Thanksgiving. As I sit in my living room in Uganda this morning, drinking my coffee, listening to the sounds of Bodas and cars driving by, roosters crowing, dogs fighting, children laughing, and the constant beat of a hammer at a nearby construction site, all I can do is wipe away the tears of thankfulness for the life that God has given me here. Thanksgiving was once just another day to eat a lot of amazing food, watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and take a nap, but this year, Thanksgiving takes on a whole new meaning. I am thankful, so very thankful, for all that God has brought me through and where he has brought me to, in this season. I am so thankful for my amazing Ugandan family who love me and care for me so well as I navigate a new life here. I am so thankful for the amazing friends and family I have here and back in the States who love me, pray for me, and support me in every way. I am so thankful for the boys God has brought me, the ones who love deep, protect me, watch out for me, and even annoy me. I am so thankful for my simple, yet chaotically busy, Ugandan life, and I can't imagine being anywhere else.
It has been almost 2 months since I have updated, and I do apologize. Life has been very busy here, including a quick trip back to the states for me and a large team coming to do missions from my church, as soon as I returned to Uganda. I have a lot to catch you up on, so go grab a cup of your favorite warm drink (I hear it's freezing in Tennessee these days) and settle in for a wild Ugandan ride.
Let's begin with this amazing news......We are now OFFICIALLY certified and recognized by the NGO board and Jinja City Council as a CBO in Uganda, Experience Hope International!!! Praise God! This happened shortly after my last post in September and it will be such a huge asset as this ministry continues to grow. The government is very corrupt here, and to have an official recognition and certification helps ease the blow sometimes, especially when working with street kids. It was a process to obtain this status, but Thomas found an amazing lawyer for us to work with and she helped so much with the whole process. It's Uganda, so I had to pay some bribes along the way (something I despise, but have to do here more than I'd like), but all things considered, it didn't take as long or as much money as any of us expected. We celebrated with a special meal and cake with the boys at bible study and they were ecstatic! They know the importance of having the certification, as well. We praise God for allowing things to go so smoothly and I pray that this ministry continues to grow and flourish as it has the last 7 months.
The first week in October, we began seeing some lifting of lockdown restrictions, here in Uganda. Our churches have been closed since May, however on October 3, doors were opened again. This was a huge celebration for so many, because due to the lack of technology and infrastructure, many churches couldn't even meet online during this time. Just like the churches in America, numbers went down when doors reopened, however we went from having around 10-15 street kids present, to now 40 since church has been back in session! We praise God for that! I am in the process of finding a more suitable church for myself. I love the African churches, but for short term only. They're so loud and hard for me to understand that I feel more stressed going to service than I should. I have found 2 Ugandan churches with English services where I don't feel like I'm being screamed at (because of the microphone, not conviction), and feel more western style that I'm used to. 2 of my boys have went with me the last 2 weeks and really enjoy the change of pace as well. Along with churches reopening, gyms reopened and most businesses can go back to full capacity, yet you're still only supposed to have 3 people in a car, but no one follows that rule. We are still prayerful and hopeful for schools to reopen in January. Around the end of October, the president spoke saying that his goal was all schools to resume in January. Schools have been closed since March of 2020, so, as you can imagine, we have more kids on the streets, more families struggling to feed their children, and more teen pregnancies. Kids have been idle for too long, and it's effecting them in a very negative way. I have 4 kids who need to go back to boarding schools when they reopen because they are younger, and several more who are ready for vocational school.
Early in October I took a little weekend respite trip to Mount Elgon, where I went hiking at Sipi Falls and around the villages of Kapchora. I even took a coffee tour, where I picked coffee beans and roasted, ground and made my own cup of coffee afterward. It was such a much needed respite trip for me, and spending time in nature is my favorite place to be. Uganda is so beautiful and even though I was so sore from hiking the mountains for about 32 miles in 2 days, ( I swear I never went downhill, only up) I thoroughly enjoyed my little get away.
