sacrifices...

If you look closely, you can see the chicken by the left gate. Luke LOVES to chase chickens!

Isima found a new use for the M&M's tube!

Jolie loves shoes! She is a girl after my own heart!

Super cool Esther. This is her smiley face!

Everyday I’m here, I feel a little more at home. It becomes a little less foreign. Now, that’s not saying that I don’t still miss COLD tea, ice, Ziploc bags, Bunny bread, corn dogs, shorts, air conditioning, hot water, and my car! By no means am I that good! But the idea of living away from the place where I grew up and am proud to be from becomes a little more doable. A friend looked at me Monday and said “When it gets hard, you have to look at yourself and say why am I here?” That thought has resonated with me. Since then, when I whine about not being able to drink a Sam’s Super Burger tea I think, “Why are you here?” The reason I am here, is worth more than my car and independence. It’s worth more than my weekly tv show. It’s worth more than feelings of normalcy. I don’t know about you, but I got spoiled in my old day to day life. When I had fun plans, I could go buy a new shirt. Now I just wear whichever v-neck I happen to grab for the day (This blog really should be called Living Life One V-Neck To The Next). Or when a new movie came out, I could go with my Momma to see it, and buy popcorn, and buy an ICEE, and buy Sno-Caps…okay so maybe she bought all those things! Or when I wanted to spend time with the friends I cherish, I could get in my car and go to dinner with them or make a road trip to New Orleans. Rarely, was I ever limited in doing what I wanted to do.

I don’t say all that to make you feel guilty, please don’t think that. It’s just something I’ve been processing through. I am reading a book called Not A Fan. by Kyle Idleman. My Bible study group at Friendship Baptist Church is reading it, so I thought it would be neat to read it with them. It is rocking my world, thank you Bro. Teddie for choosing this book! In the second chapter, Idleman talks about the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night because he is too afraid/embarrassed to come to Him during the day when he might be seen by one of his religious co-workers. Nicodemus could have lost his job and his reputation would have been destroyed had his co-workers at the Sanhedrin found out about him going to see Jesus. Idleman says “Being a secret admirer of Jesus cost him nothing, but becoming a follower came with a high price tag. It always does.” See, I am convinced that although we haven’t all been called to live in a foreign country, we have all been called to live a life so in love with Christ that sacrifice is inevitable. It doesn’t look the same for you as it does for me. The movies we watch, the music we listen to, the words that we read and say, our actions to other people, and the way we carry ourselves all ought to matter and bear the resemblance of sacrifice. Because I know one thing for sure, I am not a super-human Christian force. If Jesus only asked some of us to make sacrifices, I’m pretty sure He would have skipped right over me and moved on to the next person! I whine way too much and I am way too stubborn! So I challenge you, to look at your life and see if you are making sacrifices. I know I will be. I have so many areas of my life that I simply don’t want to discuss with Jesus, because I know He is going to ask me to get rid of them. So together, let’s make a commitment to sacrifice where sacrifice needs to made. I am praying for you.

the real deal...

The real Michael Jackson!

Who knows if his name really is Micheal Jackson, but he sure is cute!

Tonight, while waiting for my ride, I met a new friend. He is one of the many street kids in Jinja. Little did my new friend know, but I had heard this morning that he had recently ran away from a ministry and they were asking that people not give him money in hopes that he would come back. So when he came up to me and asked for money, I quickly attempted to divert the conversation. I figured asking him what his name was would be safe. Wrong! This conversation is worth me replaying it for you.

Me: “What is your name?”

Him: “Michael Jackson”

Me: “Like the king of pop Michael Jackson?”

Him: “Yes!”

Me: “There is no way that is your real name!”

Him: “It is my name!”

Me: “Do you know famous people?”

Him: “Yes.”

Me: “Justin Beiber?”

Him: “Yes.”

Me: “Selena Gomez?”

Him: “Yes.”

Me: “Do they come visit you when they are in town?”

Him: “YES!”

Me: “I think you are crazy!”

After much giggling, and finding out that he didn’t know the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears, he talked me into giving him 2,000 shillings (a little less than $1) to buy dinner from a man right down the street. As he was walking off, I yelled “I’m watching you! You better buy food!” He just laughed and said “I’m watching you!” Which I know is true! He’ll be watching for the crazy white lady who he can talk into giving him money. But, let’s be real, could you have said no to the real Michael Jackson!?

Today was the day that I have been waiting for…the day where I was completely dependent on Christ to take care of me. As I went throughout the day, I had so much confidence in the fact that He would provide me with a place to live and a place to serve. He gave me glimpses of both. I got offered a room at the home of a really neat, older lady who runs a restaurant here in town. I also got asked to consider helping in the home-schooling of some really cool kids of a young missionary who also lives and serves in Jinja. While both of these might work out, they could both not work out. And that’s okay, because planning my future isn’t my responsibility at the moment.

This evening, I thought about something I used to tell my middle schoolers all the time when I was teaching. Whenever one of my students would tell me how I should do something a different way or reprimand another student (With intentions to only help me of course!), I would always look at them and say “That is not in your job description. I’m the one getting paid for that…and it’s the big bucks too!” I could always feel, and a lot of times see, their eyeballs rolling at me with frustration. Little did I know, I would find myself in the same position with Christ several months down the road. He would be telling me, “That’s not in your job description. I already paid for that right…and it was with my life!” How life turns the tables on us!

