Cool Stuff Online

I added the Sanyu Babies Home website to our ministry links. You can find out all kinds of cool things there and see pictures of the place where we worked.

If you follow this link you can read an article about a riot that happened in Kampala while we were there. We actually saw the police truck that had been burned.

I also found a sermon you can listen to online. I don't know if anyone else will be interested, but it's cool for me to listen to because the voice is so familiar to me. It's Pastor Micah, in whose house we stayed for a month. All you have to do is go here and scroll down to the sermon titled "It's not how well you start but how well you finish."

This is us with some kids at Micah's church.

Also... i found a cool youtube video of a lame acrobat we saw at Bujugali Falls.

Can you tell i got my laptop back?

Back in the States

Well, we all arrived safely back in the states. I've heared that culture shock can sometimes be worse coming home than it is in the foreign country, and that has definitely been the case for me. I cried most of the morning yesterday just because things here feel so strange and i'm so scared of returning back to my "former life." I don't want things to be the way they were. It's so awkward doing things alone. Brushing my teeth alone, eating alone, going to bed alone, waking up alone... i hate it. Our first night back, i woke up to go to the bathroom and was frightened because Erin wasn't next to me and i didn't know where i was. When i woke up again in the morning, my ceiling fan startled me. It took me a while to figure out what it was. And when i opened my closet... i cried. I thought my response would be good, like... "Hey! All my clothes! I don't have to wear the same four outfits anymore!" But it was actually more like, "Gross... I don't need all these." I ended up wearing a skirt and a shirt to church that i wore a million times in Uganda. For those of you who know me, it's quite amazing that i would be more comfortable in a skirt than in jeans. It may take me a while to start wearing shorts again without feeling like i'm being culturally inappropriate. I tried yesterday, but i had to change before going out.

Yesterday, my mom showed me a picture on the cover of People Magazine that she said someone paid 11 million dollars to be the first to take. What the crap!? Do you have any idea what good things could be done will 11 million dollars!? I wanted to vomit.

I want to go back to Africa.

Actually.... i think i might have to go back to Africa. If i stay in the States too long, i think i might die. I have to see those kids again. I have to see Faith and Ben again. I have to stand beneath the beautiful African sky again.

Sure, there are good things about being back. Like... food that actually has flavor. (I went to the Olive Garden yesterday and it was glorious, although i had to make a deliberate effort to not think about how much money was spent on our meals and how many African kids could have been fed for the same amount.) And i'm looking forward to getting together with some of my friends, especially Savannah. But on the whole, i'm so uncomfortable here. I'm sure i could get used to things again, but i don't want to. I want everything that changed about me to be permanent. I want my shoes to always be stained red and i want to always shake hands the Ugandan way. I want to be more African.

I made a list of things i don't want to forget that i might post on here later. In fact, i might post some of my stories on here too. I know it would be good for me to put them in writing, and it might be nice for other people to be able to access them if they want to. I don't really expect anyone to, but if you feel so inclined, feel free to keep checking for updates. If nothing else, this blog could be a good way for Erin, Caitlin, and i to process things out together and keep the ubuntu alive.

However, i came home to find that my laptop is full of viruses... so i won't be using it until i can get someone to look at it. Which really puts a damper on my video editing abilities. I'm really anxious to start editing videos to put them in a format that people might actually want to watch. We currently have 11 hours of unedited video. The three of us need to have a marathon some time to watch it all and add to our lists of things we don't want to forget.

It was an amazing trip.
I can't wait to get our picutres developed!

Weebale nyo nyo nyo (thank you very very much) to everyone who helped to fund this trip and everyone who prayed for us. I can't thank you enough.

Time flies...

I can't believe today is our last full day here. So much has happened. I feel like i'm practically bursting with new experiences. But at the same time, i feel like i've only been here a couple of weeks. How can it be over? I cired most of the day on Monday. Now i'm trying to keep myself too busy to cry.

We leave Jinja tomorrow afternoon, and then we'll have dinner with our very good friends, Faith and Ben in Kampala. We fly out tomorrow night and arrive in Michigan Friday night. It'll be a long, hard journey, so keep us in your prayers.

There are so many sotries i'm itching to tell, but since we're leaving tomorrow and stories like this are always better in person, i guess i can wait.

Mkwagala nyo!

Katonda Bulungi

Life here has become pretty normal. We've got a routine down. We know our roles. But every once in a while I have a moment when I stop and think, “Holy goodness, I'm in Africa!” One of those moments happened this morning. Caitlin was in the classroom teaching subtraction, Erin was in the office preparing a lesson, and I was sitting on the step outside just watching people live life. A woman hanging clothes on a line outside her mud hut, chickens wandering around freely, a couple of kids chasing each other down the bumpy, red, dirt road, the sun turning my skin pink. In that moment, I had a thought. “I could live here.” The thought startled me and I'm still not sure where it came from, but is made me smile. I'm in Africa.

