simplifying

Experiencing the Fruit of Uganda a Year Removed, and Tying Everything Together

2011-06-24T10:59:00.000-07:00

Honestly, when I decided to spend a year in Uganda after I finished my senior year of college I had no clue what I was doing!! I knew that I wanted to see the world, help people in need, and share God’s word, but that’s it. Why Uganda? Why a year? Why an orphanage ministry? I had no clue. There was no rhyme or reason to any of those decisions. I wanted to set aside some time to serve God, but also set aside some time for myself as well. I really just wanted to delay going into the “real world” for another year. Little did I know, the effect on my life these decisions would have was vast. I’ve now been back from Uganda for a whole year. It is now extremely clear to me why God placed me there. It is also very evident that God was 100% sovereign over that whole experience.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in his book The Call to Discipleship: “If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps. The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence. To stay in the old situation makes discipleship impossible… The call to follow implies that there is only one way of believing on Jesus Christ, and that is by leaving all, and going with the incarnate Son. The first step places the disciple in a situation where faith is possible.” The following chapters of the book go on to talk about when we take this first step in obedience God enables us to grow and mature in Him, just as Levi and several of the disciples did in the Gospels.

Let me make this clear; I had no clue when deciding to go abroad that I was taking this first step in obedience. Also, in no way am I saying that everyone needs to drop what they are doing and travel to the other side of the world to be obedient. I’m also not saying that my old situation was bad. What I am saying, is that this makes perfect since to me now. I’m very stubborn, and it took me going to the other side of the world, leaving my family, friends, and old situation behind, for me to realize that I hadn’t been a true disciple. He opened my eyes by showing me the suffering, and the harsh realities of existence and persecution in a third-world country. He showed me how selfish I had been.

So you’re probably thinking, “Dude, you’ve been back from Uganda for a year. Get over it. Move on. We’ve heard you blabber about it enough!” Touché! But these aren’t things that I initially realized. God continues to show me things through my experience, and that is the reason it has taken me a year to write this blog. I went to Uganda thinking I would make an impact on people’s lives, but came home realizing God used that experience to mold me into the person he intended me to be.

Short recap on how things played out when I got home. I moved to Birmingham because a couple of my friends were living here. I touched base with another missionary whom I had met in Uganda that was now also living in Birmingham. He invited me to attend his small group through his church here. I got active in that church and small group. Through that small group I heard about a youth pastor position, with a like-minded, gospel preaching church with a passion for missions. I’ve been the youth pastor at Christ Church in Birmingham for a month now, and have been amazed at the sovereignty of God. He was sovereign over Uganda. He was sovereign over me working in an orphanage, with students who had nothing. He was sovereign over my decision to come to Birmingham. I am constantly amazed by his perfect will!!

So my reason for writing this is only to boast on the sovereignty of God. To give him the glory for everything he has blessed me with. The purpose is also to thank everyone who supported me, and made that opportunity possible. And lastly the reason I am writing this is to encourage others to take that first step in obedience. Make yourself available to God, and he will do things through your life that you never imagined possible.

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you...

That is the way we keep going in our personal lives. Where we are placed is a matter of indifference; God engineers the goings.

"None of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself...

I got an email yesterday that put a huge smile on my face. Matthew, whom I worked a lot with, is now walking on a walker. Glory to God!!

Here is a picture of a portion of my awesome youth group.