Words from Jesus...

Chilling on a Sunday afternoon with my buddy Randy.

I keep forgetting to post house pictures so no one thinks I'm living in a hut! This is the Sonrise House for the

pre-school aged kids.

Musa trying to do some magic and make more M&M's appear in the container! No worries there is more where those came from! If you can't find mini M&M's in Mobile anymore it's because my Momma is buying them out for when she comes (Which isn't planned yet, but if you see her, you should tell her she should come soon! Haha!). She is going to have a trail of kids following her everywhere she goes!

Introducing Innocent to M&M's. Of course he loved them and kept digging the tube back out of my bag for more!

Pretty girl Julianna!

My buddy Randy had a fever and just wanted to sit in Auntie America's lap. 1. He does in fact call me Auntie America, his idea, not mine! 2. Have you ever seen a cuter sick kid?

I spent the night last night at another orphanage, Ekisa, with their volunteer girls who are super fun and so I could catch a ride to church with them. This morning I woke up and saw that there was a book by my bed, "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. It is a day-by-day Bible study book written as if the words were straight from Jesus to the reader, so I grabbed it to read today's writing. I was not surprised at all to see what was written on today's page...

"Your future looks uncertain and feels flimsy, even precarious. That is how it should be. Secret things belong to the Lord, and future things are secret things. When you try to figure out the future, you are grasping at things that are Mine. This, like all forms of worry, is an act of rebellion: doubting My promise to care for you."

You see, I know for a fact that those would be the words that Jesus would have chosen to say to me this morning. It's the words He's been saying to me for the past week while I have refused to uncurl my fingers that I had wound so tightly around my upcoming plans. All week I knew the Lord was asking "Are you going to trust me or not? Do you really think I won't take care of you? Be obedient to Me." So here I am again saying, "Yes! I will be obedient. Be my plan, my future. Take care of me." There is so much freedom in that. I can be honest in saying that it's a little easier to breath now. I'm not constantly blinking back the tears brought on by fear and frustration.

I know y'all are thinking, alright already, just trust Him and blog about something else! That's why I posted pictures of cute kids, it's my attempt to make up for all the back and forth about trusting Jesus to take care of me! I can't help it, I want to be open and be able to share my heart with you through this blog. I hope you don't mind!

I can't wait to see what Jesus does this week. I am optimistically looking for a place to live and place to serve. I know He will provide both of those and more!

Since coming to Jinja, I have gotten involved in a wonderful weekly Bible study. A couple of weeks ago, we spent a lot of time talking about pride and how it so easy to get sucked into having an arrogant attitude. The guy leading the discussion read the 15 Points of Humility by Mother Teresa to us and it is something that I am still pondering almost two weeks later. So of course, since I have been thinking about them so much, I want to drag you in with me! This is yet another reason why Mother Teresa continues to be one of the models for who I want to be in ministry.

15 Points of Humility

Mother Teresa

1. Speak as little as possible about yourself.

2. Keep busy with your own affairs and not those of others.

3. Avoid curiosity.

4. Do not interfere in the affairs of others.

5. Accept small irritations with good humor.

6. Do not dwell on the faults of others.

7. Accept censures even if unmerited.

8. Give in to the will of others.

9. Accept insults and injuries.

10. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded.

11. Be courteous and delicate even when provoked by someone.

12. Do not seek to be admired and loved.

13. Do not protect yourself behind your own dignity.

14. Give in, in discussions, even when you are right.

15. Choose always the more difficult task.

Thank you for your continued support. You will never know how thankful I am for you. It is overwhelming to know that I can ask for prayer and I know that many of you immediately lift me up to our Father. Today has been a really good day, and you have had a big part in that! I have had a peace that could only have come from the Holy Spirit. Thank you for being such amazing prayer warriors!

Fear...

By now, I think it is obvious that I have been in turmoil because of the lack of a plan after the end of next week. I panic and fear takes over. Fear of failure. Fear of this not looking like I thought it would. Both of these ultimately come from a crazy fear that the Lord will not take care of me. Then I remember the promises my Savior has made to me, through His word and through the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Then about the time my heart calms down, I am given another reminder that I don’t have a plan and then fear creeps in again. Then the whole reassurance process starts over again. I told a friend today that people keep telling me how brave I am. But it feels like a lie. I haven’t felt very brave in the last week. I have felt like such a slave to fear. But then I am reminded that I have been set free because of the love that our Savior had and still has for creation.

I have been called to a life of freedom through Christ. When I let fear rule my life, I am being disobedient. Obedience seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life this past year! When things do not go my way, I am quickly thrown into a tizzy, which quickly turns to fear. I am determined to break free of the chains of fear. I do not want to limit the work of God with my fears, fear of good things coming to an end, fear of the unknown, or fear of the cost of it all. It’s too selfish. God has brought me too far and taught me too much, for me to freak out and try to run when I get scared. So from here out, I am going to consciously make efforts to fight the chains of fear. Even fear of not having a plan. Because at the end of the day, I have nothing to fear anyway. My Savior is taking care of me. He has proven that time and time again. Beginning with the salvation that He so freely gave me.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:8-9 The Message

More things to try and learn...

