The Climb

Let me share a mountain top experience with you. literally.

3 weeks before I left Uganda, God was revealing himself to me more than I had ever experienced in my entire life.

Why was God doing this?

Because I prayed a prayer. A extremely hard and emotional prayer.
I surrender all.
I surrender my home, my family, my friends.. My boyfriend who I love to death and want to have a life with.. I surrender and I want to be obedient to you and stop being bitter and ignoring you. I want to follow your call and live in Uganda.

That same day after praying that prayer, and still feeling bitter and upset because I knew what I was losing...
But I didn't know what I was gaining..

A friend from my church came to me and told me he wanted to take me somewhere, that God wants to show me something.

We climbed to the top of a very steep hill it was a beautiful climb but it was also steep and tiring and it took effort and good physical ability to get to the top. Not everyone would have been fit to make that specific climb to the top of that hill.

Sometimes life is a climb.. Not to steal Miley Cyrus's lyrics...

Sometimes life is tiring and we can't see how far we have until we get to the top and we are living in the unknown. That's when we learn to trust on God to take care of everything.

Sometimes it takes effort and hard work to get to the top. But sometimes. When you are physically fit with the strength of Jesus Christ. It takes hardly any effort at all because he prepared you with everything that you need. He constructed every muscle in your body perfectly for that climb.

When you let Jesus take over and do all the work, then all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the climb and appreciate the view as you work to the top... I'm sorry... As GOD works you to the top.

Because why exhaust yourself by doing it all in your own strength? After all even Miley Cyrus knows "there's always gonna be another mountain" and "you're always gonna want to make it move."

Let go and let God.

This is what he has taught me. What he is still teaching me.

But let me tell you what God told me when I reached the top of that hill.

In school growing up I always struggled with body image and not being good enough or pretty enough or skinny enough and it really took a beating on my confidence and self esteem.

Only Jesus knows how much I struggled with that.

As the years go one I realize more and more that I wasn't alone in feeling that way.

When we reached the top of the hill I looked out over the whole view of Kampala and I literally gasped at its beauty. I could see from the lake all the way across Kampala. All the rolling hills and glorious clouds covering the city.

And then he said, " God wanted me to take you here and show you this, because God wants you to know this is how beautiful you are to him."

Wow. The God who created the universe and all it's glory wanted me to know that I am also his creation and I am just as beautiful. Words can't describe what this meant to me.

And God thinks that about YOU too.

Then God revealed something else to me as I was looking out over Kampala. I actually said out loud. Wow it really is beautiful. I struggled before this with seeing the beauty in Uganda. I was bitter and I didn't want to fall in love with a country that would take me away from everything I have ever known.

I'm not like most missionaries that fell in love with the country as soon as they got off the plane. It was dirty and poverty stricken and painful and smelled bad... And I had to be on guard at all times (or so I thought) ..

It wasn't home.

It wasn't comfortable or relaxed.

Looking out over Kampala that day, God said this is your new home, and my heart sank and as soon as it did. God broke my fall and I landed in his arms and my whole body was covered with peace and all I saw was beauty.

For the first time in my life. I saw beauty in Kampala. In uganda. The same beauty I saw in the children and people that I loved. But now God was showing me the beauty of the entirety of Uganda.

And I let go and allowed myself to fall in love and Jesus gifted me with Peace and Grace to endure.

I'm still learning and growing but when I let God have full control and domain over my everyday life that's where true Joy comes from. Even when times get tough and my heart starts to drift. Jesus never fails to pull me back in and lovingly shows me truth and reminds me how beautiful and important I am to him.

Ivan's story continued...Prayers needed.

So if you have yet to read my story from last week of the street boy I brought home with me you can find it here.

So the next day ...and let me assure you it was a LONG day. I woke up early to take Ivan to the hospital. I brought him in for a check up of his general health. The pediatrician was a very sweet lady and she went through everything with Ivan asking him questions about how he feels and about his overall health, weighing him, taking his temperature, and checking him all over for signs of illness. She was very impressed with his overall health. She has seen a lot of street children brought in by the Tiger Club who are in very bad condition, but she was very impressed by the state Ivan seemed to be in. 

Thank you Jesus! I prayed the night before and all morning that he would have a clean chart and no serious illness. 

