More Precious Than Gold: Imperishable. Undefiled. Unfading.

I write this sitting outside with no shower for the 3^rd night in a row. No water. I am to the point that I am wishing for a cold shower right now. With how hot it has been for the past week the thought of the freezing water splashing all around me and running through my hair sounds like a spa treatment.

The honeymoon is over.

It has almost been 6 months since I landed here at Plot 157 Kubamitwe, Uganda; 6 wonderfully trying months. I have been encouraged, strengthened, pushed, and confronted in ways that I never expected. But no, really, most of this I didn’t expect. I expected the cold showers, no showers, bugs, lack of Target runs, and the severe absence of edible sushi. I expected to be challenged in my walk with the Lord, to grow in my faith, and to make friendships that would prove to be invaluable.

What I didn’t expect was the burdens that would be transferred from those that I have come to love to my heart. I didn’t expect to spend days and nights feeling as if my head is couldn’t hold one more thought. I didn’t expect the guilt that I would feel at the fact that I have never suffered as these people, that I have a seriously difficult time identifying.  

I have lost people close to me before, either to death or the fracturing of a relationship for one reason or another. I have felt the pressure to make ends meet when it comes to bills, tuition, rent, and groceries. I have been sick before, or known people close to me who have struggled with illness; but everything that I search my brain for and identify as some sort of trial pales in comparison to what those around me are dealing with.

Death, illness, broken families, hunger, anxiety, and depression are rearing their ugly head in the lives of those that I have come to love and been given the opportunity to minister to. Everyone has a story and not many of them have a happy ending.

A couple of weeks ago an elderly lady in one of my Bible studies lost her daughter to a botched surgery to remove the baby that she had just miscarried. Esther, the lady in my Bible study, has a heart condition which causes her to have a heart attack about once a month. Her daughter was the one who rushed her to the hospital, which is about 45 minutes away, each time that she would have an attack, and would provide the money for the treatment. Now that her daughter has passed away Esther is grieved because she has lost her daughter and anxious because there is no one who can care for her now. There is only so much that I can do in this situation. I can’t go and live with Esther, I can’t have her move in with us, I could pay for her hospital fees, but her village is about 30 minutes away from mine, so if she was to somehow reach me when she has an attack, it would take almost twice as long for me to get her to the hospital. This is when helplessness sets in pretty hard.

It is somehow difficult to go spend the day with someone in the village and help them wash their clothes by hand, pump their water from a bore hole, cook their meal over a charcoal fire, dig their food from their garden, and then sweep the dirt floor of their mud home and then go back to my cushy house that has running water, a stove, and even a new washing machine that I didn’t know how I was going to live without.

I have spent many nights praying and asking God to heal those around me. Heal them physically, spiritually, and relationally; but what I have come to see is that God can truly use suffering in someone’s life to bring glory to himself and to grow that person in their faith. I can’t count the number of times that I have heard this whether in church or a counseling class, but for the first time in my life I think that I actually believe it. I have actually come to believe 1 Peter 1:6-7 when it says, “in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in PRAISE & GLORY & HONOR at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

I really believe that our suffering, no matter how severe, is only for a little while. I see how it perfects our faith which is more precious than gold. And I have witnessed those who suffer choose, through their tears, to praise and worship our God who is worthy of glory and honor. God has been teaching me so much about trusting in his future grace. He is using the suffering of those around me to grow my faith and he is allowing me to witness the heart change of these loved ones who are struggling with things that I can’t begin to imagine dealing with.

As soon as I begin to feel guilty for the life that God has given me to live compared to the one that he has given to those around me I remember that we are all recipients of a future grace that proves this life to be temporary. The focus is not on the things that we have in this life, but how we glorify God in this life and hope for the one that is to come. I have learned to go without many things, but I have also learned to be thankful for the resources that God has given me and use them as selflessly as possible.

A quote from John Piper in his book Future Grace has served as a great encouragement to me these past few months. It says, “Only if we trust God to turn past calamities into future comfort can we look back with gratitude for all things…Be strong, and do not doubt that God will be as gracious in the future as he has been in the past.” I shared this with Esther as we sat and recounted all the ways that God has shown her grace in the past, and I was able to witness her tears turn from sorrow to rejoicing, she was not the only one who was praising God through their tears that afternoon. He is so good. He is so very good beyond anything that I can imagine or understand. The fact that we serve a God who can take terrible suffering and turn it into a glorious thing brings me comfort that surpasses all understanding.

Believer, contemplate your suffering today, whatever it might be, and rejoice. Rejoice because God is a loving, powerful, sovereign God who is for you, and secured for you a hope that is in heaven.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9

One of the nicer houses in the village. Bricks made by hand, built with love by the people who call this place home.