Just a normal night of no power in Jinja! My laptop coffee table, orange juice, and candles!

Got to spend the morning with Georgina and her beautiful hair!

Sweet new friends, Carol and Georgina.

Tracy and Calisti and their handy work!

Niregiri was so proud to be a part of the jack fruit experiment!

Not long after arriving in Uganda, I started seeing this massively oversized, funky textured, bright green fruit everywhere. Then when you cut it open, it's extremely sticky, is filled with thick tentacle looking things, and it's loaded with massive seeds. So needless to say, I was not anxiously awaiting a sample of this fruit! But, Tracy encouraged me to try jack fruit (It's official name of course!) in a safe environment. Next thing I know, Tracy and one of the boys who live at SCP (Street Child Project) are walking through the gate with a massive jack fruit! After much fun of watching the boys cut the jack fruit open and using paper to try and get rid of the sticky goop inside, the moment of truth came. Would I love it or hate it? I was more than a little overwhelmed at the interesting texture. It's a thick, slimy texture. The only thing that I can think of to compare the taste to is a mixture of banana laffy taffy and peaches. Unfortunately, I HATE banana laffy taffy! So even though, I won't be lugging home a giant jack fruit anytime soon, it was a fun event for all involved!

Today, I got to go and meet a sweet Ugandan couple who serve as missionaries in their own neighborhood. Charles and Carol are a young couple who are passionate about evangelism and education. Charles organizes fun events like soccer tournaments where the gospel is presented at the end of the tournament. Carol works for an organization that does incredible things with women who are need of an income. God is Grace is a year long program and is sponsored by women in the states. The Ugandan women who are chosen for this program are women who have been widowed or their husbands have abandoned them. Through this program, the women are taught a trade: sewing, bead-making, and hair styling are a few examples. My favorite thing about God is Grace is that they also have a program for women with AIDS. These women are educated on how to take care of themselves and their families and are also taught how to make beads and jewelry. Hanging out with Charles and Carol was also fun because they have two gorgeous little girls, who are 17 months old and one month old!

I am coming to a very interesting place in this journey. A definite unknown portion. My time with Sonrise ends at the end of this month and at this moment I am still not sure what comes next. It's a place in this journey that I really didn't think about beforehand. I just assumed that I would get here and the Lord would put all the pieces together in an obvious and easy manner. I don't know what I was thinking, because I don't know about you, but I never learn from an obvious and easy anything! I learn in the places where I panic and have to rely on my sovereign God. I have wondered lately if I will ever be able to say to God, "Oh, I really do get it this time! I can trust you to be the Planner!" Because my heart has been in an almost constant state of panic for the last few days. My head is constantly saying to my heart "Slow down. He's in control. This isn't your responsibility. Be obedient!" I am learning that it's different here. It's not a day by day choice to be obedient, it's an hour by hour choice to be obedient. I am learning how trust and obedience go hand in hand. It's a lesson that I know I will be thankful for later, even though it's a hard one to be in the midst of.

Good news...

Update on that sweet baby… Renee (the missionary who met us at the hospital yesterday) and a social worker from Serving His Children, went back to the hospital this morning to speak to the baby’s mother about taking part in their program. At Serving His Children, malnourished children are rehabilitated with a plan made according to the baby’s needs. The catch is that the baby has to have a caretaker stay with them throughout the entirety of the program. The caretaker goes to Bible study every morning and classes in the afternoon on how to prevent their child from getting in that situation again. So needless to say, Ms. June and I rejoiced in the Lord this morning for providing a place for this sweet one to be recuperated and to be given the chance to live a healthy lifestyle!

Please be in prayer that the Lord would continue to open doors and put me in situations to meet people. As you know, my time at Sonrise ends at the end of the month. I am, of course, struggling to control my panic as I watch the days go by and I still have nowhere to live! Now, I won’t be homeless of course, I will be living temporarily somewhere! So don’t lose sleep thinking I have to sleep in the street! But I would love to have a permanent for now place to call home.

The consequences of desperation...

I am spending a couple of days with some fantastic ladies and cool teenage boys at a ministry called the Street Child Project. They have been wonderfully welcoming and have made me feel at home. And once again, it’s great to see people loving on others who need it. I met one of the missionaries, Tracy, in town last week and we became quick friends. The other two missionaries are a mother/daughter team who are unbelievably kind. Of course, I am insanely jealous that Jenny gets to have her momma, Ms. June, here with her every day!