Saturday was a good day. The three of us visited a family in Budumbuli and I think we all fell in love with them. We already knew the boy from our class. He's lanky with an adorable shy smile. He's one of our brightest students, though no one is quite sure whether he's 9 or 10. He lives with his mom, his brother, and his cousin who is an orphan. His dad died less than a year ago. This family has nothing and yet they have everything. (Isn't that in 2 Corinthians somewhere?) The mother only knows a few words in English because her father didn’t value education. Now she works so hard going from village to village selling clothes to make sure her boys go to school. She knows how to spell the word “Jesus” and she is so grateful that she wrote His name on the walls of her house. Their house, by the way, is a two-room mud hut with a leaky roof and only one bed. But they appreciate it so much. She thanks God for a place to live where the rent is cheep. When we asked if there was anything we could pray for, they didn't ask for stuff. The mother asked for us to pray for peace and her 9 (or 10) year-old son asked us to pray for God to give him wisdom. This family gets it. I want to be more like them.

The older students are now on holiday so we have a new schedule of teaching the young ones on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and teaching the older ones on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We've gotten to know the younger ones so well. I'm really going to miss them when we leave. But let's not think about that.

I have so many stories I wish I could share with you, but time is running out. We have to get back to Kate before she starts to worry. It's cool how she's like a mom and a friend to us at the same time.

P.S. Katonda bulungi means "God is good." We've been saying it a lot lately.

Kale

So, back to all this heart business…

It would appear that God is doing exactly what I asked him to do. I know, it sounds silly, and maybe a bit arrogant, but when you ask God to make you holy, I don’t think He hesitates to take you up on it.

I’ve been feeling like everything that I dislike about myself is all I see in the mirror. I know that I’m often too stubborn, pretty prideful, and quite swayed by other’s opinions of me. Well, at least I think I know these things, but I’m sure some of you reading this are saying, “huh? I don’t know what she’s talking about!” and to you precious friends, thanks for seeing me as what I can be J. No, really, I feel like I used to be pretty secure in who I am and what I stand for. Now, I feel like I’m all wishy-washy b/c God has been challenging me so much. He’s asked me to not only see the world differently, but also to see people I can’t relate to and often don’t understand as family. Not to mention he’s asked me to leave behind all comfort and all the people whom I know love me unconditionally to pursue a dream he placed in my heart when I was 14 (to come to Africa, that is). It’s an incredible joy to be here and I count it a privilege, but I find myself asking, “how did I get here?”. In the last week I have battled more fatigue and loneliness than ever before in my life. I love getting out of bed in the morning, but by the time we return from the village at night I’m discouraged, exhausted and homesick, - I’m surprised I’m not actually sick. The kids we’ve been teaching are fantastic and it’s no problem seeing God’s hand in every moment here. I don’t feel spiritually lonely (thank, God!) but I feel emotionally lonely, I guess – it’s homesickness in a different light. Please pray and don’t worry b/c God has been faithful in EVERY step of this journey – it’s His path I’m walking and I’m GLAD to be here.

On a lighter note: Clair and I have decided to sponsor a child with Northern Lights. There are 3 names of children still waiting for sponsors that have stuck out to me and Clair has said he trusts me to choose who we’ll claim as our “son”. Yes, they’re all boys and I had the blessed opportunity to meet one of them today. Please pray that God will choose and that he’ll see our money used to His glory.

So, I talked a lot in my last blog about how God is teaching me about family…the other day, Thursday, I think, we had the pleasure of going to one of our students homes. It just happened to be the same home that Clair visited while he was in Budumbuli as part of his cross cultural. I saw a note left by he and his partner tacked on the mud hut wall, and got to hold te Bible Clair gave to the eldest son. It was such a joy to know that God has put both Clair and I in the same people’s lives! When I read a small note clair had written in the Bible, it was as though he was right there with me – I wanted to weep out of joy! I know God has made that connection for divine reasons! He’s so perfect in His work! Now clair and I both have family in Uganda! Plus, the momma of the house gave us a blessing for both our wedding and our future children. Hooray! Karonda Bulungi! (God is Good!)

Mbuzi erya muddo.

In church on our first Sunday in Jinja, we asked the kids in Sunday school who was from Budumbuli. None of them would admit to it. It’s a slum village just outside the city and being someone who lives there automatically gives you a certain stigma. They even have a common saying: “Nothing good can come out of Budumbuli.” Just thinking about that makes me grin. People said the same thing about Nazareth, but something VERY good came out of that town. :o) We believe the same will be true for the village of Budumbuli. We go there everyday, visiting homes and teaching children, hoping that what we have to offer will help them in real ways. I feel honored to work in such a place. The people who are accepted into the Northern Lights program are the neediest of the needy, and I am becoming more and more aware that I am face to face with the “least of these.” Face to face with Jesus. Today, I painted the palm of Jesus’ ahnd and pressed it onto a sheet of construction paper. Today, Erin showed Jesus how to spell the word “brother.” Today, Caitlin taught Jesus how to count by twos. Jesus calls us “teacher.” I admit sometimes when I’m interacting with these kids I find myself frustrated or confused or even grossed out, but… sometimes I feel like I am in the Holy of Holies.

