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!
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!
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.
Hey everybody! I know that some of you have been anxiously awaiting this blog, so here goes…
My first day in Uganda was one for the books! I got to attend a traditional pre-wedding ceremony for Damali (director of Sonrise) and her fiance Felix. Not only did I get to attend as a sister of Damali, but I got to have a Ugandan make-over! I got to wear a traditional dress, which was made out of about 10 yards of crushed velvet! Can you say HOT! Underneath the dress, I had to have another layer of material wrapped around, tied, and then folded down. This extra layer was to make me look bigger because I was told I was not fat enough…have I mentioned just how much I love Uganda?! It was fun spending the day in the village where Damali is from, learning more about the culture, and getting to meet lots of new people.
While I’m at Sonrise, I am living in the guest house with Stella (who keeps up with the house) and Tracey (she is one of the Sonrise babies, but she has a sickness that is possibly contagious to the other babies). Stella is such an example of what true love looks like. As I write this she is cleaning the kitchen and singing hymns in Lugandan to Tracey who is sitting on the floor giggling her heart out. It doesn’t matter to Stella that Tracey isn’t her biological child or that Tracey is not hers to keep, Stella still loves her with everything she is for the precious time that Tracey has been given to her.
I got to experience something yesterday that I will not be forgetting anytime soon. I got to go into the Masese Village with Damali’s brother, Daniel, and his brothers in the ministry. We went to tell a group of special little girls that they had been chosen to participate in a new program. They will get picked up in the morning and taken to a house where they will get to shower and eat breakfast and lunch. They will also start school at the ministry. Daniel’s desire is that as he raises money, he can prepare the house for the girls to live there permanently and also pay a woman to live there with them as their mama. Now for the hard part, what makes these girls different from other girls in the village? Most of these little girls have no parents, and the ones that do are absent or severely dependent on alcohol. These girls have no one to care for them and are victims of sexual trafficking within the village. This is why Daniel is so passionate about preparing the house for them to live in it. He is so pained with the idea of having to drive these precious little girls back to the village every night where they will be taken advantage of. With everything I just told you, can you imagine the excitement that these little girls were showing when we told them they had been chosen.
I also got to visit Home of Hope also yesterday, this ministry was started by a lady named Edith. She opened this home so she could take in children who have cerebral palsy. The worst thing about their sickness is that it stems from unrecognized or untreated malaria. They have twenty children with ranging severities of palsy. Most are bound to wheel chair and some are bed ridden. There is even a full time physical therapist who lives there and his love for the kids was so evident. Edith is passionate about serving these children and equipping parents in the surrounding villages and cities who are willing to raise their children. Edith has even started a medicine program that provides medicine to children living at home who suffer from epilepsy. This passion comes from her own son getting malaria then palsy as a toddler. I wish you all could have been with me to meet her, we could all learn a lesson or twenty from her!
Uganda is quickly stealing my heart and staining my feet…I guess it’s a package deal! For the first few seconds of every shower I’ve gotten, the water is red washing all the dirt off. I don’t think the soles of my feet will ever be white again. And that is something I am okay with.
