Giving Back

I had the amazing opportunity today to go visit a children's home started by a girl who was raised at Good Shepherd's Fold. Damali started Sonrise Baby Home in Jinja about three years ago. It has now grown to two locations. One house has 26 babies from newborn-2 1/2 years of age and another house has 19 children from ages 2 1/2 - 7.

It is inspiring to see the way that God is working through this young lady. You can read her full story on her website: http://www.sonrisebabies.com/about/ourstory/. I highly encourage you to take the time to read her story. Damali took the blessings and nurture that she received as a young child and turned around to bless other children in the same way. What is neat is that she is not the only GSF graduate to do this; 6 other GSF graduates have also opened up children's homes. 

And that is exactly one of my favorite things about working at GSF: I get to catch a glimpse of the way that God uses GSF children to further His kingdom. I'm sitting next to Gibson, a teenager who has recently moved from GSF to boarding school because he turned 18. His dream? "I want to help kids. I don't really know exactly how. Maybe someday I will help start an orphanage." It's exciting to see God working in Gibson's life. I go to the GSF youth group on Thursday evenings and it is led by Solomon, another GSF graduate. Although Solomon is now aged out of GSF and is working towards university, he returns to GSF to work, lead youth group, teach Sunday school, and conduct the church service every Sunday morning. The Holy Spirit is working through him. His impact on the current GSF kids is awesome. 

Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be required."

In some ways, the children of GSF have next to nothing. Some have absolutely no family and no money in the bank. In American eyes, they definitely have nothing. But in many ways, they have been blessed with much. They receive education, clothing, food, medical care, and most importantly spiritual discipleship. Not every GSF graduate takes these blessings and multiplies them, but the ones that do make me cherish every moment of service at GSF. It's exciting to be apart of these stories. 

In other news, I got my hair braided last week! I say braided, but what I really mean is twisted with extensions. It's been an interesting twist (no pun intended) to have such a different head of hair. The Ugandans say it should last between 1-2 months before coming out...but I'm not sure that I will last that long.  

Highlights from the past two weeks:
1) Watching little Phillip dance at the front of the church with every ounce of energy inside of him during praise and worship Sunday morning.
2) Attending my first ever Ugandan wedding. It was definitely quite the (9 hour long) experience!
3) Signing up 21 new sponsors for the child sponsorship program. What a blessing!
4) Giving little 3 year old Sadie a foot soak and pedicure to clean up the open wounds from jiggers in her feet (you should Google "jiggers" - then maybe start praying that I don't ever get them in my feet!)
5) Receiving news that my sister Kimberly had a baby girl! Praise God for healthy little Ellie Mountz.

Thank you so much for your prayers as I enter my second month in Uganda. Praise God that the transition has been smooth! As we go into September, I would like to leave you with some prayer requests. Thank you for your dedication to pray for me. I could not be here without your prayer support!
      - Pray for all of the missionaries of GSF as the Gwartney family goes on furlow for the next four months. The Gwartneys do so much at GSF - it'll be tough to be without them! Also pray that the Gwartneys would have a safe and productive (but restful) furlow.
      - Pray that God would give me wisdom as I seek to grow the sponsorship program. Please also pray that God would give me an extra dose of efficiency as I finalize a couple sponsorship projects before the Gwartneys leave for furlow (in a week and a half).  
      - Pray that God would comfort me in the times when I miss Daniel, my family, and friends. It's especially difficult to be away when my sister Kimberly just had her baby, my sister Katelyn is about to have a baby, and my two best friends Kelsey and Naomi are each about to have their first babies. 
       - That reminds me, please pray for Katelyn, Kelsey, and Naomi. Pray that God would protect them and their new babies during childbirth! 

Ok, here come the pictures! Brace yourself because there are many:

Damali's babies home, Sonrise

We got to Sonrise at nap time. A new version of "double bed"

That's a lot of laundry to hand-wash!

Triple bunks

The church at Sonrise

Pedis with Sadie. Isn't she a doll?

These four girls play all day every day! Here they are preparing some vegetables. This is Joan, Jessica, Lauren, and Sophia.

Adorable half-sisters, Leticia and Gloria

Gloria has the BEST smile!

Mark and I do educational exercises together. It is so fun!

All ready for the Ugandan wedding!

All gussied up for the wedding =)

Fun at the wedding with Joseph and Mark

Sweet Reunions

I left Good Shepherd's Fold last year on August 2 and arrived exactly one year later, August 3rd. We drove up to the gate of GSF where kids were gathered to welcome me. I walked out of the van to give the kids hugs, greeting each child by name as I saw them. Their faces lit up, "She remembers my name!" To be honest, I surprised myself - how did I remember their names? I was thinking about that on the way to the orphanage.. What if I arrived and I couldn't remember any names? Or what if they didn't remember me? The fears all left as soon as I got there, heard the children exclaiming "Auntie Corinne!" and felt the Holy Spirit fill me with the memory of each child's name as I looked into their faces. Almost immediately somebody handed me Joseph, a little boy that I was especially fond of last summer. Last year he was two years old, so I thought there was no way he would remember me. But he did! He clung to me like a little koala bear. Time is such a weird thing. Even though it had been a year, I mostly felt like I never left - I was just coming back home.

I began looking for Mark, but he was nowhere to be found. His house mom had kept him back at the house. So, the kids took me by the hands to lead me to Mark. When we made it to his house, he ran up to me, jumped in my arms and just hugged me. Sweet little Mark! He didn't say much; he just kept saying "Auntie Corinne." After weeks of difficult goodbyes and leaving loved ones behind, I felt like God was blessing me with sweet reunions. I really was just coming back home. But where is home? Is it where your family is, where your heart is, or where God wants you to be? I'm not sure, but I felt home.

