His Strength

God has blessed me with a strong sense of His presence this week. I feel like He is overflowing my cup with His grace, strength, and joy. I am constantly reminded of the way that He is using me as His vessel. All that I do is through and because of Him; without Him, my work is ineffective. It's about relying on God and not on my own strength. Isn't this how I should always feel? Well, yeah. But IS it how I always feel? Definitely not. In my own pride, I often lose sight of that. But this week it has been easier for me to let God's spirit move in my life. I don't take this for granted. I know it's because of your prayers for my work here in Uganda, and I want to thank you for faithfully praying for my time in Uganda. 

That said, this past week has been a bit of a challenge because my wonderful friend and roommate, Casia, got malaria. She recounts her experience in her blog http://singlelife.posterous.com/. Since past Monday she has been in bed sick. It's been physically and emotionally draining for her as well as for her "caregivers", me and Bekah (not gonna lie, Bekah definitely took the brunt of the work). Being a "man down" is always difficult, but I think it was especially difficult for me as she's my best friend here in Uganda. We're basically side-kicks for each other. It's a blessing of a friendship, and it was a loss to not have that uplifting friendship this week. But as I said earlier, God blessed me with a strong sense of His presence. He was constantly redirecting my focus to Him, letting me know that my relationship with Him is enough. What He's given me is enough, and I can rest in the joy of that. But really, I can do more than rest - I can be energized and invigorated to serve others with the peace of knowing I have God to lead me.

I hope this energy and invigoration continues as I begin my latest ministry of the toddler's house. I've just barely gotten the sponsorship program under control and started the scholarship program, but God is tugging on my heart to work on transforming the toddler house. The toddler house is home to 16 toddlers (and 2 more coming soon!) ages 1-5. Because the toddler house is conveniently located next door to my house and I constantly hear the sounds of the kids through my bedroom window, I've always been very aware of the disorganization and, to be blunt, chaos of the toddler house. I have spent the past two weeks "hanging out" in the toddler house to observe and get to know the "aunties" (caregivers) and children a bit. This time was very helpful for me. It opened my eyes to strengths and weaknesses of the house. There are definitely necessary changes that need to take place, including appropriate discipline, hygiene, and schedule/activities. However, it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to be a process of training and investment. It's easy to become overwhelmed at this daunting task. Many of the aunties have been working at GSF years before I even knew what "GSF" meant. They've been raising children for their entire lives; who I am to go in and start making changes? However, I know that God is going to continue to strengthen and lead me in this endeavor. It's about serving Him through serving His children.

Some of the wonderful toddlers! Faziri, Leticia, and Gerald.

Best buds, Richard and Joel

I had the joy of going to the Passion World Tour in Kampala on Saturday night! I've heard so much about Passion, but have never attended the conference. Well, I'm glad I held off because I got to experience it here in Uganda! And one of the best parts is that tickets were only $4 =) The concert was essentially a 4 hour worship service led by Chris Tomlin. Louie Giglio also gave a sermon, which was a blessing to hear. It was overwhelming (in a good way) to worship with 30,000 Ugandans! GSF took a team from Wisconsin who was here to serve last week, the missionaries, a handful of GSF staff, a couple university students, and all of the teenagers along. The whole experience was spiritually refreshing!

Me with some of the GSF teenagers ready for the concert to start!

Chris Tomlin + band

Louie Giglio preaching

Because little Mark has been doing so well in school, I rewarded him with a trip to King Fisher on Friday. King Fisher is a pool/resort that is about 30 minutes from GSF. Mark frequently brings up King Fisher, so I knew he'd be up for a day at the pool! It was so fun to spend time with him off campus. I let him pack a backpack of activities to take along (I didn't want him to get bored of the pool after an hour and want to go home!) and he ended up filling the whole thing with crayons, coloring books, and little books to read. His bag ended up being twice the weight of my own! Even though he was extremely excited about the pool (over excitement = potential for disaster with little Mark!), he was on great behavior the entire day. It was so fun swimming with him, reading, and just spending relaxed time together. He even learned how to go underwater without swallowing a mouthful of chlorine and how to drink with a straw. 

This is how Mark spent most of the day, in both the rain and the shine.

Successfully drinking using a straw

Full backpack

 

It's hard to believe that it is already October! I would like to leave you with these prayer requests. Thank you again for praying for me!

1. The Wisconsin team that was serving here this week is currently flying back to the states. Please pray for God's grace as they reintegrate back into their daily lives. 

2. Pray for Casia's recovery from Malaria.

3. Pray for God's guidance for the toddler house.

4. Pray that the sponsorship and scholarship program would continue to grow. GSF's financial situation is currently very tight, and these programs help bring some relief.

5. Please pray that I would take comfort in the grace of God in the difficult times when I miss Daniel, family, and friends.