Things Your Missionary Won't Tell You...

I wrote this blog post almost two weeks ago now, but never shared it. Today my boyfriend walked up to the town center to get some popcorn and peanuts for the kids for the movie night we were having later. While at the market he witnessed a older gentleman riding a bicycle get completely smashed by a large truck and killed. It shook him up quite a bit and I was so glad that I had decided not to go to the market with him. Over the last few hours, Ive been thinking about this guy who so suddenly lost his life. I've been thinking about how far he had rode on his bicycle, as most people ride very far distances here in Kampala. I have been thinking about the large jackfruit that he had been carrying on his bike that he had most likely planned to sell. I have been thinking about his family and if they are now wondering why he hasn't come back home. I have been thinking about the truck driver who sped off after killing this man and what kind of guilt he has now harboring in his heart. I have been thinking about the town people at the market who will most likely be the ones to clean up the body and where they will decide to dump him at. I have been thinking about if anyone at all was able to identify him or if he had an ID... I have been thinking about if this man knew Jesus. I have been thinking about the REAL reason I am here in Uganda. Life is so fragile anywhere in the world, but sometimes here in Uganda it seems even more fragile.

I thought tonight after thinking about all of this it was the right time to share this post and encourage all of you to pray for the missionary all over the world.

There are so many things that go on in the lives of people who have given up familiarity  and traded it for a new life in a foreign country. And most of you back home don’t even know the gist of it. But I promise you, your loved ones thousands of miles away wish you did. 

But not for the reasons you may think. Most of us simply want you to

REMEMBER to appreciate the small things. 

This morning I woke up and read the Facebook status of a short term missionary friend I met here in Uganda. 

which read:

“ In the middle of last night, I woke up and my floor fan wasn’t working. At first I thought our power was out since that happens frequently here, but quickly realized it wasn’t. I tried multiple plugs, and it appeared to be broken. Uganda has been in dry season, and it has been HOTT, so I was very sad that my only way to cool off was not working… also who sleeps well when you’re sweating? Yea, no one. If you knew the kind of week I’ve had, you would know what I thought to myself, “Seriously, something else!?” I honestly wanted to cry… over my fan! Today I went into my room and prayed over it. I said “God, I know this is silly. I also know you care about the little things. Please fix my fan.” I waited a few hours and went back and checked… and IT WORKED. I then wanted to cry even more because our God cares so much, about the little details of our life. It was as if He was saying, “Caroline I see you. I know you. I hear you. I’m near you.” Hashtag: Sweetreminders Hashtag: thelittlethings

The most comforting thing for missionaries living abroad, I think, at least for me, is knowing that other people are right there with you going through the same things you are. So posts like this for us is like a breath of fresh air. 

A simple reminder: 

You are not alone in this

It has been uncomfortably HOT here in Uganda for the past month or so. I have literally been sleeping with TWO fans at night and no blanket - as we don’t have the comfort of inside air-conditioning. In February my brother and his girlfriend came to visit. The first time any of my family has come to Uganda to do life with me for a couple weeks. They brought with them lots of “back home comforts” that I had been missing (including kraft Mac & Cheese, some books that would be impossible to get here, my bed sheets from back home, my favorite candy, a few old records and a cushioned mat for my mattress.) Amongst other things - but believe it or not - these things, to me were some of the most important things that they brought with them. 

After I watched my brother and his girlfriend board a plane that would fly them thousands of miles back home. I didn’t actually know what it would feel like, I had heard from other missionary friends who have lived here in Uganda much longer than I have that its hard. But I didn’t know all the emotions that would surface after watching them leave, or how long I would have to cry it off. When family comes to visit, they are a living, breathing, walking replica of your homesickness and everything you feel you are missing out on back home comes to life. And when you live abroad long enough the birthdays, weddings, family reunions, seasons, hangouts with friends, Holidays, etc. only add up. Not to mention the most important small things - eating dinner at home with family, walking your dog, trivial moments that come and go so quickly at home. These things are the hardest things to deal with when you live so far away.

