Yes I know it’s been way longer than I said it would be before I updated. Time flies when you’re as busy as I seem to be… oh and when you don’t have consistent internet. Well it’s been 3 or 4 weeks and yes a lot has happened. Let’s start with the meeting with the field directors. It went really well and I’m really excited to be able to express my thoughts and concerns with them (John and Beth Muehleisen, our temporary field directors). They really listened and actually agreed with most of what was said. They even advised me to say what I told them to their boss, who was here for a couple of weeks. Terry and Karen Duncan are John and Beth’s boss. I believe they’re in charge of all of East Africa. We had a chance to have them over for lunch one day and discuss what’s been going on. They too were very receptive and gave some good solutions to some of my concerns. They’re really great people and it was a joy to get to meet them. Fall break is coming up next week and they have given us an open invitation to come stay with them in Kenya for a visit. How sweet would that be?! I’m not sure if we’ll get to Kenya… tonight Nick, Jean and I talked about the possibility of going to Rwanda and kind of scouting out an area for a possible WGM site. I really would like to get to Kenya before I leave here though. I have a free place to stay and Nairobi is only a 14 hour and 25 dollar bus ride from here.
Anyways, the HIS high school retreat was 17th through the 19th. We left at 8:30am on that Wednesday and drove the two hours to Jinja to the King Fisher Resort for the retreat. It is an absolutely beautiful place with beautiful landscape and scenery. I think that the retreat was a huge success. We had very few issues with behavior problems and some hearts were changed and touched. God moved, as we expected He would. It was a great time to just relax and be away from the city and be away from the school. I got to know many of the youth really well and am enjoying the relationships that were built. I’m definitely getting to know the kids more everyday and I’m really excited about that. Teaching in the elementary is some times a hindrance to what I really am called to do. I loved being able to spend time with the high school. I spent a lot of time just sitting and talking with Lino. He’s on of the Sudanese boys that Nick had been taking care of for a while. Lino is probably about 16. I asked him to tell me his story of how his life was before being rescued from Sudan. He told me he and his younger brother, Angelo’s (aka Taban) story and how they got to where they are now and it was amazing. We spent a lot of time on the retreat just sitting and talking and listening to each other. Lino is one of the sweetest spirits I’ve ever met. He’s so grateful and so humble. His main concern is always for the welfare of other’s before himself. This is a kid who has done hard manual labor just to bring a few schillings home to feed his family for a couple of days. He would go and sleep on the street and look for work and be gone for months at a time… all at about the age of 10 or 11. His story is both amazing and gut wrenching to hear.
So other than talk to Lino, we had games and lots of free time. We had a good speaker for the kids too, Paul Crowe. Francis is the music teacher at HIS and he mostly led worship. I sang while he played guitar and Nick drummed. Worship was awesome. Games and free time were fabulous. We had a blast swimming and playing keep away with the kids. It was so hilarious to have these high school boys trying to dunk me and then watch them realize that my bodyguard, Nick was now going to take them down. Ha! We had a giant tarp that we made into a slip and slide and we had a relay race. We divided the grades into teams and had them compete in a bunch of random tasks. It was a blast. The winning team gets a home cooked meal from me, Lisa, and Nick today at lunch instead of school food.
So, all in all the retreat was good. I’m happy with the way things turned out and even though there were some small glitches that are still being worked out, I wish we could go again. It was a rejuvenating time for me because I’ve been struggling with teaching. So to get away and be with the youth was nice. It is so obvious to me that I am called to work with high school age youth!! I relate so much better with them and I know how to deal with them. Man, what a joy!
So what else has been going on? Teaching, teaching, and more teaching. I’ve been trying to change the way I do things a bit… trying to change up my teaching style and just do a better job. Even though it’s not what I love to do I figure that God has only called ME to teach 6th grade at Heritage right now. And not anyone else, so I probably should do what I’ve been called to do well. There is no one else that God has brought to teach right now, in this moment. It’s me and I’ve got to do a better job at it. It glorifying to God, don’t ya think? My students are doing better grade-wise. We’ve discussed my goals for them and what I expect out of them. We’ve been working on note taking and focusing on the task at hand. I think things are getting better. Please keep praying for that.
The discipleship group at KIU is going really well. We’re waiting on our books to come in from the States. I ordered them 3 weeks ago now, so hopefully they’ll be here any time. The first week we did intros of ourselves, the second week Jean gave her testimony, the third week I gave my testimony, the fourth week I was on retreat so Jean talked about true joy, and this past week was the fifth week and I talked about worship. I didn’t have anything planned because of all of my busyness and meets and such. BUT I’m all about doing things last minute and not having a set plan… I work well under pressure. So at about 6pm I decided I would talk about worship. True worship, in spirit and in truth. I brought my guitar and we did some songs, then I talked for about a half hour about ways to worship, what true worship is to God, and about worship in every day tasks and things we always do. It turned out really well and I thought the girls responded well. I’m excited for the Beth Moore books to get here especially since they were so darn expensive, but I think it’s going well either way. I love the relationships I’m building with the girls.
