Beyond Blessed

The sunset from tonight

Hi everyone!

I had a great weekend and it went by fast! Sunday morning I went to church with my girls. It was a Swahili service and it was from 12:30 to 4:00. I never cease to be amazed at the energy that it takes to keep up with a group of Africans praying to our mighty Savior. I was the only white person in the church service so it would be an understatement to say that I stood out. Once they saw me they immediately asked everyone in the building if they could translate the pastor’s sermon into English so that their munu guest could enjoy it with everyone else. Then, the woman in charge of the Sunday school tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I could please put my hair up because it was distracting all of the children sitting behind me. Needless to say, I was blushing for the first full hour.

Yesterday I started a mini bible study series over Hannah, Ruth & Naomi, and Esther with my girls at the rescue home and they were so excited. I’m really hoping that they understand everything and learn a lot. I feel like I learn a lot every day that I’m here so even if they don’t, I’m sure I will. I’ve been busy preparing little crafts and activities that go along with the stories from the bible and it’s been really fun, but really messy…

Every day that I spend here I am amazed by at least one thing. Some days I’m amazed by the fact that it’s only 8:00 am and I’m already cleaning up after little knuckleheads who used the floor as their toilet. Some days I just sit in amazement at the resilience of the children around me despite their situations, past and current. Yesterday in particular was an amazing day for sure. A woman on staff announced that she had received a phone call from a family in Missouri who was interested in adopting Nancy’s baby if her final decision was to put him/her up for adoption. Praise God! Apparently they’ve already been through the international adoption process before and would raise the child in a home that seeks to serve the Lord in everything. The housemothers told Nancy this morning and when I saw her she seemed as if the weight of the world had been lifted of her shoulders. What a blessing. I’m still praying that God’s will be done regarding all of the decisions and the birth and just everything. It would be incredible if each of you would pray about it as well.

Sorry that this post is a little shorter than I wish it was, but I need to get ready for tomorrow’s lesson on Ruth and Naomi! A woman who is a professional ballerina is arriving on Thursday as a volunteer to teach the girls dance lessons, so I hope to get some good/hilarious pictures of that for y’all! Bye!

The end of a beautiful week...

My first week with my kids is over. I mostly laughed really hard all week, but I also learned a lot. You’re forced to be creative when working with people who don’t speak the same language as you, but that is taken to a whole new level when those people are children under 10 whose attention spans are under 10 minutes. I feel like a little kid again because I play outside and get dirty all day until it starts to get dark and then I have to go home. It’s actually not the playing outside that makes me dirty…I brought mostly white shirts and when I walk into the day care room every morning I immediately receive more hugs than most people probably get in a month. Since it’s their beautiful dirty little faces that are making my white shirts brown, I’m fine with it. Plus as some of you might know, I regularly spill on myself like a toddler so I’d be dirty anyway.

Even though I wish I was seeing those little dudes every day I’m excited for this weekend to explore more of Gulu and hopefully take some good pictures. I’m also going to spend some more time searching through the main market…I might bring back some prizes for some of you if you’re lucky. I’ve been to the market twice now and I got lost both times. I honestly don’t think I can blame my sense of direction though, because I’m pretty sure the Ugandans that sell stuff in there deliberately made it like a maze so they could laugh at the lost munus (white people). My first trip to the market I got the biggest avocado I have ever seen. I thought it was a small watermelon when I first saw it. I’ll definitely take a picture next time I get a monster avocado. The second time I got some bread and apples because I brought some peanut butter. I came home empty handed. Don’t worry, I didn’t get robbed or mugged or anything, but I walk through this park area called Kanyagoga to get to where I live and there are so many kids that were asking me for something to eat. I almost started crying because some of the children looked as if they hadn't eaten in days and were far too young to be left alone. I asked myself, "Why isn't someone caring for them?" I immediately realized that I am part of the hands and feet of Christ Jesus and that I could care for them even if just this one time and even in such a small way as a piece of bread. And I know in my heart that the God who made those children will always be their refuge and strength. They all shared the bread and apples and I went through the evangecube with them. I’m almost positive they didn’t understand a word that I said, but who knows maybe God was really speaking to them through the pictures. I hope I get to see those kids again. Camp Life’s main goal is to transform the nation of Zambia one orphan child at a time and I truly believe that is possible. I believe that kind of transformation is possible anywhere and I pray for it all across the world. May it be on earth as it is in heaven.

