I feel so blessed to be here.
Let me just say that. And I'll probably keep repeating it. There was a time before I left, well, if I am honest, multiple times when I doubted whether or not God truly called me to Uganda. It's easy to get so focused on "What is God's will" mentality that we ask questions He often has already answered. There were so many other good things that were easy distractions. A career, going for my masters, love, comfort, being close to my family - you name it, I think I probably came across it. However, I could never shake this feeling that if I were to not go I would be disobedient. We receive the Lord's best when we are obedient. Always. And I knew in my heart that if I were not to return I would settle for a portion of the promise land, rather than the entire thing.
And now I am here... just beginning this journey and I know that I know that I know that this is what God has created me to do. And I feel so blessed to be here.
I finally was able to go with the prison ministry! Now, prison ministry has always been one of my favorite things. Even when I was studying in college and we were exploring the different options of populations within social work, I always said that if I were to live in the states, I'd want to work in a prison.
However - the prisons here are much different than the prisons in America. Although undoubtedly there are inmates who have committed atrocious crimes; a man or woman can easily get put in prison for years for failing to pay a traffic fine, or causing a bota bota (motorcycle taxi) accident, or simply if a young boy is talking to a girl and the father doesn't like it - a false accusation can place you in prison as well. Then, more often then not, a lot of these cases fail to be prosecuted within any decent time frame, so a young boy who gets thrown in prison may be there for years, or decades before he ever leaves.
We wake up before the crack of dawn. I'm up and down at the church by 4:30am! And away we go, sometimes a few hours to reach these prisons. And always, as we walk in they begin clapping for our arrival, all patiently sitting tightly together waiting to hear from us. I struggle because the view on women in this culture is rather low - and the equality piece in me easily gets fired up. The guards separate the men and women - and for good reasons; however if our team is not big enough, the women end up not hearing the message and don't get ministered too.
One prison we were at, I finally went over and sat with the four ladies that came out, and as the culture goes they bowed and thanked me for being there. I tried talking with them but each of them began to giggle and turn their head, and then one finally spoke up and said, "no english." Gah. Darn... thankfully our driver, Ben, saw what I was trying to do, so he came over and translated for me. Each of these four women at this particular prison knew the Lord, and they asked me to pray for them. So I gladly did. I took them to 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and momentary affliction are achieving for us an eternal glory that will outweigh all." One gal in particular lit up with a big joyful smile and thanked me over and over again for coming and for "blessing" them.
I'll be honest - I feel so unworthy to be here. Humbled. To have this amazing opportunity and to be entrusted with so much! I truly have been the one who has been blessed. Who am I, to go and speak to prisoners in a third world country? Who am I to get to teach nine orphans about the redeeming love of an amazing Father? Who am I to sit over a cup of tea with a dear sister and have her tell me about how she was forced to marry the man who raped her, and then abused her for the next several decades - and then pray with her and praise the Lord for His healing hand in her life? ... I'm a daughter of the most high King. Equipped with the Word of truth, a sword that is able to penetrate through any heart - cross cultures, language barriers and any other stumbling blocks.
The other day I sat with the director of the baby home and visited with her about some structure adjustments that I thought could be implemented. I laughed and prayed about the meeting for weeks, thinking - Oh Lord - I'm 22, I have no children and little "mom" experience - yet here I am speaking with a mother of two and a director of a baby home about Godly discipline. Ha!
Humbled. Thankful. My heart filled to the brim.
And now - my time in Seguku is coming to an end and the adventure just continues! Please keep Camille and I in your prayers as we take off tomorrow to journey up North to our new home in Kacheri! 12 hour bus ride, you know some good stories will come out of that one!
Let me just say that. And I'll probably keep repeating it. There was a time before I left, well, if I am honest, multiple times when I doubted whether or not God truly called me to Uganda. It's easy to get so focused on "What is God's will" mentality that we ask questions He often has already answered. There were so many other good things that were easy distractions. A career, going for my masters, love, comfort, being close to my family - you name it, I think I probably came across it. However, I could never shake this feeling that if I were to not go I would be disobedient. We receive the Lord's best when we are obedient. Always. And I knew in my heart that if I were not to return I would settle for a portion of the promise land, rather than the entire thing.
And now I am here... just beginning this journey and I know that I know that I know that this is what God has created me to do. And I feel so blessed to be here.
I finally was able to go with the prison ministry! Now, prison ministry has always been one of my favorite things. Even when I was studying in college and we were exploring the different options of populations within social work, I always said that if I were to live in the states, I'd want to work in a prison.
However - the prisons here are much different than the prisons in America. Although undoubtedly there are inmates who have committed atrocious crimes; a man or woman can easily get put in prison for years for failing to pay a traffic fine, or causing a bota bota (motorcycle taxi) accident, or simply if a young boy is talking to a girl and the father doesn't like it - a false accusation can place you in prison as well. Then, more often then not, a lot of these cases fail to be prosecuted within any decent time frame, so a young boy who gets thrown in prison may be there for years, or decades before he ever leaves.
We wake up before the crack of dawn. I'm up and down at the church by 4:30am! And away we go, sometimes a few hours to reach these prisons. And always, as we walk in they begin clapping for our arrival, all patiently sitting tightly together waiting to hear from us. I struggle because the view on women in this culture is rather low - and the equality piece in me easily gets fired up. The guards separate the men and women - and for good reasons; however if our team is not big enough, the women end up not hearing the message and don't get ministered too.
One prison we were at, I finally went over and sat with the four ladies that came out, and as the culture goes they bowed and thanked me for being there. I tried talking with them but each of them began to giggle and turn their head, and then one finally spoke up and said, "no english." Gah. Darn... thankfully our driver, Ben, saw what I was trying to do, so he came over and translated for me. Each of these four women at this particular prison knew the Lord, and they asked me to pray for them. So I gladly did. I took them to 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and momentary affliction are achieving for us an eternal glory that will outweigh all." One gal in particular lit up with a big joyful smile and thanked me over and over again for coming and for "blessing" them.
I'll be honest - I feel so unworthy to be here. Humbled. To have this amazing opportunity and to be entrusted with so much! I truly have been the one who has been blessed. Who am I, to go and speak to prisoners in a third world country? Who am I to get to teach nine orphans about the redeeming love of an amazing Father? Who am I to sit over a cup of tea with a dear sister and have her tell me about how she was forced to marry the man who raped her, and then abused her for the next several decades - and then pray with her and praise the Lord for His healing hand in her life? ... I'm a daughter of the most high King. Equipped with the Word of truth, a sword that is able to penetrate through any heart - cross cultures, language barriers and any other stumbling blocks.
The other day I sat with the director of the baby home and visited with her about some structure adjustments that I thought could be implemented. I laughed and prayed about the meeting for weeks, thinking - Oh Lord - I'm 22, I have no children and little "mom" experience - yet here I am speaking with a mother of two and a director of a baby home about Godly discipline. Ha!
Humbled. Thankful. My heart filled to the brim.
And now - my time in Seguku is coming to an end and the adventure just continues! Please keep Camille and I in your prayers as we take off tomorrow to journey up North to our new home in Kacheri! 12 hour bus ride, you know some good stories will come out of that one!
WOW! I sure understand. Again, you touched my heart. Sometimes I think the reason the Lord made us "family" is b/c my 'granddaughter" is now doing what I always wanted to do, but often couldn't. Dave and I were called to do different things than you are, but, following the Lord is the only thing we can do and trust and glorify. You definitely are on my heart. Both b/c of the Seguku aspects and the prison and the Karamajong. God has called you, He is your Keeper, your Protector, your Organizer. Love you, Dear.
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