The More The Merrier

Has it already been over three months since I left America? Time is such a weird thing. Sometimes I feel as though it has been three years, and other times I feel like it's just been three weeks. Does it sometimes feel like a long time because of all the new experiences I've encountered? Does it sometimes feel like a short time because I still have so much to learn and experience? Thinking about it blows my mind, so I just go on taking one day at a time. And God fills each day with enough excitement of its own. Some days (ok, most days) it's chasing a lizard out of my room and other days it's welcoming new kids into GSF.

We had an especially exciting past few weeks welcoming five new boys into GSF. Whenever children are brought into GSF, I can't help but think of how much their life is changed. Abraham, Elijah, Godfrey, Joseph, and Pesto all made GSF their new home this week. Abraham and Elijah, ages 4 and (almost) 2, are brothers. They are attached at the hip, which makes me so glad that they have each other! Godfrey, Joseph, and Festo (ages 2 weeks, 2 years, and 5 years) are another sibling set of all brothers. It's been a delight to have all of these new boys around! But my heart aches knowing why they had to come in the first place.

Abraham and Elijah

Joseph and Festo

Godfrey

Thank you for your prayers concerning the toddler house. God has definitely been blessing the efforts to improve the house. With the increase of new GSF kids, we've jumped from 16 toddlers to 20 toddlers in this short amount of time. The house definitely feels maxed out, but the more the merrier....right? We also made some changes such as rearranging the bedrooms and playroom to improve interaction. However, I know that lasting change will only come as I come alongside of the Ugandan caregivers who log the real time with the children. For those who don't know, circle time refers to sitting in a circle (haha, just as the name implies), and doing group interactions, such as reading stories, singing, dialogue, and any other little activities. I modeled "circle time" on one day, and the caregivers caught on quickly. When I walked into the toddler house the other morning, two of the caregivers had all of the children in a (sort of) circle and were singing, reading a book, and encouraging call and response with the children. It was so precious and exciting to watch them interact with the children in such a nurturing way!

Leticia and Elijah

Speaking of toddlers, two of the little boys, Richard and Elijah, are in the clinic right now. Richard (you can see some pictures and read about him here!) is a little boy with sickle cell who is also fighting a blood infection. He's been in the clinic since Sunday as the doctor treats him to get rid of the infection. Elijah (one of the new boys! You can also read about him here) is struggling with a polyp and has to undergo a procedure to get it removed. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon in the clinic with the two boys. Health care is just so different here.. and I've never had a greater appreciation for the facilities and care that we get in America. But no matter the hospital or facility, I know God is in control and can heal His children. So please keep Richard and Elijah in your prayers!

Passing the time at the clinic with Richard

If you are from the Community Evangelical Free Church area in Elverson, PA you may remember me teaching missions emphasis at Vacation Bible School back in July. I taught about Uganda and focused on GSF. The last night of VBS each child made two crafts: one to take home as a reminder to pray for the GSF children, and one for me to take to GSF to encourage the children by letting them know they are being prayed for. I had been praying about a good time to give these out to the GSF children in a at least semi-orderly and meaningful way. I was given the opportunity to teach "junior church" for all of the GSF children on Sunday, and it ended up being a great time to go ahead and hand out the Africa cut-out crafts! The kids were so excited to receive the gift as well as look at the pictures of all of the "mzungu" (white) kids. I had the GSF kids sing "Higher Higher" as a thank you. Daniel had taught this African praise song to the children at Vacation Bible School, so I'm hoping that the kids who attended VBS still remember it! I included (at the end of this post) pictures of the kids receiving the Africa cut-outs as well as two "thank you" videos from the GSF kids, one being the "Higher Higher" song. I hope you enjoy!

In other news, I started taking Luganda language lessons last week. We will see how that goes =) Also, Daniel Iya, my boyfriends, just got accepted into the internship program for eMi (Engineering Ministries International). You can read more about the organization on their website, http://www.emiusa.org/. I'm very excited for Daniel; God is fulfilling Daniel's passion to use his gifts and education in missions work. I'm also VERY excited because it means that Daniel will be in Uganda for 6 months starting this January...!! It's awesome to see God working in Daniel and me, leading us both into missions work individually and in a way that brings our futures together.

Thank you for continuing to support me through your prayers - I really appreciate it! I have some updated requests to help guide your prayers.

- Pray for the five new boys who have joined GSF. Please pray that their transition would continue to go well and that they would feel comforted by the presence of God during this difficult time.

- Pray for Richard and Elijah, that God would give the doctors wisdom on how to best care for the children.

- Pray that God would continue to give me wisdom on how to expand and improve the sponsorship program.

- Pray for Daniel as he prepares for and raises money for his internship with eMi.

- Praise God that Casia has fully recovered from Malaria!

- Praise God for His work in the toddler house. Please pray that He would continue to have His hand in that house and that the children may experience God's love through their caregivers.

Here are the thank you videos!

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.