Mom and Medical

2010-05-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

Being in a country where hand washing the clothes and dishes, and cooking everything from scratch is the norm, has forced me to really appreciate and miss my mother. Being a single male, who growing up was absolutely spoiled by my mother (I’m not ashamed to admit it), I don’t cook much, I don’t clean well, and I definitely don’t wash clothes by hand. As a result, I’ve eaten out a whole lot, picked up a broom for the first time in my life, and hired a girl named Faith to come once a week and wash my clothes. On Mother’s Day weekend my mom was able to come and visit me in Uganda, and it was an experience that we’ll never forget. Something about mom being around just made me feel at home (maybe it was the biscuits and chocolate gravy she cooked me). Just being able to share what my life has been like for the last year with someone close to me was very meaningful. We had a great time together and I’m very thankful to her for coming, because I know it wasn’t easy for her. In Uganda in most cases, a mother and child relationship doesn’t look anything like that of one in the States. Yes they care for the children when they are young, but as the child gets older he goes off and doesn’t stay in close contact with the mother. The emotional aspect of the relationship, from what I’ve seen, is non-existent. After my mom left I had numerous people come up to me in amazement and jealousy of how close a relationship my mother and I have. They told me that they had never witnessed any relationship like ours. So not only am I thankful for all the things my mom did for me growing up, but I’m thankful for the close relationship that we have, and that she is someone I can consider a close friend!

While mom was visiting we also had a visiting medical team from North Carolina. The team consisted of three nurses, three doctors, and three others who ran the pharmacy. We held a medical clinic in our chapel and invited all the people from local villages to come for free health care and medication. Mom and I took vital signs, pricked fingers, and prepared malaria slides for the pathologist. In the four-day clinic we treated over 1000 patients. It was truly a work of the Lord. We saw broken bones, a lot of malaria, malnutrition, rashes, and everything else you can imagine. People walked for up to seven miles one way to reach our clinic, and in some cases it saved their lives. The most important part of the clinic was not the number of patients seen, or the amount of medication prescribed, but rather the opportunity we had to plant a seed in the lives of lost people. I’m not big on boasting a number of professions of faith made, but we were able to sit down with all 1000+ patients and explain the gospel to them, and invite them to church. God will do the rest!

A Call to Prayer

2010-01-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

Quite a lot has happened since I last blogged. In late November I took a two-week trip to The States. While it was great to see family and friends, by the end of the trip I was extremely anxious to get back to Uganda. I returned to the orphanage to find only about half of the children that were here when I left. During the holidays GSF tries to put as many kids back into the villages as we can, with any family that they might have remaining. This is done because we feel that is important that the kids keep any ties that they have in the place that they come from, because at the age of 18 the government forces them out of the orphanage. So with the 50 kids that remained at GSF these last two months have been a great opportunity to spend quality time and pour into the lives of children who have absolutely no one. Thanks to donations and people from back home putting gifts together these 50 kids were able to have an awesome Christmas! Christmas in Uganda is vastly different than Christmas in America, and to be honest it was nice to enjoy Christmas without all of the hustle and bustle that it is accompanied by in the states. There was no Santa Clause, extravagant decorations, or tacky Christmas sweaters, but simply a day that we celebrated the birth of our Savior, and it was a day I’ll never forget. We had a big church service, a huge lunch, and then the kids opened their gifts. The kids loved and were truly thankful for everything they were given, so thank you to all of you who made this possible.
Also since I returned from my visit to The States, I’ve had a change in my living situation. Before I was living at the orphanage in a duplex right in the middle of all the children, but there is a new family coming to GSF next week and they’ll be moving into the duplex I was in. GSF is located 30 km from a town called Jinja where many of the GSF staff members live, so we have a van that commutes from town to GSF every day. I thought it would be quite an adventure and new experience to live in town, so that’s what I’m now doing. This has been a great change. My whole opportunity to minister to others has changed in that now I live and interact with people of all ages everyday. One interesting thing about my small one bedroom apartment in town is that it’s located next door to a Muslim Mosque. When I say next door I mean literally next door, like my bed is 30ft away from the mosque. If you know anything about Muslims, you know about their call to prayer. It starts at five thirty in the morning, then again at noon, three, five, and seven. This consists of obnoxious whaling over an intercom really loudly for about ten minutes saying who knows what. For the first few weeks I was there I found this to be very annoying, but the more I thought about it, it started to become encouraging. I started thinking to myself if these people are praying at five thirty in the morning to Allah and four other times throughout the day, then how often should I be praying to my God, The Creator of the universe. Well funny thing because the Bible gives us the answer to that question, when it says pray continuously without ceasing. The great part about our faith though is that we don’t have to go to a mosque or a chapel five times a day and face a certain direction, all we have to do is talk to our Creator. So I use that five-thirty alarm clock to remind me to pray continuously, and it’s actually pretty convenient.
I have so much more to talk about but I know this is getting long, but also recently have started a discipleship group with the teenagers and got to take them on a weekend retreat to a mountainous area with beautiful waterfalls. It was a great testimony to the beauty of God’s creation. The teens loved it, and he is doing so much in their lives right now.
Also recently got to go on an African safari. Seeing lions, zebras, giraffes, and elephants in the wild was pretty sweet.