So,

First thing we won’t tell you but wish you knew:

1. Appreciate the time you have together with friends and family, appreciate the ones who are close to you and you can see any day of the week, but most importantly appreciate the small moments you get to have with them, don’t take it for granted, because others so far away wish they could have the same. 

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Finding “imported foods” in Uganda (ask any missionary here) and they will tell you the same thing. Its like you won the lottery, over some canned soup or Prego spaghetti sauce. It’s ridiculous how excited we get over these things. Whats even more ridiculous is how excited we get over JUST seeing these things, because most of the time we can’t even buy them unless they go on sale because they are too expensive. But we are THAT happy just to know they are there, incase we have a home-sickness mental break down one day and that may be the only thing to keep you from buying a plane ticket home. 

You just don’t know the struggle of going to a foreign grocery store and finding almost nothing familiar to you and preparing yourself dinner, when you know what you wanted to cook but it just will never be “just like home cooking” because the ingredients just aren’t the same. You don’t understand this struggle, until you’ve lived abroad. 

A few weeks ago I was talking to my mom on the phone and I told her that I think I  can FINALLY cook comfortably here in Uganda. At home, I love cooking, its even a stress reliever sometimes. I love making new recipes and I love food. But since coming to Uganda and trying to duplicate familiar recipes, with sometimes miserable end results, cooking instead became part of the stress. It has taken almost 2 years to finally become comfortable with the ingredients that I now know I have access to, which took becoming familiar with which stores sell what. But we not only have to become familiar with which stores sell what, BUT also when they will be selling it. Because things run out of stock here quickly and frequently. So before I drone on.. 

Second thing we won’t tell you but we wish you knew:

1. Appreciate the enormous variety of foods you have access to back home and try to imagine how much you would miss those “comfort foods” if you no longer had access to them. AND be thankful that you have food at all, we know one to many people here that are struggling for just one meal a day. 

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After my brother left I couldn’t figure out why I seemed to like my pink bed sheets from back home so much better than my Ugandan bought bed sheets, that feel and are made exactly the same. Until I realized it has to be simply that they are a sweet token of home. I went to the states last year to spend Christmas with my family and I came back during rainy season with it being very chilly at night, my boyfriend who had picked me up at the airport brought my favorite quilted blanket that was handmade for me as a child by my great grandma, who has since passed away, figuring I might be cold on the ride home. After the driver dropped us off at my house and we were busy pulling my suitcases out of the trunk, I realized the next morning that I left my blanket in the car. After calling the driver he insisted that I give him money and come to Entebbe to get the blanket. I was so upset that I couldn’t get my blanket back. Some of the most valuables things missionaries have in their 2nd home countries are keep sakes from back home and although small its devastating when we loose these things.

 Things in Uganda get worn so much easier than things in the states. We wash things by hand and hang them in the intense african sun, which takes enough of a tole on things, but besides that we are often cooking over open flame and dealing with other unavoidable outside elements. I often have to check my attitude when I get defensive over dishtowels given to me by my mom or cups and plates that get lost or broken or worn all simply because they are my keepsakes from home. 

The ugandan mattresses are large cut pieces of ugandan foam and they are stiff and hard to sleep on. I was so happy that my mom packed in my brothers suitcase a soft cushion mattress cover and I am grateful for it every time I sit down on my bed - including right now as I sit and type this. The other night I sat down to the table to work on my receipts. The organization I am under, Love Remedy Inc. is a 501(c)3 that I founded in 2013. I have to keep track of all of my expenses for my taxes at the end of the year. Even running a small non-profit requires a lot of busy work to keep things organized. I put a record on and laid out all my work on the table, as soon as I sat down to get started, my power went off. I attempted to do some of my work under candle light for a while but I figured instead of getting frustrated I better make the best of the situation and make it a adventure. That is the motto I live by most days here in Uganda, I am constantly telling myself, “Look at it as an adventure.” 