This afternoon, I went to the children’s hospital with Ms. June to check on a malnourished baby and to meet another missionary there to see what could be done for the baby. Mrs. June told me about how malnourished the baby was, but there was no way to prepare for meeting him. When I saw him I was appalled at how a baby could be in his condition. His legs and arms were as thin as the bone. His normal sized head looked gigantic on his little 19 month old body. If it were not for his distended belly, he could not have weighed more than 10 pounds. The worst part is that his malnourished state was completely preventable. His mother used him to beg for money. She purposefully withheld food from him to gain more money. As she stood beside her baby, who was somehow sitting up on a mat underneath a tree in the backyard of the hospital, I compared her healthy body to his broken and struggling body. I wondered how a mother could watch her baby boy grow closer and closer to death everyday in order to get money. I wondered how she could feed herself and withhold food from the baby who was created in her own womb. I wondered how that precious child’s mother had so miscalculated her plan that he had come so close to death. I listened as the missionary who had met us there devised a plan of action. A plan that includes an HIV test, TB test, looking at his charts, and considering the funding for his hospital stay. As I became overwhelmed about the future of this precious one and my anger at his mother grew, I realized that the place that she had come to in life, where she was willing to starve her son to the brink of death, is a place that I will never understand. It’s a place of desperation that I don’t understand. In that mother’s desperation she saw the only way out to be starving her baby so that they could essentially survive. And while I still don’t think it was the right thing to do, I have to remind myself that I don’t understand her desperation and I pray I never do.

Where to begin? I have so many things that I wish I could put into words for you. God has been so gracious to me and I am finally getting it through to my doubting spirit that He is in control. Not me. He will provide for me. Everytime. It may not look like I want it to look. Or be as soon as I would like, but He will provide. I get so frustrated with Him and then He reminds me in His kind, but stern way, that my ways are not His ways and my thoughts are not His thoughts. And I praise Him for that. If it were up to me, I would have moved somewhere last August and missed out on the hard season He had in store for me where I would learn to trust Him all over again. I have to admit that I wish I could guarantee that tomorrow night when I go to bed that I would be feeling an overwhelming trust in His plan, but odds are, something will happen and I will let my doubting spirit take precedence again. I am learning that is a day to day life as a missionary. Day to day I have to choose to trust Him and His ways and thoughts.

Yesterday, I got to go back to the village I went to last Saturday to help out with the same ministry. I was just as impressed the second time around! I am always amazed to see how intentional the missionaries are at this ministry. They carry antibiotics in their purse and bring mattresses in the bed of their truck. They have a genuine love for the people they serve and it is contagious!

Today, I got to spend time at Ekisa (www.ekisa.org...check it out!). Ekisa is a home for children with special needs that was started by two young women who saw a need and stepped up to the challenge. I got to spend time with a little girl named Tasha. Tasha is a 3 ½ years old who has a severe form of cerebral palsy. She can’t talk or walk and the director told me that they have never seen her smile. But then, the director turned to Tasha and said “But we know she is going to smile one day! That’s a promise isn’t it Tasha!” It was so encouraging to again see a young missionary who is so in love with the people she serves. As I sat on the couch and held Tasha, we listened to two Ekisa volunteers play the keyboard and sing praise and worship songs. Tasha immediately became engaged with her atmosphere. Her little eyes scanned the room to see who was singing. As I sang praises to the God who created both of us, I had to hold back tears. I thought about how much our Creator adores Tasha. He was not surprised to find out that Tasha had CP. He was not surprised when her parents abandoned her, although I believe with my whole heart that it devastated Him to see His beloved daughter rejected by the ones who were supposed to love her most. Tasha was created with a purpose. Just like all of His creation, we all have a purpose.

So tonight as I go to bed with an overwhelming trust in my Savior who loves me enough to put up with my whining, I am thinking of these verses. I am reminded once again, that all things do work out.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28 (The Message)

Dirty foreheads...

Brenda's sweet feet in the market.

After watching Brenda dance around in her shoes and stretch her toes out, a thought crossed my mind which she confirmed to be true. Today, Brenda put on her first pair of shoes! I don't know who was more excited, me or her!

We're getting better at group shots...new shoes may have something to do with that!

Mandy's new shoes! Shoes will give support to her right foot which bears all her weight because of polio.

Most of the new shoes on my proud friends!

Cute "jellies" on beautiful feet.

Margaret had the biggest foot and got the cutest shoes!

Anxiously waiting to see which shoes would go on their feet.

Trip one to the market. Measuring shoes on outlines of feet on construction paper.

Today was shoe shopping day! This is a day that makes everything within me happy! There is only one thing I love more than buying shoes for myself…buying shoes for sweet little girls! It’s a little different than running to the mall to be able to shop for your options here in Jinja. We went to the market to shop through slim pickings! It would have been different if we would have been buying 2 pairs of shoes, but no we were buying 19 pairs of shoes and about 11 of the girls needed the same size. As you can see in the pictures, the shoe of choice were what we called “jellies” when I was a kid. The girls needed the closest thing we could get to close-toed shoes so we could prevent the jiggers from reoccurring (Thanks to a little research done by my secretary…my momma!). After about an hour of shopping we thought we had all the shoes and sizes that we needed. The girls were beside themselves when they saw me walk up with a bag full of shoes! There was lots of screaming and dancing! It was all we could do to get them to sit down and wait for us to put the shoes in order of size. After some, okay much, excitement and a little confusion, 12 of the girls had shoes that were perfect for them! After lots of pictures, it was back to the market with the 7 remaining girls to get the shoes exchanged. When we pulled up to the market the girls just sat quietly in the car, none of them knew what to do. It was a little overwhelming having 8 (one snuck in the car for the field trip to the market!) little girls with three adults in the over-crowded market. The teacher in me kept doing a head count! We must have been a spectacle, two Ugandan adults, one mzungu, and eight little girls who are obviously from a village with no shoes on and tattered clothes, I had one on my back and was holding multiple hands. Our excitement only grew as each of my friends got a pair of shoes that fit. I know the other shoppers must have thought we were crazy, because every time that perfect pair of shoes got slipped on that little, dirty foot dancing and cheering began, and hugs and kisses on their foreheads were doled out! The trip out of the market was so different than the trip in. I still had one on my back and hands tucked in mine, but my sweet girls were confident and proud. Cinderella has nothing on my girls!