I’m really focusing on working on my relationships that I’ve started here. Relationships with the other missionaries are going really well right now. I absolutely love the fun times we’ve all been having together and the fellowship. Things can sometimes get rough spending so much time with the same people, but the Lord is softening some hearts within our mission and it’s been helpful. We’ve been spending a lot of time with the Hopsons and it’s been a real joy. Delight Hopson has become my Africa mom. She is a nurturer and loves to take care of us. I have her son, Austin in my class. Kaleb is in grade 8, and Emilee is grade 4. They are a fun family. I’m also enjoying getting to know Lisa better. She is awesome and she was great on retreat. The Kelley’s have two younger girls and they’re cute. They’ve also been really nurturing to Jean and I. And of course I love the Bournes. This past weekend we took Rachel (13) and Haley (17) to Speke resort to swim for the day. They have a really nice pool… AND I got to have a Coke in the pool. All of my dreams… came true. (well maybe not all of them). It was so fun to spend time with them and get to know them better. Those two were fabulous on retreat. I’ve also been able to get to know Nick better which is fun.
Speaking of Nick… he was given the book “The Shack” as a gift from some of our missionaries who just got back here from South Africa. It’s a fictional book, which I’m not generally fond of Christian fiction. But one Sunday he came over here so he and I could listen to a sermon on my computer together instead of going to church (we were both very much worn out from retreat) and he brought the Shack to finish after we listened to the sermon. He was super excited about it and told me I had to read it. So I just finished it this weekend because I’ve been too busy to read it until now and oh my, it’s good! It was really thought provoking and I’m definitely recommending it to everyone! It puts a new spin on understanding God and having a relationship with Him. The Trinity is introduced in ways I’ve never even imagined possible. It has definitely made me think more about my own relationship with Jesus and how I actual relate to Him and maybe some ways He sees me and the things that I do. I don’t want to write more than that, but please, please go out and get it. It’s a short 250 pages… a very quick read. I read it in about 2 days. It’s SO good. Nick is actually using it as his material for his KIU discipleship group. It has stirred some interesting conversations with his group of guys. If nothing else it really makes you think.
I’m also trying to read Captivating (the girls version of Wild At Heart). So far it’s awesome. It’s very revealing in my own life and I really think that any man who wants to truly understand a woman, and what she is thinking and how she handles things, should read it. Men, this book has already changed a lot in my heart already. Man-up and read it!
Well, I think that’s about it. I’m missing my family quite a bit. My daddy left for Arizona yesterday, for the winter so my family won’t see him until Christmas. It’ll make communicating a bit more challenging for me too. My sister and my mom are getting ready to fly to Florida for a couple of weeks of training. My family has decided to open a franchise, so the training is for that. Their new store is going to be in Yorkville. As I understand it, the outside is done and the sign is up. They are working on the inside and getting everything set up and ready. I think it’s going to open the end of October or beginning of November. I would love to be a part of it, but that’s ok. Maybe I’ll do the PR and marketing when I get home. Kayla and Alexandria are doing well. Kayla will be 4 next month! Can you even believe it? Alexandria is 17 months as of yesterday. She is talking up a storm I guess and I miss them both dearly. I get to talk to them about once a week. Last week I was able to use a webcam so they could see me, but I couldn’t see them. Kayla kept trying to show me things because she doesn’t understand that I can’t see her. It’s so funny!
I was able to talk to my bff, Stacy for a long time yesterday. Poor girl was home sick because she’s prego! I forgot to write that last time and I’m sure you all knew this already, but I’m excited and I’m praying for a boy because a nephew would be so fun! I’ve been able to talk with a many of my bffs lately, so it’s been nice. I’m trying to be better at calling. Thankfully when you buy minutes on Skype it’s real cheap to call people’s phones in the States.
So, I’ve been here for 2 months as of yesterday. I still don’t know when I’m coming home, but I’m trusting the Lord with that. I don’t need to know right now, right? It’s kinda crazy to think that I’ve been out of the States for over two months now. I feel like I’ve missed a lot, but I know I’ve gained more than I’ve missed if that makes sense.
Over thanksgiving weekend WGM Uganda, including the Arua team (Arua is to the north and it borders Sudan) is having a retreat (well kind of). We are going to be staying here and just doing stuff during the days, but I’ve been asked to lead worship for the retreat. Man am I glad I brought my guitar?! Heck yes! Beth Muehleisen (field director) is in charge of the retreat and she’s going to be doing most of the speaking I think. She has asked me to rewrite some Wesleyan song to make it more modernized… at least that’s how I understood her. We’ll see, but I’m really excited!
Well yesterday was a random holiday that was announced Monday. It’s called IDD and it’s an Islamic holiday determined by the moon. It could have fallen anywhere from last Friday until today. So no school yesterday was a nice treat. We walked to a grocery store because our car battery died on Saturday and it still hasn’t been fixed. Ah, Africa. It took us about an hour to get to the store and once we got down there we had to go to a couple of different stores because you can never find everything you need in one place. No Wal-Mart’s here that’s for sure. Then we walked the hour back home with our groceries. We could have taken a boda, but walking seemed like a better idea at the time. The Equatorial sun is ridiculously intense. It was real hot. Living in Kampala means living on a hill, so anyway you go you’re eventually walking up hill… both ways. I didn’t mind the walk though. I could have done without the heat, but hey, I live on the equator, so I need to get used to it. I also practiced driving stick shift with the Kelley’s car. Oh, I’m getting good!
I’m going to try my best to (sometime soon) write an entry about everyday life and the different things I deal with day to day like walking to work in a skirt through a mud hole, or like living near a rooster that doesn’t know when to stop crowing, or like driving on the left side of the road… or the right side, or whichever side has less traffic. Yikes!
But for now I’m going to go and get some rest. Much love to all of you!
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