Northern Lights was set up to help kids who need it most. Most of them are orphans or used to be homeless. In Uganda, it’s customary for family members to take in an orphaned child. The child is then provided for, but many times they are not treated well. Instead of being “adopted” as another child, they are treated almost like a servant, someone to cook, clean, or fetch water. Kate and Peter saw this and started Northern Lights to let these kids know that they are special and loved even though they are orphans.

All of the kids in the program are put in school and their school fees are covered, but many of them are stuggling with no one at home to help them. The younger ones only attend school for half of the day, so from 2 to 5 everyday we gather them into a tiny classroom and work with them to give them the extra boost they need to do better in school. Our fiend Esther translates for us. She’s turning out to be such a blessing!

We’ve run into a lot of challenges. We have a group of 19 kids qho range in age from 7 to 13. Some of them are obviously very bright and some of them don’t understand a word we’re saying. And none of us have been trained to teach like this! But we’re learning a lot and we’re getting to know the kids well. We know all of them by name and we’ve been busy evaluating their capabilities. Caitlin has been teaching math, Erin and I tag team with English (which includes a lot… spelling, sentence structure, reading, writing, etc.) and we also do crafts and sing songs. It’s hard coming up with ideas for things we can do that will help them the most because none of us have ever done anything like this before, but the adults here are constantly encouraging us and telling us that what we’re doing is good.

Living with Kate, Peter, and Levi has been great. They’re a lot of fun. Of course, living in Africa always has it’s inconveniences like unreliable electricity. (We’re all hoping the power is back on when we get home today so we can shower. It’s been a while.) But just having power and plumbing is a blessing here. There’s a 17-year-old girl who lives with us named Rowena. She’s a sweetheart. We also have a night guard who patrols the house with a bow and arrow, and we have a dog named Punky. I used to think he was cute, but then he ate a cat. Now the back yard smells like rotting cat.

Keep praying for the three of us. We appreciate it so much! And we love your comments and e-mails. (Rachel… you’re awesome.) Pray for our relationships with each other. Pastor Tim told us something prophetic before we left. He said that this trip would be a journey of freedom for Erin, a journey of holiness for Caitlin, and a journey of maturity for me. That has certainly proved to be true, which means that God has been busy exposing all the ways that we are bound, unholy, and immature. In this process, our flaws become glaringly obvious to ourselves and to one another. We’re doing well. We’ve stayed open and honest with each other, but I’d be lying if I said it was always easy. When two people sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron, there is always some grinding involved.

Also, keep praying for God to reveal to us anything He would like us to know about His plan for the next season of out lives.

my heart is at home

so, i know that kathy and erin are both updating and kathy has been so good at doing all the functional updates about what we're actually doing...i wanted to take this time to give a little "heart-to-heart" about our time here.

i told Clair in an email recently that my heart feels at home here. He and I have been thinking a lot about coming here after our wedding to be missionaries. we were even offered a bit of a partnership with some missionaries here - it's very unofficial, but still a possibility. anyway, we've been praying fervently about that and i've been doing so b/c i definitely want what God wants more than what i want. the problem that i'm finding is whether or not waht God wants and what i want could be the same. i'm so afraid that i'm only hearing God say "yes" b/c that's what i want to hear. maybe He's saying no and all my imaginings are drowning Him out? well, Erin reminded me this morning that i may be only hearing Him say "yes" b/c he acutally IS. my, what a novel idea...so, please pray for discernment and that my eyes will always be on Him.

I've realized that so much of our time here has seemed kind of disconnected...i mean, i know we're here with purpose, but i'm still in the process of searching out God's heart, not just about coming here full time, but about the purpose of our time here. i'm begining to realize that our "because of ubuntu" blogname really is prophetic...(check out the post about what ubuntu means to understand a bit more about my thoughts)

anyway, i think that God is teaching me to see all people as family. i mean, just he other day i saw some people at church, random people that i don't know at all, and i was filled with such overwhelming compassion that it almost brought me to tears. it felt like the way it does when you see someone you love after a long absense...like it will feel to see my parents and future hubby at the airport in a month. i can't explain it, but Ugandans are my family and this beautiful, social, loving, culture is my home.

ugh! our time is short...i meant to write so much more, but this will have to do for now. feel free to post questions or comments - we appreciate them! i'll continue this thought at a later date...

sula bulungi :)