When we were almost to our shoe lady, a Ugandan man got my attention and said “You better be careful, they are going to run off with your camera!” While I did appreciate his concern later, my first reaction was to be offended. I immediately thought you don’t know my sweet girls! The Lord used this to convict my heart later, because it’s not fair for me to only advocate for my precious friends, and forget about everyone else. It’s not fair for me to turn my nose up at those who I don’t think deserve my help. My barefooted, now shoed, babies aren’t the only ones in their situation. The Lord used that situation to remind me that all of us are His creation, not just the ones that I love deep down in my heart. There’s a world of His creation out there waiting for someone, me and you, to reach out to them. And they aren’t just in Uganda, they are everywhere. Your ministry might not be kissing dirty foreheads, but we are ALL called to serve. So find your dirty foreheads today. Love on somebody who needs you.

Finding fellowship...

Amos scrubbing Anna's feet. Amos has such a servant's heart.

Anna was very brave waiting for the jigger removal process to begin.

Tracing feet for new shoes!

Today was another good day! I started out the day with my friends from Masese. I was given the money to purchase all of the girls a new pair of shoes by a giving supporter in the states! So I traced the outline of each of my friends feet so that I can be sure to purchase the correct size. The girls were so excited to have their feet outlined! The funny thing is they have no idea what it was for! They just loved being the center of attention for 30 seconds. Today marked day two of removing jiggers. I wasn't there yesterday, but I was told that is was a really painful process for some of the girls. Tears were shed and I wasn't there to hand out gum! We also worked on writing their names. I figured it was a good place to start! A few could already write their name, some just needed help with a few letters, some needed help remembering all the letters in their name, and a couple couldn't even trace the letters of their name. For one of the Anna's (we have 3!) I had to just draw lines for her to trace so she could grasp the concept of writing. Anna is probably 7 and does not have much practice with writing utensils. We are determined to change that very soon!

I got to go to a Bible study tonight that is for a small group of young missionaries! I was so excited, I could hardly wait to get to the orphanage where we met tonight! I was thrilled to know that a community of believers is already established. It's something that I longed for in some of the other places I worked. I didn't know what to expect coming to Jinja, and I certainly would have never thought there was a core group of young people I could learn from and live life with. They were all so nice and encouraging. When I was sharing with one of the girls about my not knowing what I'm doing next month and there is now 14 days left in the month and the panic that sets in every morning, she looked at me and said "You'll know when God wants you to know." I know that there is much truth in that statement. Every morning when that panic sets in, I have to pray about it and give it to God. And now I can be reminded that I'll know when I need to know!

Wonderful fellowship...

My goodness today was a good day! Today the Lord supplied peace and exciting hope for my future here in Jinja! I spent the day fellowshipping with other young missionaries. I started off this morning meeting another young American at a coffee shop. I was waiting for the missionaries I was spending the afternoon with and had time to get coffee. I spotted her like a hawk! She was sitting at a table outside reading her Bible so I made my way to her table and introduced myself. Now this is something I would never do in the states! It’s crazy the things that you’ll do when you move to a foreign country. It was so nice to have a quick conversation with her while drinking my wonderful coffee (It’s only the second time I’ve had it since I got here!). Tomorrow I am spending the afternoon with her at the ministry she works at for street children.

After the other missionaries picked me up at the coffee shop, we made our way out to Masese. These missionaries have done a wonderful job of creating a sustainable ministry with these women. The women make necklaces and the missionaries pay them a set price for each necklace. The women have to bring a bank statement each week showing that they have put a percentage of their earnings into a savings account. The missionaries are able to then sell the necklaces in the states to support even more ministry in Masese. I love learning from these missionaries because they have put so much thought into every aspect of their ministry and they love the people in Masese so much. I could see myself spending time investing in the people that live in Masese! There is so much to be done and so many people to love.

I ended the night fellowshipping with a fun group of young missionaries! After much talk of the ins and outs of living in Jinja and finding comfort in this new culture, we had Valentine’s Day pizza. You may be thinking what is Valentine’s Day pizza? It’s pizza with pepperoni and artichokes! You can buy a jar of artichokes here, but they are pricey because they have been imported into the country and the pepperoni came from a grocery store in Kampala (the capital city). So as you can see it was a special dinner indeed! These ladies were wonderful to talk to, they were very encouraging about the fellowship that I will be able to find among other missionaries here in Jinja. They also filled me in on the missionary e-mail list, where I can stay in contact with all of the missionaries in town.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! I hope you all have a wonderful day and are using this day to love others!

I have been asked by a couple of people how they can make donations to my ministry in Jinja. Please know that this is something that I am enormously grateful for. Without the generosity of so many, this journey simply could not happen. Thank you for supporting me in doing the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life!

