Ma-KAM-wa a-SHEEM-way (Praise the Lord!)

"Muzungo! Muzungo!" kids of all ages yelled as they raced out from all directions toward our bus bumping down the dusty dirt road as we drove through their village. It never got old, every morning and night we drove by and every time they loved seeing our bus full of foreigners. The attitude was the same from the adults, no matter how old, they didn't hide their excitement; if we waved, they lit up and waved back. Some children would just shyly stare in fascination, but as soon as we waved, the biggest smiles would cross their dark faces and they would excitedly wave back.

Welcome to my Uganda blog, my attempt at sharing with you as many details as possible about my recent trip to this amazing country nestled in the green hilly mountains of East Africa. I sang. I sweated. I danced. I cried. I laughed. I waved. I marched. I smiled. I walked. I held a million little hands. I loved. I praised. What an awesome God we serve! The people there are beautiful and full of love. They are filled with joy, despite the constant hardships they face and the little they have. They are eager to hear the Gospel and they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

God worked mysteriously on this trip by constantly using our team in ways that we didn't expect. Prayer was our constant support and He answered us immeasurably. His timing of this trip in my life could not have been better and I am so excited to share with you the way He poured out His blessings upon me and our team.

I journaled diligently on this trip and for the next 12 days, I will share my entries with you, starting with Day 1 and moving forward (I am posting them under the date I actually wrote them, so scroll down from here to find them). I did my absolute best to write with my heart and not this blog in mind, and I'll be honest and say that there are a few portions that I'll leave out, but I have full confidence that you will learn from and be encouraged by what I share.

Day 11

10:30 AM (Guest House)

I'm getting baptized today! I was very blessed by Josh's baptism message this morning on my ipod.. What an awesome symbolic moment! I'm a bit worried about the river situation, but I know I'm supposed to do it here and I'm very excited about it! I dreamed about it all night, ha! I think it will just be wonderful to be reminded that my sin has been washed away-my past sins and my future ones. I should feel no guilt because of what Christ did for me. This symbolizes being buried and resurrected with Him! Hallelujah?! Amina!

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

this is the power of Christ in me.

From life's first cry, to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

can every pluck me from His hand.

Til' He returns, or calls me home,

here in the power of Christ I'll stand!

I'm wearing my swimsuit under a black t-shirt and shorts and I think I'm going to wear my tennis shoes to avoid the cow dung to the best of my ability...We are going into Kiburara to say goodbyes after so I'm bringing baby wipes to clean off a bit...

5:55 (Guest House)

Oh, what a day! I am just so thankful God had me wait until now to get baptized. It was an awesome experience and I'm thankful for every moment.

We got there a while before the Ugandans and thankfully beat the cows as well.

It didn't smell too bad today either! I was a bit nervous, not sure why, but I'm sure it was less so than if I were about to go in front of CLC and give my testimony. The weather was perfect- hot with a breeze and sunny.

When the Ugandans got there (2 buses full) we got started pretty quick. There were about 10 women singing with a big drum and many people got in a line.

Jeff snapped this shot--reminds me of baby Moses on the Nile!

To my delight, Nayebaretopista was also getting baptized, so that was neat to share with her.

Moses and Drew did most of the baptisms instead of Isaac, but asked Isaac if we wanted him to do ours. At first we said no, but...yesterday when Isaac was talking about weddings he has done, I had this sudden picture or thought of him doing my wedding someday. It was weird. I used to just assume Pastor Piper would do it and after he stopped doing weddings that Brad would do it, but the last few years after being away from home I've been bummed thinking it may not be a pastor we both know well. I obviously have no idea, but it was a nice thought...which is what I basically told Isaac when we made him get in the water just for us. I said, "just in case you do my wedding someday, that'd be kind of cool." Ha, I don't think he actually minded, but I can't believe I said that to him.

Jess and I went last. I walked into the water (without my shoes) and Moses asked me my name and said the words while Isaac was praying as well.

They dunked me (mouth and eyes shut!) and that was it! All kind of a blur, but I was thrilled!