I called Dan to fill a pot and put it on our gas stove to start boiling water. The power going out is a normal occurrence and seems to be rather common in my neighborhood particularly. I have become very good at cooking dinner in the dark and we have had many meals in our house by candle light, I remember one night after dinner we played a very interesting game of Uno where it was so hard to tell the green cards from the blue ones, needless to say we’re still not sure who the true winner was. After a long day, none of us were really in the mood to cook a meal in the dark so we decided to have Ramen Noodles. Whenever I go to the grocery I try to pick out the most unique flavors of Ramen Noodles and they have a large variety here in Uganda. We always have fun picking out new flavors and all of us picked something different that night: “Masala, Curry, Oriental Vegetable, Chili, Spicey Chicken.” 

Since I wasn’t very excited about sleeping without my fan, I decided again to stick to my motto of adventure and pull out my camping tent and set it up in the front yard. After-all the lights were off in the neighborhood so the stars were amazing. After explaining to my great dane that he wasn’t allowed in the tent and my two cats to stop attacking the sides of it, I had a wonderful nights sleep outside in the yard.

There are so many things that happen here in Uganda that do not go according to plan and one can become very frustrated over this if not mindful of it. Ask anyone who lives here, things never go exactly according to plan. I don't think I have ever went to a local restaurant here in Uganda and they have had every item that was on their menu, in fact they usually only have like 3 of the items that are on their menu. And life here is the same way, it may seem as if there are many options but those many options usually get narrowed down pretty quickly. And you realize you have to be content and settle with what you have been given. 

Yesterday at church, my pastor, preached a very timely message of being content and not worrying about where things will come from but knowing that when you trust in God He will always give you what you need. 

Last week, the water company delivered my water bill, which is usually around $8 a month. This week my water bill was a staggering $200, almost my entire rent for my house. Because there was no visible leak anywhere in our compound I was hoping it was a mistake from the water company, but after having a plumber come to the house he did discover a leak underground that we had no idea about. I was instantly concerned how I was going to budget in this new expense. My landlord lives in the UK and so its hard to get a hold of him immediately, with the bad network here in Uganda plus time zone differences. 

I sat down writing out what had happened in a message to my landlord after the network had broke off and all the sudden I realized how nervous and worried I was and I felt the holy spirit gently whispering to me, "Why do you worry?"

"Look at the bird of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." "Are you not much more valuable than the birds?" Matthew 6:25 came rushing through my head and I realized God had this completely under control. I sent the message and was completely at peace. That evening my landlord got back with me, he had the leak repaired and was wiring money to pay the bill. 

So many times God has done things like this for me, I don't know why I always turn back to worrying. God ALWAYS takes care of everything in the end. 

The last couple days my internet had been off completely and I called the company many times to see what was going on to avoid making a lengthy trip to town. Today I had no option but to go to their offices to find out the problem. I discovered their offices completely shut down. After speaking with someone I found out that apparently within a matter of days they have went out of business. I have no idea if I will ever be refunded for the next month of internet I had already paid for but I had no option but to switch to another carrier and buy more internet. Again, even when its frustrating, I will trust God will provide for every expense. 

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I’ve been thinking lately about what the hardest thing is that missionaries deal with living abroad and based on my own experience and talking to other missionaries, i’ve come to only one conclusion. 

Guilt.

There are so many things that we feel guilty about. One thing for sure, is how we spend our money, most long term missionaries are living on a donation based income and we have very specific budgets and from the bottom of our hearts we want that money to be used for our ministry as much as possible, if we didn’t feel so strongly about that we wouldn’t still be here. One of the biggest guilt factors that I have experienced and know my friends have experienced is what kind of food we buy. At my house we eat a lot of local food, its the cheapest way to eat. but we also eat a lot of “americanized” meals as well. Local food here in Uganda consists of this:

 Carrots, Tomatoes, Onions, Green Pepper, Irish Potatoes, Matokee, Sweet Potatoes, Cabbage, Rice, Posho, Beans, Peas, Casava, Pumpkin, G-nuts, Chapati

Incase there are some things on this list you don’t recognize here is a description:

Matokee: Unripened plantains

Posho: Maize flour mixed with water

Chapati: Thick tortilla

Casava: Hard root vegetable 

G-nut sauce: Peanuts crushed and boiled down to a sauce

These are the main options in all Local Food you will find here in Kampala. And most long term missionaries living here feel like our supporters back home expect us to eat this way for every single meal because we are guilty about spending your money in the supermarket on foods we are more familiar with. We know that you can’t actually expect that from us, but we feel guilty anyway. 