Cassava root. It looks gross, and sometimes it is, but it is a staple food around here. When in Rome...

Some kids from the nearby town. Who doesn't love a photo-op?

Life As A Foolish, Weak, Lowly Vessel of God

Elisa, John, Kazibwe, and I lovin the church-wide fellowship.

Matoke, beans, rice, greens, and posho. Servin it up Ugandan style.

Anette, a teacher at our primary school was baptized at our 4 year anniversary.

We made a mail run today. By we I am not including myself. It would be more accurate to say that we sent for the mail. You see, there is no mailbox here in the village. The mail comes to the post office in Luwero, the nearest town about 35 minutes from Kubamitwe, and it sits in our PO Box until we send for it and a boda man brings the whole lot of letters and packages, sans junk mail because paper isn't wasted here in Uganda on super saver coupons.

The rambling about our means of mail delivery is to say that today was a very special mail delivery day because it brought me three sweet letters from three special people. Two were from aunts of mine just writing about how they are praying for me and all that the Lord is doing in their lives back home in Georgia, complete with some much appreciated VIA Packets. The other was from one of my dearest friends, Lizzie Griffith. We had agreed before I left that we would write each other while I was gone, the old fashioned way. I'm pretty sure the agreement was based on our mutual love for adorable stationary, but a deal is a deal, and I am much appreciative of this said agreement.

I opened the letter with a smile on my face because if it was nearly as funny as our text messages that I have been missing dearly, then I knew that it was going to be a good read. And the letter didn't disappoint. I will admit, it made me miss home a bit, but the end of the letter was the best part. The Lord had used 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 to encourage Lizzie recently and she was inspired by the Spirit to share it with me, so I have chosen to share it once more, probably the millionth time it has been shared since Paul was inspired to write it to the Corinthians hundreds of years ago:

"For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"

This encouragement could not have come at a better time. Much of what I have been doing the past few weeks is considering my calling. I am going to be honest and admit that there have been more than a few times that I have asked myself, "What am I doing here?" and "How am I supposed to make any sort of difference when there is so much to be done?". I am not the most talented, I am not the smartest, I am flawed, I am easily discouraged, and there are more times than I can count that my faith is not strong, but rather it falters and I choose to turn to myself rather than the Lord.

This verse was exactly what I needed to read when I opened one of my first letters here in Uganda. Consider your calling…consider that God has chosen what is weak to shame the strong, consider that God has chosen what is low and despised so that we will not boast. He gave us Christ Jesus, who became wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. What more do we need? There is no requirement that I be the best communicator, that I know how to handle every interpersonal situation that arises, or that I have the ability to review all conversations and relationships with perfect discernment. The requirement is that I proclaim salvation that comes through Jesus Christ and allow the Lord to work through me so that all of my boasting and bragging can be on the things that God is doing through me and the people I get to serve with here at SOS Ministries.

Speaking of bragging…

We just had the privilege of hosting a team from Placerita Baptist Church and Legacy Christian Academy in Santa Clarita, CA for a week and with their help we were able to plant over 200 fruit bearing trees at the houses of the students that attend our primary school here so that they can grow, harvest, and share some of the fruit with the school to supplement the students' lunches. We built a kitchen for a mother in a neighboring village so that she can provide food for her children even when it is raining outside, avoiding cooking over an open fire in the pouring rain. A full size soccer field was built enabling SOS to host the local villages' soccer games and use them as an opportunity to share the gospel with the athletes. There was  a date night at the church for 35 married couples who had most likely never been on a date before talking about how marriages are created by God to represent Christ and the Church and couples are to complete one another and help each other love Jesus more. We celebrated the 4 year anniversary of Community Bible Church of Kubamitwe, serving a celebratory lunch to over 500 people from the surrounding villages. And lastly, witnessed 14 baptisms from different believers in the church who had recently accepted Christ as their Savior or had chosen to make their profession of faith public after many years of salvation.

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. He has been so kind to the ministry of SOS here in Kubamitwe, the surrounding villages, and in the churches all over Uganda. Many meetings have been taking place between SOS and the leaders of the Baptist Union of Uganda which oversees over 1500 churches all over the country. God is at work here in Uganda. He is calling the Church back to himself and using many men and women to bring truth to churches that are lacking anything similar to that.

Please be in prayer for the people of Uganda, for the Baptist Union, for the people of Kubamitwe and the villages that surround it, and for all of us here at SOS. Pray that we can have love for all that we come in contact with, that we aren't overwhelmed by the need, and that we can find our strength from the Lord when our bodies and minds are tired.

I encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 again and praise God for his kindness in using those who are broken and incapable for the advancement of his Kingdom, and pray that he will show you how you can be used to further his Kingdom wherever he has you today.

One Week: Under the Belt, Or Maybe Head Scarf

Well, I have finished my first full week here in Uganda. I arrived here late Thursday night on the 12^th, but Friday was really just a rest day and then Saturday I spent most of the day settling in and walking around the village and the S.O.S. property. So much has changed since I was last here! It’s really encouraging to see the ministry grow so much in only 2 years! Speaking of growing, as I getting over jet lag on Friday, one of the kids came running to tell us that they had found 2, I repeat, TWO, 7 foot green mambas in the village in a tree above a man’s hut and he had knocked them out of the tree with a rock and smashed their head with a shovel. So naturally we went running to see them. When we got to the house a boy had them both tied to the back of his bike and was dragging them around and the other kids were chasing after him. Pretty typical… Of course I was bullied into touching them, I didn’t want to, but I also didn’t want to look like a big mzungu wimp. It was quite the welcoming to the jungle to say the least.

On Saturday I headed out to Kamapala, the capitol, with Shannon, the 3 of the 4 Hurley boys, and Obote, one of the students living with the Hurleys, to watch the boys play in a baseball game. Basically, they had heard about this team and they wanted to play, so we went to Kampala to check it out. When we showed up there were about 4 teams there and they were playing tournament style and the team that the boys were playing on was getting ready to warm up to play against this other team from the city. It was really bizarre because I never thought that I would be going to baseball game in Uganda, soccer is assumed, but not baseball. The boys did great, considering that they were playing with kids much larger than them and they had never practiced before, and their team even won their game!

          Even though they didn't really have all the supplies they needed and most of them weren't even wearing shoes, they had a great time and it was a ton of fun to watch!

During the day when I’m not playing with 7 foot mambas or going to Ugandan baseball games, I am a homeschooling the Hurley kids. There’s Elisa (14), Ezekiel (11), and Ethan (10), and Evan (7). Let me tell ya, it’s a really humbling experience when you get a 9^th grade algebra problem wrong, or you have to read the lesson over again because you can’t remember the process of photosynthesis. It’s a real temptation to just tell the kids that they are never going to use that stuff again, but I just have to fight the urge and tell them how important it is to know the difference between chlorophyll and chlorine. The first week has been a lot of fun, and we are really getting into the groove of things.

 Elisa was busy being diligent with her work, so she couldn't make it for the class picture.

After school is finished for the day, I move onto the other tasks that I have to complete. I am helping out the primary school here on the property, Legacy Christian Academy, and that is really neat to see what a quality school they are running here in the middle of the bush. It’s so great to see these kids get such a good education that teaches them about Jesus at the same time. Please remember them in your prayers as they continue to education 100 kids this term and more to come in 2014!

On Mondays after school I meet with a lady named Felistas. She is my translator for my Thursday bible study and we meet together on Mondays to go over the study that we are going through. It’s a really great opportunity because while she is helping me out I am able to disciple her and walk with her through Scripture. Tuesdays and Wednesdays I go to bible studies with other women led by different people here at SOS and Thursdays I jump on a boda boda (basically a low powered motorcycle) and head about 20 minutes away to a neighboring village called Bukyeke and lead a bible study there. I have been told that the numbers can vary a little, but I can expect to see Edith, Patrick, Justine, Hezron, and Lydia there every week. Out of those five people only Justine is a believer. Edith is an Anglican, Patrick is a Catholic, and Hezron and Lydia don’t claim a religion. This last week when I went they had so many questions, especially Patrick, and are so open to the Gospel. Please be in prayer for this bible study as we go through Romans and they can see that Christ is the only remedy for their sin. It’s such a sweet group of people and I am completely overwhelmed with excitement to study Scripture with them every week. Sundays are spent with a group of Muslim kids in a village about 30 minutes away teaching them stories about Jesus. Their parents are mostly Muslim, but in this culture there isn’t much accountability as to where your kids are during the day, so they are free to come to bible study without their parents caring. It’s great to spend that time with them playing games and memorizing Scripture while they learn about a greater God than Allah.

 

All in all, this first week has been such a great start to an exciting year. I am so thrilled to see how God is going to work in my life and the lives of the people that I am around. I know there are going to be challenges along the way, but I also know that my God is bigger than those challenges and I have a lot of people praying for me back in America. Thank you for keeping up with my blog, and I would love to hear from you and what is going on in your life on the other side of the world! Feel free to email me at journeysofamzungu@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and keep your eyes open for more news about what is going down in the bush!