Everyone was cheering and singing and giving me hugs when I came out. Lani was crying. Jess went next and then Isaac prayed for us. Just such a blessing. I always wanted to be baptized in a river/lake like in the Bible and for there to be singing when I came up like at BBC, and God took care of all of that for me :)

I can't be certain, but it appears they are doing a bit of the traditional dance Edson was trying to teach us yesterday ;)

These brothers were such a blessing to us as translators on the trip!

The changing was humorous as Drew, Isaac, and Jason walked us back into the bush and then stood post on the "path" while Terry and Lani held up colorful African fabric around us.

The cattle soon entered the water right where we had been and it was all quite surreal. It is rare, but I guess last year there were hippos in the area, oh and the monkeys were in the trees for us!

(Isaac actually informed me that rather than just taking a nice swim here, Simon was actually searching the water for hippos! Apparently that's what they do to check the water....one person just swims around willing to be a sacrifice if there ARE hippos nearby!...I'm not sure Paul was aware of this ;)

We rode back to Moses' for a last lunch and all too quickly it was time to say goodbyes. I guess it was maybe a good thing, but only Nayebaretopista was around of my favorite friends. She is 11 and her sister is 10. She just sat holding my hand, quiet as normal other than little bits of soft singing. I showed her the video of her baptism and that got a smile. I told her I was praying for her and I would miss her. She kept asking me to give her my pen, which I didn't get until I left that maybe she wanted to write something for me, so then I felt bad. I got on the bus and saw her covering her face and wiping tears, to that made me tear up. Lots of people were there hugging and it was neat to see the conversations happening and the quick/strong friendships that have formed. It really felt like only yesterday that we were awkwardly getting off the bus for the first time and not quite sure what to do.

The excitement of us driving through the villages never did fade so we still got bright smiles and waves as we drove back to the guest house. I bathed and then sat down watching the sunset with Jeff, Gavin, and Isaac as we waited for dinner. Meanwhile, Drew and a crew were driving into the boonies trying to barter for an old metal Coke sign off one of the buildings. Drew had his eye on one in Kiburara, but the owner wasn't home. Moses thought it was quite strange that we would want an old rusty sign, but we explained that in the US people decorate with that kind of thing and they can be quite expensive!Some guy told Drew and crew to follow him all the way to his home only to discover that he had a new plastic Coke sign that of course Drew wasn't interested in buying. Alex (the translator) was NOT happy.

I stuck with french fries and mango for my last Ugandan meal to avoid problems on the bus ride. A couple of us played Phase 10. I was winning until they skipped me the last couple of rounds and Gavin came out on top! I had a terrible time falling asleep, but oh well.

Day 10

4:00 AM (Guest House)

Oh man, I have not been sleeping well tonight and just woke up wide awake and can hardly swallow. Probably the massive amounts of dust I've inhaled the past few days, but I think I have a bit of a fever. I'll be honest though, better this than hanging over the toilet, which was my biggest fear on the trip! Mat just texted me though (yes cell service, but no phone calls and I only have my phone on at night for my alarm because it ruins the atmosphere and is $$) and it was perfect timing to have a friend praying for me! I want to be well for church in the morning and worship with these people! Gavin, Jeff, and I are just going to Kiburara for church (everyone is divided up and I'm slightly bummed I can't go to a village church since we've been here all week, but I also feel like it will be like a home church since now I will know so many people!)

....As I lay here I can hear the wild dogs howling and the rooster has already started to crow. I also haven't shared about the Muslim calls to prayer we've heard early some mornings. Kind of eerily beautiful, and ironically it reminded me of a military cadence which, I think, sometimes are musical and kind of pretty!

Sunday Evening (Guest House)

I'm not sure what made me sick today, but after my poor night of sleep I don't feel great. My fever is at about 100 and normally they don't let you come out if your sick, but Isaac let me since it is Sunday. I'm wondering if maybe it is because of the Meflo (malaria meds) because apparently that messes with people and maybe weakens the immune system a bit, but I'm quite achy/sensitive to touch and my stomach felt fine but the second I looked at the toilet I threw up (didn't tell anyone but Jess that!).