The second thing we feel guilty about is simply taking care of ourselves. One thing I know about myself and I have recognized in other missionary friends is most of us are very independent people. We are determined and driven to do what we need to do and we need that stubbornness sometimes to get us through things that we face here. But more often than not we will force ourselves to keep going when our bodies are screaming to stop. We will refuse to buy medication or go to a good doctor because of money or because we will just refuse to believe that we have pushed ourselves to breaking point and we simply need to rest. 

We feel guilty to take a break. And if we are wise enough to rest we aren’t going to tell you about it because we feel guilty about that too. 

I have read a lot of biographies, watched a lot of old movies and stories of old time missionaries in all parts of the world. I personally love writings from Mother Teresa, these stories are exciting for us to read and they inspire us and encourage us - but sometimes - they also give us a false persona of who WE should be as missionaries today, in this world. 

There is a sweet old women at home, who attends my dads bible study group every monday night. She is 87 years old. When she was in her youth she also was a missionary living in Africa, but that was many many years ago. Today we complain about our 24 hour flights to Africa, but she couldn’t take a plane to Africa. She had to come by boat! With her 3 children! For 17 days! Can you imagine? Then after arriving they actually lived inside of the shipping container that carried their small airplane they had brought with them. I love talking with her and hearing her experiences in Africa then compared to now.

Don’t get me wrong there are still missionaries today here in Africa and all over the world who live in the village or the jungle, they live in simple made houses made from earth, they put up with the elements, diseases, bugs, animals, witchcraft, crazy culture clashes. And even us missionaries living here in the city still face a lot of these challenges with only being an hour away from village life. But we can’t deny how far this country has come at the same time and we can be okay with that. 

As missionaries we walk a thin culture line of when and where we should fall more into African culture to relate with the people we minister to and where we should hang onto our home culture and values. And its not an easy line to walk and the hardest part is people who won’t and can’t understand it back home. 

There are a lot of things that we single female missionaries won't discuss with you back home because we don't want you to get a bad picture of the country that is so dear to our hearts and most of all we don't want you telling us that we shouldn't be there and we should go back home. Here are a few things that I personally don't talk to people about for that very reason:

People here offend me almost every single day. If I leave my house, someone will make an inappropriate comment at me, Boda Boda guys will harass me and try to hustle me for more money, I am disrespected for dating a ugandan, children will yell Muzungu at me constantly and ask me for candy and money (because that is what they have been taught is right by ugandan parents and foreigners alike.) Taxi conductors will grab and try to physically force me in their taxi and everyday I have to work through anger and patience and humility like I have never had to before. Police and pretty much anyone in authority will try to ask for bribes for things that is there job to do. The sun is intense, the rain is intense, the dirt is intense, the smells are intense, the noise is hard to escape and no matter what kind of house you live in you WILL have bugs. Your power will go out, your internet will be slow. You have to face cultural clashes every single day, somethings you get use to, somethings you maybe never will. Some people you will get along with and others you won't. Missionaries get mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted all the time for these very reasons amongst many other things. 

And typically our biggest dilemma is ourselves. We are the ones pushing ourselves to keep going when we need to rest, we are the ones telling ourselves that we aren't doing enough so we add more on our plate, we are the ones that are feeding into our guilt that we have placed on our shoulders for no reason. 

I think I have concluded that Satans biggest tool against missionaries is guilt. Because when we push ourselves to breaking, we are no longer making the impact that we were created to make. 

One thing you may not know about us long term missionaries (the ones who want to stay in our 2nd home country for perhaps the rest of our lives.) 