He did however seem to be suffering from parasites and worms from drinking and bathing in dirty water. She wrote me out his prescription and told me all he needs is a little bit of love and care. Before leaving I bought him some good parasite and deworming medicine that he now has been taking daily. After leaving the hospital we had about a 45 minute walk back to the house, on the way I bought Ivan a small water gun I saw him eyeing. We bartered and It cost me about 60 cents :p. We stopped for lunch on the way at a little Ugandan restaurant (which I was majorly regretting the next 2 days.. food poisoning is not fun... but Simon and Ivan were fine, they obviously have years of Ugandan  immunities built up that I just don't have.) ANYWAY won't be eating there again. 

When we finally arrived back at the house we took a quick water break and rested a little bit before making the long journey by Ugandan taxi and boda to Senga village. Ivan laid on the front porch playing with his new squirt gun. Its very rare to see children in Uganda with any kind of toy, let alone a street child having a toy. 

It was his first chance to relax and be a kid for a second. 

After a few long Ugandan taxi rides and a couple bodas we arrived to Senga and met with Lutaaya, one of the head directors of African Hearts. He met Ivan and asked him a few questions about his story.  One of the things i've learned is you don't ask a street child, "Do you want to go home?" or "Do you want to go back to school?" because they may only tell you what you want to hear. Street children are rough and rebellious and often most of them don't know anything other than the streets and drugs. So when you ask them questions like that they will only tell you what they know YOU want to hear, even though they may not mean it. 

 Fortunately for me,  it has proved to be that Ivan has either not been on the streets for long or he is just one of the lucky ones with unwavering character. Because it is very clear that the streets haven't stolen his innocences yet and we will see to it that it never happens. Everyone that meets Ivan is so surprised by his timid and innocent nature, that is very rare to come by in a street boy. We also learned that Ivan  does not huff fuel like the rest of the boys. EXTREMELY RARE. I actually think he is the only street boy I have met in this slum that is not on drugs. Again understand the children huff the paint to curb their hunger pains. 

We are very proud of Ivan and because he has so much potential he should be easy to place. 

So instead of Lutaaya asking questions that puts words in his mouth, he asked Ivan, what are the 4 things you want the most right now?

Ivan's reply was this:

1. I want to see my mom.

2. I want to go back to school.

3. I want to study really hard.

4. I want to make my mom proud. 

Ivan is 10 years old. He wants to be loved and he wants to go home. 

From there he continued with asking for the full story from Ivan about how he ended up on the streets. 

Ivan's Story:

Ivan told us he is from Mbale. I have been to Mbale before for a few days to take a little boy to surgery.  It is about 3 or 4 hour drive from Kampala (where we are now). 

He told us one day his mom sent him to the market to get a few things. When arriving at the market he ran into a neighborhood friend who started telling him stories about the city, with tall buildings and bright lights. He told him stories about the presidents house and the president having a huge yard that they could run and play in. There was a bus leaving for Kampala. So what did the boys do? They snuck on the bus and headed for the city. When they arrived however, it wasn't quite the fairy tale they had dreamed up in their heads and Ivan has been living on the streets since, he's not sure how long. 

Pretty crazy the kind of trouble two little boys can get themselves in isn't it? The streets of Africa are a cruel place. Witchcraft and child molesters are lurking everywhere, he is really lucky he has made it this far. 

Ironically enough, I was looking up the name Ivan to find out the biblical meaning of the name. Guess what the name Ivan means?

God is gracious. 

And God has been very gracious to Ivan. He is so lucky that God chose me to pick him up and take him home with me that day. 

Now Ivan needs your prayers. It is very clear God is working in Ivans life and he has plans for this little boy. Because Simon, my friend who has been with me through all of Ivan's story just so happens to be from Mbale, he even speaks Ivan's native language. (Seriously!? God planned this all so perfectly).

 I sent Simon this week to Mbale to look for Ivan's mother. Ivan's father he told us passed away when he was young. We gathered lots more information before Simon left, but he was unsuccessful on finding Ivan's mother. We have to first meet the mother before taking Ivan home because often times families who have children run away here don't want the children back or anything to do with them. We have to first make sure it is a safe and healthy environment to bring Ivan back to. We also have to first make sure Ivan's story is true. He is a little boy and I imagine he has been through a lot of trauma in his short little life. And there are still lots of questions, like why would he run away to the city in the first place? So it is very important for us to first find his family and assess the situation before bringing Ivan to Mbale and making things anymore traumatic for him.

