P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, they take forever to load but I have taken a couple hundred already! I'll put a bunch of pictures up when I get home!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, I Want to See You
I'm blogging tonight from Kampala, Uganda. I'm exhausted from the day but so filled with the Holy Spirit. We left Canaan's today for two days before we head back on friday and it was heartbreaking. It is crazy how attached you can get after only two days. I feel like those children are a part of my life now. I am so happy to get to see them again before we leave. I already don't want to leave and God allowing would love to come back time and time again! I am very excited to continue to serve and love on other orphans from different ministries but Canaan's will always have a special place in my heart. Tomorrow we will be with 300-400 orphans at Return Uganda. The children will be all ages and we will be doing a Vacation Bible Study lesson, craft, worship time with them. I can't wait to continue to learn from the Lord and listen to what He is whispering to my heart. It is such a blessing to be here and I am taking in every second of it!
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, they take forever to load but I have taken a couple hundred already! I'll put a bunch of pictures up when I get home!
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures, they take forever to load but I have taken a couple hundred already! I'll put a bunch of pictures up when I get home!
The Heart of Worship
Tuesday March 15, 2011
Again I feel like words cannot even do this place and my feelings justice. Today was another awe inspiring day filled with hundreds of beautiful smiles and laughing children. In the morning we went to Canaan’s school and visited the children there. They sang for us, we sang for them, asked questions, got to know each other better, and played lots of games. I just so love all of the children constantly wanting to be held and hugged! I wish I had 10 arms to squeeze them all at once!!
In the afternoon we sought out to bless the street children who Godfrey serves through his Pillars of Hope ministry. This ministry is still in its grass roots stage and the children come to Saturdays a month to be fed. Thanks to all of our donations we were able to give each child a new pair of shoes, clothes, a bible, and some candy. They were in heaven, their faces lit up just over those simple items. The children here have so little, I am again reminded about how much stuff it have!! Too much! Waaay to much! Pastor Isaac was telling me today that he has had the shirt he was wearing for 10 years because when he gets money he gives it to his children for food, not for himself. Oh if I could have that same attitude! If as Americans we were more generous with our abundant amount of possessions and extravagant lifestyles it would make such a big impact. Even tonight, we gave each girl at Canaan’s two pairs of underwear and they were ecstatic. Two pairs of underwear!! How many do I have sitting in my drawer that I take for granted ever day?? I am just overwhelmed and honestly want to go through my things and sell so many items to send money to the children here.
I also just want to write a little bit about our amazing time of worship after dinner. Worshiping the Lord through song is one of my most favorite things to do! My team had a time of worship with just a guitar and our voices lifted in praise. During the middle of our singing we opened our door and let the children come to us. Precious Angela who clung to me all day at the school ran to my lap and we began to sing to our Lord together. I was brought to tears by the amazing presence of God in the room. Listening to everyone’s voice sing praise to our King, young and old, all acknowledging Him was so overwhelmingly awesome! I will never forget tonight and wish I could hold a child in my arms every single day. We truly have so much to learn from the hearts of children. The Lord is teaching me so much here about having faith like a child. I have too many distractions in my life to see Him in that way most days, I pray that God will continue to speak to my heart here and help me to change many of those habits when I return home. Tomorrow morning we spend here but then we will travel to Kampala and visit some more children. I will be very sad to leave Canaan’s even though we will be back on Friday, I just love this place!!
Absolutely in Love
Monday March 14, 2011
Today was honestly one of the best days of my life. I feel so much joy right now and more alive than I have felt in a long time. I have sooo many different thoughts and convictions shooting around in my head and I don’t know what I am going to write about but I pray that it is God blessed and from Him.
I woke up this morning at 7:30 feeling rested and impatient to meet the wonderful orphans of Canaan’s Children’s Home. Our team met for breakfast and took a beautiful boat ride on the Nile river where we saw the source of the Nile and got to marvel at the Lord’s creation. We then proceeded to bring our thirty-three, 50 lb bags full of donations together to sort and organize. The Lord surely does provide! We all wished we could have brought even more than we did. With God’s help and some really great leaders on my team we managed to sort through all of our things and get them somewhat organized into type of donation and orphanage that they are going to.
