Humbling Stories of Generosity

     "Osiibyeotya" (Good evening) from Uganda!

     Sorry for the delay in this post...I started working on it 2 days ago, but the past couple of days have been extremely busy and I honestly haven't had a second to work on it again until today!  I've actually been quite surprised at how busy my days are here.  Before I came to Uganda, people kept telling me (both Americans and Africans) how "slow" their pace of life is here, and how it might take me a while to get used to such a slower pace of life/culture compared to American life/culture, (especially since I spent the past 7 years working in the crazy-fast-paced hospital environment).   However, so far I've found this to be quite untrue! I'll admit that the work/business culture here definitely moves at a slower pace and doesn't carry with it quite the same sense of urgency that the US work/business culture carries, but that's partly because the Ugandan culture is extremely relational and people typically value relationships over the timeliness of getting tasks/work done (I'm honestly not so sure this is a bad thing, though).  Life may also be a bit more "simple" here in some ways, mostly due to the fact that there's not a lot of modern infrastructure or technology, but so far I would say the actual pace of life here is anything but "slow!" In fact, on most days this past week I have fallen into my bed at the end of each day completely and utterly exhausted because the day has been SO full and busy!

     Anyway, all of that to say, I've just been quite surprised to find out since I've been here in Uganda that I often still feel like there's not enough time in the day to get everything done!

     Ok... so, now as promised on FaceBook a few days ago, I want to share a couple stories with you about some of the precious children and families I've had the privilege of getting to know over the past week, starting with a sweet story about the beautiful little girl in this picture:

        Her name is Amonging, and I think she's probably somewhere around 3 years old. I first met her on Sunday when she came up to me during our church service with her dress hanging off of one shoulder, looked at me with an infectious smile, grabbed my hand, and wouldn't leave my side for the next several hours.  I pretty much fell in love with her the first second I saw her!  Because the church I'm working alongside has been hosting a week of prayer services every night this week, I've also had a couple other opportunities to hang out with her over the past few days as well. One night before the church service began, she meandered into the office where I was finishing up some work and drug a red plastic chair over to where I was sitting and climbed up next to me.  I had only eaten a small snack for lunch earlier in the day, so by this time in the evening I was quite hungry and had already pulled out 4 or 5 remaining crackers I had with me to hold me over until we went home for dinner after the church service ended. Amonging immediately saw the crackers in my lap and then looked up  at me with eyes that just screamed "can I please have one of those?" For a brief second I contemplated giving her half of the crackers and eating the other half myself (I was that hungry), but when I looked down into her eyes I just felt like she surely needed them much more than I did and decided to give her all of the crackers instead.

     When I gave them to her, the sheer joy on her face absolutely melted my heart and made me so happy that I could offer her something so small by my standards, yet so enormous in her eyes.  So I went about finishing up my work on my computer as she sat beside me and ate a few of the crackers, and when I was done I decided to pull out my camera to take a couple quick pictures of her.  As I raised the camera up to my eye to take her picture, Amonging simultaneously stretched out her arm towards me, which I initially thought was just her wanting to touch my camera (this happens with kids at least 50 times per day whenever I pull my camera out to take pics).  She didn't try to touch the camera, though... instead, she just kept her arm outstretched towards me and continued to look at me intently with her big brown eyes. I couldn't get her to smile, so I just decided to snap a quick picture of her anyway and then put down the camera. When I turned back to her, her arm was still stretched out towards me and it was then that I noticed she was holding the last remaining cracker in her hand.  This sweet little girl, with an absolutely beautiful heart, had been trying to offer me the last cracker the whole time I was trying to take her picture! She doesn't know or understand a single word of English, so the only thing she knew to do was hold out the cracker towards me and wait for me to acknowledge it and take it. In Ugandan culture, if someone offers you something and you refuse to accept it, it is considered an insult.  So I took the cracker from precious Amonging and ate it, gave her a huge hug, and said one of the few Lugandan words I already know- "Weebale" (thank-you)- like a million times. I was beyond humbled and amazed by this little girl's incredible generosity in spite of the fact that she had so little herself (and Ugandan children are ALWAYS hungry...I have yet to meet a child here who declines food because he/she is full...so I know she wasn't just giving the cracker back to me because she was stuffed after eating the other 4 crackers I gave her!).  