Please pray for Ivan and God's plan for his life. 

Right now things are very much up in the air and all I can do is pray.

I knew God had something big planned for me today, I just didn't know how BIG.

This morning started out like any other Thursday, I woke up and got ready to travel to the slums to the African Hearts Feeding Program and as usual I was dressing in old clothes and removing any valuables and only stuffing a few schillings in my pocket for food and travel. The only difference was all morning I had a very uneasy spirit and I was praying all morning that God would protect me and keep me always in his path and that I would walk solely with Jesus. I just felt like something was going to happen today and I needed to pray. So I did, the whole taxi ride into town my prayer was for protection and God's will to be done. When we reached the busy city we still had a few miles to walk to the slum and still as I walked I prayed, Jesus please walk with me and protect me today.

Finally we reached safely to the slum and the room slowly but surely started to fill with street children and the smell of them all... Its dirty work being a missionary, and smelly work too, but I wouldn't trade it because its the most fulfilling thing when you have the chance to help someone. It's very common for the street children to fall asleep during the program, and I think its because they finally feel safe and so most of them just want to sleep. However, they are encouraged not to sleep and to be awake and participate in the bible lesson. Today one little boy fell asleep right beside me, when the leaders came around to try to wake him to listen he wasn't budging.

(Ivan)

 He was completely out of it. Several people and street children tried waking him and sitting him up but nothing was working. He was out cold. I felt his head and he was very hot. In fact I had to wipe the sweat from my hands. He was clearly sick. He was so young and his clothes were filthy. I rubbed his head and prayed over him to feel better and prayed for his future as well. He never once seemed to be aware of my presences. I stayed by him the rest of the program praying about what I should do. Honestly when they brought the food in, bags of rice and water, I expected him to wake up at that point. NO ONE sleeps through feeding. I mean that is the sole reason they come to the program is to get fed. I watched as every last bag of rice was given out but he never woke up, although his friends tried to wake him and tell him to go get some food before it was gone. I knew I would be in charge of seeing that he got fed when he woke up. Soon after everyone had been fed, including the sweetest little 4 year old girl who came and sat on my lap towards the end of the program and never left my side until it was time for me to go back home. The program was over and everyone started to clear out of the room, everyone except this little boy who was left passed out on the chair, I insisted that we take him to the hospital, I couldn't just leave him there. So simon and another man carried him across the slum to a little clinic. This clinic wasn't creditable at all and I knew once they saw the color of my skin that I would be overcharged. The price they told me was outrageous and I was not paying for it. After having my friends barder for me, I ended up giving the "doctor" or should I say man posing as a doctor, about $4.00 just to let me take the boy out of there and to a real hospital. They had immediately started running tests on the boy to try to get me to pay for them. He told me the boy had Typhoid AND Malaria, we weren't so sure whether or not to believe him, but either way I was determined to take him to a creditable hospital. Because the boy was obviously sick, by this time however he was fully awake but clearly not feeling his best.

So from there we hired a Boda and headed back home to get him cleaned up and presentable enough to take into the hospital, otherwise he would possibly be sent away. This was the fun part. At this point I didn't even know his name yet. His name is Ivan, we soon asked him after arriving home. I brought him in the gate and gave him a plate of food, he ate as much as he could, but it wasn't much. I don't blame him because he wasn't feeling well and on top of that his body isn't use to so much food all at once. After giving him lunch, I took him behind the house where I do laundry and filled a laundry tub full of soapy water and scrubbed him from head to toe, the best I could, and with some help from Mary (my sweet Ugandan friend) soon he was looking much better, but it pained me to see all the scars and scabs on his body. After cleaning him I put lotion on him and all his scares. I gave him my orphan walk T-shirt (walk a mile in my shoes) how appropriate huh!? The shirt was from last years orphan walk where we walked bare foot through the park, and Ivan certainly did not own a pair of shoes. Emma's sister Liberty supplied him with a nice pair of basketball shorts that fit nicely and most importantly Emma's mom just happened to pack the perfect size brand new boys underwear! She knew she packed them for a reason :P After he was all dressed, it was crazy, he looked like an entirely different boy.

Ivan before bathing

Ivan after bathing! 