It was finally the moment of truth…we were on the bus heading to Canaan’s. The moment I stepped off of the bus was like a movie. Children swarmed all of us with more love and excitement than I have ever experienced from children. They were so warm and welcoming it made me want to cry. All of the children who greeted us were not Canaan’s children. Many of them go to school there or are with the Amazima feeding program so they went home for lunch and the evening soon after we arrived. That left us with the entire day to play with the children, love them like Jesus, and begin to form relationships with them. It was amazing how content I was holding babies and talking with children from morning until now. Not once did I feel bored and my mind didn’t even wander to anything but how much these children need to know that they are loved.
There were so many children that I feel in love with today. Two of the younger ones named Ruth and Kirabo, her name means “gift” in the Ugandan language. They are both around 3 or four years old and have such innocent hearts and beautiful spirits. I played with them for hours and they took turns sleeping in my arms. I thought as they laid on my chest how blessed I am to be able to be a parent figure in their life for even one day. Just being able to hold them while they sleep and give them that sense of comfort gave me such a peace and overwhelming joy. My heart is heavy for these children who have no parents but know the love of their Father in heaven. Around 6 o’clock the majority of children who live at Canaan’s returned from school and we had the opportunity to meet and get to know them. Immediately two girls, Rose and Fariah, came up to me and we started to get to know each other. They are 8 and 10 with beautiful smiles and even more beautiful hearts. I also met Deborah, a 13 year old girl who is mature beyond her years. I had great conversations with all of them and can’t wait to get to know them better and hear their stories.
At dinner Pastor Isaac shared his testimony, that will have to be a story for another time. Extremely long story short, God completely orchestrated his life so that he is now a father to the fatherless. He is one of those men that you see his eyes shine for the Lord and you can just feel God speaking through him. I will definitely write more later about Canaan’s and how you could help. It is truly such an amazing ministry. There are currently 107 orphans living here and each one of them is a child of God just like all of us. If you want to find out more go to www.canaanchildrenshome.com. It is time for me to head to bed but there will be so much more to come!
Today was honestly one of the best days of my life. I feel so much joy right now and more alive than I have felt in a long time. I have sooo many different thoughts and convictions shooting around in my head and I don’t know what I am going to write about but I pray that it is God blessed and from Him.
I woke up this morning at 7:30 feeling rested and impatient to meet the wonderful orphans of Canaan’s Children’s Home. Our team met for breakfast and took a beautiful boat ride on the Nile river where we saw the source of the Nile and got to marvel at the Lord’s creation. We then proceeded to bring our thirty-three, 50 lb bags full of donations together to sort and organize. The Lord surely does provide! We all wished we could have brought even more than we did. With God’s help and some really great leaders on my team we managed to sort through all of our things and get them somewhat organized into type of donation and orphanage that they are going to.
It was finally the moment of truth…we were on the bus heading to Canaan’s. The moment I stepped off of the bus was like a movie. Children swarmed all of us with more love and excitement than I have ever experienced from children. They were so warm and welcoming it made me want to cry. All of the children who greeted us were not Canaan’s children. Many of them go to school there or are with the Amazima feeding program so they went home for lunch and the evening soon after we arrived. That left us with the entire day to play with the children, love them like Jesus, and begin to form relationships with them. It was amazing how content I was holding babies and talking with children from morning until now. Not once did I feel bored and my mind didn’t even wander to anything but how much these children need to know that they are loved.
There were so many children that I feel in love with today. Two of the younger ones named Ruth and Kirabo, her name means “gift” in the Ugandan language. They are both around 3 or four years old and have such innocent hearts and beautiful spirits. I played with them for hours and they took turns sleeping in my arms. I thought as they laid on my chest how blessed I am to be able to be a parent figure in their life for even one day. Just being able to hold them while they sleep and give them that sense of comfort gave me such a peace and overwhelming joy. My heart is heavy for these children who have no parents but know the love of their Father in heaven. Around 6 o’clock the majority of children who live at Canaan’s returned from school and we had the opportunity to meet and get to know them. Immediately two girls, Rose and Fariah, came up to me and we started to get to know each other. They are 8 and 10 with beautiful smiles and even more beautiful hearts. I also met Deborah, a 13 year old girl who is mature beyond her years. I had great conversations with all of them and can’t wait to get to know them better and hear their stories.