Malaria Strikes

2009-11-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

There are many great things about living in Uganda: the beautiful landscape, the gorgeous weather, and the extremely nice people, but there is one thing that is not so nice about this and other East African nations, and that is that they are infested with mosquitoes. During the day they aren’t bad at all, but around six o’clock at night they come out in swarms. The bad thing about these mosquitoes is not the itchy bite marks they leave or the annoyance at an afternoon picnic, but rather the lethal infectious disease that some of them carry. They bite you and then 10-14 days later you start to feel like seven shades of death.

So I guess 10-14 days before two Fridays ago, one of the little infectious critters bit me in the night, and that little fella brought havoc to my body. Since the mosquitoes are the worst at night they advise you to sleep under a mosquito net, and some people even take preventative medications every day for precautionary purposes. Well I tried the mosquito net the first month or two, but the thing is extremely uncomfortable, especially for me, a six foot four inch person sleeping in a six foot long bed. So I said to myself, “Malaria can’t be that bad.” Well I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was “that bad,” and even worse than I could have ever imagined. The first four days were the worst days of my life. I had 103 fever along with aches, pains, and nausea. During these days I couldn’t even get out of bed, or sit up and get on my computer. I would have chills followed by extreme sweating. I got very little sleep, and had to force myself to drinks lots of water. After 4 days the fever went away but a parasite remains in your spleen for 7 days (this is what the nurse told me anyway). So the next three days were filled with stomach pains, vomiting, and disambiguation. After 7 exhausting days I started to feel better. My body was completely drained, and I was very weak, but I began to recover. Now all I have left to show of malaria is a couple of cold soars and 10 pounds less on the scales. Needless to say, I will never sleep another night in Africa without a mosquito net.

So after 7 days I was over malaria, and this was because I had the very best medication and knowledge of how to treat the sickness. Malaria is a huge problem in Uganda. People get it, and can’t afford a medication that is strong enough to cure it. The malaria can move to you brain, i.e. cerebral malaria, and at that point it becomes lethal. Yeah malaria was bad and all, but while I was sick I couldn’t help but to think of all the kids who get this virus and can’t afford to treat it. I had all the water and juice that I needed and a fan at my side. I’ve heard horror stories and seen the results of kids getting malaria and then getting abandoned by their parents with nothing and the infection lingers on for months. I had it for seven days and I was almost wanting to die, I can’t imagine having this thing linger on for weeks and even months with nothing to treat it. It just reminds me of how fortunate I am. The government is making strives to distribute malaria medications but they have a long way to go. We are fortunate at GSF to have a clinic stocked with malaria testing equipment and the best malaria medication available. Our clinic and our meds are free to anyone who walks up from a surrounding village.

Quite an Introduction

2009-10-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

Due to a broken internet modem, seeing a missionary family off on furlough, and a very busy schedule it has been quite a while since I last blogged and for that I apologize. I’ve replaced the modem and things around here have slowed down a bit so I’ll be making a few post the next few days as an update that is long overdue.