"We do indeed have a God of resurrection, a God who can create beauty from the messes we make of our world."- Shane Claiborne

Although there are certain people that have tried to remind me that I'm not invincible, I've never been more reminded of my humanity than while being here this past week. I get hot and tired and hungry all to a degree that I am forced to remember that I cannot live this life on my own. I am so thankful for those reminders. Also, there is now absolutely no doubt in me that God made us to be in community and fellowship with others. I consider myself a definite people person and here I've been blessed to spend all day long with children that I have so quickly grown to love as I love myself. However, when the day ends I usually find myself eating dinner alone by candlelight (because of the lack of electricity, not because I'm trying to be romantic or speak to the dead or something) and I have had to pray so hard against the feeling of loneliness. Jesus was often alone but never lonely. May I live as He lived.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore I can do, or any act of kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."- William Penn

Later munu friends!

Afoyo! (Hello!)

I’ve only been here in Gulu for 3 days and I already don’t know where to begin telling you about it…I’m so happy to finally be here. These past few days have gone by fast. I feel like I just got here, but I also feel like I’ve been here for a long time because of how close I've gotten to the kids I've been with.

Every morning I get out of bed around 7:00 am, but I wake up much earlier because there are roosters all over the place around here. My breakfast consists of a power bar and coffee or tea (if there’s electricity, which is a rare luxury here in Gulu). I spend my mornings with 13-17 little African nuggets whose ages range from around 1 to 10. They are the children of the Congolese women who are making the jewelry and bags sold by the Zion Project. I still don’t know all of their names and it’s extremely hard to tell which ones are girls and which ones are boys because all of their heads are shaved. Yesterday morning, Faida/Phaida (who knows how you spell her name, I’m not even sure I say it right), one of the smallest ones, decided that she was going to cry hysterically unless I was holding her. I’m pretty sure my arm is going to be sore tomorrow. Well, they don’t really have diapers around here (most kids don’t even have underwear), so Faida/Phaida chose to pee all down my side. It was just wonderful. Don’t worry I already washed those clothes and they’re outside on the clothesline…

meet Faida/Phaida

Other than the fact that they’re diaperless and not potty trained, I’ve loved them and my mornings with them so much. They call me “Teacha” (like teacher) and love on me all morning long. None of them speak much English at all, but they’ve taught me that you don’t need words to play and that talking about and learning about the life of Jesus Christ is still just as powerful when you’re only using pictures and some hand motions.

After lunch, which is typically posho and beans (posho is like hardened grits…it tastes like rubber so I give it to the kids), I head over to the Zion Project girls rescue home. Right now there are 16 girls living there. The youngest one, Gloria, just turned 5 and the two oldest girls are 14. One of the 14 year olds, Nancy, is pregnant and due in September. She is pregnant because she was raped. I have been in constant prayer for her and for her unborn child. I’ve been making her laugh and dance with me and make weird faces and stuff just so that she can feel like a kid for as long as possible. I don’t know what Nancy and the staff of Zion will decide to do with the baby once he/she is born, but I know that God will provide. He never lets go of us. I’ve been tutoring the girls after school (the younger ones only have half days), which has basically meant me teaching them English and how to read and write in English by using kids bibles and flashcard games and stuff. It’s so fun and so funny. I try not to laugh at them, but their little African voices just have the hardest time saying the easiest words, but then words that I think are more difficult are the ones they know. For example, every single girl gets it right when I hold up a picture of an umbrella or a rhinoceros, but they’re all having trouble with the dog flashcard. I’m teaching them songs in English, so hopefully I can try and put up some videos soon! I love them and I can see Jesus in each of them. It’s such a blessing to get to be in their lives, even if only for a month.