Checks can be made out to:

Friendship Baptist Church (in order to receive a tax deduction)

Donations can be mailed to:

Alisha Vice

12911 Zanzibar Rd.

Grand Bay, AL

36541

Loving big...

Sharon after her toe had been taken care of.

The chubby feet of my Becca!

I mean, look at that face! Becca loves having those fingers in her mouth.

Today was one of those days where I felt like my heart was going to burst with love. Not the easy kind of love, the hard kind that makes me uncomfortable because I know it’s the right thing to do even though it’s going to hurt in the end. It’s going to hurt because I have no control over these situations. It’s also a scary kind of love, because with every passing day Uganda feels more and more like home, my new normal.

I started off the morning with my timid and quiet Rebecca. Luke has decided to share me with his twin, although he’s not very generous with the other babies! Rebecca has had a rough couple of days with an infection on her scalp. The infection requires thick cream to be lathered all over her scalp and it makes her sweat and want to scratch it even more. By the time church was over yesterday afternoon, we were both covered in the cream. This morning she was so weepy and clingy. When I left to go to Daniel’s ministry I left her in the yard screaming and crying. I immediately thought, oh no, no, no this is not good for me or her. They have quickly made a residence in my heart. I am thankful that when I leave Sonrise in a few weeks, I can be comforted in knowing that they will be taken care of. They will be loved. They will be taught about Jesus. Damali and all the aunties here are in love with these sweet babies and provide them with excellent care. I do know one thing is true, I will keep visiting Sonrise after I leave to see my sweet Luke and Becca so that I can sneak them chocolate from my momma!

This afternoon I got to spend time with one of my friends from Masese at Daniel’s. Sharon busted open a scab on her toe and big tears immediately started rolling down her cheeks. While Hadijja (Damali and Daniel’s sister) went to get alcohol and bandages, I did the best thing I could think of…give her gum! I promise I don’t always use candy to make injuries and clinic visits better, but sometimes it’s just necessary! While Hadijja poured the alcohol on her dirty, bleeding toe I held her hand because she was in so much pain. After we got her toe bandaged, I asked Hadijja to translate some questions for me. Let me share some of Sharon’s story with you…She is the fourth of six children. Her father left one day, and he still has not returned. Her mother just got out of the hospital for a very serious case of malaria. Sharon’s next answer to my question broke my heart. My question was simple. “How old are you?” Her reply was “I don’t know.” She then explained that her mom might know, so she would ask tonight. Immediately my mind stared racing. For her not to know when she was born means she doesn’t have a birthday. I had no expectations that Sharon got a Birthday cake or even a small gift on her Birthday, but to know that her mother doesn’t even get to wake her up on that special day every year and say “Happy Birthday Sharon!” was unreal to me. I knew that was common for kids not to know how old they were, but when it was one of my friends, it was a hard pill to swallow. I would guess that Sharon is about 8 or 9 and she has the kindest heart.

Rebecca and Sharon have made me realize that doing ministry here is more than making sure their tummies are full and that they are healthy. It’s about loving too much and too hard. It’s about filling in the gap. The gap of an absent mother. The gap of poverty. The gap of not knowing when you’re birthday is.

I would like to thank all of you who have supported me financially. Now that I have you emotionally attached to Sharon, I would like to share with you an opportunity I had to give. The nurse at Sonrise is going to Daniel’s tomorrow to do a basic screening of what the biggest needs of the girls are. While talking, she said she wished that Daniel had the money to go ahead and buy the medicine that you apply to the areas where jiggers are removed to prevent further infection. We know that several of the girls have jiggers in their feet, including Sharon, and she wanted to go ahead and take care of that tomorrow. I asked how much the medicine cost and she said 30,000 shillings. That’s only $13.50! I immediately said let me buy the medicine, please take care of their feet tomorrow! Because you have graciously written out checks and stuck them in the mail, slipped cash into my Bible when I wasn’t looking, or raised money in your Sunday School class I get to purchase this inexpensive medicine that will allow my friends to go home in relief tomorrow night. And for that I am so very grateful!

And by the way…it’s raining for the first time in a very long time! Thanks for the prayers!!

Creative Ministries...

Making sure everybody gets a bag before heading home.

My friend proud of his goody bag!

Even with a playground available, the wheel barrow got plenty of use! Maybe these kids were really from South Mobile County!

Crazy high monkey bars!

I got to participate in a fabulous ministry today. It is a ministry that was started by young people who are passionate about serving the people of Uganda through Ugandan culture. They are very culturally careful and are wonderful about getting down to the root of the problem so that effective solutions can be found. On Saturdays, they go into a village where they have constructed a pavilion and a traditional outdoor kitchen and feed a VERY large group of children. They start off the afternoon by feeding the kids boiled eggs and letting them play on an incredible playground. It is a trademark Kevin Vice playground! It’s the playground he always wanted to build for me and Mark! It has multiple platforms on different levels, monkey bars everywhere, and boardwalks and crawl space all over the place! After getting the wiggles out, the kids come back together for Bible study and worship. It was so sweet seeing them sing their songs and do all their motions and dances. After Bible study and more play, everybody is fed chicken, rice, and beans. The chicken is a special treat. Meat is a delicacy around here, people just can’t afford to eat it on a regular basis. After several hours of fun and full bellies, the kids go home with a bag of rice, beans, posho (all I can compare it to is super thick grits), and a bar of soap. This program takes place with the same kids every Saturday in this village. It was so sweet to see, because you could see that the kids felt at home. They were among family.