Doesn't he look handsome!? I'm not kidding after bathing him and changing his clothes and praying over him some more, oh and lets not forget a sweet lady named Laura brought him out a goodie bag of candies and toys and after all that he didn't even seem sick anymore. He looked like he had just won the lottery. I made sure he drank lots of water, he drank about two bottles right away. We gave him some garlic pills, vitamin C, and ibuprofen. It was all we had at the time but in the famous words of my sweet friend Mary, she said to me today, "He doesn't need a hospital, all he needs is a little bit of love." 

I think Mary is 100% right. In the slums he couldn't even sit up, not even to eat! It was either that he truly was VERY sick...or maybe it was just that he had completely given up hope, to the point where he didn't even care to eat anymore. I knew this morning that God had something big planned for me today, but I didn't imagine anything like this. 

All I know is I think I will be pretty busy for a while seeing that this boy is NOT put back on the streets. I had to make a decision to take this boy with me today and I knew that meant if I was taking him then I was going to take him ALL THE WAY. I am going to see to it that he is not dropped back on the streets and do everything in my power to get him placed in a home. I'll be honest, I really had to break into my funds today to pay for everything, and it made me cringe a little bit, but I know God will provide and i'm not worried. After bathing him and everything it was time to take him to the hospital, but first he needed one more thing. Shoes. So we took a long walk up the hill searching for a market that had shoes, finally we found one, and I bought him some shoes, he even got to pick them out! .. Oh and a soda too.. How could I tell him no? Before we left the house I gave him a little bag containing a lunch I packed him, soap, lotion, 2 water bottles, granola bars, and his goodie bag. He was SO proud of his bag. (It was actually a women's purse and all I had but he didn't care lol)

When we reached the hospital, unfortunately all the doctors were out on emergency calls and so we had to make an appointment for tomorrow morning instead. We had dinner at a nice "american style" restaurant, i am so regretting not taking pictures of Ivan, i specifically asked for the "sofa seats" and he was so cozy sitting in the pillowed sofa booth. I asked him what he wanted to order and he pointed to the big picture of the massive hamburger. So thats what he got and french fires and a large passion juice. I invited one of the African Hearts Street directors to have dinner with us, he is who the boy will be staying with tonight. He is a very nice man and one that i feel I can trust. I asked him how the street children usually get their food for the night. He told me that they rummage through trash cans looking for left over food that has been dumped inside. I was so proud of Ivan's table manners and he was trying so hard, he had never eaten with a fork so he was still learning.. and dropped the first 3 french fries he tried to put in his mouth.. lol I couldn't help but laugh, but i was so proud of him for trying  and being so neat with his food. At first he used his fork and knife to cut his hamburger and then after that clearly wasn't going over so well he used his napkin to pick up his hamburger and take a bite. It was adorable watching him eat with a plate and fork. The bill could have came to $100.00 and it would have been worth it. 

God has plans for this little boys future, please take time out of your day to join me in praying for Ivan. 

I'm just getting ready for bed, because I imagine we will have a long day at the doctors office tomorrow. I'm so happy Jesus chose me to love on his precious street children. Most days at the feeding programs I leave with no hope, and its so hard leaving those boys knowing that they will have to go right back to the streets. FINALLY today was different. 

Thank you Jesus!!!

Good Friday, truly was a GOOD Friday.

So I have a story to share with all of you. This Friday I spent a good portion of my day at the babies home because there wasn't much help due to it being Good Friday. I have gotten to know the staff at sanyu very well and there is one mama whom I often wash bottles and dishes with and we enjoy talking together as we work. She told me of a baby whose mother had died giving birth and the baby was now left and how she has been doing the best to help the baby with the few dollars that she has. Ugandan English is sometimes very broken and hard to put things together and she kept calling him "baby dear" and honestly I thought she ment a baby deer! Lol I even asked her several times, this is a baby deer, like the animal deer??? Because I've never heard of a deer in Uganda, and she kept saying yes a baby deer. She also told me about the cemetery where the babies who have passed away at sanyu are buried. I knew a few babies that I had came and cared for but then after returning home I had later gotten news that they didnt make it so I asked her to take me to see the cemetery and this "baby deer" she had been caring for. So we hopped on a Boda and rode up to the graveyard and we walked through the cemetery which is quite the experience but that is a whole other post.