     Later that night, when I was uploading all of the pictures I had taken during the day, my heart stopped when I saw the picture I had quickly snapped of little Amonging earlier in the office.  While I was busy worrying that she might try to touch the lens of my camera and preoccupied with trying to get her to smile for me, she was trying to offer me her last cracker...and unbeknownst to me, the picture ended up capturing the whole thing! 

     It is my fervent prayer that I may become as generous and selfless with all of my resources as this beautiful Ugandan child was with hers! 

Precious Amonging offering me her last cracker

     The next story I wanted to share with you guys is about an amazing Ugandan family I was actually just introduced to last night.  They live right next door to the church I've been working from everyday, in a very small 2-room house (which the father built by himself) with their 6 young children who are between the ages of one-and-a-half and 12 years old.  The father is a "farmer," but he basically just sells the small batch of crops they're able to cultivate around their house in order to provide food and other basic needs for his wife and all of their children. The mother stays home everyday to take care of the youngest children, cook, wash the few clothes they own, etc.  

     

     While I was waiting for my ride home after an evening church service last night, a few of the children from this family had gone to fetch water from the well at the church, and on their way back up to their house they stopped to talk to me.  I noticed immediately that they were all dressed in clothes that were quite tattered and torn, and all of them were barefoot. I asked them where they lived, and they pointed next door to the church and then grabbed my hand and asked me to come back to their house with them.  I agreed and let them lead me in the pitch dark on a tiny path through a patch of maize (corn) stalks to their small house, where their mother was sitting outside simultaneously breastfeeding their baby brother and cooking posho (a starchy semi-solid food made out of ground maize flour) over a dying fire. The kids were SO excited to introduce me, a "Mzungu," to their mother and to show me their house. The mother immediately got up to shake my hand and welcome me to their house and told me she was "very blessed" by my visit.  I could tell instantly that she is a God-fearing woman with a tender spirit who loves all of her children deeply.  At the time, their father was nowhere to be found and none of the children had mentioned anything about their father yet, so I just assumed their mother must be a single mom (which is sadly extremely common here).  I chatted with the kids and their mother for a few minutes as best I could in short, broken sentences, but then it was time for me to go back to the church so I could leave to go home, so I told the kids I would be back working at the church the next morning and would bring some "sweeties" (candy) with me to give to them at some point in the day. 

      

      This morning I saw the oldest girl, Mary, as I was walking down the path to get to the church.  I asked her why she wasn't in school and where her mom was, and she told me that her mom and all 5 of her siblings were at the hospital because several of the children as well as their mother were sick today.  I told the girl to walk over to the church office when her mother and the siblings returned, and that I'd return to her house to visit everyone and pass out the candy at that time.  A couple hours later she returned to tell me that her father was home and wanted to meet me, so I walked back to their house with her.  Her father was absolutely overjoyed to meet me and just kept saying over and over that he's "always dreamed of having an American inside his house."  He asked me to come inside and gave me a chair to sit in, and then we proceeded to have the most wonderful conversation for the next hour.  He told me all about their family, informed me that his wife was actually the one who was sick with a bad toothache in the hospital today, shared some of the hardships their family has faced in recent years, and had about a million questions for me about how we do things and what we think about particular issues/topics in America. His English was impeccable, and His heart for the Lord was SO evident in absolutely everything we talked about.  He explained how he and his wife are trying their best to raise their 6 children to love the Lord with all of their hearts, despite their hard life circumstances and lack of material possessions.  I was incredibly blessed by our conversation and walked away truly astounded by this man's strength, steadfast spirit, and joy in the Lord regardless of his lot in life.  

      

      Later on in the afternoon, I was working away in the office when 3 of the family's children walked in carrying a small covered metal pot with them.  They held it out to me and took off the lid to reveal several small cobs of fire-roasted maize that their mother had plucked from their patch of crops and cooked for me as soon as she had returned from the hospital.  To say I was touched by this gesture would be a HUGE understatement. Here is a family who has almost NOTHING, with a mother who spent the whole morning in the hospital with 5 of her 6 young children because she had a tooth abscess, and they are thinking about how they can bless ME with something! Those small cobs of maize will always be one of the most precious gifts I think I'll ever have the privilege of receiving! 