We loaded into the bus and all went our separate ways. I finally snapped a picture of the "Afreca!" sign for Amanda and the ride in was still like our first with the excitement and waves we saw from the people on the road. As Gavin, Jeff, and I walked to the church, we felt pret-ty alone. Not in a bad way, but we normally have our whole group and it appeared that the youth/pastor's conference really brought up the numbers of people around, so with that over everything seemed pretty empty.

There were only about 10 people in the church and they got up and started singing. We thought they were maybe "rehearsing," but nope, they just started and by the end of the service it was pretty full! I was pleased to see Corinne and her sister were there and so were Susan and hers, so that was nice since they always warm my heart. Unfortunately I really wasn't feeling well so that marred the service a bit, but it was still neat to experience. Jeff preached a short "Bible Study," there were announcements, and lots more worship and dancing. Somewhere in there a guy in his 40s made us move to the front row of lawn chairs (as opposed to the wooden benches). He also set my bag on a chair and when I later put it back on the floor, he came back up and moved the chair in front of me and put my bag back on it. He was so eager to serve us, even if this simple gesture was completely unnecessary!

I felt kind of bad that I had put it back on the floor...I was also bummed I didn't get to sit by my girls! They shooed the kids off the chairs, but Corinne managed to sneak onto my lap a bit. Gavin was totally on fire and clearly filled with the Holy Spirit and afterwards a young man came up to be saved-there was much singing and rejoicing over him! They also had different groups come up and sing random songs; I wish I had felt better because I would have gone up to sing!

My fever hadn't broken by lunch, but thankfully we went back a bit early and had a restful afternoon. Drew and Isaac went to Moses' radio show and we all gathered around the radio "Fireside Chat" style and heard them present the Gospel. Pretty cool and that night Moses received a call from a woman wanting to give her life to Christ and then 2 hours after her her husband called to do the same thing!

My fever finally broke by dinner and I enjoyed hearing Drew's love story. Essentially he started liking his wife 5 years ago on this same trip to Uganda, asked her out 3 weeks after that, and 2 1/2 months later took her to meet his family and ended up proposing there with a ring his dad carved and added his grandmother's diamond to the night before because he couldn't find another one unique enough to give her! By the next year's trip to Uganda, they were married. Crazy, eh!? Anyway though, it was nice to hear about. I never got to thank Drew for what he said after Whitney shared her testimony yesterday, but I really appreciated both of them sharing. I've really been thankful for our team members sharing their testimonies on this trip. Without going into too much detail on here, I'll just say that time and time again we have all been saved by grace and none of us is perfect. So many different bad situations, you name it, it happened to our group, and it is encouraging to see that a) God's power surpasses Satan's every time, but b) (and more selfishly)-even Christians struggle! No one is perfect and I thank God I don't have to be either! Sometimes you gotta just be reminded of that because it is easy to think that the Christians around you are all much more "holy" than you. We're all sinners. We all need grace.

Day 9

Today is the last day of the youth conference. We had a powerful time of prayer before leaving this morning and I've continued to be encouraged by the Church in Acts--

"And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue
to speak your Word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was SHAKEN, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with all boldness." (Acts 4:29-31)

I don't think I have mentioned the way they sometimes pray, but they all do it out loud and it is pretty awesome. I'm not sure how many languages are coming from the congregation, but the Holy Spirit is definitely moving!

After lunch there was a concert to promote a new CD a group form the church made. It wasn't exactly as I expected because I think they were lip singing with their own CD (thank you, MTV), and they were using it as a fundraiser so they would have an artist come up and they wouldn't get off the stage until someone had given them $$...

Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to share about the dancing! So Dennis, the translator/MC for the concert called up an American to dance. I thought they were going to teach us a dance, so when no one volunteered, I went up. To my surprise, it was not a lesson, but a dance-off! Ahaha! Everyone knows I don't like to dance (k, maybe not this team from CLC, but all my other friends!) and rarely do, but I went up there and danced. The entire room of beautiful Ugandans and my team laughed at me, but I couldn't stop smiling. I'm not quite sure why it was so funny, I was doing the dances THEY taught me ;) Dennis declared me the winner and said I had to give a victory speech and all I could truly think of was "to God be the glory!" There were no other words.

Gavin went up later to dance and then a big part of our group went up and did the Electric Slide to some of their music. They loved it and I think were quite impressed that Muzungo could actually pseudo-dance in sync. Little did they know that this is only after years of practicing at weddings and gatherings and they picked it up, probably better than us, by the end of the 10 minutes. Edson came up to teach us a traditional dance that was crazy jumping that many of the older people came up and joined. It basically just filled my lungs with dust which probably is what got me sick!

Quite the view from the church building!

Susan :)

Nayebare Topista

We headed back then and had dinner after bathing. Ha. I marveled, yet again, at how wonderful my basin of hot water felt! I'm sure it won't take me long to take real showers for granted again, but seriously I guess I can't imagine always bathing this way, even if it can feel good here! I guess if you are this dirty, anything can feel great!

Despite the striking resemblance to peanuts, I believe this is coffee. Not positive, but

whatever it is--they would lay their produce out to dry in the sun.

Mmmm, fresh bananas.

Yet another beautiful view from Kiburara.

Worship!!

I had seen the Watoto Children's Choir (which we drove past in Kampala!) several times growing up at Bethlehem and Calvin. Therefore, I knew going into this trip that worshiping with the Ugandans would probably be my highlight, I was not disappointed! I love the picture drawn of Heaven that is every tribe and tongue praising Jesus. Every corner of the earth, from Minnesota, to Virginia, to Maryland, to Uganda, all of us will be together in Heaven worshippig together! Singing with the people in Africa gave me just a tiny glimpse of what that joy will be like. I can hardly wait.

Just wanted to share a couple of the songs they taught us and we taught them. Lord-willing I'll go back someday and be prepared with some of their favorites!

There is Worship Today in the House of the Lord

There is worship today in the House of the Lord

there is worship today in the House of the Lord,

there is worship today in the House of the Lord,

Hallelujah today in the House of the Lord!

(Singing)

(Dancing)

(Muzungo!)

(Clapping)

(Sitting...get lower and lower, but not actually sitting)

(Resting...aka laying down!)

I will Sing Hosannah

I will sing Hosannah,

I will sing Hosannah,

Sing along for the sound of glory,

I will sing Hosannah!

(Dance)

(Clap)

(etc...)

Hakuna Wakaita

Similar to the Watoto Choir/BBC version

Hallelujah

You are worthy

You are worthy

You are worthy

You are worthy

(Hallelujah)

(I will love Him)

(He is holy)

Sanctuary

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary,

Pure and holy, tried and true,

With Thanksgiving,

I'll be a living

Sanctuary, for you

Song we taught--

Soon and Very Soon

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.

Hallelujah, hallelujah, we're going to see the King

(No more dying there, we are going to see the King)

(No more crying there, we are going to see the King)

We are Marching in the Light of God

We are marching in the light of God,

We are marching in the light of God.

We are marching in the light of God,

We are marching in the light of God.

We are marching, marching, (we are) marching, Lo-oord,

we are marching in the light of God.

We are marching, marching, (we are) marching Lo-oord,

we are marching in the light of God!

(Singing)

(Dancing)

(Clapping)

(Stomping)

(Loving)

Lord, I Lift Your Name on High

Day 8

Morning (Guest House)

We woke up this morning to the birds singing again and the roosters crowing. I was a bit more prepared for the youth conference and all of the preaching today-it went all day!