We walked down the long dirt path and through piles and piles of garbage that a few street children were digging through to find plastic bottles to trade in. I even had a team of street children following close behind me giggling and whispering things about the "mzungu" (white person). Soon we reached a small village with rows of small one room shacks and lots of children running around, everywhere! Margret brought me directly to the "baby deer" and said here he is!!! It was no baby deer it was the sweetest "human" baby boy. His name is Daniel. His mother died in childbirth. His father is now doing his best to care for the baby and 2 other older siblings. They were so welcoming (as most ugandans are), they immediately invited me in their little home, grabbed me an old chair and insisted "you sit!" When the father arrived home he was so happy to have a visitor he grabbed some change from his pocket and sent his oldest daughter up the road to buy me a soda. Understand this mans living is to carry heavy baskets up steep hills everyday and he only makes about 50 cents for each trip, Margaret told me he usually is only able to bring home a few dollars a day. Yet he insisted I have something special to drink. We spoke and he showed me pictures of the babies mother. It was clear that he truly loved her and misses her, it was so hard to think that he has been here alone with this little baby and 2 other small children. However, it is also so encouraging to see that he has not given up and is trusting in the Lord to provide for him and his children and doing all that he can to make sure they grow up strong and happy. I was able to leave them with some money to buy a nice Easter meal, which he was VERY excited about. Next Sunday they are taking baby daniel to be baptized and I am so honored that they invited me along with them. If anyone feels led to give specifically to meet this families needs please speak with Kim for any donation purposes.

Jesus raised me to love the Orphan and I didn't even know it.

Don't you think it is a little bit ironic that one of my favorite dolls grownig up was this little black baby?




My first favorite doll however was a doll I had that I named Charm. I got her when I was about 5 years old. My dad brought her home to me one day after work. He found her laying in the street outside and picked her up to take her home for me. I was so sad for this little doll, after all she was an orphan. She was an old doll with ratty hair, no clothes and if i remeber right I think one of her eyes was even broken lol but my dad knew I would love her anyway. I immediatly got to work scrubbing her in the sink. She was very dirty. Her hair was pretty much ruined so me and my mom cut her hair and I was so anxious to go to the store and by her a doll wig and a dress. I know it is silly but Charm was so special to me because she didn't just come from the store, she was a lost doll and I felt like I had helped her out and saved her.



I got to thinking about all this the other day and I started thinking about how much I LOVED to watch movies when I was little. You can ask my mom and brother I was always watching movies, but I would watch the same ones over and over again. My old brother Jordan use to get a little annoyed by this haha.

But let me just list a few of my all time favorite childhood movies:

Annie - Little orphan annie grew up in an all girl orphanage with a mean house mother.
In the end she is adopted by a wealth family and saves her orphanage.

Matalida - Matalida was adopted into a mean family that
didn't really care about her but in the end she is adopted
by her teacher who truly cares for her.

Madaline - Madaline is the only orphan in her boarding school and is the
reason the boarding school can not shut down because they are her
only family.

The Little Princess- The little princess is about a little girl who grew up in Africa with her father, but when he is called off to war he is obligated to send her to London to stay at a boarding school while her father is away at war, her mother died when she was young, she then recieves news that her father
died at war and since she is left there as an orphan with no other family, she can no longer pay to live at the school. So the home mother makes her live in the attic with a colored servant girl who is also orphaned and they work in the school as maids. In the end her father turns out to
be alive and comes back for her and her friend to take them both
back to Africa to live happily ever after.


I can't tell you how many times I watched these 4 movies over and over again as a little girl, obviously even as a 6 year old I was intrigued by the orphan.

A few of my other favorites...
Babe (a piglet that has no one to call mom and ends up being
raised by the farmers sheep dog who's puppies were given away.)
The Fox in The Hound ( Todd the little fox whos mother is shot by the hunter is taken in
by an old women and big momma the owl.)
Cinderella (orphaned and left to live with her evil step mother and sisters.)



Jesus obviously gave me a heart for the orphan, even as a little girl.

Thank you Jesus for loving the orphan and allowing me to be your hands and feet.

 

Life is like a box of chocolates

The weather today has been so odd and can't seem to make up its mind.

All afternoon the sun has either been shining or the snow has been swirling up a white blizzardy mess.

One minute I will look outside and all I see is a white wirlwind of snow and then 15 minutes later
the sun will be back out and the clouds will be completely cleared. Then once again 15 minutes later it is back to snowing again. It has been like this all day long.

