Ceasing the Moment

The past few weeks have been rather fun.  I've been living off the map a little - crashing in homes all over Ontario, going without a phone, and enjoying quality time with many great people.

On Tuesday I was supposed to meet some people for lunch.  Thankfully I was able to quickly update my FB at a Tim Horton's wifi hotspot.... so I received a message that because theie house was up for sale, I had to meet these people at a restaurant.  I arrived early and sat outside waiting.  About 10 feet away was an elderly couple humbly handing out Gideon New Testaments and Book of John Scriptures  They were situated between a very busy restaurant and a popular store to buy snacks and drinks, across from a public high school that was just dismissing for lunch hour.  I was amazed to see teenage boys choose to receive the Word of God, but every girl turned it down.  

While sitting on the steps of the restaurant, I decided to pray for these youth who were receiving a copy of God's Word in Canada.  One young man walked past me, with a smile on his face.  I heard him say "Wow! I now own a Bible, and I'm an Atheist!"  I started to pray right away.

"Lord, may he not just own the Bible, but read it and come to know YOU through it."

While home, I've not only been catching up with people, I've been able to share with a few churches and groups about what God is doing in Uganda.  I am so encouraged to know/see that so many people are praying for me and walking this journey with me!

Out of Uganda... for a short while

Every missionary I know has those days when exhaustion takes over, cultural frustrations become too many because patience is worn thin, and they just long for a break.  I took my chance for a break, and so right now I am back in Canada.  I had a Global Outreach Mission conference in Europe at the end of September, so I decided to keep going and visit my family for Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad that I did!  I am feeling refreshed, excited, and truly enjoying God's glorious fall colours. 

 It was so great to meet with other missionaries serving God's people.  A few families came from Africa, one from Japan, but most were European and it was refreshing to swap stories of what God is doing around the world.  Please pray for GOM and all the missionaries they send out around the globe.

 The worship with inspiring! Hymns brought to life.

 One afternoon of fellowship and hiking in the mountains.  What a glorious God we serve!

Throughout the conference most of us were interviewed for Christian radio.  I have no idea who will hear my stories of how God is using me in Uganda, but I was truly blessed to hear how God is using other faithful followers on the mission field.

Please pray for the president of Global Outreach Mission - Dr. Brian Albrecht - he has a big task of overseeing the workload and passion for the mission.

 I was super happy to host Beckie and Ruudy (colleagues from Uganda) in Canada.  Ruudy is from Soroti... and it was his first time ever in Canada.  The CN Tower was a must see.

 Worshipping with my Mom and Grandma!

 I had to show Beckie the most famous thing about St. Thomas - Jumbo the elephant.

 All of my nieces and nephews were excited about their new soccer (football) uniforms. :)

 My family has been through a lot of loss in the past year, and I took some time to see the gravesite.

 Miniature horses - who wouldn't want to get some horse hugs!!

 Cheering for the Jays!  That's when I know I am patriotic about Canada!

 We haven't had a family photo in years!  And this is the whole crew!!

 The original six - Dennis, Brian, Mom, Dad, Rick, and me. I'm one lucky girl!

 Hanging with my nieces and nephews in God's glorious creation!

 Mixing my Ugandan family with my Canadian family.

I love my brothers.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A quick glance into life and ministry in Soroti

ENT SKILLS in Amuria

A couple of nights ago, a priest pulls up on his motorcycle and calls me to my gate. He said that a letter arrived for me at the church office, but he had no idea what it was about, so he just handed it to me and raced off.  I opened the letter to see an invitation from the youth in Amuria (about 45 km North).  They wanted me to speak at their week-long conference and my topic was 2 hours of ENT SKILLS.  I chuckled.  I've never taught that in my life.  God, what's your plan here?

The next morning I called the chairman of the youth conference and asked him what he specifically wanted me to talk about.  He said, "Oh Auntie, we are about 200 youth here and I think you should teach us how to make reusable pads."  