So far, I’m only missing some people, Blue Bell ice cream, and air conditioning…and I will never take these three things for granted ever again once I get home.  I have been praying so much that I would be fully relying on God’s strength and showing His love to the people He puts in my path while I’m here. I want more than anything for these children to love the Spirit that they see in me more than they love me. I am realizing more day by day the depth of my weaknesses, but in those times of weakness when I think about being so hot or hungry or tired the Lord’s power in my life grows and grows. Plus I can just look around me and remember that I have absolutely nothing in the world to complain about and absolutely everything to be full of praise and thankfulness for. I believe that can be said of anyone whose life is hid in Christ.

“Let the liberating grace of God be so offensive to your self-sufficiency that you throw yourself on Christ today.”

“Lord Jesus, enable me to see in You the fulfillment of all my true needs and may I turn from every false satisfaction to get my sustenance solely from You.”

“When you empty yourself, God Almighty rushes in.”- A.W. Tozer

Pray for consistent electricity so that I can tell y’all some more good stuff soon!!

the view from my window

Camp Life Zambia 2011

Hi from Africa!!!

Before I write anything about Uganda I wanted to share with you some things about being back in Zambia last week. This year of Camp Life was very different from my time there last year. Not necessarily better, but a very good kind of different. Last year I went to Zambia with friends, this year I was with my family. Last year I had some of the oldest girls at camp in my group, this year I had 14 little boys. Last year my group was from a congested compound in the middle of the city of Lusaka, this year they were from a more rural village area. Last year I went home after Zambia, this year I’m still in Africa…for a while. No matter the differences, being back in Zambia even for just a little while was a kind of blessing that I can’t put in words. One of the best parts was getting the chance to serve, love, and share the Word of my awesome God alongside my family. But even if my mom, dad, and sister hadn’t been there with me, I still would have been surrounded by family. It is not Zambia that I love so much, it’s Zambians. I wish that each of you could somehow get the chance to hear a Zambian Christian pray out loud at least once in your lives…they pray loudly and boldly, fearing nothing and emanating nothing but thankfulness for the glorious gift of the life of Jesus Christ.

I don’t know where to begin describing my group of boys at Camp Life this past week…all I know is that they won’t leave my thoughts right now and I don’t want them to. They made me laugh so hard that I would start crying and I didn’t even know what they were saying so I have no idea how they were so funny. They had more joy in them than any group of people I’ve ever come across and they gave me more joy than I could ever hope for in one lifetime, let alone one week. I miss them terribly already. During a conversation with one of them I said, “Andrew, if you could change anything about your life what would you change?” He told me that he didn’t have Jesus in his life and now that’s all he wanted. After excitedly praying with Andrew I asked him when he had been the happiest in his whole life. He said (in English!), “When I got a new sister.” I immediately figured he probably had like 8 sisters, because my other little boy Nyambe did, but I still asked him when he got this new sister he was so happy about. Andrew pointed to his wrist and then looked up at me and said, “About one minute ago.” The love of an orphan child is unlike any other. You hug them one time, and they will never forget you for the rest of their lives.

On Thursday of last week we took our groups into their communities to serve the people there and share the gospel. My group and I were given the job of painting the inside of the Manacha Community School, which was the school where some of my boys go. Most of you would probably think it was a prison. One of my smallest boys, Ndale, is nine years old right now. I asked him on Friday if he went to school. His answer was that he had gone to a school yesterday to paint with me…after lots of translation and looking at his confused little face for a few minutes I figured out that before that Thursday, Ndale had never stepped foot inside a school building before. He’s nine years old. I’m not okay with that. Later that day all my boys were signing my t-shirt and I handed the Sharpie to Ndale, but he looked back at me as if writing his name was the most foreign concept anyone had ever presented to him.

Phinias and little Ndale

My crazy Andrew

I’m telling you these stories because I’m begging you to pray for these little boys. I believe in the power of prayer with every inch of my being and I’m confident that your prayers would not go unanswered. I’m also telling you this because for $40 a month one of my boys could be fed, clothed, and would get to go to school (in classroom that doesn’t resemble a jail cell). Please pray over their names and if you or your family or anyone you know has any interest in sponsoring one of them either comment below or e-mail me at baileygbritt@gmail.com. Also, my dad promised me that for every one of my boys that I get sponsored, he’ll sponsor a different one, so really by sponsoring one of my little knuckleheads, you’d be sponsoring two!

