A time for everything…

Another month has past, yet it seems I’ve only blinked my eyes. It’s been a whirlwind of emotions but each one has been needed in this season of life. Each one plays a part in drawing me closer to Jesus, so I am praising Him for each tear and each smile.

Yesterday, I was getting in a workout at the American club, just up the hill from where I stay. I saw one of my friends and her dad working out. Her dad began asking what I’m doing here and a host of other questions. In an instant, so many emotions stirred up inside of me. He asked me, “how do your parents feel about you being here?” A typical question but hard to hear these days. This man didn’t know I had lost my dad in January. I looked at my friend who knew and she gave me a smile that spoke of her sadness for me. Those moments I am faced with explaining it all, which is still difficult.

I dug deep and explained how "my parents have been the biggest supporters of God calling me here to Africa. Even though it’s hard to have a daughter go off, they never wanted to stand in the way of what God was doing. Though this time, it’s been more difficult due to the loss of my dad and my mom being by herself." 

I believe my dad is still supporting me, but this time he gets to see how all of this fits together. He has the heavenly perspective from God’s view and what a view he has! ;)

Seeing that today marks 5 months of the loss of my Dad, I look back at the time I have been in Uganda for 2 of those months. I have gone through so many emotions and I believe there is a time for everything. I have found myself weeping, being lonely and broken. But then I find myself singing, laughing, dancing and embracing everything that comes from the Lord. There is a set time for everything. It each comes at the right moment. I have to believe that this journey is not over in experiencing all that God wants me to. So no matter the emotions, feelings, or what I go through, God is working all things together for my good and His glory!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

“For everything there is a season, 

a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and time to build up.

A time to cry and time to laugh.

A time to grieve and time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and atime to turn away.

A time to search and time to quit searching. 

A time to tear and time to mend.

A time to be quiet and time to speak. 

A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

God has made everything beautiful for its own time. 

He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, 

people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

new friends in mawanga

taking visitors to mawanga could not have been more fun, more encouraging and more enlightening. i have always loved showing people what i do. really just introducing them to some of the most beautiful and precious people is so special and an honor for me. 

the past week has been filled with meeting new people and traveling all over. i met up with 2 new friends of mine, Pat and Angie. they are from canada and came to uganda for Pat's bicycle charity he has in the karamoja region (north east uganda). angie stubbled upon rowan through the web and the rest is history. i met them for lunch one day last week, then drove out with them the next day to mawanga. they could only stay a night, but during their time there they got to see a lot of different areas of the ministry. 

our new canadian friends, pat and angie

angie & i visiting a sweet family

one of the things i loved is seeing pastor paul be encouraged and challenged as he was discussing things with pat. sharing ideas, concepts, thoughts, and perspectives is what we love. we (all of those involved with rowan) want to be sponges. we want to learn. we want to know what is working on the ground and what's not. we want to know how others are doing it so that we may implement new ideas and strategic process. 

pat sharing with the staff

after pat and angie left, i got busy with my work in the village. from running errands with pastor paul in iganga, to home visits, to organizing some of the files in our office, to recording videos of our kids preparing their songs and dances for African Child Day, to meeting with some of the staff to discuss ideas on a kids camp, to hearing personal testimonies of what some adults have been able to accomplish through our adult literacy program. my days are always filled when i'm there. 

at iganga market with pastor paul

organizing the folders..it was quite the task!

visiting one of our zone leaders, Juliet!

our kids preparing for the african child day

i love sitting at the end of the day with hot tea thinking about the day. really i'm looking at what God accomplished that day. i'm just a vessel. i can't offer much but only what God gives, which is His love through His blessings. at the end of the day, it's all about Him. it's about what He is doing and accomplishing. 

i am blessed beyond measure to have the opportunity to see His hand at work...

a sneak peak..more to follow

had a great few days in the village! have lots of pictures and videos to share but will post more later. i'm headed off today to murchison falls with my new friends, angie and her dad, pat. excited to see new places in uganda with some new friends!

here are couple of pictures from the village...

sweet grandparents laughing

home visit with angie

some precious & beautiful little feet

our primary students 

a few of the daily battles...

a few eye opening statistics on the various issues that so many people face in 3rd world countries. (taken from the book i'm reading, "Hole in the Gospel")

Malnutrition

*1 out of 4 children in developing countries is underweight

*every 5 seconds a child dies from hunger-related causes

*25,000 people die each day and 9 million people die per year

 from hunger related causes

Malaria

*one of the world’s deadliest diseases

*more than 500 million clinical cases each year, resulting in 1.5-2.7 million deaths

*just 1 drop of water the size of the period at the end of this sentence can contain as many as fifty thousand one-celled parasites that carry the disease, yet it takes just one to kill a person.

*1 in every 13 people in the world every year become sick with Malaria

*1 child dies from Malaria every 30 seconds

Tuberculosis (TB)

*1/3 of the world’s population is infected..meaning about 2 billion people

*9 million new cases are reported annually

*2 million deaths

HIV/AIDS

*33 million people are infected

*70% of those infected are living in Africa

*25 million deaths since 1981

*1 in 3 adults in Swaziland are infected

All three of these life-threatening diseases result in more than 5 million deaths per year and half a billion new infections.