Ummm, okay.  "I have never made them before! And it's two days away."  

"Well, then just share anything you want from the theme!  See you on Thursday."

I prayed and planned, studied and put together a speech for youth about business and skills - like honesty, integrity, timeliness, and other values. I wasn't feeling confident, but I knew God was going with me on this journey.
(And thanks to the FB messages of many friends... I may someday, soon, still do a workshop on making reusable pads... but with girls only.)

I drove to Amuria with another guest speaker, and when we arrived in the morning there were, yes, about 200 youth gathered together.  As we broke out for lunch, a huge crowd of adults were waiting to file into the church.  Apparently that town has a Thursday afternoon prayer session that people faithfully attend, and they weren't going to let a youth conference stop them.  As we were eating lunch the chairman was getting more and more agitated... he said that the youth had booked the church for the whole week and they were the first priority.  At 2:30 he told the youth to go back into the church.  The adults then decided that they would just stay and be a part of the youth program for the rest of the afternoon.

Ha Ha - Lord, give me direction!!  During one music presentation I took the time to pray and rearrange my discussion/speech with the youth.  There were now 600 people in the building... sitting in the aisles, crammed up to the altar - adults, youth, and children.  It was hot.  It was full.  And it totally wasn't the plan!

I gave one guy a camera, he ended up giving it to another guy... so one photo was taken and 37 mini videos were shot. :( Sorry, you can't really see the crowd.

Anyways, I started talking about how we should dream about our futures, and what God wants us to be.  I creatively told the story of Joseph, and watched the kids soak up the character.  I explained 8 Multiple Learning styles or intelligence's, and how we need to understand ourselves - so that we can find work with joy and purpose.  I explained that we can't just be lazy, but we need to move to better ourselves, especially if we are children of God.  I talked about proper planning and saving and the whole time I saw youth and adults alike sit with great intent.  The children didn't make any noise.  I've never seen a crowd so involved.  I knew the Holy Spirit was leading.  I was totally tired when I was done sharing.  Now I pray that it was more than just a speech, but that the people of Amuria can put a few new life skills into practice.  Oh what fun it is to be a tool in the hands of God!

In Kadungulu, Serere

September 1 and 2 I was called to Kadungulu to share about Children's Ministry.  I was super excited to know that my fun team of colleagues was willing to journey with me on this overnight excursion.  For two days Anna, Peter, Teddy, and I taught about Stories of Hope and different teaching methods.

We slept in freshly smeared dry cow dung mud huts, slept early, woke up with the sun, watched a solar eclipse in a basin of water, and struggled with language. But God gave us strength, energy, and we saw excitement and understanding!  Please pray that these village churches will apply the creativity and curriculum to their schools and Sunday classes.

 Teaching about 20 villagers

 And hanging out with kids

 God's Promises are never failing

 My junior disciple is a joy to journey with, especially at trainings

 The Bible is one big story - the story of Jesus... and today's church is a part of that story!

 Doing drama

 And teaching object lessons

 Hand motions

 Colourful curriculum

It's fun watching an adult try a puzzle or a word search for the first time.  May God's story of Hope be told through these willing church leaders!

Helping my Helper

Every 7-10 days I call a special lady to come and help me mop the house (scrubbing the floors) and wash the clothes by hand, she also roasts gnuts or makes tortillas and English muffins occasionally.  Helen is her name and she bikes 45 minutes to reach my house for work.

On Thursday night she called me and said that she really wanted my team-mate, who is a nurse, to come out and see her.  She was bleeding, but she had delivered naturally and easily 8 days earlier, so the bleeding wasn't normal.  I happened to be at my team-mate's house at the time, so we quickly thought that we would drive out to the village together, because it was 8:30 pm.

I won't give you all the details, but I'm so glad we followed the Lord's prompting to go get her. The bleeding was too much... I've never seen anything like it.  We took Helen to a better hospital and by the time the nurse found plastic to cover the bed, Helen was seriously shaking.  The doctor took over rather quickly and we went home to pray for her.