I’ll start by telling the story of a unique cultural experience that I had about a month ago. I was invited to an “Introduction” and having no clue what I was getting myself into I accepted the invitation and went on, thinking nothing about it. To fill you in, The Introduction is a traditional ceremony in East African culture in which the two families of a wedding party are introduced in a very formal way. For different areas and tribes the ceremony varies in importance, length, and meaning, but for the tribe of this girl, Buganda, the ceremony is actually more important than the wedding, and little did I know it is an all day affair. This was a very peculiar situation, because the man that the girl was marrying was a white man, and interracial marriage is extremely odd here. The man has visited the orphanage several times and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. So the day of the Introduction rolled around and I was informed on how to dress and how the day might unfold. I found the way of dress to be a bit weird, as I had some of the Ugandan staff here fix me up in the introduction garb. I wore black pants and a white button up shirt with a blazer, but between the shirt and the blazer was a long white gown called a conzu.(I’ll try to get my hands on some pictures and get them posted.) I looked smart, as they would say here, and we caravaned our way to where the ceremony was being held. When we arrived we were escorted into the courtyard behind the house each by a bridesmaid (not sure what they call them here), where there were two huge tents facing each other decked out in linens, flowers, and nice seating. The family and friends of the bride, about 150 people, were there waiting on us seated in one tent while the other was arranged for us. Much to my surprise I had been chosen as the proxy groom, so to speak, and I was arranged to sit in the seat of honor, where the groom would later sit. The groom was to be hidden in the crowd until later in the ceremony. So here I was seated on a couch with about 175 people, dressed in their finest clothing, with their eyes glued to me as if i were some sort of alien, in the midst of something in which I knew nothing about, when they handed me the microphone. The woman beside me whispered in my ear, “You are to say the opening prayer.” A million things were running through my head, and they all were related to how badly I was going to screw this up. Am I supposed to act as the groom? Do these people know that I am not the one marrying this girl? What have I gotten myself into? My heart was racing, so I said the simplest prayer imaginable and got the mic out of my hand as quick as possible. The events that proceeded in the next four hours were very confusing and I’m still not very sure what all went down, but meanwhile I was being brought all sorts of drinks and food so I was entertained to say the least. Sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, brothers, nephews, nieces, and cousins were all introduced and came out dancing to music played by a DJ individually and gave the permission for the man to take the woman. Each side had a hired speaker who did all the communicating for the family, and the ceremony appeared to be a running conversation between the two families through these two men. I say appeared because everything was in a different language of which I am struggling to pick up. A couple hours into the ceremony, much to my dismay, I was removed from my throne and the real groom was brought in. I had kind of gotten used to being the center of attention, but my time in the limelight was not over. After all the introductions had been made it was time to present the materials of the dowry, also known as the bride price. In this culture the family of the girl always presents a price to be paid for the girl. Its usually simple like a couple of cows and maybe a few chickens, but in this case we presented a smorgasbord of things to the brides family. I think he was charged what we like to call here the “mzungu price.” We presented margarine, cooking oil, milk, bathing soap, detergent, toilet paper, pineapples, bananas, sodas, gift baskets, meat, eggs, etc..I’m telling you these people pretty much got a lifetime gift card to Wal Mart. After all that was over it was time for the main event. They called me and the other two white men back behind the tent and handed us two live chickens each. So I walked in and presented two live chickens to the father of the bride. I’ve had some interesting experiences with chickens here, yesterday I ran over one on accident, oops, there is probably someone out looking for me. But after the chicken I walked in a live goat, followed by a live cow. It was one crazy, long, but intriguing day. I learned so much about the culture of Uganda. The whole day I was treated with so much respect and gratitude. It was if I were a king to these people. I was honored, but at the same time felt really weird and undeserving. I just didn’t understand why they were so grateful to me. The night concluded with an amazing dinner, through which I was filmed eating my entire meal. Can’t say that’s ever happened before, and I’m not sure why it did, but this is Africa, and sometimes you just have to accept that fact.

