Hey! Long time no see :)
So we just got back from a long 3 days at Murchison Falls. This was the time that we most got to see God’s creation and some of us camped in tents but more on that later.
We started out early on Friday morning, separating into vans rather than taking the bus. I was in a car with 7 other girls from Drake (the MUBS students didn’t come with us). It was really cool being in the car with them because I got to get to know them a lot better and they saw me reading the Bible quite a bit-praise the Lord for the chance to be a witness to them. I’m really glad that we are all here so long because that means that people get the chance to know my life pretty well so the people I room with see me reading everyday and I’m sure by now they know that I am one of Gods (answered prayer request!). God is soo good! Praise the Lord that He is using us here (for things we don’t even expect and can’t imagine!)
We stopped for lunch on the way up north and it took literally 3 hours for us to finish. We ordered pretty much right away and then they started bringing out random food every once in a while going to each table asking if anyone had ordered it. After two hours of this, the teachers finally got so fed up that they actually went into the kitchen and started organizing everything. So after about an hour of them taking over, we finally all got our food and had eaten. I actually had a great time during those three hours-we got the chance to relax and hang out and catch up on the journal thing we have to do while we’re here. Everyone was complaining a ton but God gave me a lot of patience (something I don’t always have) and a good attitude about it so that was another great way to witness to people.
We got to the Red Chilli in Murchison Falls around dinner time. We checked in and they had half of us in tents and half of us in rooms. I got one of the rooms and I didn’t have a roommate yet so I got to room with one of the girls that I haven’t gotten to talk to all that much yet so it was a marvelous opportunity to get to know her better.
The next morning we got up really early, like before sunrise early, and headed out to go on a game drive around the national park. We got to the Nile River ferry right after the sun had risen and it was absolutely beautiful!!! Probably the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen. I got lots of pictures too! We were in the same vans that we traveled in yesterday but they opened up the roof so we could stand up and take pictures of stuff. But we had to be careful because that is a Tsetse fly area and they said it really hurts when they bite (but we actually all got bitten and it actually isn’t as bad as a bee sting so no worries). So we headed out on our 4 hour drive. They also cautioned us about the monkeys. They (the monkeys) are comfortable around people and they know what the food sacs look like so they jump into the cars and try to get the food! Our car hid our packed breakfast’s away so this wouldn’t happen but a monkey did jump into one of the cars in front of us and tried to take food! One of the girls in the car got really scared so she threw the bag at the monkeys head, haha. Good times.
It was so beautiful, going on the game drive. It was on a huge savannah, the biggest national park in Uganda. And we got to see tons of animals – a million antelope, water buffalo, warthogs, elephants, hippos, giraffes (those were my favorites!). Wow, God does great work!!! His creation just screams His name, it was so great to see!
Then we headed to lunch after that and then went to a boat tour on the Nile. This time we were headed to see the Murchison Waterfall. We drove on the boat for a looong time (about 2 hours) before we could see the falls. They were really intense, white water spraying everywhere!! We didn’t get close enough to get wet but they brought us to a little island so we got to get out of the boat and stand on the rocks to look at the falls. Random fact: Earnest Hemingway actually had an experience near the falls. He was on a plane and it crashed on one of the banks of the Nile. He survived. Then a rescue plane came to take him home and soon after takeoff the rescue plane crashed! He survived again but the newspapers in the US couldn’t get the right story so they assumed he had died and published that he died so everyone freaked out. End random story.
One the ride back to the dock (this time only 1 hour since we were going with the current) God blessed me with a great conversation with one of the Drake professors that was there. I found out that she is a Christian (praise the Lord!) and she has an amazing story. She has dealt with a ton in her life (cancer, an unfaithful husband, messy divorce) but what she emphasized most while we were talking was that it was God that got her through it all and that she didn’t let those bad circumstances mess up her relationship with God. Wow, how encouraging!!!
Once we got back, we were all pretty exhausted so we headed to bed pretty quickly after dinner and this morning we headed out nice and early to go back to Kampala. It was a full days ride with the same girls as before so we got to bond a lot more.
I’ve been reading Revelations for the past few days and in chapters 1-3 there are a ton of great promises. In each of the 7 letters to the churches, Jesus makes a promise (through the prophet John) to “those who conquer” (I take this to mean those who are saved and therefore conquer death). Here are the 7 promises:
1. To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God (woo!)
2. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death (spiritual death, the 1st death is physical)
3. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it (hmm, interesting)
4. To the one who conquers, and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from the Father. And I will give him the Morning Star.
5. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.
6. To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
7. To the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on His throne.
What great promises! Praise the Lord!
Prayer Requests:
-boldness!!!
-that we will finish strong, standing out as God’s children
-faithfulness (now and after we get back with the students here)
-wisdom and humility
Love, Loren
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Day 15
Today was a great day. The Lord is so good!
We had breakfast at MUBS again today and it was a little tough because all everyone could talk about was the club last night so it was a little awkward but I'm still very thankful that I didn't go. Praise the Lord for this chance to witness to people and prove that I am not of the world but rather of God!
Then headed to the New Vision Office, which is one of the major newspapers here. They gave us a lecture which went on for a loooong time and then we got to tour the place. In the process, we saw a radio station so I took lots of pictures for Christy to see :)
Then we had lunch and headed to the craft shops and a jersey shop to get some more shopping done. While we were there, one of the girls got sick (sad!) and I got the opportunity to help take care of her and serve her a bit. Praise the Lord (not for the sick part, for the opportunity to serve part, haha).
And then we drove down to a restaurant on Lake Victoria to have dinner. It was so beautiful! I can't wait to show you all pictures of God's wonderul handywork :) Parents I know you will like it a lot.
Dinner was so good and we got to sit practically on the beach while we ate. I got the chance to talk to one of the MUBS guys about religion and about whether it should be evident in our lives or whether it should be kept only private so no one can tell. I'm so thankful that the Lord made this conversation happen! Please pray that he got something out of it and that the Lord will use me however He needs to for the MUBS students to all learn about Him!
The bus ride back to Red Chilli from the restaurant was my favorite part of the day though. It had just turned dark so the sky was black but still light black with a ton of really bright stars and the scenery was rolling hills as far as you can see with lights that looked like stars popping up here and there from buildings on the hill. It was just majestic! I had my Ipod so I put in some worship and just sat there for the whole 30 minute bus ride worshiping and admiring the beautiful creation. It was so nice to be able to re-connect with God. It's not that I was disconnected from Him before, but now I feel so much closer to Him. I really needed that. It really go me thinking about my motives for things. Am I sharing with people because God is amazing and I want them to know that? Or is it because I feel like it's an obligation and I have to have something to write about? Am I looking at these people as projects or as God's loved ones who are a little lost right now? God is really helping me get on the right path with this kind of stuff. He is teaching me a ton about what my attitude should be. Praise the Lord!!!
Prayer requests:
-a godly attitude
-soft hearts and boldness!
-love and ways to show it
-that we will glorify God with everything we do
-for my time with Michelle here, that we can sharpen and encourage each other
-for relationships to be built that can be cultivated after we leave
Thanks for the prayers and loving!
Love, Loren
And remember parents, I wont be able to post for the next 3 nights so don't worry about me!
We had breakfast at MUBS again today and it was a little tough because all everyone could talk about was the club last night so it was a little awkward but I'm still very thankful that I didn't go. Praise the Lord for this chance to witness to people and prove that I am not of the world but rather of God!
Then headed to the New Vision Office, which is one of the major newspapers here. They gave us a lecture which went on for a loooong time and then we got to tour the place. In the process, we saw a radio station so I took lots of pictures for Christy to see :)
Then we had lunch and headed to the craft shops and a jersey shop to get some more shopping done. While we were there, one of the girls got sick (sad!) and I got the opportunity to help take care of her and serve her a bit. Praise the Lord (not for the sick part, for the opportunity to serve part, haha).
And then we drove down to a restaurant on Lake Victoria to have dinner. It was so beautiful! I can't wait to show you all pictures of God's wonderul handywork :) Parents I know you will like it a lot.
Dinner was so good and we got to sit practically on the beach while we ate. I got the chance to talk to one of the MUBS guys about religion and about whether it should be evident in our lives or whether it should be kept only private so no one can tell. I'm so thankful that the Lord made this conversation happen! Please pray that he got something out of it and that the Lord will use me however He needs to for the MUBS students to all learn about Him!
The bus ride back to Red Chilli from the restaurant was my favorite part of the day though. It had just turned dark so the sky was black but still light black with a ton of really bright stars and the scenery was rolling hills as far as you can see with lights that looked like stars popping up here and there from buildings on the hill. It was just majestic! I had my Ipod so I put in some worship and just sat there for the whole 30 minute bus ride worshiping and admiring the beautiful creation. It was so nice to be able to re-connect with God. It's not that I was disconnected from Him before, but now I feel so much closer to Him. I really needed that. It really go me thinking about my motives for things. Am I sharing with people because God is amazing and I want them to know that? Or is it because I feel like it's an obligation and I have to have something to write about? Am I looking at these people as projects or as God's loved ones who are a little lost right now? God is really helping me get on the right path with this kind of stuff. He is teaching me a ton about what my attitude should be. Praise the Lord!!!
Prayer requests:
-a godly attitude
-soft hearts and boldness!
-love and ways to show it
-that we will glorify God with everything we do
-for my time with Michelle here, that we can sharpen and encourage each other
-for relationships to be built that can be cultivated after we leave
Thanks for the prayers and loving!
Love, Loren
And remember parents, I wont be able to post for the next 3 nights so don't worry about me!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Days 13 and 14
Wow we only have one week left, how crazy is that!!!!
I read the other day in that book that the Phillips gave me one of the devotionals and it was so convicting so here it is:
" 'I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways' Psalm 119:15
The psalmist said that he thought abour or meditated on the precepts of God. In other words, he spent a lot of time pondering and thinking on the ways of God, His instructions, and His teachings. The person who does this, according to Psalm 1:3 is 'like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].
The more time you spend meditating on God's Word, the more you will reap from it. The more Word you read and hear, the more power an dability you will have. You will get as much from the Word of God as the effort you put into it."
- Ending Your Day Right, Joyce Meyer
Love it :)
During my QT this morning, I read in John 7 and in verse 4, Jesus said "For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do thses things, show yourself to the world." I dont want to hide the fact that I am a child of God, I want to proclaim it to the world! So I've just been thinking a ton about whether my life truly reflects my relationship with God. What in my life obviously shows my relationship with God? What in my life needs to show it more? When people look at me, they should see God, so what needs to change for that to happen? How can I further decrease so He can further increase? These were great questions to have in my mind all day because it really made me think about whether each decision I made was really glorifying God or not.
Anyway, didn't get to post again yesterday cause the internet at the hotel was down (both wireless and plug in so there was no chance). And FYI so you know I'm not kidnapped or something, were going on a trip friday, saturday, and sunday to another national park and there will be no internet at all so don't freak out when I dont post (parents). hehe.
Yesterday the day started out with another breakfast at MUBS. (Side note - they have these things for breakfast called samosas. They're like a pizza roll thingy kind of and you can have veggie or meet and it's wrapped up in dough and fried in a triangle shape. I dont get why they have them for breakfast since they seem like a dinner food to me but oh well; they are the most delicious things ever. I got the recipe so I will be attempting to make them when I get home). Anyway, then we headed over to USE (Uganda Stock Market) to see how it works. There are only 12 publicly traded companies and they also sell bonds. But apparently this is good progress because they've been open 12 years and the New York Stock Exchange was open for 15 years with only 6 companies. Anyway, it was kind of interesting but everyone was still recovering from yesterday (our naps exhausted us, but really we were all very tired but I dont know why). Then we headed over for lunch and then we got to go to the Mulago Hospital.