    

       I walked back to the house with the children and the pot of corn to thank their sweet mama and check on how she was feeling. She invited me into the house and we talked for the next 30 minutes or so as she told me more about each of her children and what their daily family life is like.  At one point I asked her why the 4 school-aged children hadn't been in school today, and she told me that they had all been sent home from school this morning and were told they are not allowed to return until their school fees have been paid for this term. Because the father doesn't have a reliable or consistent source of employment or income, and because they have 8 mouths to feed daily in their family, the children's parents simply could not afford to pay for their children's school tuition (there are no free schools in Uganda, so those children whose families cannot afford to pay school fees just don't get to go to school). When I asked her how much the school fees were for all 4 children this term, she told me they were a total of 20,000 Ugandan Shillings... roughly the equivalent of about $7. 50 in U.S. Dollars.  I was shocked and saddened to hear that 4 precious children are unable to attend school because their parents can't afford such a small tuition of 7 dollars and 50 cents!! I immediately pulled out some money and gave it to the children's mama so they could pay the school fees first thing Monday morning and have a little leftover to help with food or other needs for the family.  The mother knelt on the ground in front of me, then stood up and gave me a huge hug and must have said thank-you at least a dozen times. It was such a small amount for me to give her, but in her eyes it was absolutely enormous! 

     Before I left to go back to the office, the woman wanted to know all the days and hours that I would be working in the church office next week, because she said she wanted to cook food for me and bring it to me everyday.  Once again I was incredibly humbled by this tremendous act of generosity, from someone who has so very little to offer by anybody's standards! The truly amazing thing is, the two stories I've shared with you today are not out-of-the-ordinary situations at all here in Uganda. In  general, Ugandans have extremely little in terms of finances or material possessions, but I have never met a people in  my whole life who are more giving of their time, service, or the few resources they do have! Every single day here I am challenged to share more of myself and my own resources with these beautiful people, even when I am exhausted or feel like I have nothing I can give them. I pray that these two stories have been a blessing to you today, and I also pray that you will be challenged to give more of yourself and your resources to those around you this week, regardless of what you think you may or may not be able to offer people! 

David (3yrs old) and Daniel showing me the way to their house

The small 2-room house where all 8 family members live...no bathroom, kitchen, plumbing or electricity 

The children's mother...truly a woman of the Lord, with such a sweet and giving spirit!

Paul, the baby (1. 5yrs old)... looks like he's watched his mama peel some sweet potatoes before!

Daniel in front of his family's clothesline...he's definitely the comedian of the family!

I was SO thankful to see that the children have a mosquito net to sleep under together

Me eating the fire-roasted maize that the children's mother cooked for me...it was delicious! 

First Update From Uganda!

Hello from beautiful Uganda!!
   
     I've now been here for almost a week! Sorry for the delay in posting...getting reliable internet service has proved to be a bigger challenge than I originally anticipated! I think I have everything set up and working now, though, so I should be able to post updates fairly regularly from now on.

     I've been struggling a bit to figure out how exactly to describe all the events and details of my first week in Uganda.  Life is SO DIFFERENT here!! It truly is a world away from what I've grown up with and have come to know/expect as "normal" in my lifetime.  Even having anticipated and prepared for many of the lifestyle differences, a few things have still caught me quite by surprise and challenged me this week.  However, I am slowly adjusting to everything...to the slower pace of life here, to eating LOTS of new foods, to taking cold "bucket baths" when the water runs out, to depending on others to walk with me or drive me anywhere outside the gates of the house where I'm staying, etc.   Even though I've only been here for a week, I have already felt a HUGE sense of appreciation for all of the modern "conveniences" we have readily available in the US (ie- reliable electricity, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines/dryers, running water, etc.) and yet regularly take for granted.  The lack of all these things in Uganda gives me such an enormous respect for all the hard work the people have to do here every single day just to live and eat and take care of their families' basic needs!

     As for details about the work I've been doing over the past week, I'm still kind-of in the process of figuring out and defining my exact duties and responsibilities. The community health clinic I've been fundraising for over the past several months and will eventually be helping out in is still about a month or so away from officially opening, so I've mainly been filling my time inventorying medicines and clinic supplies, putting together purchasing spreadsheets, working on a sustainability budget, and helping the pastor's wife out around the house where I'm staying.  I was originally hoping that the clinic would open pretty quickly after I arrived here, but now I'm actually incredibly grateful that we have a month or so to finish preparations and lay some solid ground-work for it so that it will run smoothly when it opens!  The clinic looks absolutely AMAZING, though, and has come SO FAR since I was here with the Man Up and Go team back in May/June! I can't even describe the joy I felt when I got to walk through it for the first time a few days ago! It is going to be such a tremendous blessing to the poor rural community that surrounds it! I've posted a couple recent pics of the clinic below so you can see the progress on it, but I'm going to do a full blog post about it sometime in the next couple of weeks and will explain more about each of the rooms inside it and some other specific details then.