At this point in October, we were consistently seeing between 75-80 street kids show up to bible study a week, about 40 to church, and many more doing pop in visits for medical care or to see what the organization is about. I have not went looking for a single boy the entire time I've been here, but they know me and they find me and it is amazing seeing how God is changing them. I'm so thankful for the experiences and grace God has given me to share with these boys.
A couple of weeks after my Mt Elgon trip, I had a trip planned to go back to the states. I have to admit I had every emotion possible leading up to the trip. I was nervous about being over stimulated, I was anxious about leaving my boys, I was fearful that I would no longer know what's going on and be the outcast just sitting and listening to everyones lives that had moved in a different direction than mine. I thought about cancelling the trip more than once, but I have some amazing friends who encouraged me and I knew no matter what, I needed to go home. This trip home was partly for 2022 planning, partly for talking to my church and sponsors about what's going on here, and partly for a respite I didn't even know I needed. 3 of my sweet friends planned an amazing girls trip to the beach while I was there. We had no plans other than to be together and enjoy the stillness for a few days, and it was fabulous! I cherish my sweet girls and I can't even explain how much that trip meant to me. It was so wonderful seeing friends, going to my home church, and just being with those I love and cherish for a few days. I even had my first Thanksgiving celebration of the year, while home, all inclusive of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade playing on YouTube. I couldn't have asked for a better night with my people. It was a whirlwind of 3 weeks, but I'm so thankful I ended up going back. While I was in the States Thomas and Mary held down the fort here. I loved getting videos of my boys and being able to video chat with them some. I missed them, and they sure missed me, but I'm so thankful for the ones here who sustain the ministry even without me present.
While I was gone Uganda began having some terrorist attacks, which are still happening as early as last week, in Kampala. There have been some bombings happening, but they seem to be specifically targeted, and we have not seen any such threat here, in Jinja at this time. Some businesses have increased security checks with metal detectors or searching bags/cars, but for the most part it's business as usual around here.
When I got back to Jinja, I was all in playing catch up after being gone for 3 weeks, but also planning for a team of 17 who were coming only a week after I got back. I am so thankful for my amazing partners here who helped me get everything organized and took care of things while I was gone. I couldn't do this without their help. Planning for a group of 17 was intense, because we still have some gathering restrictions and a 7pm curfew we had to split into 2 separate teams and have 2 different programs for the entire week. While one team went to the island for 2 days for evangelism, the other team did mainland evangelism and boys bible study, then they swapped later in the week. I'm super thankful for the 2 amazing leaders that were here, they sure made things much easier. We praise God for all the souls that gave their lives to Christ last week and I love hearing from the pastors about the new members coming to church now! I got notifications Sunday after service that so many new people were filling the chairs of the church. God is moving, and I'm so thankful I get to see the fruit of the work that he's doing. While the team was here we spent a day with all of the street kids, not just the ones who come to our program, sharing the gospel, playing games, and serving a meal. We had around 250 boys show up for this day and it was so amazing having my group of boys help manage everyone and keep everyone in line. They are such a big help now and it went smoother than it's ever went before because of them. You see, being a street kid basically means you're part of a gang. They may fight like brothers and beat the snot out of each other, but they also protect those who help them and others respect that. At one point in the day, after serving food, we were serving seconds and extra sodas. This is where the chaos ensued, but my boys were up front pushing back and yelling at the others to not push onto me. It's so cool seeing how such a once angry, bitter boy, now is a protector in a non aggressive way. Not only is the ministry with street kids teaching them how to reintegrate back into the community, it's also, above all, about discipleship. I was such a proud mama to be able to send 4 boys to the islands with the teams for evangelism and hear how amazing they were in helping the teams and in sharing the gospel. This is what the great commission is all about! Raising up others to go out and raise up others. I also had another one of my boys with me, personally, all week to help. Joel is my go to, right hand man. He helps me so much and is so humble and kind. I can't imagine this Ugandan life without him, and to know he only came back to Jinja the week I arrived here gives me chills. God knew I needed him and he needed to be here. Joel has been on the streets since he was 6, and today is his 18th birthday. Joel will be CEO of this organization one day, I have no doubt.