We just listened to a talk about Aids in Africa and then they took some people on a tour of the hospital but I didn't go because they could only take a few people because of space so all the health sciences/pharmacy people went. They described it later to us and it's pretty crazy. Apparently there is just a big huge gym sized room open and a ton of beds cramed in there with no privacy at all. I'm not sure which ward they were describing but I saw a picture and there were so many people there (patients and visitors) that you couldn't even see the beds. The hospital requires that you bring a relative to take care of you while you're at the hospital. Why dont you read that sentence again and see if it makes sense cause it sure doesn't to me! I go to the hospital because I need to be taken care of not so my relatives can do it, haha. And I guess the pharmacy only has a few antibiotics in stock and thats it. Otherwise, your relative needs to go to the pharmacy down the street to get your medicine. Man am I thankful for American hospitals!
Then we headed over to a craft mallish area thing. It was 30 hut kind of craft shops set up in a circle and I went around with my new friend Michelle and she helped me bargain to get some awesome deals! She is an expert bargainer. It always helps to have a Ugandan with you when bargaining because otherwise they just give you the Muzungu price (white price) which is like twice what they normally charge, haha. Anyway, I got like all the suveniers I could even need there. Anyway, after I was done shopping, we had some extra time so I grabbed Emily and we walked around giving tracks to a few of the shop owners who we had bought from. After I gave the first one out, the lady called me back as I was walking away and goes "are you a Chrisian? Praise God!" and then she gave me a hand shake and told me she was born again and was so thankful for the encouragment of meeting another sister! How cool is that!!! Praise the Lord!!! You can be praying for her and her growth with the Lord and also for the other tracks we gave out that day.
Then the good stuff started. It was a pretty chill day ministry wise up until dinner. At dinner, i got to sit with 4 of the girls from MUBS and I started asking them questions for my research paper and we got to have a great conversation about what living out your faith looks like. Three claim Christianity and the other is the Muslim girl but she actually told me that she reads the Bible every once in a while and believes that Jesus was the Son of God and that He was crucified for our sins and rose again! (she went to a Catholic school so that's where she learned everything but her family is Muslim so she says Muslim when someone asks her what she is. She said she didn't really have a reason for doing this). Plus we got to get semi-American food (I miss steak a lot, haha). Overall, a great dinner. Praise the Lord for the great conversation we had!
Once we got back to Red Chilli, Emily and I had a great conversation about convictions and it was really nice to be able to talk about my convictions with another Christian rather then someone who looked at me like I was crazy. But I guess if I'm getting weird looks it means I'm doing something right. I will not give into my flesh and turn back on my convictions no matter how many weird looks I get. They are planning on going to a club the next night so we talked about that a little bit.
Day 14
Today after breakfast we got to go listen to a speaker about human rights from the Foundation of Human Rights Institute. It was a really cool talk to listen to! It was wonderful seeing the Biblical values that were in the Ugandan constitution.
Next we headed to MUBS for lunch and on the long bus ride gave Michelle and I a ton of time to bond more. We've been spending pretty much all of the time we can together since we found out that we're both Christians and it's been awesome. God is so good. He has brought us so close already and she is very encouraging to talk to! It's great to have the chance to be used by God to help sharpen her and what a privilege it is to be sharpened and challenged by her life! Praise the Lord!
We next went to TASO (The Aids Support Organization) where we got to meet a bunch of people who have been infected with aids. They actually preformed a bunch of aids songs for us about hope and faith in hard times and about raising aids awareness and support. It was really cool to see and Michelle actually ran into her sister there because her sister is doing an internship but Michelle hasn't seen her sister for about 6 months so that was a huge blessing for them! Praise the Lord for that!
Then we headed to yet another American restaurant for dinner (i feel like we're getting spoiled, haha.) And I sat with the same 4 MUBS girls as I did yesterday plus one more and I got to bring up Christianity again when I asked the other girl some questions for my paper. This paper is giving such great opportunities for conversations with people, praise the Lord! He is really using it a lot and I'm so thankful and I feel so privileged to be used by Him to spread the good news and help build up Christians! And in the process of this conversation, I was very much encouraged when I asked the girls something like "what percent of people would you say live out their faith everyday (not just on the holy days)?" And all of their answers were between 40 and 60%. Michelle was then telling me that there are a ton (like 45% of the people probably she said) of born-again Christians! She was telling me again about how much the gospel goes out here. Man God is just so faithful!!!!! I mean of course the country still needs the gospel to be shared but I wasn't expecting so many people to already know it and have accepted it. God is amazing :)
It made me think of psalm 96:2-3 which I posted on the 1st blog (and they actually read it in church on sunday, how cool is that!).
Anyway, then came time for us to leave and head to Red Chilli so people can get ready to go to the club. I stayed when they left so they're all there right now. People kept asking me if I was going to go all day (it's all people could talk about). It was hard because everyone kept trying to convince me to come and it's only me and three other people that stayed behind (and they all retreated to their own cabins so I can't hang out with them). So I get to catch up this blog (thanks to Emily for letting me use her computer while she's gone), spend a little more time with God, and chill in the cabin til my roomies get back. Everytime I was being tempted to change my mind, I would remind myself of my reasons for not going:
-Is this going to advance the kingdom in any way? Well not, it'll probably just ruin my witness to people
-Is this going to help my relationship with God? Nope
-Will my going show the world that I am a child of God? Nope
-Why do I want to go? Well I actually dont have any desire to go but my people pleasing flesh is being insistant. but i dont want to give that darn flesh anything.
So I didn't go (and I'm very glad that I didn't).
So yeah, that was the day :)
PS. this morning I made a list of characteristics of God and it was so good to be able to just ponder God for a while. I highly suggest it (even if you already have list, start a new one and see what God reveals about Himself)!
Prayer Requests
-that we will stick out as children of God
-faithfulness
-love for the people we are with
-godly character
-more conversations and boldness!
I read the other day in that book that the Phillips gave me one of the devotionals and it was so convicting so here it is:
" 'I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways' Psalm 119:15
The psalmist said that he thought abour or meditated on the precepts of God. In other words, he spent a lot of time pondering and thinking on the ways of God, His instructions, and His teachings. The person who does this, according to Psalm 1:3 is 'like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].
The more time you spend meditating on God's Word, the more you will reap from it. The more Word you read and hear, the more power an dability you will have. You will get as much from the Word of God as the effort you put into it."
- Ending Your Day Right, Joyce Meyer
Love it :)
During my QT this morning, I read in John 7 and in verse 4, Jesus said "For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do thses things, show yourself to the world." I dont want to hide the fact that I am a child of God, I want to proclaim it to the world! So I've just been thinking a ton about whether my life truly reflects my relationship with God. What in my life obviously shows my relationship with God? What in my life needs to show it more? When people look at me, they should see God, so what needs to change for that to happen? How can I further decrease so He can further increase? These were great questions to have in my mind all day because it really made me think about whether each decision I made was really glorifying God or not.
Anyway, didn't get to post again yesterday cause the internet at the hotel was down (both wireless and plug in so there was no chance). And FYI so you know I'm not kidnapped or something, were going on a trip friday, saturday, and sunday to another national park and there will be no internet at all so don't freak out when I dont post (parents). hehe.
Yesterday the day started out with another breakfast at MUBS. (Side note - they have these things for breakfast called samosas. They're like a pizza roll thingy kind of and you can have veggie or meet and it's wrapped up in dough and fried in a triangle shape. I dont get why they have them for breakfast since they seem like a dinner food to me but oh well; they are the most delicious things ever. I got the recipe so I will be attempting to make them when I get home). Anyway, then we headed over to USE (Uganda Stock Market) to see how it works. There are only 12 publicly traded companies and they also sell bonds. But apparently this is good progress because they've been open 12 years and the New York Stock Exchange was open for 15 years with only 6 companies. Anyway, it was kind of interesting but everyone was still recovering from yesterday (our naps exhausted us, but really we were all very tired but I dont know why). Then we headed over for lunch and then we got to go to the Mulago Hospital.
We just listened to a talk about Aids in Africa and then they took some people on a tour of the hospital but I didn't go because they could only take a few people because of space so all the health sciences/pharmacy people went. They described it later to us and it's pretty crazy. Apparently there is just a big huge gym sized room open and a ton of beds cramed in there with no privacy at all. I'm not sure which ward they were describing but I saw a picture and there were so many people there (patients and visitors) that you couldn't even see the beds. The hospital requires that you bring a relative to take care of you while you're at the hospital. Why dont you read that sentence again and see if it makes sense cause it sure doesn't to me! I go to the hospital because I need to be taken care of not so my relatives can do it, haha. And I guess the pharmacy only has a few antibiotics in stock and thats it. Otherwise, your relative needs to go to the pharmacy down the street to get your medicine. Man am I thankful for American hospitals!
Then we headed over to a craft mallish area thing. It was 30 hut kind of craft shops set up in a circle and I went around with my new friend Michelle and she helped me bargain to get some awesome deals! She is an expert bargainer. It always helps to have a Ugandan with you when bargaining because otherwise they just give you the Muzungu price (white price) which is like twice what they normally charge, haha. Anyway, I got like all the suveniers I could even need there. Anyway, after I was done shopping, we had some extra time so I grabbed Emily and we walked around giving tracks to a few of the shop owners who we had bought from. After I gave the first one out, the lady called me back as I was walking away and goes "are you a Chrisian? Praise God!" and then she gave me a hand shake and told me she was born again and was so thankful for the encouragment of meeting another sister! How cool is that!!! Praise the Lord!!! You can be praying for her and her growth with the Lord and also for the other tracks we gave out that day.
Then the good stuff started. It was a pretty chill day ministry wise up until dinner. At dinner, i got to sit with 4 of the girls from MUBS and I started asking them questions for my research paper and we got to have a great conversation about what living out your faith looks like. Three claim Christianity and the other is the Muslim girl but she actually told me that she reads the Bible every once in a while and believes that Jesus was the Son of God and that He was crucified for our sins and rose again! (she went to a Catholic school so that's where she learned everything but her family is Muslim so she says Muslim when someone asks her what she is. She said she didn't really have a reason for doing this). Plus we got to get semi-American food (I miss steak a lot, haha). Overall, a great dinner. Praise the Lord for the great conversation we had!
Once we got back to Red Chilli, Emily and I had a great conversation about convictions and it was really nice to be able to talk about my convictions with another Christian rather then someone who looked at me like I was crazy. But I guess if I'm getting weird looks it means I'm doing something right. I will not give into my flesh and turn back on my convictions no matter how many weird looks I get. They are planning on going to a club the next night so we talked about that a little bit.
Day 14
Today after breakfast we got to go listen to a speaker about human rights from the Foundation of Human Rights Institute. It was a really cool talk to listen to! It was wonderful seeing the Biblical values that were in the Ugandan constitution.
Next we headed to MUBS for lunch and on the long bus ride gave Michelle and I a ton of time to bond more. We've been spending pretty much all of the time we can together since we found out that we're both Christians and it's been awesome. God is so good. He has brought us so close already and she is very encouraging to talk to! It's great to have the chance to be used by God to help sharpen her and what a privilege it is to be sharpened and challenged by her life! Praise the Lord!