     Besides doing lots of prep work for the opening of the clinic in the next few weeks, I think I'm also going to get the chance to lead some weekly chapel lessons for the young children at the River of God Primary School as well as plan and run some VBS-type activities for the orphans at Kerith Children's Home.  I can't wait to post some pictures of those activities for y'all so you can see how absolutely precious all the kids are here! I got the chance to spend a few hours at the school today, and it only took me about 2 seconds to remember why I fell in love with this country and how much I just LOVE these kids! I could listen to them squealing "Mzungu" ("white person") at me 500 times everyday for the rest of my life and still never get tired of hearing it! They have so little, and life is just plain HARD for them on most days, yet they are ALWAYS filled with SO MUCH JOY.

     Thank you all SO much for your prayers as I prepared to leave for Uganda over the past several weeks, and for your continued prayers as I've gotten settled in here this week! Each time I post a new blog entry, I'm going to try to list some specific prayer requests for those of you who have committed to praying for me on a regular basis (and also for my friends who like lists...you know who you are!).  During this coming week, I would sincerely love your prayers for the following things:

1.) Renewed health and healing for the precious 3-year old son of my host family... he's been sick with a nasty cough and cold/flu that's been quite persistent all week!

2.) For the Lord to provide my remaining support funds (around $2, 000) in the coming weeks/months

3.) Immediate funding to cover some or all of the shipping costs ($10, 500) of an 18-wheeler-sized shipping container filled with 250,000 nutritious meals from Convoy of Hope from the US to Uganda...we've been given the food for FREE (it's worth over $40,000), but we need to raise funds for the shipping ASAP so we can get the container over here in the next 4-6 weeks in order to begin a feeding program for 100-200 poverty-stricken children in the rural village surrounding the Kerith Health Clinic.

4.) For wisdom and guidance as we continue to work on all the different preparations for the start-up of the Kerith Health Clinic and that the final stages of construction would finish in a timely fashion within the next month.

5.) Continued prayers for my safety and health...so far I've been feeling great (in-spite of having been quite adventurous in the things I've eaten over the past week...goat's meat and silverfish, anyone?), but I would love ongoing prayers for protection from both food- and water-related sickness and general illnesses (let's just say the level of sanitation here is low-enough to make even the strongest of stomachs a bit queasy at times...).

     Thank you so very much for all of your love, support, and continued prayers! I truly feel like I have not come to Uganda alone, but that I'm here with dozens of you who have chosen to come alongside me and be the hands and feet of Christ in spirit with me over the next 9 months! So thank you! To close, I wanted to share some photos to help introduce you to my new life in Uganda and a give you just a small glimpse into my past week here:

My new Ugandan home! The pastor's family lives in the
main house and my room is in the back house on the left.

My wonderful little room... thank goodness for my mosquito net!

My bathroom...a toilet and shower are luxuries here!

The "kitchen"...aka 3 charcoal stoves outside where
absolutely EVERYTHING gets cooked...I'm still amazed by this!!

The water tank...our main source of water for cooking,
cleaning, showering, and pretty much everything else!

This beautiful Ugandan woman, who's a single mom and
a Muslim, helps us do our laundry...she is so sweet!

This is "Tall Sam"...he helps out with labor around the house/property.
He is 6'4", hilarious, and "crazy" (in his own words!).  He's walked
me all around Pallisa & helped me get my phone/internet set up!

This is the pastor's 3-year-old son, John Mark... he is SUCH a little
rascal! His giggle is infectious, and at any particular point in
the day he can probably be found glued to my side!
(He's the little guy who's been sick all week and needs prayers!)

Some precious village children who live around Kerith Health Center

This beautiful village woman lives near the clinic and has
several children, including this little punkin' and his twin brother!

One of my jobs this week was to inventory all of the donated
medicines, medical equipment, and first aid supplies that have
been collected so far for the Kerith Health Center.

The front entrance to the Kerith Health Centre clinic

Side view of the clinic...it has come SO FAR since I
was here back in May/June! Can't wait for it to open soon!  

Some Exciting Updates!

