Saturday 25 February 2012

School Starts.


School officially started this week; so many people from different cultures are here. We have students from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, England, and all over Africa. To see the all the cultures intermix in one place is really quite something. Us westerners have had a difficult time to be completely immersed in the culture here and try to help each other out. Hearing about the lives and viewpoints of the Ugandans has certainly been interesting. On Wednesday, we talked with a strong woman of faith who lives in our room. Her name is Faith and I could not have given her a better name myself. She told us of her life story and I was shocked the background that she had from a woman of her standing. When she was very little her mother abandoned her and when she was twelve her father had left her as well. So she wandered from place to place with no home. She would stay with friends or go to a home but many times they would tell her that they had no room. She’s had to fend for herself ever since. She received a sponsor who helped her graduate school and accepted the Lord as her Saviour when she was sixteen. Last year Faith had a sponsor for her college career but they told her not too study music which is her passion because there is no future in that, so she had to take social work classes instead. She has the most amazying voice I have ever heard. However, they failed to come up with the funds to send her back so she decided to come to YWAM and find money for school in the fall. In all of this she keeps in mind the verse that states although your father and mother forsake you, I the Lord your God, will never abandoned you. Recently we learned that she does not have the funds to stay with us and she fears she has to leave. So the muzungos (white people, and I totally have no idea if I spelled that right) have decided to help her our as it only cost four hundred US dollars for her to attend and we feel out of everyone here she longs to be here the most. So if you want to help out Faith, you can talk to my mother and she will get the money to me.
You never really understand a different culture until you find yourself some how completely in the middle of it. I love hearing about how our lives are so different and strangely unique but yet we are all of one people praising God, singing and dancing as one! I had been struggling with finding God in this new culture but yesterday we sang “Mighty to Save”, which is my favorite song and I realized He is the same God here in Africa and all the way back in North America. Never changing, always the same. Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Saturday 18 February 2012

Just Chillin in Uganda, NBD!

Well here I am in Jinja, Uganda. It has certainly been a quite an adventure already. Currently I am just sitting at an internet cafĂ© because we don't have internet on base. Which will probably much more do-able once I get a phone. Phones are super cheap here so that will be a great comfort to have but seeing as I haven't had one for almost two years now I feel as though I am giving up my status as a non-conformist. But isn't that what being here is all about. We come to this foreign country and try to adapt to our surroundings as much as possible. Its been hard already. Cold showers, rice and beans, no internet, but its good. Its a bit of a balance really. Trying to find the happy medium of fitting in and keeping our identity. Even though it is so different here there are things that remind me of home. We have two people on our team from Ontario and I think of all my friends there. The rolling hills and smell of cow manure remind me of Nova Scotia. And plenty of things daily remind me of home; the smell of raw chicken reminds me of China and thus Dayna, the boy who runs around our base with his dog reminds me of Derek, the big trucks that my dad would love to tell me all about reminds me of him, and practically everything reminds me of my mom and her warning words or words of wisdom from her past endevors in Sierra Leone. Overall, I'm glad I am here and cannot wait for the school to start on Monday, to get into a routine will be nice. Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Flying Through the Air.


Currently, I am sitting on a plane from London to Entebbe, Uganda and I can’t believe I’m actually here right now. So much needed to happen for me to arrive at this point and with God’s help it all went according to plan. My mom recently told me that my third grade teacher remembers me telling her that I wanted to travel like my mom when I was older. It seems this trip has been in the making for eleven years now. As I look back at all the preparations for the final time I can see that God was there each step of the way. He gave me hope, when I feared it wasn’t possible. He confirmed His plan when I began to doubt it. He provided sufficient funds to the exact amount. He was there all along leading me even when I couldn’t see the way myself. Now I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me when we land. I thank-you all for your prayers, they have been heard! I wish to leave you with this verse: John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” NIV or in the Message Version, “I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left-feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.”