"Daddy, I Wanna Live In Uganda Forever"

Hello to all, and welcome. First of all, if you have come across this blog in search of a really thought provoking or insightful piece of writing you have come to the wrong place. I am not a profound blogger by any stretch of the imagination. I am simply writing this blog because about a year ago I came across a verse that really simplified my faith in Jesus Christ. James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” I thought to myself, well that sounds easy enough. I had been raised in the Church, but somehow that was the first time I had ever read that verse. Of course, being followers of Christ there is much more that we are called to do, but that verse struck me as a pretty strong basis. For the next year I will be working at an orphanage in southern Uganda, and the purpose of this blog is to update my friends and family on how things are going. The orphanage is located in an extremely rural area, and is surrounded by villages full of starving people who live the simplest lifestyles that you can imagine.

I arrived here in Uganda about three weeks ago. The first night I was here we stayed at the airport guest house. One of the missionaries that I am working with, his son, and I were sitting around chatting about the days to come. The seven year old boy, Titus, looked up at his dad and said, “Daddy, I wanna live in Uganda forever. Well Titus, after being here for 20 days I couldn’t agree more. I could definitely live here for the rest of my life, that is of course only if you moved here too mom. The country is absolutely beautiful! Fresh fruit grows everywhere, awesome animals are all over the place, and there is perfect weather everyday. The people here are the friendliest people I have ever met! It is crazy to see how little they live off of, but yet they are completely content with what God has provided them, in most cases. Sounds like a good vacation destination huh? Well a weak education system, a corrupt government, and an awful public health system has created a nation that is extremely poverty stricken and suffers from many spreading infectious diseases. In just this short amount of time the Lord has already taught me so much. Though the country is beautiful and the people are friendly the spiritual warfare in this place is clearly evident. Yes I have days that I am down, or that I feel inadequate, but He is showing me that this feeling of inadequacy causes me to fully rely on Him, and persevering through the tougher days only builds my faith. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in the coming months! I already have many stories to tell and will have them up as soon as I can. Thank you to everyone for the prayers and support. Knowing I have people who love me and are praying for me daily is an awesome feeling!