let me be known as a man with no aim besides that of a burning desire for Thee…”- Valley of Vision

Wamare (Let Us Love)

As I have fallen more and more in love with the people around me here, I have realized more and more what it means that God is love. Each of us is supposed to live a life worthy of the calling that God has put on our lives. We are called to walk in His way and surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit each and every day. We are called to be more like Jesus Christ, who was and is and will always be love. What would it look like to not just give love or do loving things, but to BE love?

It is so easy for me to love these girls that I have been spending every day with here. I see the light of our Savior so clearly in each of them. I have poured my heart into theirs and they have loved me like one of their own. It is going to be so hard to leave them in a few days. It is hard for me to think about right now, but I know that I can love them well no matter the physical distance between us. Our God is a God of abundance. Any love that I have shown these children, He will show them endless amounts more. It will feel like my heart is breaking when I leave them, but they do not need me and I do not need them. The love of our Father in heaven is so much more than enough. "It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:7) Protection, trust, hope, and perseverance is more than any man or woman on this earth could ever give these precious girls. Bwana jireh. The Lord will provide.

"Love the Lord your God, and love one another. Love one another as He loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion no matter what comes against you. Don't weaken. Stand against the darkness and love. That's the way back to life."- Francis Chan

"Nothing exceeds Your power, nothing is too great for You to do, nothing too good for You to give. Infinite is Your might, boundless is Your love, limitless is Your grace, glorious Your saving name."- Valley of Vision

Again, I cannot thank y'all enough for any prayers that you have prayed for me and for these children of God that I have been so blessed by. I am praying for a lot of you too. I miss y'all and I'll see you soon!

"May I feel that I am a stranger on this earth and whatsoever I do may it be done in my Savior's name."

-Bailey-

Things that make me laugh...

Here are some things that I just feel like I need to show somebody because they made me laugh so hard...

This was a note from Lindon, the guard at the Zion complex where I live. He's awesome. He stays up all night long to keep me safe and to pay his way through school. I'm going to see his soccer game this weekend and I'm so excited. I'll try to take some good pictures.

I can't make myself tell him how to actually spell my name because I think it's hilarious that he thinks my name is actually "Belly". I also love that he felt the need to tell me he was going "somewhere" but would be back "after sometimes". So informative and specific.

Translation: "AUNTY SARAH, AUNTY BAILEY, AUNTY STELLA, AUNTY EUNICE, I DON'T LOVE THE DEVIL, I LOVE JESUS"...It was pretty much impossible for me not to laugh when Jackie (one of my precious Zion girls) proudly showed me the English she was practicing writing. My favorite part is "I doni love Debo" haha

Gloria, the youngest girl in the Zion rescue home right now, drew this lovely picture of me the other day when apparently I was looking like an elf with Captain Hook feet and no torso...why is it that only the five year old can actually spell my name?

So many funny things happen to me every day and I wish I could capture them all on camera for y'all...

Asanti, Baba (Thank you, Father)

There is so much that I am so thankful for each day here. Really everything. Every day I can’t help but walk home saying, “Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you so much for the undeserved joy that you overflow my heart with each and every day.”

I even find myself praising Him for the things that I never thought I would be thankful for, like the lack of electricity. On the nights when there is no power (the majority of nights here) I grab a straw mat and take it outside and lay on the dirt to just stare at the stars. I don’t even know why I’m trying to tell y’all about them, because it’s something that I can’t explain with words…and I can’t even get a good picture of them. I’ve never seen so many stars in all of my life. At first, I was trying to find the constellations that I know, but I finally realized that I’m on the other side of the world so I’m seeing completely different stars. I like the ones over here better. So, now I’ve come to love the dark nights I’m blessed with here.

I’ve been making so many good Ugandan friends and the more time that I spend with each one of them and the closer that we get, the harder it is going to be to leave them. When you have friends in America there are millions of ways to keep in touch with them and you can feel like you see them all the time even when you are far apart. My friend Kevin (which is a boys and girls name here) lives in one of the huts on the land next to Zion’s compound and when I leave here at the end of the month there will be no way for me to communicate with her. She has no computer, no phone, not even a mailing address. Even though I have to leave my new friends and even though I might never see them again on this earth, I’ve realized that I never feel closer to someone than when I’m praying for them. I know that God planned to put these people these people in my path even before I was born, and for that I am so thankful.

Every morning at 9:00 am the women who work for Zion making handbags, jewelry, and school uniforms have a “worship and the word” time for about an hour and it is one of the best hours of my day. Here in Africa they never distinguish between people who sing well and people who don’t have a good voice. Everyone sings loudly and with a passion that I’ve never seen in any other group of people worshipping the Lord through songs. They dance and sing in a way that physically shows their longing for the heaven that they are so confident awaits them. I think that it should be that way everywhere. “If trees and hills will be able to clap and dance in the future kingdom, picture what you and I will be able to do.”- Tim Keller

Yesterday during this time with the women we went over Philippians 4 where it says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” We have probably all heard that verse before. People usually turn to it when they are worried or anxious about something, so they focus on the words, “do not be anxious about anything.” I might be wrong, but I think that we so often only look at what God is telling us not to do and overlook what He is calling us to do. If we are praying to God with thanksgiving IN EVERYTHING, then there will never be any room for anxieties or worries.

At the Gulu Bible Community Church service I’ve been going to they turn the volume up on the sound system so loud that I couldn’t even hear myself sneeze the other day. One of the pastors, Mama Joy, told me that they turn it up so loud so that the entire community “can hear the words of God being sung as if from the top of a mountain”.

I am so sure that God is doing something in the women here right now. He has rescued these women from war, hunger, prostitution, and slavery and He is raising them up to be ambassadors of His Kingdom in this world. Blessing, one of the women who works for Zion, is so peaceful and does not talk very much, but when she opens her mouth everyone listens. She is not the oldest, nor the best seamstress, and she has never been to school, but when she speaks she holds the attention of everyone in the room, which is incredible considering how hilariously loud those women are. I asked Elizabeth, another Zion woman, why this was and she told me that Blessing views our time on this earth as short and fleeting, so she uses every word that she speaks to glorify Christ Jesus and spread the testimony of His life to those around her.

All I know is that I am full to the brim with thankfulness that I get to be a part of all of this in whatever small way that I am right now.

I love you all and Hook'em Horns

Birthdays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to three of my favorite people in this world!!! Each of you have brought me so much joy and I am so thankful for you in my life. Happy 21st birthday to Margaret and Loren! Happy 10th birthday to Charlotte!

Marnot

Lo

My sweet Charlotte (pronounced Shar-loh-tay)

"Grow ever more conscious of the joy I give to you. Look upon everything as under My influence and life will become increasingly full of joy. This joy no man can take from you. It is a foretaste of Heaven."- God Calling