We love our 2nd home country just as much as we love our 1st home country. This means no matter how homesick we get for our 1st home. When we go back to visit we will always be homesick for our 2nd home. It feels like a curse, because we have fallen in love with two places. Be considerate and try to understand that as much as we may complain about some things in our 2nd home, as much as things may get messy and hard at times. We love it here and it is our home and truth be told we may not even have it any other way. Because the difficulties of life in our 2nd home country may be exactly what we love and hate about it at the same time. We are afraid to vent these things to you because we also want you to know that we love our 2nd home and when it seems like a mess, to us it is a beautiful mess, despite all the things that make us uncomfortable here. 

The most important thing we want you to know is

Being out of your comfort zone, will ALWAYS push you closer to the giver of comfort. 

The giver of the wonderful “small things”. The one who created beauty from ashes and allows you to have emences Joy and Peace amongst all the chaos that you’re not sure you will ever understand. 

And that. Is the true selfish reason why we are here. Because we missionaries may be the most broken of all and realize more than ever that we NEED to be stripped of everything so we can know more of HIM. As much as we want comfort we are scared of the comforts of home because they fog our view of the one we are so incredibly dependent on.  We need Jesus just as much if not more than the people we are sharing Him with. 

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#HomeForTony

Meet Tony. 

Tony has cerebral palsy, which has completed disabled him on one side of his body. Tony is a single father caring for his 6 year old daughter, Evelyn. 

Despite his disability he cooks, cleans, does laundry (by hand) and has managed to keep Evelyn in school. In Uganda there is no governmental assistance for people living with disabilities. Living with cerebral palsy can be very painful and Tony does not always have means to pay for pain medicine. 

Tony is a former member of my church here in Uganda and shared that after he was prayed over he had no pain in his body for months, but the pain has come back after having to walk long distances. Tonys landlord has allowed him to live in a small room with his daughter without paying rent for a extended period of time and Tony has managed to get a small plot of land that he wishes to build a house for him and his daughter.

 One of Tony's biggest struggles is being able to bath himself properly and he is in need of a shower room that will accommodate a way of helping him bath. Tony lives far away in the village where water can be scarce. Currently when money is available Tony pays a friend to help him carry jerry cans of water to his home for cooking, washing and bathing. Tony is unable to carry these things on his own.

It will cost $450 to construct a small home for Tony and his daughter in the village and $230 to construct a pit laterine and appropriate shower room.

 

If you would like to help Tony and his daughter with a home please email us at Loveremedyinc@gmail.com

Or 

DONATE

Via PayPal

(button located at the top of my blog)

Or 

 

Mail your donation to:

Love Remedy Inc

305 N Meridian St

Portland, IN 47371

All donations are Tax Deductible. 

Thank you!

Little Feet

Just a couple days after arriving at my new home, it was hard to ignore the many neighbor children standing outside my gate greeting me with smiling faces and shouting auntie! auntie! every time I arrive home. They have given me the most sweetest welcome to the neighborhood. Every morning I wake up to the little feet scurrying around under my gate and the tiny voices outside giggling asking if they "can enter" and come play. It has been a joy to have them around. We have already had so many sweet moments together reading on my porch and playing games. 

Several nights ago we made a tent with my mosquito net in my empty living room, watching veggie tales and eating popcorn. My cute little neighbors have made sure that I will not be lonely here. As I am slowly trying to remember everyones name (even the hard ones to pronounce), there are a few children who live very close by and I see them everyday. I'm slowly learning more and more about each of them and the things that make them individually special. Each one has brought so much happiness to this already wonderful home that God has provided. I don't mind their tiny muddy foot prints on my kitchen floor, I don't mind putting on bandaids when they stub their toes, I don't mind carrying them home after dark when they fall asleep and I love that they are my neighbors.

Very soon after moving in it was necessary to set up my water filter for easy access to clean drinking water. The kids gathered around as I began putting it together. 

And were so excited to be the first ones to test out my new water filter system

Thanks Dots!!

As the weeks pass by. Our house is slowly coming together and the neighbor children are such a sweet edition. For a muzungu (white person) I do a lot of walking. We don't have a car and I avoid taking boda boda's (motorcycle taxi) as much as possible. I'm often carrying bags of groceries from the store to the top of the dusty road all the way back home. When I reach close to home, my little friends never fail to come and meet me and insist on helping me with my bags.

