recent developments...

I have been hearing from my secretary (My Momma of course!) that many of you miss being notified through e-mail about a new blog post. And I know I am blogging much less often these days. So I tried and tried to figure out a way to set up e-mail notification on my new blog, but I was defeated thanks to my lack of technological knowledge! But thanks to my much smarter cousin, we have a solution folks!

If you make a comment on a post, you will be added to an e-mail notification list. Now, I understand that making a comment on a blog can be an intimidating feat, as I have never been brave enough to do so. So to make it easier, if you make a comment such as, “Add me to the e-mail list” I will approve and then delete your comment.

Thanks again for your support, encouragement, and prayers. You keep me here! Much love to you all!

Check it out...

http://www.alishavice.com/

From now on, this is where you can keep up with me. I'm getting all kinds of high-tec!

throwing the rules out...

"Without a relationship with Christ, the rules don't mean anything."

I don't know about you, but I am a rule follower. I live my life by the rules. I make up the rules if there are none in place. I think I need them to thrive in life. But I have to be careful to not put the rules before Jesus. Real careful. I forget so many times that rules do not equal Jesus. They definitely don't replace Him. I think I love rules becausae I can look at the rules and see if I am doing a good job following them. But with Jesus it's so much more. There are no rules. There is conviction from the Holy Spirit. Eek! I don't like it when that happens. Ever. But when I think about it, I guess it's better than the rules. It's a reminder when I've gone too far or stepped out of line. It's a reminder that Jesus loves me so much that He wants me to know when I'm out of line. He doesn't keep me guessing. I have to constantly remind myself that I can't push the rules onto other people. That's not my job. It's the Holy Spirit's job. And He hasn't called and asked me for help. Not yet anyways! Haha!

This was what our preacher talked about yesterday from Mathtew 23:13-36. Our rules don't mean anything. Having a relationship with Christ means something, well more like everything.  I hate when leaders preach or teach about stuff like this because I can always relate to it...a little too much. Like I said a few lines up, I find comfort in the rules. So I just want others to find comfort in my rules too. Because surely they would. If they could only follow them. Rules first. Jesus second. That's a dangerous place to be. 1. If you know Jesus, you don't need MY rules. 2. If you don't know Jesus, you don't need MY rules. You need Him.

So as defeating as this is. I am dealing with this. My perfectionist tendencies (I think tendencies might be an understatement but just go with it okay!) fights this from every angle. And it fights hard. But it's worth the fight. And I have a feeling it's a fight that's going to take place more than once.

A new adventure...

First things first. How is it already Friday? Have I seriously not posted since Tuesday? Yikes. So sorry!

Man, it has been a good week. Things are coming together in a way that can only point towards God. My provider and sustainer. I am writing this blog from my apartment! It is wonderful to have my own space in a place where I am comfortable and secure. The couple that renovated a part of their house for my apartment are incredible and are taking care of me and making sure I have everything I could ever need here. I have a spare bed, you can start signing up now!

On to more good news...I started a three month internship with an organization here in town! I will be working with The Way Home (a ministry under Every Child Ministries) for the next three months with the possibility of a longer term commitment. It is an incredible ministry that is involved in the community development in a village about an hour from Jinja. In 2011, The Way Home built homes for twenty grannies who were raising their grandchildren. In 2012, they have made the same commitment to build 20 more homes for 20 more grannies. The ministry doesn't stop once the keys to the house have been handed to the granny. The grannies have weekly meetings were they are encouraged and taught. The grandchildren also have weekly meetings were they are taught the Bible and that Christ loves them and died for each and every one of them. The grannies are also taught Farming God's Way, which is a popular sustainability ministry here in Africa which is making strides in the techniques that people use to farm here. It didn't take long to realize that not all of the grannies can farm, so we are looking at starting a small animals ministry. That means goats. Lots and lots of goats. We have a veterinarian coming from the states this week to help us figure out what this will looks like. If you know me at all, you know that I am not particularly fond of animals. Any animals. Period. So I laughed when they looked at me during our first meeting and said "What do you think about helping start a goat ministry?" My reply was "Well. I don't know anything about goats. And I don't even like animals. But okay! Why not?!" So I am going to my first goat meeting Monday morning! I am also going to be taking over the "Choose To Wait" program. It is a curriculum used for teaching purity. It focuses not only on why purity matters so much, but also how God offers restoration and renewal through His forgiveness. I will be figuring out how to implement it in the village and training people in how to teach it.

