Week 11 | Uganda

Week 11 started out with me feeling renewed, refreshed, and with a fresh sense of purpose. You might think by looking at my pictures and weekly blog post that things are always fine and everything is always dandy. But the hard truth is that its not. This might be one of the hardest things for me to admit. I had found myself in some self-denial, unmet expectations, and feeling like I'm not fulfilling God purposes for my life here. Its a real thing. Living in a different place with a different culture and be fun and exciting, don't get me wrong, but doing mission work is less than glamorous. You pour yourself out and sometimes are left feeling empty and needing to be filled yourself. Yet you find that hard to do sometimes when your used to being poured into by so many people and familiar things at home. Satan has so many tactics he uses to make us feel like we're not in the right place. 

And then I read this piece of truth spoken by Priscilla Shirer in her book Fervent (highly recommend it btw), "..one of Satan's dirtiest tactics is to sneak in and steal it (your cutting edge) while your're square in the middle of investing your self in worthwhile activities. That's why when you're sensing a drag in your faith, in your spiritual fire, it can sometimes simply mean your're doing exactly what your're supposed to be doing...and doing it well, at that."  

And this quote also popped up on my news feed on Monday as well, and I just felt so encouraged by these 2 quotes. To keep diving into a deeper trust with Jesus and to know that I am in the center of His Will even when it doesn't seem like it sometimes. 

And I for sure don't want leave out how much all the prayers, thoughts, and text messages have meant to me. So many of you sent me messages at just the right time last week/weekend and I couldn't have felt more encouraged. I was just amazed at God working through people! 

And God in His amazing grace and through His Spirit filled me up in so many ways and I can't tell just how amazing it feels.  

Learned how to "mow" by hand. We call it 'slashing' this side. Once you get it down, it becomes pretty easy, but getting to that point can kinda cause you some issues. 

Tuesday brought another taxi adventure! I tell you, there's something that happens every time. So this time everything was going well, we were getting close to Jinja, when the driver takes an unexpected left turn and jerks off the highway onto a side road in a village almost high centering the van as we scratched the bottom when we bounced off the main road. So we take this detour through the village and countryside. Come to find out that the reason for this small detour was to avoid the traffic police. Apparently the driver was scared he might get caught because he probably lacked a drivers licences, insurance, and  we were clearly over packed. 

Anyhow that happens and we get back onto the main road just before crossing the bridge into Jinja. And things went from bad to worse. Some strange noises were coming from the van. Something started to smoke. Things were clearly falling apart. The driver proceeds to jump the 8 inch curb, which didn't help matters, and check out the problem. It seemed very bad. So all 20+ of us empty ourselves from the van. From my small knowledge of mechanical things, it seemed that maybe the wheel bearing had completely broken and the wheel was just turning on a small rod. Needless to say, the driver couldn't escape the police this time. As we all stood there observing this predicament the police were headed our direction. I'm not sure how it all turned out, because by that point we had started waving down another taxi to take us into town. 

Wednesday was Uganda's independence day. So there was no school and so it was a fun relaxing day. The children in the safehouse cleaned their dorm, washed their clothes,

...and enjoyed each other's company.

I also did a small work out and time of exercise and stretching with some of the girls. So this is our post workout selfie. 

Last week I finally found a spot to plant my small bit of sweet corn my Grandpa had sent along with me. And the weeds are so so bad this side so I spent one morning weeding my 2 little rows. 

I don't know much about growing things, but these little plants are making me very excited! 

Independence day was also some special persons birthday! 

So I made her a lemon cake. 

 It was a week for birthdays! Sponsors for 2 children at school provided money for cakes, and guess who was the baker..haha. 

But its all worth it when you see the delight on their faces! 

They cut and share the cake with their classmates...

...and those few staff members who follow along from room to room just so they can have some cake too. 

Friday we had a dedication ceremony service for the children in P7 class. They will take their final national exam soon, so this was a time of dedicating them to the Lord so that they could be prepared to do well, and that in no matter what happens Gods hand will be upon them. Then next year they will move onto secondary school, which is a boarding school in Jinja. 

And today is this little pipsqueaks birthday! 

Last but not least, my sweet little sister also celebrated her 9th birthday this week! So sad I couldn't be home to celebrate with her but thankful the technology to have some video chats with her!
I love you Larae!