We next went to TASO (The Aids Support Organization) where we got to meet a bunch of people who have been infected with aids. They actually preformed a bunch of aids songs for us about hope and faith in hard times and about raising aids awareness and support. It was really cool to see and Michelle actually ran into her sister there because her sister is doing an internship but Michelle hasn't seen her sister for about 6 months so that was a huge blessing for them! Praise the Lord for that!
Then we headed to yet another American restaurant for dinner (i feel like we're getting spoiled, haha.) And I sat with the same 4 MUBS girls as I did yesterday plus one more and I got to bring up Christianity again when I asked the other girl some questions for my paper. This paper is giving such great opportunities for conversations with people, praise the Lord! He is really using it a lot and I'm so thankful and I feel so privileged to be used by Him to spread the good news and help build up Christians! And in the process of this conversation, I was very much encouraged when I asked the girls something like "what percent of people would you say live out their faith everyday (not just on the holy days)?" And all of their answers were between 40 and 60%. Michelle was then telling me that there are a ton (like 45% of the people probably she said) of born-again Christians! She was telling me again about how much the gospel goes out here. Man God is just so faithful!!!!! I mean of course the country still needs the gospel to be shared but I wasn't expecting so many people to already know it and have accepted it. God is amazing :)
It made me think of psalm 96:2-3 which I posted on the 1st blog (and they actually read it in church on sunday, how cool is that!).
Anyway, then came time for us to leave and head to Red Chilli so people can get ready to go to the club. I stayed when they left so they're all there right now. People kept asking me if I was going to go all day (it's all people could talk about). It was hard because everyone kept trying to convince me to come and it's only me and three other people that stayed behind (and they all retreated to their own cabins so I can't hang out with them). So I get to catch up this blog (thanks to Emily for letting me use her computer while she's gone), spend a little more time with God, and chill in the cabin til my roomies get back. Everytime I was being tempted to change my mind, I would remind myself of my reasons for not going:
-Is this going to advance the kingdom in any way? Well not, it'll probably just ruin my witness to people
-Is this going to help my relationship with God? Nope
-Will my going show the world that I am a child of God? Nope
-Why do I want to go? Well I actually dont have any desire to go but my people pleasing flesh is being insistant. but i dont want to give that darn flesh anything.
So I didn't go (and I'm very glad that I didn't).
So yeah, that was the day :)
PS. this morning I made a list of characteristics of God and it was so good to be able to just ponder God for a while. I highly suggest it (even if you already have list, start a new one and see what God reveals about Himself)!
Prayer Requests
-that we will stick out as children of God
-faithfulness
-love for the people we are with
-godly character
-more conversations and boldness!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Day 12
Hey all!
Today was a wonderful day. We started with a rushed breakfast and headed to this place called Opportunity International. We got to split up into groups of 6 (3 Drake students, 2 MUBS students, and 1 MUBS faculty) and go meet with small groups of people who were involved with Opportunity International. This is a business that loans money out to these small groups for there small businesses so it was really interesting getting to learn all about that.
I was in a group with one of the Drake girls that is a Christian but not involved with a fellowship as far as I know and this was the first time that I got to spend a ot of time with her and get to know her more which was really great. We get along very well and I'm really excited to continue that relationship!
Today we had a few people down. Yesterday they all must have eaten something not so good because 8 people got food poisoning (or something resembling it) last night and this morning. I didn't get sick so dont worry Mom and Dad. Most of them are doing fine now but they had to wait for everything to clear their systems so they sat our the morning activity. I think it might have been this birthday cake we had yesterday. The vanilla one tasted like it had paint thinner in it so I stopped eating it after one bite. but one of the sick people didn't actually eat that so it must have been something else? Who knows! So please pray for health for everyone!
Because so many were sick and a lot of us are really tired, they cancelled the afternoon activity and we got to come back here right after lunch and have the day off. The majority of us headed off to our cabins for a long-awaited nap, it was so nice! And tonight, since we have extra time, I'm looking forward to reading a ton! I do get to read everyday but it's only for like 45 minutes in the morning. I do enjoy my morning quiet times a ton and God teaches me a lot, don't get me wrong! Praise the Lord that I do have time in the morning to spend with him and that I have the freedom here to do that! Usually in the mornings, though, I'm always rushed so I can't wait to just hang out with God for as long as I can tonight!
Prayer Requests:
-soft hearts
-boldness!!!
-that we will stand out as God's children
-that God would use us however He wants to (even if it's not what we expect)
-health and safety
Today was a wonderful day. We started with a rushed breakfast and headed to this place called Opportunity International. We got to split up into groups of 6 (3 Drake students, 2 MUBS students, and 1 MUBS faculty) and go meet with small groups of people who were involved with Opportunity International. This is a business that loans money out to these small groups for there small businesses so it was really interesting getting to learn all about that.
I was in a group with one of the Drake girls that is a Christian but not involved with a fellowship as far as I know and this was the first time that I got to spend a ot of time with her and get to know her more which was really great. We get along very well and I'm really excited to continue that relationship!
Today we had a few people down. Yesterday they all must have eaten something not so good because 8 people got food poisoning (or something resembling it) last night and this morning. I didn't get sick so dont worry Mom and Dad. Most of them are doing fine now but they had to wait for everything to clear their systems so they sat our the morning activity. I think it might have been this birthday cake we had yesterday. The vanilla one tasted like it had paint thinner in it so I stopped eating it after one bite. but one of the sick people didn't actually eat that so it must have been something else? Who knows! So please pray for health for everyone!
Because so many were sick and a lot of us are really tired, they cancelled the afternoon activity and we got to come back here right after lunch and have the day off. The majority of us headed off to our cabins for a long-awaited nap, it was so nice! And tonight, since we have extra time, I'm looking forward to reading a ton! I do get to read everyday but it's only for like 45 minutes in the morning. I do enjoy my morning quiet times a ton and God teaches me a lot, don't get me wrong! Praise the Lord that I do have time in the morning to spend with him and that I have the freedom here to do that! Usually in the mornings, though, I'm always rushed so I can't wait to just hang out with God for as long as I can tonight!
Prayer Requests:
-soft hearts
-boldness!!!
-that we will stand out as God's children
-that God would use us however He wants to (even if it's not what we expect)
-health and safety
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day 11
Sunday! One of my favorite days :)
We got to go to the church on campus today and I was PUMPED!! Michelle (the MUBS student who is a Christian) was telling me about it; its the church that she attends. We got there and it was this tiny room on campus (the switched to that room temporarily since most of the students had gone home after finals) with a little podium thingy up front and a cross sign on the wall (you can see a picture of this when i figure out how to post them on facebook from here, not as easy as you'd think!). It was a group of about 15 of us from Drake (I had been praying for 10 :) and we took up pretty much the entire middle section of the room and no one else was there until 5 minutes after it was supposed to start (I think they're on Walnut Creek Time, haha). It started with a hymn and then a few prayers. Then the pastor guy said a special welcome to us and then the started the worship section (this is what I was most excited for, I love worship!) It was a small choir of about 5 singers and they went all out. The room literally exploded with praise! It was all praise songs with a million allelujah's and praise the Lords! It reminded me a lot of the typical baptist church with everyone dancing and clapping and stuff, it was sooooo great to let go of everything and just praise God! God is so good!
Then they started the announcements that they do before the sermon and they told us about a mission trip that the church is having to another city in Uganda. They said something like "we're supposed to be going to teach them about business but of course we're gonig to share the gospel with them on top of it!" How cool!
We had to leave right after this because of our schedule unfortunately so we missed the sermon part of it. We then headed to a special needs school/orphanage to tour it. Emily and I had brought a big bag of clothes, shoes, and books to leave there for them. It's a really cool school. It's mission is to help out disabled children but they do a 5:1 normal to disabled ratio. This is so the school can afford things and to show the disabled kids that they are loved and they can live a normal life. It was really cool. There were a few kids there (but not many since it was a sunday) and it was kind of heart-breaking seeing the disabilities. The most inspiring girl was a girl who was born with no arms so she does everything with her legs. They showed us her school books and her "footwriting" was even better then mine! Also, she is best friends with a blind girl so they are always with each other helping each other out. That was really encouraging!
Then we headed to a park for lunch and to just hang out where we all caught up on the homework part of the class (yes, we have work to do while we're here, haha. fun stuff) and I got to get to know a few of the MUBS girls better. We then headed to the chairman of MUBS house (it's a mansion, crazyness) for dinner. While we were there I got to share the gospel with one of the girls I had been getting to know in the park. She is a 7th Day Adventist and I'm pretty sure she is a Christian. Or at least if she isn't then she is sooo close. Emily is pretty close with her as well so I'm glad that she has the chance to see our lives.
Praise the Lord for a wonderful day!
I love you all!
We got to go to the church on campus today and I was PUMPED!! Michelle (the MUBS student who is a Christian) was telling me about it; its the church that she attends. We got there and it was this tiny room on campus (the switched to that room temporarily since most of the students had gone home after finals) with a little podium thingy up front and a cross sign on the wall (you can see a picture of this when i figure out how to post them on facebook from here, not as easy as you'd think!). It was a group of about 15 of us from Drake (I had been praying for 10 :) and we took up pretty much the entire middle section of the room and no one else was there until 5 minutes after it was supposed to start (I think they're on Walnut Creek Time, haha). It started with a hymn and then a few prayers. Then the pastor guy said a special welcome to us and then the started the worship section (this is what I was most excited for, I love worship!) It was a small choir of about 5 singers and they went all out. The room literally exploded with praise! It was all praise songs with a million allelujah's and praise the Lords! It reminded me a lot of the typical baptist church with everyone dancing and clapping and stuff, it was sooooo great to let go of everything and just praise God! God is so good!
Then they started the announcements that they do before the sermon and they told us about a mission trip that the church is having to another city in Uganda. They said something like "we're supposed to be going to teach them about business but of course we're gonig to share the gospel with them on top of it!" How cool!
We had to leave right after this because of our schedule unfortunately so we missed the sermon part of it. We then headed to a special needs school/orphanage to tour it. Emily and I had brought a big bag of clothes, shoes, and books to leave there for them. It's a really cool school. It's mission is to help out disabled children but they do a 5:1 normal to disabled ratio. This is so the school can afford things and to show the disabled kids that they are loved and they can live a normal life. It was really cool. There were a few kids there (but not many since it was a sunday) and it was kind of heart-breaking seeing the disabilities. The most inspiring girl was a girl who was born with no arms so she does everything with her legs. They showed us her school books and her "footwriting" was even better then mine! Also, she is best friends with a blind girl so they are always with each other helping each other out. That was really encouraging!
Then we headed to a park for lunch and to just hang out where we all caught up on the homework part of the class (yes, we have work to do while we're here, haha. fun stuff) and I got to get to know a few of the MUBS girls better. We then headed to the chairman of MUBS house (it's a mansion, crazyness) for dinner. While we were there I got to share the gospel with one of the girls I had been getting to know in the park. She is a 7th Day Adventist and I'm pretty sure she is a Christian. Or at least if she isn't then she is sooo close. Emily is pretty close with her as well so I'm glad that she has the chance to see our lives.
Praise the Lord for a wonderful day!
I love you all!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Days 8, 9, and 10
Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been able to post in a while, the Internet went out at Red Chilli so we have to fight for the computers. I actually had day 8 all typed out and I went to post it and then the Internet didn't work any more so it didn't post, haha.