Thanks for all the prayers for my dad by the way. It was tough to be away from the family during a scary moment such as this. I just had to remember that everything is in God’s hands and His will will be done. Dad seems to be recovering well and they think the damage to his heart was minimal. Praise God!

There should be further updates to come in the next few days.
GOD IS GOOD!

Focusing on Special Kids

2009-08-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

For the first 7 weeks of my stay in Uganda I was a part of an intern team, made up of five interns. The responsibilities of the interns consisted of just about anything and everything. We were runners for visiting medical teams, we held special activities for the kids in the afternoons, and we were responsible for teaching Sunday school and midweek devotions. Now that the interns have left, my focus is now a bit more concentrated. In this country children who are born with physical or mental defects are considered to be the least of the least. In most cases the guardian(s) just aren’t willing or capable of caring for these children who require so much care. So, the majority of children with these types of disabilities is abandoned and ends up in orphanages such as this one.

Of the 90 children here at GSF, 11 of them are special needs children. For the past 3 months GSF has been very blessed to have a very gifted Ugandan physical/occupational therapist named Moses who comes once a week to work with these 11 children. My responsibility is to work alongside Moses to carry out the exercises and tasks that he does every Monday, throughout the week. Some of the children’s disabilities are more severe than others so they require more time, but I typically work with each kid for about thirty minutes every other day. It is a very difficult task because several of the kids have not even been diagnosed with a specific disorder, but the work is also very rewarding to see the improvements that they are accomplishing. I am going to give you a brief profile of a few of the most severely disabled children, and hope that these children will be in your prayers. Also if anyone has experience in this area and has some suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.

Name: Matthew
Diagnosis: Cerebral Palsy
Age: 4
Matthew is a joy to work with! He is always smiling, and extremely motivated to improve. He also has a sharp mind. He is unable to speak, walk, or stand on his own, but we are working and seeing improvements in these areas. Matthew was abandoned at birth, and someone found him when he was three days old in a banana plantation and brought him to GSF. His umbilical cord was still attached and he was in very poor condition. They began to notice that there were problems with him when his developing was delayed around age two. We are unaware if he was born with this condition or if it was result of his poor care shortly after birth.

Name: Sam
Diagnosis: Spina bifita
Age: 7
Due to his condition Sam is paralyzed from the waste down. I am unaware of Sam’s story and how he arrived at GSF. He’s a very bright kid who loves life. He was brought here only a few months ago and doesn’t speak English. We are working on teaching him English, and several other tasks that he can do with his arms.

Name: Gloria
Diagnosis: Unknown
Age: 7
Gloria is a young girl who has really stolen my heart. She is severely mentally and physically handicapped. It is believed that her mother had the measles during childbirth, which resulted in her disabilities. Her parents abandoned her leaving her with the grandmother and an uncle who were unable to care for her. She has deformities at her wrists, knees, and ankles that enable her to walk or support herself in any way. When I arrived her legs had been casted for several months. I didn’t think that this was a good way to fix her problem, so I began doing some research. I visited the doctor with her about a month back and had some questions for him and left with still a bad feeling. This orthopedic doctor is the nearest one located in the area and had some questionable tactics. So, I contacted a orthopedic doctor in Kampala, who I had heard good things about, and set up an appointment for Gloria. Yesterday I took Gloria to see this doctor, and am very glad I did. He was very intelligent and well informed. He immediately removed the casts and took x-rays of Gloria’s legs. He agreed with me that casts were definitely not the solution to Gloria’s problem. Looking at the x-rays he determined that Gloria was not going to be a candidate for surgery due to the poor condition of her bones, but he had a plan that will hopefully have Gloria walking one day. He fitted her, and is now in the process of making metal braces, or calipers as he called them, for her legs. I will now be working with her everyday to try to strengthen her legs and core muscles so that when we get the braces she may be able to support herself in some way. Today Gloria is crying a lot, I think because her legs are very sore. Pray that this soreness will soon subside so that we can began doing exercises with her.