I spent the next day unpacking and settling into the house that I am sharing with Casia. What a relief to be fully unpacked after feeling in-transit for the past two and a half weeks. Now I really feel home.

But there are still hard times. It's hard being away from Daniel, my boyfriend, and having no clue when I am going to see him next. Unreliable internet makes communication tough, and sometimes I feel like he's just living his life and I'm living mine. It's hard. Being away from my family is also hard. We could probably email each other until our fingers fall off (and sometimes it feels like our fingers are actually going to fall off. If you someday find that my whole family has carpal tunnel syndrome, you'll know why). But emails can only say so much. 

I was having an especially hard day the other day when one of the kids brought little Joseph to my house (the same Joseph that I mentioned in the first paragraph). She said, "Joseph wanted to come see you." I asked, "How do you know?" (I had never heard Joseph speak). She said, "Because he kept saying 'Auntie Corinne'." Made my day! I invited Joseph in and we sat and read books for about thirty minutes. Again, God sent me a blessing to remind me why I'm here: God sent me here to love the children at Good Shepherd's Fold just as Jesus would.

The sponsorship work has been great. Because the previous sponsorship coordinator left in January, there's a substantial amount of catch-up work. My sister Carly has been helping create an updated version of the profiles of each child, and we put together a new sponsorship blog to bring about awareness of the sponsorship program. You are welcome to check it out at www.gsfsponsorship.blogspot.com ! To help spread awareness, it would be a great help if you would share the blog with your friends and family.

I appreciate all of your prayers and support through this first week and a half at Good Shepherd's Fold. I have some requests that I need you to help lift up to God with me.

1. Please pray that I would take comfort in the grace of God in the difficult times when I miss Daniel, family, and friends.
2. Pray that God would give me wisdom as I work through and grow the sponsorship program.
3. This week a team is coming to GSF to have a weekend conference/retreat for the older children and graduates of GSF. Please pray that God would speak into the lives of the children through the efforts of the team.
4. Many of the GSF children are on holiday this week (it's like a summer vacation from school), and have gone to their villages to spend time with their relatives. Many of them have never been back into the village since they arrived at GSF. Pray that God would protect these children during this vulnerable time.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! I've included some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!

Beautiful sites! GSF is out in the country.

My first day with little Mark!

Joan and Jessica enjoying gifts from their sponsors

Me with Joseph. Look at his sweet face!!

This is how women carry their babies

Uganda At Last!

Thank you so much for your prayers - I have officially arrived in Uganda! After a pretty grueling experience through the Abuja airport in Nigeria and a pit stop in Ethiopia, I landed in Entebbe at 1:15am last evening. It feels so great being back here. I could feel God's presence and blessings even as I walked off the plane, went through immigration with no problems, and received my luggage first out of all of the passengers (Yes that's right - all four of my bags came before anyone else had picked out any of their bags). It may seem small, but it felt like a huge blessing after a long day of travel! I was picked up at the airport by a driver from Central Inn where I have been ever since. My friend and now roommate Casia and the Gwartneys (a missionary family at Good Shepherd's Fold) drove out to Entebbe this afternoon to drop some interns off at the airport and spend the night at Central Inn before we drive to GSF tomorrow morning. 

This evening we went to dinner at a restaurant here in Entebbe. It's right here on Lake Victoria. I received a full welcoming from all of the little Uganda bugs! And when I say full welcoming, I mean that swarms of lake flies greeted us from off of the lake. I took a couple pictures, and they don't do the experience justice, but hopefully it'll help you get an idea:  

That light brown stuff is a big pile of BUGS! They fly in swarms and then die (or just hang out? They were still moving) on the group beneath the lights. Yes, Uganda is still full of bugs!

This picture is the light above where they all swarm before dying

It truly feels refreshing being in Uganda, and I have not even arrived at GSF yet. I'm looking forward to a great reunion with the children tomorrow!

Although it's great being in Uganda, it was definitely sad saying goodbye to Daniel and his family in Nigeria. The past two weeks have been nothing short of wonderful. Daniel's family welcomed me into their home like I was their own daughter. The weeks were filled with conversation that showed me the depth of the Christian heritage that Daniel comes from. I was privileged to receive a tour of Daniel's parent's medical center, Christian Medical Center, where his parents both doctor and evangelize the people of Jos. My trip also conveniently overlapped with Daniel's birthday!! We were able to go to Elysar, one of his favorite restaurants in town.

Another highlight of the visit was when Dr. Mrs. Iya invited me and Daniel to meet her prayer group. They pray for their children every week and have been doing this for ten years. They said "We're mothers, at this age what better thing do we have to do than get together and pray??"  There are about 8 of them in the group. They took the first 20 or so minutes of their time to ask me some questions and then prayed for me and Daniel, committing our relationship and my trip to Uganda to God. They were at the Iyas praying for 2.5 hours. Afterwards they asked if we could "record" the time together with a picture: 

Daniel and I with his mom's prayer group

Please pray for us tomorrow as we drive from Entebbe to Jinja (about 3 hours) and I reunite with the children at GSF! Also pray that these first few weeks of transition would be smooth and full of God's presence. Praise God that He protected me during my travels from Nigeria and that I've been reunited with Casia and the Gwartneys!

Reunited with Cassia!