So day 8 was another traveling day, not much going on. I was able to spend some time with one of the girls here and just get to know her a lot more which really good and we even got to talk about Alive a bit and hopefully I cleared some things up for her. We went to the equator shops again and then headed to a crocodile farm where we saw some man-eating crocodiles! They were pretty cool. Emily O got sick for a bit so they had to bring her to the hospital in Kampala. Some intestinal problem but she is fine now so now worries!!! You can read her blog for more information.
Day 9 was a very encouraging and very challenging day all wrapped into one. At breakfast, I got to sit next to one of the MUBS students and we got to talking about God and I found out that she is a born-again Christian! We talked for the whole day pretty much (around the activities of course - we went to listen to a talk about gender issues and we met the principle of MUBS) about anything and everything and it seems her church here is very similar to ours. She leads a small women's bible study and attends a large group bible study a different day of the week, she reads every day, and she shares the gospel with her friends. It was soooo encouraging to talk to her - praise the Lord!
Also at breakfast, I got to give the muslim MUBS student that I had talked to a few days ago a track and let him know that if he had any questions about Christianity that he should ask me (and I know he read it because he was actually talking to another Drake student about it later that day)
At the meet the principle dinner thing, we got to meet a lot of the faculty and see the traditional Uganda dance. Then the dance music started and it got hard. I have some convictions about dancing in the mosh-pity kind of style to music with ungodly lyrics so I was set against sitting out when everyone from Drake started to dance. I dont think that it shows us as being at all different from the world when we participate in things like that (even if we aren't actually the ones doing the dirty dancing) and I take seriously the verse that says to not show even one hint of immorality so I want to run from the line of hinting at immorality. The world says that's crazy but that is what God has put on my heart about it. It was just me and one other girl from Drake, the one in the graduate program, who sat out a first. So I kept second guessing myself and my convictions, wondering if it was legit and I was overreacting. So it was really hard for me to stick to that and not join in but I did get to hang out with that girl a bit which was good. So I learned a lesson in sticking to my convictions even when I really really dont want to and also a lesson in not pushing my convictions onto other Christians who dont share the same ones. Disclaimer: I dont have anything against all dancing, I love dancing! it's just the way it was being done that I didn't want to participate in for various reasons, ask me about it sometime if you want to!
Anyway, after this whole episode, we headed back to the cabins and the Christian and the muslim girl from MUBS came to hang out with us in the cabin. It was really nice just being able to be with the two of them. I got the chance to give Michelle, the Christian, a bunch of tracks and New Testaments that I had brought because she wanted some to give to her non-Christian friends, and we even gave the muslim student a tract. I know Emily has been hanging out with her a ton and she heard the gospel when I was sharing the the Muslim guy from MUBS so you can be praying for her heart!!
Today, we got the privilege of going on one of the most looked forward events from the trip - the rural visit. We left straight after breakfast to drive about an hour and a half to go into the very rural part of Uganda. We arrived in the town center to the welcoming of probably about 30 children. Then we split into two groups so that we could visit two different farming family homes. One group walked to their destination; my group got to ride boda boda's (which are like the taxi's of Uganda, motorcycle style). Don't worry parents, the drivers made sure to go a slow and safe speed on those things.
We got to meet Henry Lwanga who taught us all about his cocoa farming and family life. Before we had arrived, I was expecting a town that was very lacking; a town full of sad people who would do anything for some food (like they show on the commercials all the time) but I am very happy to report that that is not the case at all. The town is thriving! There is more food then they need and they have access to health care (there is a pharmacy and health clinic in town as well as a hospital 10 kilometres away) and education without too much hassle.
Henry got his Bachelor's degree from Makere University and came back to farm, something that is actually rare. Most farming families don't have that much education, children usually stop after primary school so that the kids can help out on the farm. Henry's family, however, is exceptional and all of the kids attend school. He has 10 children by the way and the ones that aren't yet at university help around the 50 acre farm that the family owns.
So here is what Henry tells us the typical rural Ugandan day looks like:
He wakes up around 5 am and plans everything out so he has a "mission for the day." Then he actually begins the work around 7 am with the help of his children. The kids usually can only help out for a little bit since they need to get to school. He works out on the farm all day while his wife stays home and works on general upkeep, cooking, smaller plants, etc. The kids help out more on the weekends and on holidays but even afterschool there is always some sort of project to do around the home. On a cocoa farm, there is never lack of something to do - they have to harvest every 14 days. I asked about who inherits the farm, expecting to hear the usual "eldest son" answer, but Henry says that's actually something that is put in the will and is kept a secret until the father passes away, and this is not always (or even usually) the eldest son. But no one will know until the time comes; I found that very interesting.
After seeing some of the cocoa plants and learning about the agriculture aspect of their life, we had to retreat to the pourch of the house to get out of the pouring rain - bad timing huh? But we got to ask more questions and hang out for a bit so it was cool! When we were on the porch, I was talking to Henry and I brought up God and he said that he actually used to be a Muslim but the his grandpa shared the gospel with him so he accepted Christ, got baptized, and is now living a very repectable Christian life, how cool is that!??! He also showed me these daily bible verse text messages that he gets everyday and he was very impressed when I was able to finish saying one of the verses before he finished reading it, haha. That was awesome!
Then I got to talk to a few of the Drake students about our papers and some research we were doing for it so I got to give a track to one of the girls and she read the whole thing right there standing on the porch while the rest of us were still in the middle of the conversation and she looked fascinated by it! So please pray for her heart!
When the rain stopped, we headed back into town to have some lunch. The wives of the farmers who had been showing the two groups around had cooked us a feast; there was so much food there! And most of it was very different food then we are used to eating. What I liked most about the feast was that, according to Dr. Senteza, all of the food came from within a 5 kilometer radius. It was all home grown. Well, this is excluding the soda that we had to drink of course. But the food was pretty good and there was more then enough there, which is a great testimony to how the town is thriving.
The people are so happy there; it was wonderful to see! Also, there was an overwhelming sense of community. One of the staff members from MUBS was telling me that while he was growing up in a farming community, he was able to disappear for the whole day and no one would worry because in those town, everyone knows each other and no one needs to worry about being robbed or kidnapped or anything. What a great place to be!
By the time we went to tour the town, there were about 100 kids (no joke) following us and watching us "muzungus" (they dont see white people that much). Two 13 year old orphans came up to me and we got to talking and they are also born-again Christians so we got to talk about that! wow, God is encouraging me a ton, despite how hard it is here!
Prayer requests:
-boldness!
-soft hearts
-mission minded hearts
-sharpening and encouragement
-that we would stand out!
-that we will all stick to our convictions
love love love
ps. send me a message on facebook! I want to hear from people!
So day 8 was another traveling day, not much going on. I was able to spend some time with one of the girls here and just get to know her a lot more which really good and we even got to talk about Alive a bit and hopefully I cleared some things up for her. We went to the equator shops again and then headed to a crocodile farm where we saw some man-eating crocodiles! They were pretty cool. Emily O got sick for a bit so they had to bring her to the hospital in Kampala. Some intestinal problem but she is fine now so now worries!!! You can read her blog for more information.
Day 9 was a very encouraging and very challenging day all wrapped into one. At breakfast, I got to sit next to one of the MUBS students and we got to talking about God and I found out that she is a born-again Christian! We talked for the whole day pretty much (around the activities of course - we went to listen to a talk about gender issues and we met the principle of MUBS) about anything and everything and it seems her church here is very similar to ours. She leads a small women's bible study and attends a large group bible study a different day of the week, she reads every day, and she shares the gospel with her friends. It was soooo encouraging to talk to her - praise the Lord!
Also at breakfast, I got to give the muslim MUBS student that I had talked to a few days ago a track and let him know that if he had any questions about Christianity that he should ask me (and I know he read it because he was actually talking to another Drake student about it later that day)
At the meet the principle dinner thing, we got to meet a lot of the faculty and see the traditional Uganda dance. Then the dance music started and it got hard. I have some convictions about dancing in the mosh-pity kind of style to music with ungodly lyrics so I was set against sitting out when everyone from Drake started to dance. I dont think that it shows us as being at all different from the world when we participate in things like that (even if we aren't actually the ones doing the dirty dancing) and I take seriously the verse that says to not show even one hint of immorality so I want to run from the line of hinting at immorality. The world says that's crazy but that is what God has put on my heart about it. It was just me and one other girl from Drake, the one in the graduate program, who sat out a first. So I kept second guessing myself and my convictions, wondering if it was legit and I was overreacting. So it was really hard for me to stick to that and not join in but I did get to hang out with that girl a bit which was good. So I learned a lesson in sticking to my convictions even when I really really dont want to and also a lesson in not pushing my convictions onto other Christians who dont share the same ones. Disclaimer: I dont have anything against all dancing, I love dancing! it's just the way it was being done that I didn't want to participate in for various reasons, ask me about it sometime if you want to!
Anyway, after this whole episode, we headed back to the cabins and the Christian and the muslim girl from MUBS came to hang out with us in the cabin. It was really nice just being able to be with the two of them. I got the chance to give Michelle, the Christian, a bunch of tracks and New Testaments that I had brought because she wanted some to give to her non-Christian friends, and we even gave the muslim student a tract. I know Emily has been hanging out with her a ton and she heard the gospel when I was sharing the the Muslim guy from MUBS so you can be praying for her heart!!
Today, we got the privilege of going on one of the most looked forward events from the trip - the rural visit. We left straight after breakfast to drive about an hour and a half to go into the very rural part of Uganda. We arrived in the town center to the welcoming of probably about 30 children. Then we split into two groups so that we could visit two different farming family homes. One group walked to their destination; my group got to ride boda boda's (which are like the taxi's of Uganda, motorcycle style). Don't worry parents, the drivers made sure to go a slow and safe speed on those things.
We got to meet Henry Lwanga who taught us all about his cocoa farming and family life. Before we had arrived, I was expecting a town that was very lacking; a town full of sad people who would do anything for some food (like they show on the commercials all the time) but I am very happy to report that that is not the case at all. The town is thriving! There is more food then they need and they have access to health care (there is a pharmacy and health clinic in town as well as a hospital 10 kilometres away) and education without too much hassle.
Henry got his Bachelor's degree from Makere University and came back to farm, something that is actually rare. Most farming families don't have that much education, children usually stop after primary school so that the kids can help out on the farm. Henry's family, however, is exceptional and all of the kids attend school. He has 10 children by the way and the ones that aren't yet at university help around the 50 acre farm that the family owns.
So here is what Henry tells us the typical rural Ugandan day looks like:
He wakes up around 5 am and plans everything out so he has a "mission for the day." Then he actually begins the work around 7 am with the help of his children. The kids usually can only help out for a little bit since they need to get to school. He works out on the farm all day while his wife stays home and works on general upkeep, cooking, smaller plants, etc. The kids help out more on the weekends and on holidays but even afterschool there is always some sort of project to do around the home. On a cocoa farm, there is never lack of something to do - they have to harvest every 14 days. I asked about who inherits the farm, expecting to hear the usual "eldest son" answer, but Henry says that's actually something that is put in the will and is kept a secret until the father passes away, and this is not always (or even usually) the eldest son. But no one will know until the time comes; I found that very interesting.