Name: Rose
Diagnosis: Mental and Physical Retardation resulting from cerebral malaria and malnourishment
Age: 7
Rose’s case and condition is a very sad one. Rose was a perfectly healthy girl until she was about three years old and she contracted cerebral malaria. This is a very dangerous sickness if you aren’t careful and her parents were not willing to care for her. She was later found by our social worker curled up naked in the corner of a hut. If we wouldn’t have found her when we did she would have died soon after. She was extremely malnourished. Though she was seven years old she still appeared to be about four. In the four months that she has been here she has began to grow again but her condition is still very very poor. She is extremely brain damaged and doesn’t respond to much. We think that she is probably blind. She has a lot of trouble taking in food, aspirating after every meal. Pretty much all she can do is lay in the bed or on the couch curled up. She always appears to be very scared, and her muscles are very tense. So I go in every day and just stretch her out. This is a very difficult task because it is very painful for her. We aren’t sure what Rose’s future will look like, but we are really thankful that she is now in better hands.

There are several others who have milder cases of mental and physical disabilities. Caleb is a twelve year old boy with TB of the spine. This has lead to extreme scoliosis, and Caleb is also mentally retarted. Moses is a nine year old boy who is mentally retarded, and Lily is a fifteen year old girl who is mentally disabled. Cathy and Elijah are two teenagers we have here who are mute. So as we work with these kids I again ask that you pray for them and for us. That God will give us the wisdom of what to do in each and every case.

A Much Needed Sports Fix

2009-07-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

As everyone that knows me knows, I am an avid sports fan. When I’m in America if I’m not sleeping, at least 75% of my day is consumed by sports. Whether it be playing pick-up games, reading forums, or watching Sports Center, I just couldn’t ever seem to get enough. So coming to Africa, where there is no high speed Internet or TV, came as a bit of a shock. I’ve seriously been having some extreme withdrawals. Looking back on these habits I realize that my priorities were a bit out of order. If I wasn’t creating an idol in my life that separated me from God, I’m not sure what that would look like. I heard a sermon once on this topic, and the preacher said something to the effect of this: you are what you know, you know what you love, and what you love you constantly think about. Luke 12:34 says, For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Well in my life if my treasures are determined by how the majority of my time is spent, there is no doubt that has been sports for as long as I can remember. I know so much random useful sports information and statistics that its almost embarrassing. Yeah I can tell you Chipper Jones’ batting average in 1996, the starting lineup for the Lakers, and how many yards Adrian Peterson rushed for in his rookie season, but I’m not even sure I can name all twelve disciples, or recite the books of the Old Testament. I think it’s pretty obvious where my treasures have been. If I had spent half as much time studying God’s word as I did watching Baseball Tonight, I would be a biblical genius! I can’t spread His Word until I know His Word. God is using this experience to teach me so much, and He started by showing me where the treasure of my life had actually been.

