Luweero

Well, yesterday we returned home to Ntinda, Kampala from our 4-day stay in Luweero.  I feel kind of bad about this post, because I'm not sure how good it will be.  I have to admit that much of my time in Luweero I did not get as much devo time as I normally have, therefore there is not much to comment on.  One quick thing to add which is not very important, we had an American Independence day party on the 4th complete with apple pie, ice cream, a campfire and s'mores.  All while singing the national anthem all day long, which was soooo funny with the Ugandans singing along and wearing American flags as capes all day.

Alright, so Luweero.  Our job in was to build goat sheds for four families, as there are twelve children in this village that have been sponsored through Empower-A-Child.  The organization was reviewing these families needs, and decided that they would buy two goats per family, one male and one female.  The plan for these gifts are to help the families, but also that these goats would reproduce and they would pass the babies on to other neighbors to help the community.  Our family was really cool.  They had two kids that were sponsored - twin girls.  They also had an older boy, and another set of twin boys.  Building the goat sheds was fun because it wasn't as strenuous as the building in Gulu, but it really made a huge difference.  However, we ended up sleeping in a classroom of a primary school near some of the building sites, so we got to play with the children quite a lot.  These kids were so awesome, I have fallen in love with that school.  

I met a 12-year-old girl named Rebecca the first night we arrived.  She returned every night for our campfires and taught me how to do tribal dances to the African drums.  It was so fun to get to know her and learn about her culture, as she was old enough to hold a conversation without any language barriers.  

There was also another girl who was in Nursery school, Sauda.  She was about 3 years old and I absolutely fell in love with her.  I would see her, even from far away, and yell her name, and she would come running up to me, giving me a huge hug and giggling.  She refused to leave my side, always holding my hand.  I am still praying about if I should offer to sponsor her, because looking at the millions of pictures I took of her beautiful face makes my eyes to begin to water with tears, missing her big brown eyes and beautiful smile.  

The biggest thing that Luweero has brought to the forefront of my mind is my purpose here, this summer.  I am grateful beyond measure that I am one of His servants that He has chosen to send here, but I don't understand why.  What is my purpose here?  Will I be coming back?  Is this my calling?  I don't know.  I have talked with many of the Ugandans, asking them if they think I could handle living here for a longer period of time, and they all have great faith in me that I could do this, and I completely agree.  This country is so beautiful despite it's brokenness, and I have fallen in love with this place.  Though I'm not sure what exactly I'm supposed to do.  The first thing I noticed upon arrival here was a mixture of being overwhelmed and uncertain.  I was overwhelmed because there is obviously so much work needed to be done here, but where to start?  Though I was also uncertain as to my purpose in this place, because there is so much good being done already.  Every day we visit at least three "programs" that are run by Ugandans that are doing so much good, and each day is different.  So where am I needed?  What will I love?  I'm still unsure.  I have visited the babies homes, which, granted, is not what I was thinking about doing, and sometimes I love them but sometimes it is just so tiring.  I have asked some of the Ugandans what the biggest need is here, and they have simply replied with "what we are doing right now."  Just investing in people, spreading the love of Christ to everyone in every way, meeting people's needs no matter how simple they may seem, and encouraging kids to continue persevering even through the many troubles they face here, reminding them that they will always have their Jesus, provider, father, Love who will never abandon them like so many of them have been abandoned.  So we will see.  The Lord is convicting me to listen to Him, and I have not given Him enough time to speak so I am hoping to make some time soon because at this point, I simply need His guiding hand.  

As a further update, yesterday was an incredibly good and blessed day.  One of the Ugandan volunteers, Peter, recently started a church in a village about an hour away called Kyampisi.  I had heard many good things about this place, and wanted to see it at least once before Peter leaves in mid-July to preach in the UK.  He told us that he had originally visited this village because the Lord had convicted him to simply do some door-to-door evangelism in the area and he was simply following through.  He found that witchcraft is extremely common in this village, and that almost everyone believes in it and regularly visits a witch doctor.  After the first day of evangelism there, Peter said that a few people had committed their lives to Christ but expressed the need for a common place to go and pray since there was none there at the time.  He went home and could not stop thinking and praying for the people there.  It was constantly on his mind, and he took every chance he could get to go back and check on the people he had met.  Finally he decided to return to Kyampisi and camp in the bush for a weekin order to pray about whether or not the Lord was calling him to start a community church there.  He said that within that week the Lord revealed many signs and miracles that affirmed his conviction, and by the seventh day he was there, 250 people had joined him in prayer.  Needless to say, he started a church, and has begun to transform the community, erasing much of the problem with witchcraft.  As I watched these teenagers in the choir, teenagers who came alone to church, some because they are orphaned, others because their parents do not agree with their faith, singing "Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord" my eyes filled with tears.  Their pleas were so genuine.  I watched as a young boy, about 10 years old, an older girl about 15, closing their eyes begging their Jesus to come into their hearts, so that He would be known in them.  They closed their eyes, raised their hands, swayed to the beat of the drums, wrinkles in their forehead from deep concentration, each finger reaching for the sky, desperate for Jesus.  Again the Lord reminds me of the way He works in desperation.  I long to be that desperate, to need God that badly, because I know that these kids see Him, hear Him, listen to Him, love Him, and are lavished with His love every single day.  

We later went out to eat lunch at an Indian restaurant in town because we had missed lunch at the house since the service went so long and we stayed after to talk with everyone in the church.  It was nice to just sit and relax with only a few people, talk about important things, and not worry about the time because all we needed to do was enjoy each others company. 

This place is wonderful.