Peter was sick so I kind of lead worship. Oh the joy I had singing and dancing with the Ugandans! They loved We are Marching in the Light of God and Isaac said it was more involved than they have been in our worship in the past. It was so wonderful!! Sue and Jeff were down the street in the school and they said they could hear the church rocking! By the end we were all pretty out of breath and sweaty, ay yi yi, this beat out show choir or I am totally out of shape, because I could hardly even sing! Later the girls showed me some of their dances so then I had something to attempt other than freestyle (this is a good thing!).

After lunch Paul spoke and I was pretty sleepy. Somehow these preaching days are exhausting even though I'm sitting most of the day! Paul ended with a "surprise" of calling up me and John (their worship leader) to come and sing "Hallelujah" together. It was cool. It was also humbling because the keyboarder was trying to play along and was in the wrong key sooo we sounded off. Oh well!

I almost forgot the skit! I'll be honest, my heart was not overly in the practices for skits. It is interesting how God changes where we are called cuz' in the past I was all about drama, but I was so busy before this trip that I couldn't make the practices and on the trip my heart just hasn't been in it. Thankfully God's plan prevailed. Andrew wrote the skit on our flight and I think the reaction to it was much better than we ever could have anticipated. Basically there was a witch doctor (Jess) and 3 people in distress who go to the witch doctor and magic helps them for a little while, but soon a demon latches on to them with string and they are in bondage to the witch doctor. (This sounds crazy as I write in back in the U.S., but these people really have felt the weight of bondage to evil spirits!) The skit was silent but we had some dark music playing. Then missionaries came out on the stage with Bibles and the Ugandans immediately all started clapping and when Jesus defeats the demons the people cheered and clapped! It was almost overwhelming. Awesome to see how a silent skit can reach across the language barriers and so powerfully impact people.

Next, Andrew shared his testimony again and presented the Gospel. Moses had all the pastors sit in for the skit as well and many said they were very blessed by it all.

We went back to the Guest House, ate some delicious "french fries" and mango (no meat tonight...) and played some Phase 10. Slept great!

Day 7

Morning (Guest House)

I love waking up here to crazy bird sounds. So beautiful and rare. Also, the 30 minute drive into Kiburara is enchanting. All of the women and children are walking along the roads with bananas and baskets on their heads and the mountains are standing majestically in the morning fog. Many of the trips we would pick up people and drop them off later on our route. I'm not sure what Sunday would say to them, but they'd be waiting for us by the time we came back through hours later! We also have picked up several people who will be attending the youth conference. What strikes me is that they don't bring anything and really can just jump on the bus without any other apparent thought. No thought given to the fact that they won't be home for a couple of days! They live life so simply.

Evening (Guest House)

Today started the youth conference, and the pastors from the pastor's conference were in with us for the morning. Robin & Drew both preached and we worshipped. Oh do they worship! They sing and they dance and they smile and they pray. There is really no explaining it! Some of the songs we could pick up lines and some had a bit of English, but others we just had to smile and sway!

We went up and sang some of our worship songs that are quite different from theirs, but we had a guitar and did try to dance a bit, so it was still worshipful! The day wasn't what I expected in that the conference was literally mostly preaching like all day. In between sermons, you don't break, you sing! I can't believe Robin has done this all week! He was preaching like 8 hours a day to the pastors! PTL.

We broke for lunch around 1 and Pastor Moses decided to have us do a bit more village outreach. Some people stayed back so we just had a group of 4 and a group of 3.

We drove for about 30 minutes and dropped off Lani and the Foster's after visiting a work site (I can't remember if I explained this before, but in years past the work days were very long at the widows homes because they were doing like 4 houses each day or something ridiculous like that. This year, we did 2 each day and then hired the masons to do 8 more by the end of the week. It was neat though, because the village evangelism often took us by way of the work sites, so we could chat with the masses :)

Next, our translators took our team (Gavin, Jess, Jeff, and me) to another work site that Sunday had to work wonders to make it down those narrow paths. We still walked even further in, so we were really back in the bush!

This site was pretty cool because it seemed that everyone was their to help. It was like a good old fashioned barn raising with the men flinging on the cement and the women preparing the food.