It reminds me of life, sometimes the sun is shining down on you and everything is going great and then just like that life swirles you up in a blinding mess of snow.

It's it wonderful though that Jesus is always the light at the end of the tunnel? and you know the bad times can't last forever. It may rain sometimes but you can always count on the sun to come back eventually, even when it might seem like it's taking forever. God's timing is perfect.


I saw a little picture today that said "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."  I love that statement.

And you know, just like the flowers need the rain to grow. So do we. We need those rainy days. Those tough situations in order to grow and learn. Thank you Jesus for throwing us some lemons in life so we can learn to make lemonade rather than get discouraged :)

Go. Feed my sheep.

Peter is the rock on which God built His church. But fist, Peter was probably the worst disciple ever. I am Peter.
Jesus tells Peter the Peter will deny Him 3 times; Peter says, “No! I love you, I could never deny you, Lord.” Yet we all know that Peter does in fact deny Jesus 3 times. I know in my heart and my soul and the core of my being that I LOVE the Lord, that I would do anything for Him, go to the ends of the earth for Him, but how often do i forget to give the Glory back to His name? How often do I take compliments without giving Him the credit, without the honor and praise back to God who has given me this work? Do I, as Peter, deny Jesus the glory that is His?
Jesus told His disciples that it was God’s will for Him to be arrested. He went willingly when the soldiers came to take Him, but enthusiastic, loving Peter raised his sword and cut off a soldier’s ear. I’m sure Jesus chuckled and shook His head as He put the ear right back on the man. “put your sword away,” Jesus commanded, “shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” I am Peter. I have my own time frame. When I don’t see things happening, I try to make them happen. And Jesus says, “Put away your sword, put away your plans. Shall we not do what the Father has asked of us?” So like Peter, I put away my plans, my defenses, and watch as everything happens perfectly, in God’s own timing.
After Jesus had risen, He appeared to His disciples while they were fishing. When Peter saw his beloved Savior, He excitedly jumped out of the boat and began swimming where Jesus stood. Needless to say, the boat probably reached the shore long before Peter. I am Peter. Excitedly jumping into things, and then standing, sopping wet, at the feet of the Lord, smiling at my stupidity. I get excited, forget to think things through, and end up doing them the long way. Every time, though, just as with Peter, Jesus welcomes my soaking wet self into His arms and is simply happy to see me.
I am Peter who made many mistakes, but I am Peter who God had great plans for, who God established to do His work. Peter is the rock on which Jesus built His church. The very night that Perter foolishly jumped out of the boat, Jesus reinstated Him in the presence of the other disciples. “Do you truly love me?” He asked. “Then feed my lambs.” “Do you really love me? Take care of my lambs.” “Peter, DO YOU LOVE me? Feed my sheep, and come. Come follow Me.”
For each time that I deny God the Glory that is His, for each time I follow my will instead of listening to His, for each time I jump ahead without first consulting my Lord, He asks, “Daughter, do you truly love me?” and I do. “Feed my sheep.” And I will. And I do. “Come follow me.” And I am, or at least I am trying.

I am Peter. I mess up. I make mistakes, I am far from perfect, and God will use me. God will establish great things through me. You are Peter. God already knows that you will make a mess, but His plan for you is great. Go. Feed His sheep.

- Katie Davis
Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/kissesfromkatie/2007/11/254/

I just wanted to share this post by Katie Davis, it was this time last year that I was reading her book Kisses for Katie for the first time and she quoted from her journal in her book this post. It was what helped me decided last year that I would go back to Africa. It was rough the first time and hard on me to see all of the extreme poverty and I knew I wanted to go back, but I wanted to know that it was God's will for me to go back. I was currently in college and overwhelmed with working in Portland at my fathers insurance agency and driving back and forth everyday to classes. Also trying to figure out the right career and what I was going to do with my life and trying to find time for my boyfriend and friends on top of it. And I just didn't know if I had time to go back to Africa.

Reading her passage about Peter in her book was what confirmed it for me. And i'm so glad I went back.

Now this year I am 100% sure I am going back to Uganda this May, but I have a new decision to make. I am considering staying longer than a week, perhapes an extra month or two. I am praying for direction and if this is really something God would have me to do or if he would rather use me here in the US.