My too kind friends at Sonrise are determined to not let me lose a single pound while I am with them! They try feeding me food every chance they get. After a week of trying, I thought they had finally given up…wrong! Damali figured out a real easy way to keep me eating. She has been taking me on a tour of all the mzungu friendly restaurants in town! Tonight, I went with three Sonrise staff members to a restaurant that had chocolate peanut butter shakes! If you guessed that the restaurant is run by American missionaries, you are correct! It was another great way to see that ministries can be very creative, and yummy!

Getting more comfortable every day!

Carrying their babies like the women do here!

Just another sweet feet picture.

I got to go swimming with the older Sonrise kids at a hotel this afternoon! It was the perfect place to bring a dozen pre-schoolers swimming (if that place does exist!), they had a big kiddie pool for them to have a blast in. It was so much fun hanging out with them and listening to them trying to reason with us why they should be able to get in the big pool. One of the little boys told me "I can swim!" I asked him to show me and he replied in a nonchalant way "Not now." Kids are the same everywhere!

Sorry that you won't be getting any confessions or epiphanies tonight. We have no electricity...should have known that almost three straight days of power was too good to be true!

"Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in You I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to You I lift my soul." -Psalm 143:8

No more counting the cost...

Let me go ahead and apologize for the lack of pictures today! No fun pictures of cute Ugandan kids today. Sorry!

If I’m going to be honest throughout this blog then I need to confess that yesterday was a rough day. Yesterday marked one week since leaving the states. Usually this does not bother me at all when I hit the road, but with all the unknown of this trip it was hard. I started out the morning skyping my family. While it was so wonderful to see the faces of my Daddy, Momma, and Mark, it was a strong reminder that life seems to be bringing us down two distinctly different paths. Paths that force us to go long periods of time without seeing each other. After we finished skyping I had a good pity party and then attempted to put on my big girl pants and begin the day. I was listening to my iPod on shuffle, when what do you know, the Lord used it to speak to me. A few lines into a song by NeedToBreathe, the singer says “I need to stop trying to count the cost.” I stopped what I was doing and started weeping to the Lord and apologized for being so selfish about what I think my calling costs me. Because when I consider everything God has done for me since the beginning of the year I am overwhelmed with gratitude. At the end of December I had an interview in New Orleans, I had finally come face to face with the thought that maybe my dreams of moving to Africa were not going to happen at this time in my life. Then I met Damali on December 30, bought a plane ticket to Uganda on January 16, and stepped foot on Ugandan soil on February 3. So when I think back about what the Lord has done in less than 6 weeks, I do need to stop trying to count the cost. He has been good to me and has fulfilled my dream/calling.

I told my mom yesterday morning that I needed to talk to someone from my culture so I could be reassured that this whole thing is possible and that I wasn’t being a pansy having such a hard time with missing home. After my day yesterday, I decided that I would try and make that happen as soon as possible! I called Diana Ferrell , who was suggested to me by Shannon Rainey Hood (Diana worked for Bro. Terry years ago) and is a missionary here in Jinja. Diana graciously invited me to her house today where she filled me up with coffee and made me spaghetti for lunch. She is an advocate for community development so we connected quickly and had much to talk about! She introduced me to several other missionaries with like hearts for development who were all such an encouragement. As I got home tonight, I was reminded of the sweetness of our God. I know it was no coincidence that Diana would be brought into my life today after such a rough day yesterday. It amazes me that the God that I serve knew how badly I needed fellowship today with someone I could relate to as a fellow American missionary. And He made it happen in a big way.

For those of you who took the time to write a note in a card and give it to my Momma to stick in my suitcase, I am more grateful than ever. I allow myself to open a card on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday so I can make them last until May! I jumped out of the bed this morning to open a card!

I figured since Luke was getting so much time on here, his twin sister Rebecca deserved a day!

Sweet baby Kevin! Any questions as to why I love him? (My daddy's name is Kevin for those of you who don't know.) He even shares the same birthday month as my Daddy!

Today was a laid back, not very busy type of day. For those of you who know me, that translates to not my type of day! It wasn’t a bad day by any means, I just never got the opportunity to make a plan. Something that I am learning is going to get the best of me if I don’t constantly remind myself of where I am and that a plan is not required in Uganda! I am learning to go with the flow for real! Not just suck it up and deal with it for a few months like I have done before in other countries.

I did get to teach today! I hadn’t realized until today just how much I had missed teaching. We are starting with the basics for the girls. I mean alphabet and numbers kind of basic! I made flash cards this morning and for about an hour we did upper and lower case letters and 1-20. I blew their minds when I threw counting by 10’s at them…after that we decided they needed to stretch their legs outside! They are getting more and more comfortable with each day that passes. As you can see in the pictures, we had a feet photo shoot with my TOMS. They loved putting on my shoes and having their picture taken. Their little feet bare the weight of their stories. Their feet are callused and caked with mud and sores. We realized that many of them have jiggers and we will have to remove them when we get the materials. I’ve already declared that when we get their feet taken care that everybody is getting their toenails painted! I think that taking care of their beautiful feet is such a portrait of love. It’s something that Jesus did with a willing heart for His closest friends. Who knows what the feet of the apostles looked like. They traveled the same types of dusty roads with little to no shoes just like these little girls.