The next day I went back with tea and food for Helen and her two attending relatives.  She seemed stronger and I'm glad the doctor was able to help Helen.  I didn't know it was possible to carry left-over placenta for up to two weeks.  My mind keeps thinking: what if we didn't go to pick her?  If I was alone, I wouldn't have gone out there at night.  God knew!!  Today I picked her up from the hospital and got to spend some more time with little baby Karen.

A Time For Everything

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:          

a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

    a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

    a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

    a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

    a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

    a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

 This is a strange month... with so many seasons mixed in to a few weeks.  Two weeks ago I helped my long-time friends and colleagues (the Sliedrechts) to pack up their stuff and sell belongings at a community garage sale. A time to mourn, a time to embrace, and time to tear. They have shifted (moved) to Good's Shepherd's Fold, about 4 hours away, and I have already had the opportunity to visit them there, in the middle of fields of sugar cane, bordering a jungle forest.  A time to mend, a time to love, a time to gather together.

 One of the joys of serving with other mzungus in Soroti is that we all become a team, even if we don't work together... and we celebrate and struggle together.  Yesterday I witnessed the baptism of my nephew Drew.  A time to be born, and a time to dance.

 This picture doesn't do it justice, there was a huge group praying around the pool, but here are the six who were baptized.  A time to plant, a time for peace.

 I love it when my neighbour boys come and brighten my day.  Here they are... greeting me at the front door!  A time to laugh, a time to love.

 After 3 trips to the dentist in Jinja... I finally have my first crown. A time to tear down...

Hope Smiles! And a time to build.

 I went to spend some time with a butcher/sausage maker in Jinja (3.5 hours away), to learn about a new kind of market for the pigs.  We are lacking a market right now, so I thought it would be good to gather some new ideas for butchering and selling. A time to kill, a time to die.

 Training is one of my favourite tasks here!!  I love teaching, and this week my ministry partner stretched me into teaching a new curriculum.  We taught about Discipling Young People at a local Compassion site.  The training went well and I think we learned a lot together.  I'm feeling like the Lord is leading me more and more into youth ministry here. A time to plant...

 A time to build...

 A time to build... again.

 Discipleship is not easy.  It takes TIME.  It takes RELATIONSHIP... and it takes LOVE.

A time to gather the stones.

 My friend Helen had a baby girl on Wednesday... so I went to visit baby Aibo.

A time to be born

 Bath time is a time to weep

While visiting it had been a time to uproot so I came home with a nice back of freshly harvested groundnuts (g-nuts or peanuts).

Birthdays are rarely celebrated here, but they are one of my best days of the year.  So I try to make sure that those around me also know that they are special.  Susan just turned 27 and this was her first time to ever be celebrated on her birthday.  The boys were so proud to share the evening with her!!

A time to dance and a time to speak.

This past weekend I really felt like it was a time to search, as my emotions were very strong.  I don't know if I'm excited to be going to Europe and Canada next month, or if God is trying to teach and show me something, or if  I just needed to close the door and have a day of rest, but God is good and I shall continue to seek His face! And serve Him with joy!

ScoobieDoo the Subaru

Scoobie Doo... my Subaru (Forester) is now 16 years old and I think I have a love/hate relationship with her.  She has been good, but she has a low wheel base and that is not always helpful on the rough village roads.  For the past year, she has been in the car every month and consuming a lot of time and money.  Yesterday I was in the garage again, for six hours, trying to bring Scoobie Doo back to life - replacing a rear shock, installing lights (since two were not working), oil change, replacing the steering pump, and so much more.  

 I think I just get sad that she is costing more money now, but at the same time, I don't know if I should give her up.  She's still a strong car, when she's not weak.  :)

 I'm thankful that I have a mechanic or two who know how to bring her back to life.

Please pray for my car and safety on the roads - always!