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.