Each one of these little ones come from different backgrounds and it has been a delight building new relationships with them and their families.


Along with the little feet outside our gate..
Also came little paws..

The second night after moving in we came home late to find a scraggly little cat running under our gate. He was skin and bone, (literally) because he was missing a lot of fur, his wiskers were burnt and cracked and he looked to be blind in one eye. 

We have since named our new kitty "Zero"

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He eats well and has been quickly growing, finally his fur is starting to come back. The gentleman who came by to vaccinate our pets, told us that Zero is blind in one eye, but that didn't stop us from praying healing over Zero's eye. Which is now almost completely cleared. Zero has beautiful bright green eyes. 

One evening.. 

About a week after Zero arrived the kids came rushing through my gate dropping something small and yellow on my doorstep and running away. 

I was wondering why they did not bring me the ugandan traditional Chicken as a gift..

but instead another kitten...

(Polly)

We have since told them, please, no more cats. 

But egg-layin' chickens are always welcome! 

Along with the little paws..

Also came some bigger ones..

JANGO

Jango, is a great dane but a gentle giant and does great with the kids.

The kids love picking flowers from my tree to stick in his collar. 

The children LOVE our animals and have so much fun together. 

Great Danes in Uganda are considered an "imported breed" and rare to find. It was a blessing how Jango came home to us and we feel so fortunate to have him here! 

I love my new neighbors

 and I am so happy they are becoming fast friends. 

Thanking Jesus for these little feet.

Home Sweet Uganda

After a few long weeks…

moving from my first guesthouse…

To staying at a babies home…

and

Many days of searching for a house…

I am finally settled.

For the first few weeks me and my friends prayed hard that God would lead us where he wanted and we trusted that He would pick out the most perfect place to make our home. Everyday for the last few weeks we would set out looking at homes all over Kampala, but each house we visited just wasn't quite right. We continued to pray and believe that God had the right house for us… Somewhere!

I had moved from my first guesthouse to the babies home and had been sick for a few days. I was ready to find my house and finally be settled in one place. One morning me and my friends gathered together and prayed that today would be the day we would find our home. That very morning a friend came and asked if perhaps we try looking in a new area. The area he suggested was somewhere I was familiar with. I had taken many walks down the quiet roads, escaped to relax by the pool in this area and spent many weekends at the mall on this side, I like this mall because it is never busy. I am not a fan of busy places. Crowds make me anxious. Coming from small town Indiana, I am not use to sleeping with loud sounds of traffic and the booming prayers coming from the loudspeakers at the mosques. I was excited to check out this area because I knew it would be quiet and peaceful. We continued down a long dirt road, passing each gate and I sat wondering which house they were bringing me to. I saw in the distance a cute white house sitting up on hill, I silently prayed "Jesus, I hope that is the house we are going to!" and was absolutely delighted, laughing in my head when we pulled in the drive. The very last gate down the long dirt road. When we pulled inside the gate my excitement grew.

I have stayed at a number of different guesthouses and friends homes during my times in Uganda and am familiar with the typical layout of the ugandan compounds. It is necessary here for our windows and doors to have bars and for our houses to be surrounded by a wall with barb wire on the tops to keep thieves out. Personally, this layout is not my favorite. Along with my personality, I am very much a free spirit, I love wide open spaces and more than anything I HATE feeling caged in. I was dreading getting a house that would make me feel caged in, with the big walls, barb wire and bars on my windows. I prayed and asked God to pick out my house, after all He is the one who created me this way and He knows where I will thrive at the best.