So as you can probably tell, I am more than a little excited about this opportunity. I am continuing to homeschool my sweet students while I start this new adventure. The pictures I posted this past week were taken in Luuka where The Way Home is based. I am most excited about getting into a village and getting my hands dirty and building relationships with the beautiful people there.

http://www.thewayhomeafrica.com/index.html

Just wanted to drop in for a sec with some good news! The baby that I told you about several weeks ago who was stuck in a heart-breaking limbo between the Ugandan and American Embassies because of a visa situation has now gotten clearance for a visa! Baby Eden should be heading home with her Momma to her Daddy and four older siblings in no longer than two weeks! I am once again so thankful for a Saviour who hears us when we cry out to Him for friends like Eden.

"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress." -Psalm 107:6

Serving a wild God...

The love of God in that face is so evident.Such joy in her face.

This is why I am here.

Brave friend coming to meet the mzungu!

Some of the sweet faces in Luuka.

Watching from a distance.
Clapping and singing!

Something that I am learning in the short time that I have been here is that we serve a wild God. He is not confined to our church buildings and the traditions that we place on Him. He moves and does in ways that we will never understand. He is so much more than we make of Him. He does so much more than we give Him credit for. I don't know about you, but I am thankful that I serve a God who is always leaps and bounds ahead of me. I will never put my finger on it. I will only ever touch the tip of the iceberg in my time here on earth. That makes me want to worship Him more than anything else. Why wouldn't I trust Him? Why wouldn't I go where He tells me to go? Why wouldn't I make what I think are huge sacrifices in order to be obedient to His leading? I will choose to honor a wild God who blows my mind on a regular basis. I will choose to obey and follow a wild God who leads me to places I'm not so sure I want to be. I will choose to worship a wild God who loves me in ways I can never wrap my head around

"Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven-what can you do? Deeper than the Sheol-what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea." -Job 11:7-9

Crooked seams and broken tiles...

The Nile at Sunset.

The old home of one of the grannies getting a house built by Every Child Ministries.

Staying at Ekisa this week has lots of perks, Zuena's cute face is just one!

Happy Jojo!

Life in a third world country is becoming more normal everyday. But every once in a while, more like once a day if I'm honest, I find myself having to remind myself that everything is okay. Life will go on. Thursday I had one of these moments and I think it has by far been one of my best. I went and picked up the curtains from the seamstress that is making them for my apartment. Because of course I can't run to the store and buy them off the shelf and of course we don't have standard window sizes here! When I got back to my apartment Candice and I hung them up. It took mere seconds for me to say too loudly "Look at the seams. They are SO crooked!" Candice having lived here for 4 years just laughed at me being offended that the seamstress would dare sew my seams on my curtains crooked. Candice just called Bobby into the room to see how good the curtains looked! Only moments later I walked into my new bathroom to see that not one, but two tiles in my new shower were broken during the installation process and the guys laying the tile still laid them broken. At that moment I decided that someone should write a book titled "How To Deal With Crooked Curtains And Broken Tiles: Living In A Third World Country" for all the picky people like me. Who knows, maybe I can pen this thrilling how-to book one day! Haha!

Besides the crooked seams and broken tiles, I am beginning to live life here. I got a wonderful compliment the other day from another missionary. He said he had a hard time believing that I had only been here for two and a half months. I tell you that, because so much of that compliment is thanks to you. Your support financially and prayerfully. I don't have to worry about wether or not I have sweet brothers and sisters in Christ interceding for me on a daily basis. I don't have to worry about how I will pay my rent. And that is thanks to you.