Richard Shikupa

Ndale Kalumwana

Nyambe Mwakamu

Jowao Banda

Supiwa Mubanga

Charles Kayolo

Andrew Masiko

Joseph Kayawe

Mulolo Mutale

Christopher Muleya

Phinias Shawa

Daliso Lungu

Isaac Musaikila

Alick Museteka

I’m safely in Uganda now! Nikukondani! (I love you all!)

Northern Uganda's Past & Isaiah

In preparation for going to Gulu I have been reading a few books about the history of the people of northern Uganda. I confidently hope that reading the tragic stories of these beautiful people will help me to have a better insight into their lives. However, I know that nothing but never-ending prayer to my never-ending God will allow the people I will meet in Gulu to open their hearts to me so that I can truly know their lives. Many of the stories I have read are filled with despair, but in all of them I see hope, and hope is what allows us to continue pushing back against the effects of the Fall. We take hope in the fact that God is working out His glorious plan even in the midst of so much despair. Even among a system that desensitized so many children and turned them into ruthless killers, there is hope. These are the kinds of stories that remind us why Jesus hung on the cross.

One of the books I read is Girl Soldier by Faith McDonnell and Grace Akallo. Grace was abducted by rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) when she was fifteen years old. My life was so blissful and carefree when I was fifteen that I have a hard time imagining something like that, but it is the horrors that she endured after being abducted that I cannot even fathom. When I was fifteen I sat at school wondering if field hockey practice was going to be fun that day. When Grace was fifteen she sat at school wondering if she would be taken by the rebels that day. Since 1987, fifty thousand children, all from the Acholi tribe of northern Uganda, have been violently abducted by the LRA.

Other than Grace's story, this book taught me some pretty astounding facts. I learned a lot about the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, which the Ugandan government leaders (mostly all southern Ugandans, which I've learned are very different from northern Ugandans) started in the mid-1990s. Eighty percent of the 1.8 million people in these squalid IDP camps are women and children. An average of 1,000 children die EACH WEEK in these camps. But these children have hope and are amazingly resilient. To avoid abduction, a lot of them leave the IDP camps before dark and walk as far as ten miles to the closest town to sleep in safer places like churches or hospitals. Then they wake up and walk back to be with their families for the day. That astounds me for some reason. I smile every time I think of the "night commuter" children. Even after experiencing all that they have, they will not give up. Although they may not know who He is yet, they can feel that there is something (someone) to keep living for.

An IDP camp on the outskirts of Gulu

I could go on for pages and pages talking about all that I learned by reading Girl Soldier. Every page broke my heart, but I loved it. It made me realize that I already love every person in Uganda that I haven't met yet, every single one of them.

I've also been going through Isaiah, reading slowly through a chapter each day pretty much. I have it planned out to where I think I'm going to be finishing right before I come back home from Uganda, which is August 2nd if you were wondering. I've decided that I'm glad Isaiah is long because I can't get enough of it. One of my favorite verses is 1:17, which says, "Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." I think that's such a beautiful command. The prophet Isaiah wasn't telling his audience to give money to the poor, pity the fatherless, or read about the oppressed. There are poor and oppressed people all around each of us at any given time and I truly think we should serve them by actions more like encouragement, such as prayer.

Isaiah 1:27-28 says, "Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish." As you probably know, the organization I'll be volunteering for is called the Zion Project, so obviously this caught my attention. This verse embodies justice to me. Reading it gave me the feeling like I was smiling all the way from the inside out. I did have to look up the word "penitent" though haha...thanks to my dad I have an overwhelming need to immediately look up any word that I don't know the definition of. If you didn't know it either, it's similar to the word "repentant". Anyways, I hope to keep sharing with y'all what I take away from the words that I read in Isaiah.

"No person worthy of being redeemed would need to be redeemed." I read that quote while I was flipping through my journal today and it's been kind of stuck in my head, so I thought I'd share it! Goodnight!