After seeing some of the cocoa plants and learning about the agriculture aspect of their life, we had to retreat to the pourch of the house to get out of the pouring rain - bad timing huh? But we got to ask more questions and hang out for a bit so it was cool! When we were on the porch, I was talking to Henry and I brought up God and he said that he actually used to be a Muslim but the his grandpa shared the gospel with him so he accepted Christ, got baptized, and is now living a very repectable Christian life, how cool is that!??! He also showed me these daily bible verse text messages that he gets everyday and he was very impressed when I was able to finish saying one of the verses before he finished reading it, haha. That was awesome!
Then I got to talk to a few of the Drake students about our papers and some research we were doing for it so I got to give a track to one of the girls and she read the whole thing right there standing on the porch while the rest of us were still in the middle of the conversation and she looked fascinated by it! So please pray for her heart!
When the rain stopped, we headed back into town to have some lunch. The wives of the farmers who had been showing the two groups around had cooked us a feast; there was so much food there! And most of it was very different food then we are used to eating. What I liked most about the feast was that, according to Dr. Senteza, all of the food came from within a 5 kilometer radius. It was all home grown. Well, this is excluding the soda that we had to drink of course. But the food was pretty good and there was more then enough there, which is a great testimony to how the town is thriving.
The people are so happy there; it was wonderful to see! Also, there was an overwhelming sense of community. One of the staff members from MUBS was telling me that while he was growing up in a farming community, he was able to disappear for the whole day and no one would worry because in those town, everyone knows each other and no one needs to worry about being robbed or kidnapped or anything. What a great place to be!
By the time we went to tour the town, there were about 100 kids (no joke) following us and watching us "muzungus" (they dont see white people that much). Two 13 year old orphans came up to me and we got to talking and they are also born-again Christians so we got to talk about that! wow, God is encouraging me a ton, despite how hard it is here!
Prayer requests:
-boldness!
-soft hearts
-mission minded hearts
-sharpening and encouragement
-that we would stand out!
-that we will all stick to our convictions
love love love
ps. send me a message on facebook! I want to hear from people!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Days 6 and 7
Mom, sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. I am alive, don't worry about it :)
It's been a very busy couple of days here!!
Yesterday we left our resort bright and early to head to Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda. On the way to the park we stopped at a tea farm to see how it works. It's crazy, the people have these cutter thingys that they use to cut the good leaves off but the good leaves are only the highest 2 leaves of each plant for some reason (i think it may have something to do with the sun) and the people spend all day picking the leaves and they end up getting about $2.50 a day! yikes.
We arrived at the national park and headed straight to the boats for another boat tour that took us to Lakes Edward and George (see a pattern here? they're named after British people, haha). On the way down to the boats, a girl from Drake and I got into a conversation about God and whether He is the same God between all religions. It's for sure a conversation that I will continue with her later as we were interrupted by the goings on here so you can pray for that!
On the tour we got to see a lot of animals (hippos, elephants, alligators) and later we went on a game drive (just a drive through the park) where we saw about a million antelopes, a bunch of warthogs and even some monkeys!
On the bus on the way back to the resort, the older couple, the Phillips that I mentioned before, asked me to come to their seat then they handed me an evening devotional book by Joyce Meyer and in the cover the wrote something like "it's been a pleasure getting to know you on this trip. You are live you faith and are a fruitful witness." Wow, that was so encouraging! They are so sweet!!!
We didn't get back yesterday until about 9 and this morning we were supposed to start at 630 so i went right to bed and that's why I couldn't post last night.
Today we went to a primary school to visit and paint one of their buildings for them. The professors asked for people to come early to help set everything up before the rest of the group got there later in the morning. So the three of us volunteered, what a great way to serve the group! We went to the school and started sanding and moving things. The kids were sooooo cute! They had purple uniforms on and they would just stand and stare at us "muzungus." They helped a little for a few hours while we were sanding everything down and when the rest of the group got there they held an assembly to introduce us to them and thank us for what were were going to do. It was a lot of fun!
After the assembly, we got to hang out with the kids before we started working and all they wanted to do was take pictures of themselves and look at them. They were fascinated by seeing the pictures of themselves and they were sooooo cute! I will put pictures up asap.
So we started painting (and got it allll over ourselves, good times). It took a long long time, all day, and we were exhausted afterward but I'm so glad we got to serve like that while we were here. In the middle of the day, we had our lunch break and during lunch, I got to have this awesome conversation with a graduate student who is here with us. We talked about churches and the Bible for awhile. She's great, i love her a lot. She and her husband don't have a church now but I think she may be open to trying one so I'm excited to invite her to Walnut Creek when we got back. She claims Christianity. I'm really excited to talk to her more about Jesus!!
Anyway, we went back to the school and did our thing-paint paint paint, go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground, paint paint paint. When we were finally done, we got to hang out with the kids a little more and we gave out lots of candy (we were swarmed when we got the candy out, the kids all went crazy!). I was one of the last to leave because my project took the longest and when I was finally getting ready to go, some of the older kids (about 7th or 8th grade equivalent) came up to me and asked if I had anything to give them. And from that came two stories, one funny and one actually substantial, haha:
Funny story: A group of the older guys asked if I had any American money and I thought I had some coins in my wallet so I started digging for it. And the surrounded me, about 15 of them waiting expectantly. I then realized that I had actually taken the coins out that morning and stuck them in my suitcase because I didn't need to have them. But I did have a banana left over from breakfast so instead of coins, i pulled that out. they all got a kick out of that and laughed a ton, haha.
Substantial story: After the run in with the guys, the girls from the same grade came up and asked if I had anything for them. I went digging in my bag again and realized I had a New Testament with me, praise the Lord! It is the money looking NT that has the way of the master in it. So i gave that to one of the girls and told her it was a Bible. I asked if they knew what that was and they said they didn't (sad!) so I got to explain to them that this was God's Word that God sent for us so that we can know Him and I told them that it told the story of Jesus (they said they did know who he was). They were absolutely fascinated by it, it was amazing! I really wish I had more, they all wanted one but I only had one in my bag at the time. So please pray for the one that they did get!!!!!
Well it's off to bed, we're in for a long day of traveling tomorrow back up to the northern hemisphere (and I still haven't seen the toilets flush backwards btw. the resorts toilets flush in a weird way so the water goes down rather then around so you cant tell and there aren't really toilets anywhere else besides here, oh well).
Prayer Requests:
-soft hearts
-more conversation opportunities
-discernment and wisdom
-that we would stand out
-faithfulness with our quiet times
-that we will sharpen and encourage one another
Love, Loren
and ps, we're 1/3 of the way done with the trip today!! weird! it's gone by so fast and so slow at the same time.
It's been a very busy couple of days here!!
Yesterday we left our resort bright and early to head to Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda. On the way to the park we stopped at a tea farm to see how it works. It's crazy, the people have these cutter thingys that they use to cut the good leaves off but the good leaves are only the highest 2 leaves of each plant for some reason (i think it may have something to do with the sun) and the people spend all day picking the leaves and they end up getting about $2.50 a day! yikes.
We arrived at the national park and headed straight to the boats for another boat tour that took us to Lakes Edward and George (see a pattern here? they're named after British people, haha). On the way down to the boats, a girl from Drake and I got into a conversation about God and whether He is the same God between all religions. It's for sure a conversation that I will continue with her later as we were interrupted by the goings on here so you can pray for that!
On the tour we got to see a lot of animals (hippos, elephants, alligators) and later we went on a game drive (just a drive through the park) where we saw about a million antelopes, a bunch of warthogs and even some monkeys!
On the bus on the way back to the resort, the older couple, the Phillips that I mentioned before, asked me to come to their seat then they handed me an evening devotional book by Joyce Meyer and in the cover the wrote something like "it's been a pleasure getting to know you on this trip. You are live you faith and are a fruitful witness." Wow, that was so encouraging! They are so sweet!!!
We didn't get back yesterday until about 9 and this morning we were supposed to start at 630 so i went right to bed and that's why I couldn't post last night.
Today we went to a primary school to visit and paint one of their buildings for them. The professors asked for people to come early to help set everything up before the rest of the group got there later in the morning. So the three of us volunteered, what a great way to serve the group! We went to the school and started sanding and moving things. The kids were sooooo cute! They had purple uniforms on and they would just stand and stare at us "muzungus." They helped a little for a few hours while we were sanding everything down and when the rest of the group got there they held an assembly to introduce us to them and thank us for what were were going to do. It was a lot of fun!
After the assembly, we got to hang out with the kids before we started working and all they wanted to do was take pictures of themselves and look at them. They were fascinated by seeing the pictures of themselves and they were sooooo cute! I will put pictures up asap.
So we started painting (and got it allll over ourselves, good times). It took a long long time, all day, and we were exhausted afterward but I'm so glad we got to serve like that while we were here. In the middle of the day, we had our lunch break and during lunch, I got to have this awesome conversation with a graduate student who is here with us. We talked about churches and the Bible for awhile. She's great, i love her a lot. She and her husband don't have a church now but I think she may be open to trying one so I'm excited to invite her to Walnut Creek when we got back. She claims Christianity. I'm really excited to talk to her more about Jesus!!
Anyway, we went back to the school and did our thing-paint paint paint, go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground, paint paint paint. When we were finally done, we got to hang out with the kids a little more and we gave out lots of candy (we were swarmed when we got the candy out, the kids all went crazy!). I was one of the last to leave because my project took the longest and when I was finally getting ready to go, some of the older kids (about 7th or 8th grade equivalent) came up to me and asked if I had anything to give them. And from that came two stories, one funny and one actually substantial, haha:
Funny story: A group of the older guys asked if I had any American money and I thought I had some coins in my wallet so I started digging for it. And the surrounded me, about 15 of them waiting expectantly. I then realized that I had actually taken the coins out that morning and stuck them in my suitcase because I didn't need to have them. But I did have a banana left over from breakfast so instead of coins, i pulled that out. they all got a kick out of that and laughed a ton, haha.
Substantial story: After the run in with the guys, the girls from the same grade came up and asked if I had anything for them. I went digging in my bag again and realized I had a New Testament with me, praise the Lord! It is the money looking NT that has the way of the master in it. So i gave that to one of the girls and told her it was a Bible. I asked if they knew what that was and they said they didn't (sad!) so I got to explain to them that this was God's Word that God sent for us so that we can know Him and I told them that it told the story of Jesus (they said they did know who he was). They were absolutely fascinated by it, it was amazing! I really wish I had more, they all wanted one but I only had one in my bag at the time. So please pray for the one that they did get!!!!!
Well it's off to bed, we're in for a long day of traveling tomorrow back up to the northern hemisphere (and I still haven't seen the toilets flush backwards btw. the resorts toilets flush in a weird way so the water goes down rather then around so you cant tell and there aren't really toilets anywhere else besides here, oh well).
Prayer Requests:
-soft hearts
-more conversation opportunities
-discernment and wisdom
-that we would stand out
-faithfulness with our quiet times
-that we will sharpen and encourage one another
Love, Loren
and ps, we're 1/3 of the way done with the trip today!! weird! it's gone by so fast and so slow at the same time.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Day 5
Hey loves!!
Thanks everyone for the messages and comments about this blog, they mean a lot to me.
I need to be praying more for everyone back at home so pleas please please send my prayer requests and updates via facebook or email!!!!!!
I'm trying to find a time to put pictures up on facebook but who knows when that will be, i already have 280 and it's only been 5 days, haha.
Today was a "relaxing day" as they said. We had a very unusual breakfast in the hotel this morning, with odd food and people were complaining left and right so it was cool being able to show thankfulness and a good attitude about the food that we did have. Hopefully people noticed!