Total Monthly Sponsors Needed:  30 (to provide $30/month)
Current # of Committed Monthly Sponsors:  17
Remaining Monthly Sponsors Needed:  13

Wow...I can't believe it's almost been a month since my last post...I literally don't know where all the days have gone this month!! I also absolutely can't believe that I'm leaving for Uganda in just 19 days!! Oh my goodness...October 16 is going to be here in the blink of an eye!

SO many amazing things have happened over the past few weeks! First of all, I would like to say a tremendous "thank-you" to all of the people who have stepped out in faith to contribute towards my personal support or specific ministry project funding in the past month! I have been completely overwhelmed and humbled by everyone's incredible generosity, support, and words of encouragement!! I am SO excited to announce that as of today, people have already blessed me with:

$7,280 in one-time gifts or monthly pledges towards my personal support costs 

(out of a $12, 600 total need for the duration of my 9. 5 months stay in Uganda)

17 monthly sponsors 

(out of a total need of 30 sponsors @ $30/month for 9 months)

$2750 towards the completion of the new Kerith Health Clinic in Pallisa!

$2800 towards the construction of a brand new clean-water well, which will be located next to the Kerith Health Clinic and provide free safe water to villagers in Pallisa!

SO..... Because of your tremendous generosity, I'm now more than half-way towards reaching my total personal support fundraising goal for my entire trip....and I still have 3 weeks to go before I leave!  I am beyond thankful for and amazed by the Lord's provision over the past month! 

In addition to that amazing news, I wanted to give you guys a quick peek into my living room at the moment to show you some of the donations I've been collecting and supplies I've been purchasing to bring with me when I head to Uganda (a BIG thank-you to my parents, who have graciously allowed me to take-over the front of the living room for the past couple weeks as the piles have grown bigger and bigger!): 

Here's everything I've been able to round up so far! Think it'll all fit?

Shoes, kids' clothes, first aid kit, underwear, dolls

Bubbles, arts & crafts, crayons, LOTS of medicines

16 "pillowcase dresses" I made for little girls

"Blank cloth dolls" to use for medical play w/ kid

  

I finished ordering the last round of medical supplies and equipment for the clinic as well as some additional Bible-themed craft activities last night, so after everything comes in over the next week or so, I'll finally be able to start packing it all into my duffle bags (which I know you're thinking must be Mary-Poppins-style bags or something in order for everything to fit)! It's going to be a tremendous blessing for the health clinic to receive so many medicines and basic diagnostic supplies/equipment right off the bat as it's starting up....so thank you again to everyone who has contributed funds towards making all of these purchases a reality!

Personally, I've had a blast teaching myself to sew by making a bunch of "pillowcase dresses" for some of the little girls in Uganda.  I've especially loved making the itty-bitty dresses for the infants!  After having witnessed firsthand the extreme level of poverty and the poor state of the kids' clothes in both the Pallisa and Masese areas this summer, it brings me so much joy to envision the smiles on the faces of the little girls who will receive each of these new dresses! I am already praying over each dress and the little one who will be receiving it!

In addition to the dresses, I've also been making some dark-skinned "blank cloth dolls" to use for engaging kids in medical play while I'm working in the health clinic in Pallisa and also to share with the medical students and residents who I'll be teaching about Child Life principals at Makerere University later on during my time in Uganda.  This project has been a true labor of love for me, because it's a way for me to mesh my passions for Child Life and working with kids in Uganda together!  I can't wait to share more details with you guys down the road about some of the other ways I'm going to be able to apply my Child Life skills while working with various populations of children during my time in Uganda!

Well, I think that's all I'm going to share for tonight.  I have some other VERY EXCITING updates to share with you guys at the beginning of next week related to the progress on the Kerith Health Clinic in Pallisa, but I need to collect a few more details about some things before I can share everything fully.  So stay tuned for some more big news! Thank you so very much for all of your prayers...they mean so much to me and I've definitely already been feeling their effects in my life over the past month! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Holiday Reflections on Labor Day

Total Monthly Sponsors Needed:  30 (to provide $30/month)
Current # of Committed Monthly Sponsors:  8
Remaining Monthly Sponsors Needed:  22

