mawanga pictures

2 precious orphans i had the privilege of meeting:

meet george & esther

 some of the ROWAN kids shared created designs for uniforms...

it looks like a garden, but it's going to be a large building for ROWAN! 

there will be offices and a big fellowship hall. praying for all the funds to be complete!

the AMAZING women working in the garden!

they want their passion fruit to grow!! :)

for the record..these ladies are so strong! 

i dug 3 holes & each time another precious widow would help fix it :)

a little TLC (tender love & care) for the passion fruit! 

pastor wafu asked me to plant one...

praying the Lord will grow it to produce a bounty of fruit!

and just for those who are curious, mawanga means "a coming together of nations". i absolutely love that! the history of rowan is filled with volunteers and supporters from all over the world! so many people from varies nationalities have already served with rowan in mawanga and there are so many more soon to follow...O Lord, you said, lift up your eyes, the harvest is here. the Kingdom is near. you said, ask & i'll give the nations to you...! 

come Lord, and move among us! may others see and believe that You, O God, have done this!

mawanga village: where do i begin...

you can't really imagine it unless you see with your very eyes. it is literally in the bush. off the beaten path. there are small groups of huts set in an opening of trees. only those who live there could tell you where someone lives. no signs. just dirt paths leading from one group of homes to another. i was either in one of ROWAN's vehicles or on a boda moving around. and as i went along i heard the word "muzungu" about a thousand times. it brought such joy to my heart when my eyes would meet the eyes of the children who were yelling at me. when i acknowledge them and yelled "jambo" (a simple way they greet each other; meaning hi or hello). they squealed. they laughed. and they smiled ear to ear. i seriously could have done that the whole day. :) seeing pure and innocent joy radiate from them is priceless! 

it’s a different pace of life out in the village. slow. simple. focusing on basic needs to live. there are people herding small groups of cattle. goats roaming. chickens everywhere. kids walking around. some playing. some crying. some running around either half naked or fully naked. you find adults working in the fields gardening or harvesting their fruit or vegetation. holes in the ground for toilets. bucket showers outside with water that was warmed up over the fire. no electricity. mud huts with thatched roofs. the local language of lusoga beautifully spoken. feeling the strong sun beat down. dirt all over my feet. on my hands. on my skin. learned to drink hot tea twice a day. rich conversations. relationships being built. that is what matters at the end of the day and in the midst of everything. embracing community and fellowship with one another. 

even though i was in the village for just a few days i was once again challenged. God is so gracious in how He teaches me. He is constantly sharpening me. refining me. and pressing down on me. less of myself and more of Him.  He is still showing me that i am sinful. and i am in need of Him. He is still showing me that this life He has given me is not about me but about Him. He is opening my eyes to see all i need is Him. to let go of things that don’t matter. to strip away everything else so Jesus alone remains.

“…i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake i have lost all things. i consider them rubbish, that i may gain Christ and be found in Him…i want to know christ…the power of his resurrection…the fellowship of sharing in suffering…becoming like him in death to be raised up (paraphrased the last part).” phil 3:8-9

one of my prayers has been for God to open my eyes to see. see the children. the widows. the families. whoever it is Lord, i want to see.  interestingly enough, as i was driving up with pastor david wafu (ROWAN staff), he made a statement to me that is so profound...

"instead of people going to share about jesus to others, 

they need to go and see Jesus! 

they need to see jesus in the children and in the people

…if you just look, you will see Him!”

i look forward to sharing with you more on all that took place in mawanga during the few days i was there. much love and blessings to you! 

prayers for dad

after spending a week away i am now back trying to catch up. my time spent in mawanga village was beautiful. God continues to press in on me what He wants me to see. i will share all i can as i get my thoughts together. but first i want to stop and ask for prayer...

as i was away this week in eastern uganda, my parents back in texas went to houston for a check up on my dad's status. i read in an email last night after get back that the spot the doctors had initially found on his liver had grown. plus there may be additional spots in the liver and even possibly in his abdomen. 

these are not the words i wanted to read. it's not what any of my family wanted to hear. but i will remain hopeful. i will always remain hopeful. because hope does not disappoint. my God remains faithful. He remains good. He remains sovereign. He remains strong. i will keep claiming the truth of who my God is! He will overcome! 

my heart hurts to not be with them. it's difficult to hear news like this when i am so far away. so again i ask for prayer on behalf of my family. for my dad. for my mom. for my siblings. for my nieces & nephews. for all who have been a part of this journey. another 10 weeks then they return to rescan and evaluate once more. thankfully, that appointment will be during the time i will be back in the states for a couple weeks during christmas. 

thank you for standing with us in this battle! 

my God, YOU are here with us

constantly here with us

YOU are our everything, 

Faithful and True

(Constant - Charlie Hall)

3 WEEK UPDATE!

I am now in my 3^rd week of being here and almost finished my 2^nd week of school with Graham. Last week when I started, the previous personal assistant (P.A) took me around and explained all that I needed to know. I was on my own after that…I felt like I went back to school because of attending all of Graham’s classes as well taking down additional notes. I have observed a lot of Graham’s learning style, his academic background & the expectations of the teachers. I guess you could say I am mending the gap between the two.