Then we took a 2 hour bus ride from the King Fisher Resort to Lake Bunyoni (the second largest lake in the world, 6500 feet deep!) and I got the spend the time getting to know one of the MUBS faculty members. He is the head of the Business Law department and he wants to open up an orphanage a couple of years from now, how cool is that!). It was also a great time to show some loving to some of the Drake students when they needed stuff.
This morning I read 1 John 3:18 "let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth." so I've been trying to love people in action (and in the ways that they feel loved the most). We're still getting to know everyone but my goal is to let every single person here know that I love them in some way before the trip is over - I need to be intentional about this because I know it wont just happen if I hope for it.
Anyway, we arrived at the Lake Bunyoni resort around lunch time and went straight to some of these canoe-y boats where we proceeded on a two hour tour around the lake (Mom you would have loved it, can't wait to show you pictures!) (it's huge as well as deep with 5 or 6 islands so it took the whole two hours. On my boat was a couple of Christians from Drake (juniors, I'm not sure if they're in fellowship but they are Christians), Emily, and this older couple, the Phillips, who are like the mom and dad on the trip. (He used to teach at Drake and heard about the trip so they are tagging along. They are really sweet Christians who I've been talking to a lot. On the bus today they told me they brought some devotional books for me since they saw in my bio thing that we filled out before the trip that I love Jesus and reading the Bible, how cool is that? They're so great! anyway...). Somehow the conversation I had with the Muslim MUBS student came up and they mentioned that they had heard some of it. I'm hoping this means that other Drake students heard a bunch of it too! So I got to share a little about the conversation.
Random fact tangent: One of the islands on the lake is called Punishment Island because it was an island where the people (only a few decades ago) would send girls when they got pregnant out of wedlock. What the people thought was that the girls were just left to die there but what actually happened was men who didn't want to pay a dowry would come and take the girls as their wives for free. Crazy.....
We got to hang out at the resort for a bit after the boat rides and our lunch (that was at 3 pm, haha). And the topic of drinking came up (which didnt' surprise me). I was the only Christian at the table and everyone else was telling drinking stories so I got to share my conviction about drinking with people!
Afterwards we took another bus ride back to our hotel and I got to talk with people and get to know them more, which was a lot of fun. There is one girl, a pharmacy major here that just needs people to love her and I'm really excited to build into her life. This is one relationship I know that needs to be pursued, her heart is very soft and I can't wait to talk with her more about God! We got to talk a little on the plane rides when she noticed I was reading my bible so you can pray for her!
Susie, Emily, and I are doing well. I think we might do some sort of bible study and prayer when we return from this 3 day adventure in southern Uganda. We need to start re-vamping our fellowship with each other here. We've been sharing verses and things but I know we can be encouraging each other more and praying with each other more, etc. etc. so please pray for wisdom with that!
Prayer requests:
-faithfulness with QT's
-soft hearts
-opportunities for conversations with people
-wisdom on how to love people
-that we will encourage and sharpen each other as we're here
Love, Loren
Thanks everyone for the messages and comments about this blog, they mean a lot to me.
I need to be praying more for everyone back at home so pleas please please send my prayer requests and updates via facebook or email!!!!!!
I'm trying to find a time to put pictures up on facebook but who knows when that will be, i already have 280 and it's only been 5 days, haha.
Today was a "relaxing day" as they said. We had a very unusual breakfast in the hotel this morning, with odd food and people were complaining left and right so it was cool being able to show thankfulness and a good attitude about the food that we did have. Hopefully people noticed!
Then we took a 2 hour bus ride from the King Fisher Resort to Lake Bunyoni (the second largest lake in the world, 6500 feet deep!) and I got the spend the time getting to know one of the MUBS faculty members. He is the head of the Business Law department and he wants to open up an orphanage a couple of years from now, how cool is that!). It was also a great time to show some loving to some of the Drake students when they needed stuff.
This morning I read 1 John 3:18 "let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth." so I've been trying to love people in action (and in the ways that they feel loved the most). We're still getting to know everyone but my goal is to let every single person here know that I love them in some way before the trip is over - I need to be intentional about this because I know it wont just happen if I hope for it.
Anyway, we arrived at the Lake Bunyoni resort around lunch time and went straight to some of these canoe-y boats where we proceeded on a two hour tour around the lake (Mom you would have loved it, can't wait to show you pictures!) (it's huge as well as deep with 5 or 6 islands so it took the whole two hours. On my boat was a couple of Christians from Drake (juniors, I'm not sure if they're in fellowship but they are Christians), Emily, and this older couple, the Phillips, who are like the mom and dad on the trip. (He used to teach at Drake and heard about the trip so they are tagging along. They are really sweet Christians who I've been talking to a lot. On the bus today they told me they brought some devotional books for me since they saw in my bio thing that we filled out before the trip that I love Jesus and reading the Bible, how cool is that? They're so great! anyway...). Somehow the conversation I had with the Muslim MUBS student came up and they mentioned that they had heard some of it. I'm hoping this means that other Drake students heard a bunch of it too! So I got to share a little about the conversation.
Random fact tangent: One of the islands on the lake is called Punishment Island because it was an island where the people (only a few decades ago) would send girls when they got pregnant out of wedlock. What the people thought was that the girls were just left to die there but what actually happened was men who didn't want to pay a dowry would come and take the girls as their wives for free. Crazy.....
We got to hang out at the resort for a bit after the boat rides and our lunch (that was at 3 pm, haha). And the topic of drinking came up (which didnt' surprise me). I was the only Christian at the table and everyone else was telling drinking stories so I got to share my conviction about drinking with people!
Afterwards we took another bus ride back to our hotel and I got to talk with people and get to know them more, which was a lot of fun. There is one girl, a pharmacy major here that just needs people to love her and I'm really excited to build into her life. This is one relationship I know that needs to be pursued, her heart is very soft and I can't wait to talk with her more about God! We got to talk a little on the plane rides when she noticed I was reading my bible so you can pray for her!
Susie, Emily, and I are doing well. I think we might do some sort of bible study and prayer when we return from this 3 day adventure in southern Uganda. We need to start re-vamping our fellowship with each other here. We've been sharing verses and things but I know we can be encouraging each other more and praying with each other more, etc. etc. so please pray for wisdom with that!
Prayer requests:
-faithfulness with QT's
-soft hearts
-opportunities for conversations with people
-wisdom on how to love people
-that we will encourage and sharpen each other as we're here
Love, Loren
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Day 4
Today was a great day! God is doing a ton here, it's so cool to see.
Its a traveling day; we're going to the southwest part of Uganda, a 4 hour bus ride but it took us 10 hours because of all the stops. We stopped at the equator! I have pictures of me straddling the equator and there were a ton of shops there so I got looooooots of souvenirs and they were great prices too! Then we went to a little place for lunch and we finally arrived in Mbara where we're staying at this classy hotel that makes Holiday In's look bad (it's really sweet, we get toilet paper and clean showers and even a pool!).
But I saved the best part for last so get excited :)
We loaded the bus earlier then usual to head over to MUBS for breakfast. After most of us were finished eating, David, one of the MUBS students, asked the professors if he could say a few words of prayer (because it is Sunday and apparently he is a minister!!). So he stood up in front of the whole group (about 40 of us) and gave a little mini-message about God's protection of us. He mentioned verses in Jeremiah and Psalms and then did a 2 minute version of the gospel! Wow, praise the Lord for his boldness and the great message we have to tell! Then he gave us a minute for silent prayer and finally he said a prayer for all of us.
How cool is that?
But wait....it gets better!!
I just happened to be sitting at the table with the only 2 Muslim MUBS students (all the rest claim Christianity). One of them was actually the girl I mentioned who prayed before she ate yesterday, though I didn't know she was Muslim at the time. After we prayed, she asked what religion I was (another answered prayer for an opportunity for a great conversation! PtL!) and of course I said Jesus is my Savior and she told me she was Muslim. And so the conversation began. I asked who they believed Jesus was and she actually didn't know much about what Muslim's believe so the other Muslim from MUBS, a guy, kind of filled in for her. After a few minutes it turned out to be just me and the Muslim guy talking. We discussed everything imaginable - who Jesus was, who God is, do we have the same God, did the crucifixion and resurrection actually happen, prophesies of the Old Testament, etc. etc. etc... This went on for about 45 minutes I think. I noticed a few of the Drake students and other MUBS students listening in on the conversation every once in a while which is great. And it was a very civil conversation; not an argument, just an educated discussion. This guy really knows his stuff. I guess you can say he is like an evangelizing Muslim - he reads the Koran every day and knew it inside and out. However, I have truth and God on my side so that didn't worry me.
I know it wasn't anything that I was doing but it was totally all God working through me. It was so cool! The conversation was great and I know God is working in his heart despite how devoted to the Muslim faith he is. Prayers for him are much appreciated!!!! And for the other Muslim girl. She ended up leaving the table after about half of the conversation so I need to bring it up with her again sometime soon.
Ironically, after we finished speaking, I went to the bus and read about dealing with false teachers in 1 John. God is so good!
Prayers for today:
-soft hearts
-boldness
-wisdom and knowledge
-that we will obviously be children of God and stand out
-more opportunities for conversations with people
Love, Loren
Its a traveling day; we're going to the southwest part of Uganda, a 4 hour bus ride but it took us 10 hours because of all the stops. We stopped at the equator! I have pictures of me straddling the equator and there were a ton of shops there so I got looooooots of souvenirs and they were great prices too! Then we went to a little place for lunch and we finally arrived in Mbara where we're staying at this classy hotel that makes Holiday In's look bad (it's really sweet, we get toilet paper and clean showers and even a pool!).
But I saved the best part for last so get excited :)
We loaded the bus earlier then usual to head over to MUBS for breakfast. After most of us were finished eating, David, one of the MUBS students, asked the professors if he could say a few words of prayer (because it is Sunday and apparently he is a minister!!). So he stood up in front of the whole group (about 40 of us) and gave a little mini-message about God's protection of us. He mentioned verses in Jeremiah and Psalms and then did a 2 minute version of the gospel! Wow, praise the Lord for his boldness and the great message we have to tell! Then he gave us a minute for silent prayer and finally he said a prayer for all of us.
How cool is that?
But wait....it gets better!!
I just happened to be sitting at the table with the only 2 Muslim MUBS students (all the rest claim Christianity). One of them was actually the girl I mentioned who prayed before she ate yesterday, though I didn't know she was Muslim at the time. After we prayed, she asked what religion I was (another answered prayer for an opportunity for a great conversation! PtL!) and of course I said Jesus is my Savior and she told me she was Muslim. And so the conversation began. I asked who they believed Jesus was and she actually didn't know much about what Muslim's believe so the other Muslim from MUBS, a guy, kind of filled in for her. After a few minutes it turned out to be just me and the Muslim guy talking. We discussed everything imaginable - who Jesus was, who God is, do we have the same God, did the crucifixion and resurrection actually happen, prophesies of the Old Testament, etc. etc. etc... This went on for about 45 minutes I think. I noticed a few of the Drake students and other MUBS students listening in on the conversation every once in a while which is great. And it was a very civil conversation; not an argument, just an educated discussion. This guy really knows his stuff. I guess you can say he is like an evangelizing Muslim - he reads the Koran every day and knew it inside and out. However, I have truth and God on my side so that didn't worry me.