Nevertheless this past Friday I found out that Brazil’s national soccer team was coming through Kampala to play a friendly match with Uganda. I had only viewed one organized sporting event in the six weeks that I’d been here (which I’m still bitter about! How in the world did the US blow a 3-0 half time lead in the Confederations Cup Final?), and I felt that this would be a golden opportunity to quench this desire. So me and my two friends went down the road to the nearest taxi stop and flagged down the first taxi van we saw. I jumped in the van all giddy with my Uganda jersey on like a little kid going to his first big league game, and everyone in the van gave me a very curious look. I sat in the very back seat and the van took off. It was a two hour ride so I began to move my feet around to get comfortable when a heard a “cacoo”. I thought to myself, is that a chicken? Meanwhile the man beside me turns to me and says, oh please don’t step there. I asked him why not? What is that? He looked at me like I was an idiot and said chicken, like duh doesn’t everyone everywhere just throw their live chickens under the back seat on public transportation. I was shocked by this fact and asked how many chickens are down there. He held up two fingers, and I said oh ok just two. He said oh no sir, there are 20 chickens there. He had twenty chickens in a cloth bag under the back seat of the van. I laughed out loud and for the next thirty minutes of the ride he went on to try to sell me some chicken. Beside the smell of chicken, and the fact that there were 20 people in a 14 passenger van, the ride wasn’t too bad. The game was amazing! There’s just something about being in a stadium with thousands of people all cheering for the same cause that gives me chill bumps. The fact that I was in the middle of a huge city in a third world country, I was one of ten white people in the whole stadium, and I hadn’t seen but one sporting event in the last two months made the experience all the better. Uganda upset Brazil 4-1 in the match, which made the day even crazier. After the game as we were walking through the city it was almost as if we were celebrities. Every ten meters someone would yell, “Hey look at the mzungus supporting Uganda! Yay mzungus!” Mzungu means white person. It was the most welcomed I have felt since I’ve been here. It’s a day I’ll never forget. In all, the cost of the trip for a taxi to and from the game (two hours both ways), a ticket to the game, a Uganda flag, and a Coke: 12 bucks! I love this place!

Update

2009-07-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been able to blog for the last week because my internet has been down, so I kind of have a lot to say, so just bear with me.
First off, I just want to inform everyone on what has been going on at the orphanage lately. In 2008 GSF took in 4 children, and the year before that it was around that same number. In 2009 the orphanage has taken in 17 kids, including 6 just in the month that I have been here. Three days ago we got our newest addition, Arridad. I think that is what they were calling him anyway, but we are calling him Aaron for short. He came from just outside the perimeter of GSF property and he is the cutest kid ever. I think he’s about 6 months old and is the baby of 6 children. His father is gone and his mother is very sick. The “jaja” (grandmother) was taking care of all six children and simply couldn’t do it all with a sick baby. So it has been a joy having little Aaron around. Wednesday we took 10 of the new kids who hadn’t been tested for HIV to nearest clinic to have them tested. All the test consisted of was a quick finger prick and they told us the results would be out in 15 minutes. At first they said ok, one of your girls is positive and the rest are negative. This didn’t come as a shock because the virus is so prevalent, but it is extremely sad to hear because of the huge affect it has on a life. A few minutes later they came out and said that there had been a mistake, all the kids tested negative. This was truly an answered prayer from the Lord!

I feel like I am getting adjusted to living in Africa pretty well. I really love it here, but it can be a little discouraging at times. When I first arrived I was on that initial energy high and I was set on conquering as many problems, helping as many kids, and making the biggest impact that I could. After that initial surge wore off I began to see how vast the struggles, suffering, and pain are in this country and it is a bit overwhelming. It began to seem impossible to fix some of these issues. One night at a missionary devotion I realized that of course it seems impossible to me, but to God nothing is impossible. I just have to seek him daily and he will get me through it all. Mother Teresa once said something like this: you will never get anything accomplished if you are constantly looking at all the problems that you face. Look at each day, and each person as individual case, and do the best you can to improve that persons life in some way. This approach has been very helpful to me. God has called me here for a specific reason, and not only am I having an effect on these kids, I am growing so much in this experience. Isaiah 41: 9-10 says: “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Another thing that has been a bit discouraging at times is not being able to look to my friends and family everyday for encouragement and joy. In a devotion I’ve been doing called My Utmost for His Highest God showed me that my joy shouldn’t come from those places. It said: Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place and that is when we falter, fail, or get discouraged… What I need is his surgical procedure. His use of external circumstances to bring about internal purification. Your priorities must be God first, God second, and God third, until your life is continually face to face with God and no one else is taken into account whatsoever. You’re prayer will then be, “ In all the world there is no one but You, dear God, no one but you.”
I really felt convicted of this because I felt like I needed people to satisfy those human desires, but Oswald Chambers put it pretty clear, God first, second, and third.