At dinner Pastor Isaac shared his testimony, that will have to be a story for another time. Extremely long story short, God completely orchestrated his life so that he is now a father to the fatherless. He is one of those men that you see his eyes shine for the Lord and you can just feel God speaking through him. I will definitely write more later about Canaan’s and how you could help. It is truly such an amazing ministry. There are currently 107 orphans living here and each one of them is a child of God just like all of us. If you want to find out more go to www.canaanchildrenshome.com. It is time for me to head to bed but there will be so much more to come!
Peace Within Me
Saturday March 12, 2011
Well here I am, sitting on a plane flying over the ocean to Uganda. We are four hours into the flight and I am wide-awake so I figured I would write down some of my thoughts. I’m so happy to be at this point and officially on the way to what I know will be a life changing, humbling, eye opening, and blessed experience. Bright an early yesterday I set out for the Indianapolis airport to make my 6am flight to Washington D.C. (shout out to Shelbe for being an amazing friend and driving me there so early!) Everything went smoothly and I landed in the Dulles airport around 8, took a shuttle to my hotel, and spent the rest of the day there relaxing and mentally preparing for the journey ahead. I met a little less than half of my team last night at dinner and it was great to put some faces to the people I had been talking with on conference calls and praying with weekly. This morning we finally all met at the airport and I’m extremely excited to spend the next week and a half with all of the wonderful people in my team. I also got to see Brooke in the airport!! She was coming off her plane right as we got to the gate and she came and talked to me for a while. She had an amazing time again and it was so great to see her right before we left to follow in her team’s footsteps. I love that part of Visiting Orphans, that teams are constantly entering the country and forming solid relationships with the children.
Right now I am filled with such peace from the Lord about this decision to sacrifice my spring break to serve the orphans and people of Uganda. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice at all. I can’t remember the last time that I have felt so much peace about a choice I have made, or such contentment and joy. I can feel Him with me and I can feel His hand guiding me. This is probably one of the biggest steps of faith that I have taken in a long time. Until today I didn’t know any of the people I would be traveling overseas hundreds of miles with, and the details of our trip are still a little hazy but it doesn’t matter. It goes to show how the Lord blesses sacrifices made to further His Kingdom. I am so thankful to be anxiety free and extremely eager to meet all of the beautiful people of Uganda that we will be serving. I can feel my prayer team supporting me as well and I thank you so much for your prayers! Each and every one of them matter and make a difference.
When we land we still have another short flight and a 3 hour drive to our final destination, King Fisher’s Lodge. I think we will start our work with the children the next day. A lot of travel still awaits that is for sure!
Well here I am, sitting on a plane flying over the ocean to Uganda. We are four hours into the flight and I am wide-awake so I figured I would write down some of my thoughts. I’m so happy to be at this point and officially on the way to what I know will be a life changing, humbling, eye opening, and blessed experience. Bright an early yesterday I set out for the Indianapolis airport to make my 6am flight to Washington D.C. (shout out to Shelbe for being an amazing friend and driving me there so early!) Everything went smoothly and I landed in the Dulles airport around 8, took a shuttle to my hotel, and spent the rest of the day there relaxing and mentally preparing for the journey ahead. I met a little less than half of my team last night at dinner and it was great to put some faces to the people I had been talking with on conference calls and praying with weekly. This morning we finally all met at the airport and I’m extremely excited to spend the next week and a half with all of the wonderful people in my team. I also got to see Brooke in the airport!! She was coming off her plane right as we got to the gate and she came and talked to me for a while. She had an amazing time again and it was so great to see her right before we left to follow in her team’s footsteps. I love that part of Visiting Orphans, that teams are constantly entering the country and forming solid relationships with the children.