This was in the form of a giant pot of millet over a fire with women working hard to stir.

I don't recall who gave me the honor, but someone asked me to try...SHEESH! It was not an easy dish to stir! These were broom sized mixers that I essentially had to put my entire body weight into stirring. To make it even more humbling (they are already laughing at my attempts), the smoke was so strong from the fire, that I was completely crying. I tried to quit (I couldn't see!), but Simon kindly gave me his sunglasses so I could keep at it. Oof-dah!

As per usual, we picked up a posse of children who followed us to our next few stops.

This area was particular stunning. It was more lush than most of the villages and tall green trees lined each path forming mysterious walls around turns begging to be discovered.

The first house we came upon had a bubbly old woman who was thrilled to have us in her home. Again, they would not allow us to sit on the dirt, so they pulled out a bench and a straw mat. Jess and I sat on the bench, but the woman immediately shooed us to the floor and Christopher informed us it was custom for the women to be on the mat. We found out her husband was a Christian and he said he had been praying for her for years. She was eager to have us explain the Gospel and then accept Christ.

I realize that we have a platform here like Tim Tebow has in sports! It all seems so easy, but I think that their hearts are open and we are highly regarded simply because we are so different. It is neat to see how God moves between the nations, even using the nations to share with each other! Also, I should just mention how thankful I am for the translators. God is truly speaking through them and I am so blessed by their wisdom, enthusiasm, and sacrifice to be with us this week. I pray that God will continue to bless their lives and that they would never stop serving Him.

The woman was so happy as was her husband who joyously took her hands. They followed us to the next group of young guys probably about our age heading home from work on the road. The boys were Catholic and interested in hearing what we had to say, but ultimately asked if they could be born again but remain in the Catholic church. Gavin assured them that they could so long as their church was preaching that Jesus is the only way to salvation. We also added that it is by faith, not by works, that they are saved. It is a free gift, not something we can earn. All grace. I shared my testimony with them and mentioned that my parents were raised Catholic and also talked about Ben and how much we had to trust in God during his epilepsy.

Anyway, they promised to try Pastor David's church on Sunday, so it is in God's hands...not that it was ever in ours...

Another man wanted to wait and attend church with his family on Sunday and he asked that we pray for him to have strength to come. After we were walking away I watched Gavin hold back and trade shoes with the man. The man was shocked. It was pretty cool to see and who knows the impact it may have on that man.

Another man asked us to pray that the evil spirits would leave his home.

The other group had a pretty neat experience when an old old woman asked to pray for them! She is a widow, her children are grown, her home needs repair, but she has Jesus and her prayers were powerful as she laid her hands on Paul and prayed for him and our work both here and in the United States.

Back in Kiburara the rest of the team was also seeing God work. The guys went to the prison and Andrew shared his testimony with about 130 prisoners and they could understand and relate to the things he had done in anger and sin and he was able to explain to them how radically God changed his life from one of violence and hate to love for Christ. 25 men came to the Lord. Awesome!

Robin also unexpectedly asked some of the girls to lead worship. Oh yea, this morning Pastor Moses asked Gia and Yvette to share some info about HIV and Aids. Again, they stepped up and were flexible and many people asked questions about the prevention and things like getting tested before getting married. Obviously this is a major problem in Uganda and it was great for people with medical knowledge to share with them!

We headed back and felt full. What a day! Oh, I ran into Janta Maria and Solivia again, she ran up and gave me a huge hug :)

At dinner I decided to go back to meat after a two-day hiatus from goat. It looked like steak so I figured I should give it a try. As I chomped the strange meat (that did not taste very good) Frank was across the table from me talking to Sue about liver. I promptly stopped chewing and looked at them as Sue hushed Frank and didn't want anyone else to know what it was. I willed myself to swallow and thanked God I hadn't taken more than I should have so that when I left it on my plate I wasn't being AS rude...Yuck. Why on earth would I ever think it was steak?

We went to our room and many followed and we had another enjoyable evening of laughter. I decided to take Motrin PM again and slept beautifully.