In the first part of 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.” I am so thankful that by the grace of God, I am here. I am so thankful that by the grace of God, He doesn’t give up on me when I whine to Him about how bad I want a Sam’s Super Burger ½ and ½ tea. I am so thankful that by the grace of God, I am made new with each morning that comes.

Many of you have asked for specific things that you can be praying for, and I have an easy one for you! Every night when I go to bed, I declare that tonight will be the night that I defeat jet lag. So far, jet lag has won every time. I am waking up around 2:00 for an hour and then around 4:00 for an hour…which is miserable! I have my fingers crossed that I will be over it tonight or tomorrow night. With your prayers, maybe I’ll sleep through the whole night tonight! Much love and many prayers to all!

A sea of new...

My poor buddy on the ride home from the clinic. It's a good thing he had some M&M's to help him recover!

A full load of sweet girls heading back to the village!

Mandy (who has a crippled leg due to possibly polio) and Elizabeth.

As you can tell, we're still not real sure what to do for a group photo! We'll be working on that.

Sweet friend coloring in the sun shine.

Today was a day of firsts. I started off this morning at the clinic with Luke. He got a bacterial infection last week and was having to go to the hospital every other day for an antibiotic drip. He is the one who is in the picture with me from yesterday with the IV in his hand. Unfortunately, his little IV fell out last night and so they knew he was going to have a hard time at the clinic today. I asked if I could go with him and the nurse to the clinic so I could see how the clinic worked and to be with Luke. I knew it would be hard to watch him get an IV put in, but I completely underestimated the situation! Poor Luke fell asleep in my arms on the way to the clinic and when the nurses took him from me he didn’t wake up. When he did wake up, they were trying to put in an IV and the Sonrise nurse and I were still talking to the doctor and weren’t in the room yet. When I saw how they were going to do the IV my heart broke even more. They used a too large needle and then connected a syringe directly to the IV opening and pushed a syringe full of liquid antibiotics through it. Of course when I walked in the room Luke got even more upset and started trying to sit up and crawl to me. I tried to lean on the table and calm him down but there was no calming to be done. The first IV attempt wasn’t a success, so the nurses tried to start one in his foot. At that point Luke was grabbing my hands and trying to pull himself to me. So what do I start doing? I start crying! What a shock! All my strong emotions are connected straight to my tear ducts. Thank goodness it was just a few tears. I also talk too much when I get nervous so at this point I look up at the nurses and say “I’m really sorry. He just loves me because I am white!” They laughed, but I know they were thinking who is this crazy American! There was no way that they could do the IV with me in the room so they moved him behind a partition and left me in the room where I tried even harder not to sob. After it was all over and I got Luke back, the nurses introduced themselves and I tried to make up for my nervous blubbering. I have so much respect for the nurses here, they are doing the best they can with what they have. Thank goodness my momma is way smarter than I am and made me pack tubes of mini M&M's in every nook and cranny of my suit case! Luke was a happy boy on the way home and attempted to eat the whole tube!

After dropping Luke off at Sonrise for lunch, I went to the see the little girls from the village on their second day at the ministry. They were so precious. They colored, sang, ate two meals, and played outside. I got to teach an impromptu Bible lesson, always fun when you don’t even have a Bible to look at! It was so sweet to see that they just wanted to hold a hand or sit in a lap at a place where they felt safe and protected. A few of them got a hold to my hair, which was a win-win for everybody! They got to play with my fine hair and I got to get my hair played with!

I needed to come back to Sonrise earlier in the afternoon, before the girls went home...how did I get back you ask? By boda….or motorcycle! I tried to put it off as long as I could (a whole 3 ½ days)! When the boda got there, Daniel said “I brought you something you are really going to like!” and started laughing. When I got out to the boda, the driver introduced himself. Before I even got on, I looked at him and said “Jimmy, this is my first time on a boda in Uganda and I don’t like it. You need to drive slow.” He agreed and got me back safely.

Later today, my favorite first happened. I got to go with Daniel to bring the girls back to the village. On the way, one of the little girls made the mistake of calling me a mzungu. She was quickly corrected by another little girl who told her I was their auntie, not a mzungu! Immediately after that a cheer of Auntie Alisha was coming from all the girls!

Uganda is wonderful, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel the weight of this journey seeping into my heart at times. But when I look into the face of Luke and those little girls and I am reminded that if I don’t do this, if I can’t come here and be willing to miss my family (both natural and spiritual) so much it hurts, who will advocate and reach out to those who are still hurting and unreached? Who will be there to bring the food that fills their empty tummies? Who will be there to sing and color with them? Who will be there to tell them about the love of Jesus Christ? By being here, I am able to be one more person reaching out and serving these people.

So my plea is that you will continue to pray with me. That the Lord would continue to affirm what I am doing and give me a new peace every morning.