I know it wasn't anything that I was doing but it was totally all God working through me. It was so cool! The conversation was great and I know God is working in his heart despite how devoted to the Muslim faith he is. Prayers for him are much appreciated!!!! And for the other Muslim girl. She ended up leaving the table after about half of the conversation so I need to bring it up with her again sometime soon.
Ironically, after we finished speaking, I went to the bus and read about dealing with false teachers in 1 John. God is so good!
Prayers for today:
-soft hearts
-boldness
-wisdom and knowledge
-that we will obviously be children of God and stand out
-more opportunities for conversations with people
Love, Loren
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Day 3
So this morning I read 2 Peter 2 and 3 and chapter 3 is all about Christ's return and then I got really pumped!! If you've accepted Christ as your Savior, then you're going to Heaven, get excited. It'll be an eternity of a perfect relationship with the God of the universe, I can't wait!!!!!!
And I love the part that says "since all these things are thus to be dissolved [meaning the sinful earth passing away and the new heavens and earth coming],what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness." And then Peter continues on to say "be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace." You gotta be diligent and fight the flesh continually (even when you're say on a trip in Uganda).
Me and Susie got to talk about that this morning; she is reading Crazy Love (read it if you haven't!) and she is in chapter 2 where it says that you could die before you finish the chapter and it talks about heaven so we got pumped for Heaven.
So today we were at MUBS again for breakfast and after I prayed for my breakfast, one of the MUBS ladies sat down next to me and prayed for hers as well, that was awesome!
Then we headed to meet this entrepreneur who created a Telecom company that is the biggest in Uganda. He turned out to be more of an inspirational speaker who taught about entreprenuership than the other way around. He used a metaphor for entreprenuership that went something like this: entreprenuers are like seeds. When the seeds land on rocky ground, they fail quickly, when they land on the beaten path, they fail quickly, but when they land on good soil and dig roots deep down, they succeed....sound familiar?? (if not, check out Matthew)
On the way into the talk, I was talking to one of the lovely ladies here on the trip with us and I got to remind her that God loves her, which she didn't seem to believe. I will definately continue that conversation later, she for sure needs to know that God loves her, everyone does.
(in case you didn't know, God love you! for real)
Then we went to MUBS again for lunch where I ate liver (one bite, haha) and we celebrated Susans birthday with a cake!! And I got some sweet suveniers from one of the MUBS students' brothers, who is an artist, you will get to see those when I return :)
And finally, we headed to the World Cup soccer game!!!!!!!! Or football game as it's called here. It was Uganda vs. Kenya and Uganda won of course! The girl from MUBS that was sitting next to me had a shirt on that I really really liked, it said "I serve a living savior" :) Amen sister!
Left a few tracks around, you can pray for those!
So today is a short summary but you get the picture. I'll see you all soon!
Prayer requests for today:
-safety and health
-boldness
-fruitfulness
-learning and growth
-soft hearts
<3
And I love the part that says "since all these things are thus to be dissolved [meaning the sinful earth passing away and the new heavens and earth coming],what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness." And then Peter continues on to say "be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace." You gotta be diligent and fight the flesh continually (even when you're say on a trip in Uganda).
Me and Susie got to talk about that this morning; she is reading Crazy Love (read it if you haven't!) and she is in chapter 2 where it says that you could die before you finish the chapter and it talks about heaven so we got pumped for Heaven.
So today we were at MUBS again for breakfast and after I prayed for my breakfast, one of the MUBS ladies sat down next to me and prayed for hers as well, that was awesome!
Then we headed to meet this entrepreneur who created a Telecom company that is the biggest in Uganda. He turned out to be more of an inspirational speaker who taught about entreprenuership than the other way around. He used a metaphor for entreprenuership that went something like this: entreprenuers are like seeds. When the seeds land on rocky ground, they fail quickly, when they land on the beaten path, they fail quickly, but when they land on good soil and dig roots deep down, they succeed....sound familiar?? (if not, check out Matthew)
On the way into the talk, I was talking to one of the lovely ladies here on the trip with us and I got to remind her that God loves her, which she didn't seem to believe. I will definately continue that conversation later, she for sure needs to know that God loves her, everyone does.
(in case you didn't know, God love you! for real)
Then we went to MUBS again for lunch where I ate liver (one bite, haha) and we celebrated Susans birthday with a cake!! And I got some sweet suveniers from one of the MUBS students' brothers, who is an artist, you will get to see those when I return :)
And finally, we headed to the World Cup soccer game!!!!!!!! Or football game as it's called here. It was Uganda vs. Kenya and Uganda won of course! The girl from MUBS that was sitting next to me had a shirt on that I really really liked, it said "I serve a living savior" :) Amen sister!
Left a few tracks around, you can pray for those!
So today is a short summary but you get the picture. I'll see you all soon!
Prayer requests for today:
-safety and health
-boldness
-fruitfulness
-learning and growth
-soft hearts
<3
Friday, May 21, 2010
Day 2
Hey all! I'll just jump right into today, it was a busy one!!
This morning I read 2 Peter 1 and some of the verses I really really liked were 3-11. I especially focused today on the part that says we need to suplement our faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. And (here comes an awesome promise!!) if we have these and they are increasing in us, then we will be kept from "being ineffective or unfruitful." Awesome!
I was praying this morning that I would have one good conversation today and God bless me with two!! I'll go into that more later.
We began the day with a breakfast at MUBS again. It was a slower morning since we were all so tired from yesterday. And then we left for the Ugandan Parliament (this is the governing body that rules over all of Uganda with a President). On the way, I saw a bunch of cars with signs on them saying things like "God is great" and "glory be to God" and "Jesus died for you" and things like that. They are not uncommon so I dont know why I didn't see them yesterday. So that was encouraging. Anyway, we toured the Ugandan parliament and I noticed that the motto for Uganda on the crest is "For God and my country." That was pretty cool.
Then made our way back to MUBS for lunch and on the way, one of the MUBS guys was showing me some of the larger buildings in the city and mentioned that one of them was a church. And here was the opportunity for a conversation that I'd been praying for. I asked if he had a church and we got to talk about religion vs. a relationship and going through the motions for a little bit. It wasn't a very long conversation and I was not able to full out share the gospel but I need to later this trip. He is not a Christian (yet) so you can be praying for him.
Interesting random tangent: at lunch I sat next to a guy from MUBS who hadn't been there yesterday and he said his name was Deo (pronounced DayO) and his name is a nickname for deogracias which means "Thank God" cool huh?
Oh and yesterday at breakfast, the first table I sat at was a guy from MUBS who was reading a men's pocket Bible, which was really encouraging so we talked about bibles for a bit.
But back to today:
Then we made our way to the Bugandan Parliament (this is the government of one of the tribes of Uganda that rules with a King/Queen kind of system. it gets a little sticky with the two types of governments in one). They told us about how the system works and we talked to the minister of education (so we didn't get to meet the Queen) and toured the palace grounds. While there, the grounds keeper/tour guide guy told us that when people meet the King, they need to bow down to him as a sign of respect. I got a little worried because I was not going to bow to anyone, God is the only person I bow to (God says very clearly that He is the only one we should be bowing down to). But we weren't going to meet the King anyway. It would have been a cool witness to the group but i'm glad the situation didn't come up.
The king in Buganda is treated like, well, a king (the phrase makes more sense to me now that I see what a king is treated like). He has a huuuuge palace and they close the roads down when he goes out and people bow to him. the craziest thing is that they made a man-made lake for the king. it's the second largest man-made lake in africa so it's huge. and even more then that, no one is allowed to use it besides the king who never does so it just sits there and people volunteer to keep it up (without getting paid anything) for him. Wow.
While we were touring the grounds, 7 or 8 little kids popped up out of the woody place nearby wanting to play with us and they surrounded us. I had some candy to give them and we took pictures of and with them (they absolutely love seeing pictures of themselves). One of the little girls ran up to Susie and grabbed her hand and didn't let go until we left like half an hour later, it was so great. These kids were so playful and happy even though they have practically nothing. and they were sooooo cute!
We we left the kids (reluctantly) and started making our way back to MUBS to drop the MUBS students off. The bus ride was a long one so I got to talk to one of the MUBS girls for a long time about anything and everything. She mentioned my tattoo and up popped opportunity number 2 (God is sooo faithful!!!). So I shared a little of my testimony with her and she told me that she became a Christian when she was a senior, praise the Lord!
After they left, we went to dinner at a chinese place (weird huh) and we got a very blunt reminder of what it's like to live out of fellowship. The conversation at the table was so worldly, all about boyfriends, and drinking, and not anything worth while. The three of us talked a little about what we had read that day with each other to get out of that conversation but it was hard since we were completely surrounded by it. It's going to be harder then I thought. I think we do stand out as Christians which is good, but we could stand out more, and now we just need the boldness and opportunities to share why we stand out so much from the others.
So I'll end with prayer requests:
Boldness! and wisdom to know whether to share in group situations like dinner tonight or one on one once we have built relationships
More opportunities for conversations
that we will stand out more and not seem to be at all a part of the world
For soft hearts from the Ugandans and Drake students
Faithfulness and learning
That we would be used like crazy on this trip!
Love you all, Loren
This morning I read 2 Peter 1 and some of the verses I really really liked were 3-11. I especially focused today on the part that says we need to suplement our faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with steadfastness, steadfastness with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. And (here comes an awesome promise!!) if we have these and they are increasing in us, then we will be kept from "being ineffective or unfruitful." Awesome!
I was praying this morning that I would have one good conversation today and God bless me with two!! I'll go into that more later.
We began the day with a breakfast at MUBS again. It was a slower morning since we were all so tired from yesterday. And then we left for the Ugandan Parliament (this is the governing body that rules over all of Uganda with a President). On the way, I saw a bunch of cars with signs on them saying things like "God is great" and "glory be to God" and "Jesus died for you" and things like that. They are not uncommon so I dont know why I didn't see them yesterday. So that was encouraging. Anyway, we toured the Ugandan parliament and I noticed that the motto for Uganda on the crest is "For God and my country." That was pretty cool.
Then made our way back to MUBS for lunch and on the way, one of the MUBS guys was showing me some of the larger buildings in the city and mentioned that one of them was a church. And here was the opportunity for a conversation that I'd been praying for. I asked if he had a church and we got to talk about religion vs. a relationship and going through the motions for a little bit. It wasn't a very long conversation and I was not able to full out share the gospel but I need to later this trip. He is not a Christian (yet) so you can be praying for him.
Interesting random tangent: at lunch I sat next to a guy from MUBS who hadn't been there yesterday and he said his name was Deo (pronounced DayO) and his name is a nickname for deogracias which means "Thank God" cool huh?
Oh and yesterday at breakfast, the first table I sat at was a guy from MUBS who was reading a men's pocket Bible, which was really encouraging so we talked about bibles for a bit.
But back to today:
Then we made our way to the Bugandan Parliament (this is the government of one of the tribes of Uganda that rules with a King/Queen kind of system. it gets a little sticky with the two types of governments in one). They told us about how the system works and we talked to the minister of education (so we didn't get to meet the Queen) and toured the palace grounds. While there, the grounds keeper/tour guide guy told us that when people meet the King, they need to bow down to him as a sign of respect. I got a little worried because I was not going to bow to anyone, God is the only person I bow to (God says very clearly that He is the only one we should be bowing down to). But we weren't going to meet the King anyway. It would have been a cool witness to the group but i'm glad the situation didn't come up.