Hope everyone has had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Since today is a holiday, I've been thinking a little bit about my upcoming adventure in Uganda and all the different holidays that will come and go during my time there. While I was attempting to envision what certain holidays might look like for me in Uganda, it suddenly dawned on me that Ugandans don't celebrate the majority of holidays we celebrate here in the US, so I'll probably be completely skipping out on most of the holidays I'm used to for almost a year! It's going to be quite strange to miss out on so many major holidays, especially since significant portions of Child Life Specialists' jobs revolve around commemorating every holiday under the sun with special events or big celebrations for patients and families in the hospital! I decided to make a quick list of all the major holidays that will happen while I'm in Uganda and figure out which ones Ugandans also celebrate....the universally-celebrated holidays are underlined:

Halloween
Thanksgiving
Christmas
New Year's
Valentine's Day
St. Patrick's Day
Easter (*celebrated on Good Friday & Easter Monday instead of Sunday)
Mother's Day
Memorial Day
Father's Day
Fourth of July

It's going to be really interesting to totally bypass so many staple holidays! However, after a little bit of researching, I also discovered that I'm going to have the opportunity to experience several new Uganda-specific holidays while I'm over there! Here's a list and a short description of the new holidays I'll be celebrating:

• Boxing Day (December 26)- a British-based holiday the day after Christmas where people give gifts ("Christmas boxes") to each other to thank them for acts of service/friendship
• Liberation Day (January 26)- marks the day that a brutal 5-year civil war was ended (in 1986) and current Ugandan President Museveni came to power... celebrated by "hearty feasts," parades, & sporting events
• International Women's Day (March 8)- promotes women's empowerment (very important in a patriarchal society like Uganda) & marks important achievements/contributions by women
• Labour Day (May 1)- celebrates Ugandan workers and is a day set aside for the Ugandan government to address issues like underemployment, fair wages, creation of new jobs, etc.
• Martyrs' Day (June 3)- commemorates the deaths of 45 Christians who were murdered under an ancient Ugandan tribal king...marked by church services & week-long Christian pilgrimages
• Heroes' Day (June 9)- commemorates the thousands of Ugandans who died during the brutal 5-year civil war in the 1980's

There are a few other major holidays that the nation of Uganda celebrates as well, but I won't be there for them (ie- Uganda's Independence Day on October 9, and 2 Muslim holidays related to the end of Ramadan and the Feast of Sacrifice). 

So...although it's definitely going to be weird to skip out on important holidays like Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Valentine's Day, I'm really excited to learn about and experience several new Ugandan holidays throughout the year! And who knows...maybe I'll even introduce Thanksgiving to the pastor's family I'll be staying with for the first 3 months by cooking them an "American" feast?!? 

Blessings to all of you! Thank-you SO much to everyone who has committed to praying for me as I prepare to leave in 6 weeks and to those who have provided me with financial support so my work in Uganda can become a reality! Stay tuned for a post later this week detailing some important information about the country of Uganda! 

Flights Bought & Support Letters Mailed!

Total Monthly Sponsors Needed:  30 (to provide $30/month)
Current # of Committed Monthly Sponsors:  6
Remaining Monthly Sponsors Needed:  24

Well...it's OFFICIAL...I'm going to Uganda for 9 months! My flights were purchased last week, so there's no turning back now! :)

As far as my timeline goes, I'll fly out on Thursday, October 16, 2014 on an overnight flight from Dallas TX, have a layover for a few hours in London the next morning, and then finally land in Entebbe, Uganda a little before midnight on October 17th!  That's LOTS of flying for someone who is sincerely terrified of flying...but i'm kinda hoping that all the traveling i'll be doing over the next 9 months will just naturally curb my flying phobia...i guess we'll see!

Anyway, since I sent out all of my support letters last week (see images at the end of this post), I figured I should probably start-from-scratch and explain a little more about why I'm going to Uganda for 9 months and the events that have converged to get me to this point in time.  In case you don't know anything about me yet or haven't heard what I've been up to in a really long time, I suppose I'll start by filling you in on the basics: I was born and raised in Texas, I have an amazing family that consists of my mom, dad, and 2 younger sisters (Hannah and Madelyn), and for the past 6 years I've been working with pediatric patients as a Certified Child Life Specialist at children's hospitals in Colorado and Florida.  For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about 4 major things in life:  #1- living for the Lord and growing in my Christian faith, #2- working with kids, #3- the medical field (just ask my parents about my "Rescue 9-1-1" tv show obsession when I was in elementary school!), and #4- international missions (ice cream also ranks up there pretty high, but I decided I probably shouldn't label that as one of my passions in life...).  From my teenage years on, I've tried my hardest to consistently incorporate all 4 of those passions into my life in some way or another. However, the passion that has always challenged me the most- in terms of figuring out different ways to mesh it seamlessly with the others- is #4... my love for international missions.