As we pulled in the gate and got out of the car to look around. I was laughing with God in my head, I knew almost immediately this is the house God has been keeping for me. We crossed the lawn, admiring the flowering trees, over to a picket fence surrounding the side of the house. Because this house sits on a hill, it is elevated above the other homes surrounding it. The wall goes half way around the house and then is open, with a beautiful view of the country side down below. On that one side all that is necessary is a small picket fence. The rest of the wall and barb wire is down below completely out of view from the yard, I had never seen a compound in Uganda like this one. I was absolutely thrilled with the view and the openness of the home. We moved on past a dirt plot beside the yard, perfect to put a large garden. Next we explored the house, as we walked from room to room, I loved how open and bright everything was. It was so peaceful here. I walked over to the white bars on the windows, the white paint made them bright and cheery, again the design made me laugh with God in my head. They were hearts! The bars on the widows and doors are designed with hearts. I love them and I wouldn't have them any other way. As if everything was not already wonderful enough, I noticed the front door behind the bars was made of glass, a beautiful accommodation to the open living room. I most certainly did not feel "caged in" here.

Things I told the realtor I needed:
enough rooms to house people
a yard with grass
a place for a garden

Things I secretly asked God for:
A place I won't feel caged in
flowers
a picket fence
(The picket fence was a huge request! Not common in the least here in Uganda.)

The first day at our new home, we did a lot of cleaning. 

And because we did not yet have our bed frames, we had a slumber party with our mattresses on the floor! Nothings says house warming like PIZZA for dinner. This was the most "american" pizza I've ever had in Uganda. 

Because we do not yet have an electric stove I am learning how to cook many new local dishes on our outside charcoal stoves!

Soon…

We were able to get our bed frames and mosquito nets up! 

The day we brought our beds home, I had taken a boda (small ugandan motorcycle) around to compare prices of bed frames in our area. On the way back, my boda driver, who lives in the area, struck up conversation with me as he turned down my road. "Do you know the name of your road?" I answered, "yes" and told him the simple ugandan word, that I quickly learned to be able to direct people to my house. "Do you know what that word means?" I didn't know. "It means Princess. You live on Princess avenue." 

Now I felt like God was just flattering me. 

God is a good Father. He provides. He gives us good gifts. 

We are sons and daughters of the most high king. 

And he takes care of us accordingly. 

Praising God for my new home! 

Thank You Is Not Enough

As the days inch closer and closer to my departure for Uganda

AUGUST 2ND

I am overwhelmed with gratitude towards everyone who has supported and encouraged me. Since being home I have been blessed with several opportunities to go and speak at different churches in the surrounding area. My sincerest gratitude to all who allowed me to come speak and for everyone who has come around me in support and prayers for my ministry in Uganda.

Ridgeville Methodist Church

Westchester United Methodist 

The Rock Church

Evangelical Methodist Women's Group

Union Chapel, Bryant

Christ Chapel, Fort Recovery

Bearcreek Church, Winchester

Asbury United Methodist

West Missionary Church, Berne

Thank you for loving the Orphan and the Widow so sweetly!

You have humbled and blessed me and my ministry in so many ways with your kind words of encouragement, financial support and prayers. I am so proud of my little community here in Indiana and honored to have such wonderful friends and family around me as I begin this new journey in life. 

Behind the scenes there is a great group of business men from my area who are on the board for my non-profit, they have given me wonderful advice, support and wisdom during this new transition in my life. Along with these great gentlemen is a small group of women, who I like to consider the "Heart Team" of my ministry, standing with me in prayer and love. I am so extremely thankful for these amazing Godly men and women standing beside me as I establish my home and ministry in Uganda. 

A special Thank You to Michael Bear and Dots in Blue Water, who donated water filters for my home and a few extra for friends. One of my expenses in Uganda is clean water safe for drinking. Normally we would boil big pots of water on the stove and then wait for the water to cool. Now I have my very own water filter that immediately starts filtering out bacteria and supplies me with safe water for drinking in half the time!

Thanks Dots!  

You can read more about Dots in Blue Water

HERE

Also a special Thank you to Naomi, who is 83 years old and sews bibs, booties, dresses, shirts and aprons to send with me to Uganda. She also writes and illustrates her own children's books, that she has donated for me to start a small library of books at my home! Never retire work for the kingdom. 

THANK YOU!
Everyone for your support, prayers and encouragement.

Timeless Wisdom

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Amen.

-- Prayer of Cardinal Newman

In times of difficulty pray "Jesus shine through me"