Right now I am filled with such peace from the Lord about this decision to sacrifice my spring break to serve the orphans and people of Uganda. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice at all. I can’t remember the last time that I have felt so much peace about a choice I have made, or such contentment and joy. I can feel Him with me and I can feel His hand guiding me. This is probably one of the biggest steps of faith that I have taken in a long time. Until today I didn’t know any of the people I would be traveling overseas hundreds of miles with, and the details of our trip are still a little hazy but it doesn’t matter. It goes to show how the Lord blesses sacrifices made to further His Kingdom. I am so thankful to be anxiety free and extremely eager to meet all of the beautiful people of Uganda that we will be serving. I can feel my prayer team supporting me as well and I thank you so much for your prayers! Each and every one of them matter and make a difference.
When we land we still have another short flight and a 3 hour drive to our final destination, King Fisher’s Lodge. I think we will start our work with the children the next day. A lot of travel still awaits that is for sure!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Speechless
Hi Everyone!
I'm currently using a computer in an internet cafe in Jinja. I have been typing up my blogs but won't be able to upload them for awhile, maybe even until I get back. But I just wanted to quickly check in.
Uganda is AMAZING! I am truly speechless. The children that we have visited so far have the most joyful spirits and welcoming, innocent hearts. They are desparate to be loved and it has been a BLESSING to have the chance to love on them. I feel so content to be here and praise the Lord for this opportunity. Thank you for the prayers, I can feel them and they are SO appreciated. The Lord is moving in huge ways here in my heart, the hearts of my time, and in the lives of the Ugandan people. Can't wait to share stories and my heart with you!
On to shopping around a bit and back to the kids :)
I'm currently using a computer in an internet cafe in Jinja. I have been typing up my blogs but won't be able to upload them for awhile, maybe even until I get back. But I just wanted to quickly check in.
Uganda is AMAZING! I am truly speechless. The children that we have visited so far have the most joyful spirits and welcoming, innocent hearts. They are desparate to be loved and it has been a BLESSING to have the chance to love on them. I feel so content to be here and praise the Lord for this opportunity. Thank you for the prayers, I can feel them and they are SO appreciated. The Lord is moving in huge ways here in my heart, the hearts of my time, and in the lives of the Ugandan people. Can't wait to share stories and my heart with you!
On to shopping around a bit and back to the kids :)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
For the Kingdom. For the Kids.
For the Kingdom. For the Kids. This is the motto of Kanakuk Kamps where I worked this summer, and it has become a core part of how I view working with children. This phrase is so applicable now as I prepare to embark on an adventure of a lifetime, one where I know I will come back with a new heart for the least of these and a fire for serving in Jesus' name. For the Kingdom. For the Kids. I pray that every action, every thought, and ever word I say to these children honors God, furthers his Kingdom and is truly for the kids.
I leave for Uganda in three days and I can't believe the time is here. There are so many emotions stirring in me right now. I am extremely excited, a bit anxious, eager, and hungry to see God's mighty hand at work. It is so easy for me to get caught up in the "Butler bubble" where my life is centered around me. How am I feeling, how are my classes, I have so much homework, this is going right and this is going wrong. But I know there is SO much more to life and I am more than ready to get out of myself and be reminded of how much need there is in the world. Father bring me to my knees!
I'll be blogging along the way as I'm in Uganda but I am not sure when we will have internet connection. I will try to load my entries as much as possible but it may end up being in big groups or at the end of the trip. Either way I'll have my thoughts written down and dated to keep track :)
I just want to say again how humbled and thankful I am about the amount of support my friends and family have been providing for me to go on this trip. I have seen the Lord provide in a HUGE way and could not be more appreciative. I have an incredibly large team behind me, and each and every one of you has a part in bringing hope, love, and Christ's love to the dear orphans in Uganda. Thank you. I couldn't do it without you!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
9 days!!
I can't believe it, I am SOOO excited!!! So excited to meet my team, serve with them and see the Lord work in our lives and in the lives of the children we visit. I'm jumping up and down inside!!
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