In high school it was really easy for me to incorporate international missions into my life, because I was able to use my spring breaks and summer vacation time to go on half-a-dozen mission trips with my school or church youth group.  It got a little more difficult to try to incorporate international missions into my life in college, because I worked as a camp counselor during all of my summers and never really felt like i had enough time off during the school year to go on a full-blown mission trip somewhere.  So I tried to satisfy my passion for missions by sponsoring needy children through organizations like World Vision and Compassion Int'l or by giving money to missions organizations instead, and I told myself I'd have more freedom to go on mission trips again once I got into the "real world" and got my own job. Participating first-hand in international missions became even more of a distant memory once I started my career as a Child Life Specialist, though, because it's a pretty well-known fact that hospitals aren't the most lenient of places when it comes to time-off policies.  When I actually did get a decent chunk of time off I typically chose to spend it by flying home to see my family, because by that point my sisters and I were spread out across the country from Hawaii to Florida and rarely got to see each other during the year.  So I continued to sponsor children, support various missions organizations, and tell myself I'd be able to go on another mission trip "in a couple years"... but my heart yearned for so much more!

About 2 years ago, this yearning grew immensely deeper after I read a book called "Kisses from Katie" about a girl just a few years younger than me who moved to Uganda when she was only 19, started an incredible ministry and child sponsorship program there, and adopted 13 precious Ugandan girls who were orphans.  As soon as I finished reading the book, I felt an immediate and distinct calling from the Lord that I was supposed to do something very similar with my own life.  I'd actually experienced similar feelings to this at previous points in my life ever since I was in middle school, but they always seemed to hit me during seasons of life where it was just wasn't "practical" for me to realistically consider moving to some far-away-land... so I just kept tucking those feelings away and reassuring myself that I would get more involved in missions again once I finished high school, graduated from college, got a job, became more established in my Child Life career, had accumulated more vacation time, etc (you get the picture...).  On top of making all these excuses in the past, I should also point out the small fact that I had ZERO interest whatsoever in going to Africa.  I took 10 years of Spanish during my school years and had always felt strongly compelled to work in Spanish-speaking countries (which is why all of my previous missions trips had been to Mexico and the Dominican Republic).  In fact, I can even vividly remember emphatically telling one of my roommates in Florida (who had a huge heart for Africa) that I had "ZERO desire to EVER STEP FOOT on the continent of Africa" during my lifetime (OH, THE IRONY!!!).  Anyway, after reading "Kisses for Katie" and feeling such a strong, clear, and distinct calling from the Lord about going to Uganda, one would think that I would finally listen to Him and start putting some plans in action to get myself over there....unfortunately, though, my hard-headedness prevailed for a little while longer.

I spent the following two years pouring every ounce of my being into my job as a Child Life Specialist, telling myself I was "working at it with all of my heart, as if working for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23)."  I was accomplishing some amazing stuff and truly making a significant impact on many patients and families in Florida, but spending so many endless hours at work left me with a lot less time and energy to devote to my spiritual life, so I was actually becoming increasingly stagnant in my walk with the Lord.  Interestingly, although my spiritual complacency was continuing to grow deeper, I also started to develop an intense love for Uganda and began to actively research short term mission trip opportunities there during this period of time. However, I wasn't making any additional efforts to truly get my heart right with the Lord, so my spiritual complacency began to manifest itself in my daily attitude and actions in ways that were not very pretty (more on that some other time...) and my life started to spin out of control.  Luckily, the Lord loves us unconditionally and chooses to fight for us and draw us back to Him even when we continually push Him away! The Lord ultimately had to bring me to a place of complete humility and surrender in order to help me realize that I needed to return to Him and make some serious changes in my life, but I am SO grateful that He loved me enough to do whatever-it-took to get my attention and guide me back to the place where I was walking in the center of His will again.