My day begins at 5:40am and ends usually around 10pm. We leave for school around 7:15am (it’s about a 25-30min commute) and the first bell rings at 8am. At 3pm the last bell rings and all the students head to after-school activities. We usually don’t end up leaving for home until 4:30/5pm. It varies daily depending on additional things that may come up. Shortly after we arrive home and unpacked from the car, we sit down for dinner. whew, what a day! :)

I am beginning to meet a lot of people my same age who are also in their first year at ISU. It has been so fun meeting those from all around the world. I look forward to building friendships and relationships as time goes on while developing a good community with them outside of school.

In addition to meeting people at school, I have been meeting a lot of volunteer ROWAN staff! Pastor Paul, David Wafula, Jim, and Ashley all play specific roles in the growing ministry of ROWAN. I feel so blessed to have met them and to work alongside each one as we step forward in the steps God gives us to take. Next week I will be heading to the village for a WEEK! From Oct 17-22 I will be meeting lots of children, widows, families, and staff. I will be observing the current projects and also doing a few as well. There is a huge event that will be launching soon so any time I can get up to the village will be a huge benefit in preparing for it! Tuesday night I met with Jim & Ashley and we decided that we will need to go to the village at the end of this month as well! So I will be going to the village again Oct 27-30!! Once we confirm a few things with the project I will announce it!! J I am beyond excited for ROWAN and I am blessed to be a part of it!

Everything else is going well! My body is still adjusting with food and such but it will get there..i hope! J I am gradually getting a feel for where things are and feeling more comfortable with moving around on bodas. It’s crazy what they can fit through…it’s definitely an adventure every time! From weaving in and out of cars, to riding down a busy sidewalk, to squeezing through trucks, to the busy nightlife..it’s a wild, yet fun ride!

I am so thankful to be here! My prayer is to continue to come with open eyes and an open heart to whatever God has! I pray I walk in confidence knowing who I am in Him and His leading wherever that may be!

Miss all of you on the other side!

joy

WATOTO, FRIENDS, & A BODA BODA

i have been looking forward to today since last week. i went to watoto church in downtown kampala. it was a bit adventuresome due to the down pour of rain. i barely made it to the taxi stage in town. i had no choice to jump in with the first person and go. :) i made it to church in good timing though. my heart was full as i worshipped with so many ugandan's. we joyfully sang together, had a day of thanksgiving with dedicating babies, as well as the teaching of scripture. i felt right at home! i'm looking forward to building relationships and community there. :)

as i was waiting for the rain to stop i saw a familiar face, phillip! he hosted our team around kampala during the 2 weeks we were here a year ago. it was so fun to see him!! hopefully i will bumped into him again. 

after church i met up with a friend of mine, jill wiebe, again i met here last year. she is from canada and was a part of showing us around to the baby homes. we met at a roof top restaurant at a mall in town and enjoyed catching up. afterwards we headed our separate ways on boda boda's. it was my first ride on a taxi motorcycle!! thankfully i had a safe driver and enjoyed ride. :)

every day i hope to become more comfortable at moving around the city. tomorrow or tuesday i am planning to meet up with a few ROWAN staff after i finish with school. 

missing everyone from home though! would love to hear from you if you get a chance! 

much love,

joy

enjoying these days

tomorrow is my first official day at ISU. i'm so ready to get on a normal schedule! it really has been nice to have a relaxing first few days but i'm looking forward to it picking up. i believe the Lord wants me to be a good steward of my time and energy. i am choosing to be thankful though for these days because i know down the road i will be wanting some restful days. :)

yesterday the girls (amy, emma, ellie & i) met up with another MAF family (jill, esther, & arriana who live down the street). we went down to the mall area for a few errands. it ended up being a much more fun outing then we anticipated. on top of the crazy traffic & torrential down pour of rain we enjoyed our time away from the house. our first stop was getting lunch at this pizza place, then off to a furniture & lamp store, then we got our toes done (which was a nice treat). we ended up staying until dinner time and ate at a place called ranchers. this place reminded me so much of being in texas. crazy enough, they had steak! it wasn't bad. its always fun to try places like this in uganda. you just never know what you're going to get. TIA!

driving into kampala

i loved this store! so many fun lamps! 

today we went to church at KBC (kampala baptist church). i met more people from different countries. it amazes me that so many foreigners are here in one place. there are australians, britts, scots, and more. i will be meeting more people from varies places tomorrow as i start my first day of school with graham. i am looking forward to it and what doors the Lord opens up for me. my prayer is that God will continue to go before me and lead me with every step. my eyes and heart are open to whatever is in front of me!

i also got to speak with kelsey about some upcoming ROWAN things. yay!! i am going to be meeting pastor paul and david mafula (both are on staff) on wednesday night. hopefully we will discuss when i will get to head out to the village. kels is working up a few projects i can do this side with the people in the village. pray that the timing of when i go and the coordinating of it all will work out! i REALLY want to get out there as soon as i can! my heart is for the rural. praying about going the week i have off school in a few weeks. i want to spend as long as i can there within the school schedule i'm on. :)


 that's it for now. but here are a few pics of the kiddos i get to hang out with..

daniel, amy (our neighbors little girl), and emma

(missing 3 kids from the rodger's family)

sweet elly!

here's my room for those who are wondering...