The king in Buganda is treated like, well, a king (the phrase makes more sense to me now that I see what a king is treated like). He has a huuuuge palace and they close the roads down when he goes out and people bow to him. the craziest thing is that they made a man-made lake for the king. it's the second largest man-made lake in africa so it's huge. and even more then that, no one is allowed to use it besides the king who never does so it just sits there and people volunteer to keep it up (without getting paid anything) for him. Wow.
While we were touring the grounds, 7 or 8 little kids popped up out of the woody place nearby wanting to play with us and they surrounded us. I had some candy to give them and we took pictures of and with them (they absolutely love seeing pictures of themselves). One of the little girls ran up to Susie and grabbed her hand and didn't let go until we left like half an hour later, it was so great. These kids were so playful and happy even though they have practically nothing. and they were sooooo cute!
We we left the kids (reluctantly) and started making our way back to MUBS to drop the MUBS students off. The bus ride was a long one so I got to talk to one of the MUBS girls for a long time about anything and everything. She mentioned my tattoo and up popped opportunity number 2 (God is sooo faithful!!!). So I shared a little of my testimony with her and she told me that she became a Christian when she was a senior, praise the Lord!
After they left, we went to dinner at a chinese place (weird huh) and we got a very blunt reminder of what it's like to live out of fellowship. The conversation at the table was so worldly, all about boyfriends, and drinking, and not anything worth while. The three of us talked a little about what we had read that day with each other to get out of that conversation but it was hard since we were completely surrounded by it. It's going to be harder then I thought. I think we do stand out as Christians which is good, but we could stand out more, and now we just need the boldness and opportunities to share why we stand out so much from the others.
So I'll end with prayer requests:
Boldness! and wisdom to know whether to share in group situations like dinner tonight or one on one once we have built relationships
More opportunities for conversations
that we will stand out more and not seem to be at all a part of the world
For soft hearts from the Ugandans and Drake students
Faithfulness and learning
That we would be used like crazy on this trip!
Love you all, Loren
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Traveling and Day 1
So we made it safe and sound! Praise the Lord for that. None of our bags got lost or anything like that, we all made our flights on time and we got lots of time to read, take naps (definately needed) on our 25 hour adventure to Uganda. I got the chance to have some great conversations with people on the plane. I was next to fellow students the whole time and a few of them expressed interest in going to the church here with us. One of the girls was even talking about how she tries to read the Bible daily over the summer and we got to talk about religion vs. a relationship. it was so encouraging!
I also got to find out a little more about the church that we're going to with Dr. Bishop. It is protestant and it seems that people are very connected to God there. She said they play english worship music, songs that we will recognize (yay for getting group worship time here!) and that people are always raising their hands up to the Lord. I'm really excited for that.
I read this verse yesterday on the plane and it fits so well with this trip, I love it when that happens.
Psalm 96:2-3 "Sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the people!"
We got in around 8:30 Uganda time yesterday and we went straight to the resort from the airport. There were a few of the administrators who met us at the airport and went with us in the bus to Red Chilli, where we're staying. I got to sit next to one of the lovely ladies; her name is Patricia and she told me all about Uganda (well not all but it was a 45 minute ride so that's still a lot of info).
On the bus ride, while sitting at a stop light, the bus was approached by 6 or 7 children, the youngest looked about 3, who were begging, putting their hands up hoping that we will throw something, anything down to them.
I had brought lots of hard candy to hand out to kids but it was in my checked bags, which were under the bus so I had nothing to give them. It was hard seeing the desperation, I got a few pictures of them while I'll put on facebook with the rest of the pictures. But God is the God of that city. He is the Hope of that nation. He is the King of those people. He is the light to their darkness and I'm so thankful for that.
This morning, we met bright and early for breakfast to finally meet the students from the Makere University Business School (MUBS for short). We got to do an ice breaker sort of activity for a long long time so we got to know each of the 12 students pretty well. 2 at least I know are Christians, and I think a few more might be. I'm excited to find out when I get to know them better. Anyway, we went on a campus tour of MUBS and then to lunch at a place that looks like a cross between KFC and McDonalds, with fried chicken and burgers. Odd first lunch in Uganda but it definitely didn't taste like it was from America. It was different but not bad.
Then we went to the market. I had always seen pictures of things like it but never expected what it actually was. A huge area with mud floor (my shoes are very messy) and small little box type shops where you can barely fit one person filled with merchandise that people try to sell. The walkways are so tight that you can't walk anywhere without bumping into someone or getting swept up into a current (I was wearing my pick-pocket free purse so don't worry Mom!).
When we walked by, the majority of people would shout "mazungu" or something like that which I found out later means "white person" but the MUBS students said it's a respectful term. We were the only white people around so it makes sense that they were suprised. It's so hard to believe that people make their living in a place like that. We are so privileged in America, praise the Lord for that.
I saw more begger kids and had my Dum Dums with me so I gave some out and some of the kids didn't even know what to do with them. I was also able to leave some tracts in a place or two. You can pray for those!
Despite the poverty around (and there is a ton), the people are generally happy. One of the MUBS girls, Robbie, was telling us about it. We hear all the time in the US that Africa is just one huge depressed country where not one person has a dime to their name. But the people aren't all poor, especially in Kampala, the city we're in. It almost feels like just a dirty city at home rather then a place in Africa. Way different then my expectations. Anyway, though a lot of the people are poor, they seem to have pretty good attitudes; enjoying the life that they have. I'm sure this is nothing compared to the joy that comes from the Lord but it's good to know that they aren't giving up. Prayers for the poor here would be appreciated!
Like I said earlier, the city is about half Christian, half Muslim. There are two big hills in Uganda, and on top of one, there is an Anglican church, and on the other, there is a Mosque....ironic? I'm excited to meet some mustlims and talk with them sometime in the next few weeks.
I will try to post again tomorrow but getting the internet here is tough, you really gotta fight for it. Until next time:
Prayer Requests:
faithfulness with QT's
conversations and boldness in them
relationships with our classmates and with the MUBS students
that we will very obviously shine God's light to the people
Love always, Loren
PS: facebook me some updates and verses! I would love to hear them :)
I also got to find out a little more about the church that we're going to with Dr. Bishop. It is protestant and it seems that people are very connected to God there. She said they play english worship music, songs that we will recognize (yay for getting group worship time here!) and that people are always raising their hands up to the Lord. I'm really excited for that.
I read this verse yesterday on the plane and it fits so well with this trip, I love it when that happens.
Psalm 96:2-3 "Sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the people!"
We got in around 8:30 Uganda time yesterday and we went straight to the resort from the airport. There were a few of the administrators who met us at the airport and went with us in the bus to Red Chilli, where we're staying. I got to sit next to one of the lovely ladies; her name is Patricia and she told me all about Uganda (well not all but it was a 45 minute ride so that's still a lot of info).
On the bus ride, while sitting at a stop light, the bus was approached by 6 or 7 children, the youngest looked about 3, who were begging, putting their hands up hoping that we will throw something, anything down to them.
I had brought lots of hard candy to hand out to kids but it was in my checked bags, which were under the bus so I had nothing to give them. It was hard seeing the desperation, I got a few pictures of them while I'll put on facebook with the rest of the pictures. But God is the God of that city. He is the Hope of that nation. He is the King of those people. He is the light to their darkness and I'm so thankful for that.
This morning, we met bright and early for breakfast to finally meet the students from the Makere University Business School (MUBS for short). We got to do an ice breaker sort of activity for a long long time so we got to know each of the 12 students pretty well. 2 at least I know are Christians, and I think a few more might be. I'm excited to find out when I get to know them better. Anyway, we went on a campus tour of MUBS and then to lunch at a place that looks like a cross between KFC and McDonalds, with fried chicken and burgers. Odd first lunch in Uganda but it definitely didn't taste like it was from America. It was different but not bad.
Then we went to the market. I had always seen pictures of things like it but never expected what it actually was. A huge area with mud floor (my shoes are very messy) and small little box type shops where you can barely fit one person filled with merchandise that people try to sell. The walkways are so tight that you can't walk anywhere without bumping into someone or getting swept up into a current (I was wearing my pick-pocket free purse so don't worry Mom!).
When we walked by, the majority of people would shout "mazungu" or something like that which I found out later means "white person" but the MUBS students said it's a respectful term. We were the only white people around so it makes sense that they were suprised. It's so hard to believe that people make their living in a place like that. We are so privileged in America, praise the Lord for that.
I saw more begger kids and had my Dum Dums with me so I gave some out and some of the kids didn't even know what to do with them. I was also able to leave some tracts in a place or two. You can pray for those!
Despite the poverty around (and there is a ton), the people are generally happy. One of the MUBS girls, Robbie, was telling us about it. We hear all the time in the US that Africa is just one huge depressed country where not one person has a dime to their name. But the people aren't all poor, especially in Kampala, the city we're in. It almost feels like just a dirty city at home rather then a place in Africa. Way different then my expectations. Anyway, though a lot of the people are poor, they seem to have pretty good attitudes; enjoying the life that they have. I'm sure this is nothing compared to the joy that comes from the Lord but it's good to know that they aren't giving up. Prayers for the poor here would be appreciated!
Like I said earlier, the city is about half Christian, half Muslim. There are two big hills in Uganda, and on top of one, there is an Anglican church, and on the other, there is a Mosque....ironic? I'm excited to meet some mustlims and talk with them sometime in the next few weeks.
I will try to post again tomorrow but getting the internet here is tough, you really gotta fight for it. Until next time:
Prayer Requests:
faithfulness with QT's
conversations and boldness in them
relationships with our classmates and with the MUBS students
that we will very obviously shine God's light to the people
Love always, Loren
PS: facebook me some updates and verses! I would love to hear them :)
Friday, May 14, 2010
Pre-trip Thoughts
So the trip begins in 4 days - ahhh! I've been so busy with moving and getting the house all cleaned and ready to go that I've barely had time to think about the trip, let alone the logistics of packing and everything, haha.
I can't believe I'm actually going, it doesn't seem real yet. Probably won't until I'm actually there.
I'm so thankful to be able to go on this trip, praise the Lord for the opportunity!!! Not only do I get the chance to experience God's creation like I never have before (and probably never will) but I also get to bring the Good News to Uganda!
And I have fellowship there, Susie and Emily. Praise the Lord that none of us have to do this alone. We can keep each other accountable and challenge each other and just love each other. My prayer is that people from Uganda (and the students going on the trip with us) will see God through our love for each other.
I've heard that Uganda is about half Christian and half Muslim. And I know a lot of the Christianity there is Anglican and Catholic but there is also a fairly strong Evangelical base because of the missionaries that go there. So most of the people there will have already heard about Jesus, or his name at least. But not to worry, we have lots of tracks (tracts?) and a few bibles to give to people and our goal is to spread the gospel as much as we possibly can while we're there. We will never get another opportunity like this one.
And another praise the Lord: our research papers. Sounds weird being so thankful for a paper but it's not the writing of the paper I'm excited about. The point of the paper was to pick a topic you're interested in and while you're there, you need to observe and interview and collect as much information as you can on your topic so you can write the paper once you get back. Well my topic of choice: religion. More specifically, what they believe in and how they live out their faith in Uganda. Is it true faith or just lip service? I'm excited to find out! Either way, this paper is a great way to start conversations and start talking about Jesus (my favorite topic!).
Here are some prayer requests for the trip:
- Boldness
- Conversations with people from Uganda and with the other students going
- 1 salvation during the trip
- Faithfulness with our QT's and in our relationships
- That we would be lights there
- Safe travels and that the logistics go well
Loren
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