One of the most significant life changes I experienced as a result of my big "spiritual wake-up-call" back in March involved me leaving my Child Life job in Florida and moving back home to Texas (where I also ironically declared I would never live again!) for a bit.  The Lord made it abundantly clear to me that I was no longer supposed to be living in Florida, and pretty soon He also began to clearly reveal His plan for me to move to Uganda for an extended period of time.  About a month after I moved home to TX (and after many years of the Lord's prodding!), I finally ended up going on a two-week mission trip to Uganda with an amazing Christian organization called Man Up & Go (www.manupandgoblog.com).  The mission of Man Up & Go is to protect, defend, support, advocate for, take care of, and most importantly love big on orphans, widows, the poor and sick, and other castaways in society.  I cannot even BEGIN to explain to you all the ways that the Lord specifically orchestrated my steps to go on this particular trip with this particular group of individuals! I cringe to think that I was ever resistant to the idea of going to Africa and that I made so many excuses for not going for so many years, when this trip was VERY clearly part of the Lord's perfect plan for my life all along! To say the mission trip was a life-changing experience is a vast understatement.  We spent a full two weeks loving on kids in orphanages and slums, sharing Christ with people, encouraging pastors, and empowering young men to "Man Up" and become strong leaders and Godly men in their communities.  I absolutely fell in love with the beautiful people and precious children of Uganda and knew throughout the entire trip that the Lord wanted me to come back and live there for an extended period of time.  I have literally never felt more content, purposeful, and filled with joy than I did while I was on this trip....in fact, I can vividly recall a specific moment towards the end of the trip when I was sitting down in a muddy field in the pouring rain with a solid dozen slum children laughing hysterically and climbing all over me and distinctly hearing the Lord say to me, "This is exactly what I made you for and created you to do with your life!"

As soon as I got back to the US in June, I immediately began making plans to return to Uganda for a longer period of time to help with several major unfinished projects headed by the different ministry partners we spent time with.  Since I'm not able to start grad school to get my Masters in Public Health w/ a Global Health focus until August of 2015 (due to some application deadlines I missed last January, before I knew I'd be leaving my job and Florida), the Lord has clearly provided me with the perfect opportunity to spend a full 9 months of my life serving people in one of the neediest countries in the world. I am still amazed at how He has completely flung open doors right and left in order for everything to fall perfectly into place so all of this can happen!  Thank you SO much to those of you who have committed to pray for me in the remaining weeks leading up to my departure and during my time in Uganda, and to those of you who have stepped out in faith to provide me with the financial means to be able to go on this incredible adventure! You are quite literally becoming "the hands and feet of Jesus" alongside me, and I am beyond grateful for your support! (If anyone is interested in making a financial contribution towards my personal monthly support costs, you can click on the "GoFundMe" picture/icon towards the top righthand side of the page and you will be redirected to my fundraising site, where you can give a one-time gift in any amount or elect to become one of my monthly sponsors.) Thank you for sticking with me all the way to the end of this post (i promise to try to write shorter posts in the future), too! Have a blessed week!

In Christ,
Katie

PS...(Seeing as how this has turned out to be a total marathon-post, I'm going to wait and give you the details about the 3 different areas I'll be working in and the specific projects I'll be working on in a different post.  I think I may actually highlight each location in separate posts for you guys over the next couple weeks, that way I can post some pictures and go into more detail about each location and its coordinating pastor/ministry.)

Video Upload Test

So I wanted to try out posting a video today.  I shot this clip last week at the World Missionary Evangelism headquarters in Dallas.  They're going to use it for tv, Facebook, and radio spots sometime in the next month or so, in hopes of raising the remaining funds needed to complete the Kerith Community Health Clinic in Pallisa, Uganda (still need about $10,000 to finish all the construction, outfit the interior with furniture and medical equipment, and stock the clinic with basic medical supplies).

If you're interested in finding out more information about the Kerith Health Clinic, would like to see photos of the construction progress, or are interested in donating to help complete the clinic, please visit the project's GoFundMe fundraising website at http://www.gofundme.com/kerithhealthclinic. Most importantly, please be in prayer for the Lord to provide all of the resources needed to finish this incredibly impactful project in Pallisa! 

New Blog for a New Adventure

So...some people have been requesting that I start a blog before my return trip to Uganda for 9 months in mid-October this year...

So here it goes!

This is just a quick test post....I've been playing around with the style and features of the blog a bit today...

Here are a few pics from my Man Up and Go missions trip earlier this year in May/June 2014 (many other pics to come later, along with a narrative of that trip as well as the full scoop about what I'll be doing when I return to Uganda this fall):

Some of the kids from Ebenezer Children's Ministry in Kibuku

Children from Return Ministries in Kampala

At River of God School in Pallisa