This week...this week has been nuts to say the least. Now I'm going on week 3 of crazy and looking forward to this weekend when I'll lock myself in my house and not open the gate or answer the phone while I lay in my hammock and try to rest. After the team left I had to put my house back together and get everything back in a grind for me. Monday I had to make my first visit to immigration here in Jinja because when I returned from the states a couple of weeks ago they stamped my passport wrong. I'm so thankful I caught it now instead of when I tried to leave again, or I'd have some hefty fines to pay. I was in immigration for 3.5 hours, but it's all sorted out, until February at least. After I left I got a call that there were some sick boys at our boys house and another call saying one boy was hit by a boda and had a swollen leg. I ran by the boys house real quick and dealt with those boys then made a beeline for the one with the deformity. When I arrived his left leg was 3 times the size of his right one, and had obvious deformity, so we loaded up and I took him to the hospital where we stayed overnight while the swelling reduced so we could cast. Tuesday, since I was in the hospital, Thomas led bible study for me. After taking John back to his place when we were discharged, I had to go back to the boys house for more wound care and taking care of some other issues that we had put off while the team was here. On Wednesday we started our 3rd bible study at the boys house. This has been something God has laid on my heart for about a month because of the ministry growing so rapidly, but I knew I needed to wait until the team left. We had 30 boys show up to this new bible study and had such a great discussion. I went over the rules with everyone and took care of whatever medical issues they had. I'm praying that most come back next week, but I also know, with the strictness of my rules, some won't return. After bible study I had a new boy come to me who's been on the streets since he was 6, and he's 16 now. He was staying in a nearby village with his mom and one day she told the neighbor she was going to be gone a couple of days and asked the neighbor to care for him. Hakim's mom never returned and that day he became an orphan. The neighbor took care of him for a short time but reached the point that financially she couldn't care for him. All he was left with was surviving on the street, at 6 years old. Hakim came to me with a pretty serious medical issue, however we didn't know the extent of it until I took him to the hospital. After multiple scans and lab work we decided the best course of action is surgery. The surgeon will be back in town next week, and Hakim will be having surgery on Thursday. After surgery Hakim and I will need to stay at the boys house for a week for wound care, and medication management, since he doesn't have a room currently. I'm praying that Hakim sees God in this situation, much like many other boys have. I truly believe with all of my heart that God gave me all of the medical jobs and medical experience he did, through the years, for right now, and I praise God for that!
Because of lockdown restrictions we have not been able to teach Following Jesus anymore since the first week in June, where we finished a class at military gunpoint. Last week, with the team, one of my translators, Pastor David, who was in that last class gave me some amazing news! He said after their class in Tongolo, that so many pastors were on fire for Following Jesus and they began making copies of the papers and meeting in small groups walking through the class. They've had many people attend over the last 5 months and I'm so thankful for their obedience in followthrough with teaching their community, as we discussed. We plan to resume Following Jesus in the next couple of weeks, and I'm excited about the leaders who will be primarily teaching.
We are still looking for a good property to purchase, for the ministry, but I don't want to rush into anything. I've had a couple of really good potentials, but the Holy Spirit has clearly revealed to me they are not the right place. We are currently still renting the boys house, through March, but can extend if we need to, if we don't find property by then.
God is doing amazing things here in Uganda, every day. He continues to raise up boys who are discipling others, he continues to open doors that seem impossible, and he continues to give me endurance to get through every day. I love my Ugandan home. I can't imagine being anywhere else. This is home. This is my comfortable uncomfortable. This is God's place for me. Praise Him!
Prayer requests:
-Clarity in finding the right land and not rushing into something just to purchase
-Finding intentional rest days and respite with God
-Wisdom as the boys ministry grows so rapidly
-Wisdom as we seek more Ugandans to partner with this ministry
-Health and wellness for my sweet brother and sister who give their all for me and the boys