…Oh yeah and I went white water rafting on the Nile River today. It was the most adventurous day of my life paired with the amazing scenery of God’s incredible creation at its best. I can’t really put it into words, but I’ll try to get some pictures up to give you a glimpse.

4th of July Followed By Bad News

2009-07-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

My Fourth of July this year was a bit different than normal. It did not include fireworks, a baseball game, or hamburgers and hotdogs, but that is not to say that I didn’t celebrate. I am working with four other interns for the summer, so we decided we wanted to do something fun for the fourth. Our initial plan was to go rafting on the Nile. We had to change that when one of the other guys fell and scraped up his hands really badly. We are still going rafting but at a later date. So instead of that we planned a little less intense day away from the orphanage. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the orphanage and all the kids here, but a good getaway is needed every once in a while. So we packed up and headed toward the river Saturday morning. First we took a nice peaceful boat ride with amazing scenery to the source of the Nile. This is where Lake Victoria turns into the Nile River, which is the same river than goes into Egypt 6000 miles downstream. It was cool to sit at the beginning of such a historic river that has been a lifeline of civilization to so many. The same river that Moses was found in as a baby. After the boat ride we went to a place called Bugagali Falls a few miles down the river. This is where the river breaks off into many parts and creates some crazy rapids. This is a very touristy area with a lot of cool shops and entertainment. After the falls we went up to a restaurant called the Black Lantern. The restaurant is actually part of a resort that is up on a cliff a couple hundred feet high overlooking the Nile. The food was fantastic and the views from the deck were even better. All in all, it was a Fourth of July that I will not forget!

This morning at the orphanage we were brought back to reality very quickly. Last week we had a group of visitors from The States that brought a medical clinic for the surrounding villages. They set up in our chapel and saw over 600 patients in 4 days. We also saw dozens of people come to Christ. It was a great few days. Through the clinic our staff came across and took in a young girl named Angela. Though Angela was 6 years old she appeared to be only about two or three due to the extreme malnourishment she had been through. It was heartbreaking to look at this young girls body. Her arms and legs looked like small sticks, and you could clearly see every bone of her body. It was by far the worst looking thing I have ever seen, including all the infomercials of the Ethiopian kids. The doctors believed that she had been intentionally starved, because the woman who brought her in had nice clothes and a cell phone. It was obvious that she hadn’t eaten in weeks, because when we got her she couldn’t take in any food. Everyone was fearful that she wouldn’t make it. So, one of the missionaries here took her and began to try to bring this child back to decent health. After a couple days it looked as if she were going to be all right. She started to be able to drink water, and started displaying a sense of recuperation. Her blood count was still very low, so the decided to give her a blood transfusion. At first everything appeared to be great, her body was accepting the blood very well and it appeared to be a success. Friday night I was walking on the path in front of the house where she was staying and someone yelled for me to come quick. Angela’s body had begun to reject the blood and her heart began to fail. So they got her loaded up and took her to the hospital. We didn’t get any news until Saturday morning, but they had gotten her into a somewhat stable condition, but it was not looking good. Throughout our day Saturday we had several times of prayer for Angela, asking for her to be given life if it was His will. Sunday morning after I finished teaching Sunday school I learned that Angela had passed away. It was a very sad day here at GSF. Though she had only been here a few days everyone had hope that she would make it through to see a much better life than she had before, but that is not what God had in store for Angela. He ended her suffering and hopefully she is in a much better place. Through this clinic and Angela I really realized how great of a life the kids here at GSF have compared to the people right outside the gates, and calling this lifestyle great and abundant is laughable in comparison to what life is like in America. We are so fortunate!

"Daddy, I Wanna Live In Uganda Forever"

2009-07-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

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!