well...its my last day here. i went back to bukasa wakiso this morning for church and it was so so so so great. i don't really even know how to describe it...but God is so good. aaaaaahhhh.
this is going to be a short one because i cannot even handle it. i am not ready to leave this place, and i pray that i will find myself back here someday.
i want to thank all of you so very much for all of your prayers and all of your encouragement. i cannot even put into words how much it means to me. i love you all. i will landing in chicago on tuesday afternoon....
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4
peace out.
kirsten.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
I can look You, to do for me what I am unable to do for myself...
this is coming from my devotional book...it really spoke to me and so i would like to share it:
"Beloved, even when your thoughts are scrambled, you can indeed look to Me for help. Many people stumble out of bed in the morning and head straight for the coffee pot. Though they are not yet thinking clearly, they are conscious enough to move toward something that will help untangle their thoughts. I perform a similar function for you, when your mind stumbles in My direction. Ask Me to help you think My thoughts and see things from My perspective. I created you in My image so that you would have this amazing capacity.
As you wait in My Presence, I not only unscramble your thinking, I also unscramble your path through the day. I am sovereign over every aspect of your life, so opening up the way before you is no problem for Me..."
Thursday and Friday of last week I had days full of cultural exposure, and some experiences that really made me think, and really made me praise God. Last Thursday, I had a brief exposure to the kind of traditional worship, dealing with spirits and such. It was slightly uncomfortable, to the point of knowing something was not right, and constant communication with God was necessary. I was with Jon and his research assistant, as they interviewed people about something that occurred over 50 years ago. There was a hill where people went to see this self-proclaimed prophet for healing. What we did not know, was that there is now a different priest there, and people still go there for the same reason. We were able to just talk with this priest and he explained what he believed. It was troubling, because there is a greater truth and God is more powerful than we can even fathom. It was certainly a lot to process, and a lot to pray about.
I am spending the first part of this week back at the school, helping out with their summer camp in the morning. Yesterday afternoon I able to go back to Mama Mary's, probably for the last time. I get emotional just thinking about it, because those children and Mama Mary has touched my heart in more ways than they probably know. God is truly amazing.
I know that my time here is winding down...I am not ready to head home (even though I miss you guys so very much!). I have had trouble sleeping the past few nights, and I feel like my mind is racing...which is my that quote from my devotional was so moving. I have no idea what tomorrow holds...let alone farther off in the future. In this continual processing, I am trying to figure out my experiences, and the next steps on this crazy journey called life. Trust is a funny thing. Faith is a funny thing.
"We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you" (Psalm 33:20-22).
love you all.
kirsten.
"Beloved, even when your thoughts are scrambled, you can indeed look to Me for help. Many people stumble out of bed in the morning and head straight for the coffee pot. Though they are not yet thinking clearly, they are conscious enough to move toward something that will help untangle their thoughts. I perform a similar function for you, when your mind stumbles in My direction. Ask Me to help you think My thoughts and see things from My perspective. I created you in My image so that you would have this amazing capacity.
As you wait in My Presence, I not only unscramble your thinking, I also unscramble your path through the day. I am sovereign over every aspect of your life, so opening up the way before you is no problem for Me..."
Thursday and Friday of last week I had days full of cultural exposure, and some experiences that really made me think, and really made me praise God. Last Thursday, I had a brief exposure to the kind of traditional worship, dealing with spirits and such. It was slightly uncomfortable, to the point of knowing something was not right, and constant communication with God was necessary. I was with Jon and his research assistant, as they interviewed people about something that occurred over 50 years ago. There was a hill where people went to see this self-proclaimed prophet for healing. What we did not know, was that there is now a different priest there, and people still go there for the same reason. We were able to just talk with this priest and he explained what he believed. It was troubling, because there is a greater truth and God is more powerful than we can even fathom. It was certainly a lot to process, and a lot to pray about.
I am spending the first part of this week back at the school, helping out with their summer camp in the morning. Yesterday afternoon I able to go back to Mama Mary's, probably for the last time. I get emotional just thinking about it, because those children and Mama Mary has touched my heart in more ways than they probably know. God is truly amazing.
I know that my time here is winding down...I am not ready to head home (even though I miss you guys so very much!). I have had trouble sleeping the past few nights, and I feel like my mind is racing...which is my that quote from my devotional was so moving. I have no idea what tomorrow holds...let alone farther off in the future. In this continual processing, I am trying to figure out my experiences, and the next steps on this crazy journey called life. Trust is a funny thing. Faith is a funny thing.
"We wait in hope for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you" (Psalm 33:20-22).
love you all.
kirsten.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
boda.
hi. hi. hi.
ok soooo today was a very interesting day. wooohooo. jon, his research assistant (george) and i went to namugongo to the martyrs' shrine. i had my first boda experience (a motorcycle taxi) so that was quite awesome. we then took a taxi van the rest of the way. the amount of people there was just insane! probably about 2 million...and they come from all over the place to participate in this national holiday. people were there from tanzania, congo, kenya...just to name a few. in the 1890's the king of buganda (the region i am in) had 25 catholics and protestant christians killed on june 3. there were several others that took place over the course of a couple of years, but this was the day that the most people were martyred. it was very interesting, and kind of incredible that so many people would come from all over the place for this. i think i said it already, but some people started walking over a week ago so that they could be in namugongo.
anyways...we were at the catholic shrine, and it was kind of hard to see because of the masses of people, but we got to a spot where we could kind of tell what was going on. the president (museveni) was at the catholic service, but all we saw of him were his cars leaving afterwards. there was a lot of singing, and the music was close to traditional african music. it was explained to me that the catholics allow more of the traditional type music, while the protestants taught the hymns that i would be more likely to know. jon and george started talking to a couple of high school students, who said they wanted to become priests if God allowed it. they talked about praying to the martyrs and how anyone who was there would receive a blessing from God simply for being in that place today. it was interesting to hear different people's take on things.
afterwards, we started walking down the road to the protestant shrine. on the way there, we kind of got caught in a stampede of people...a little scary. especially when a taxi tried to pull out into the crowd of people. that was a little much. but we finally made it through, and took another boda because we found out it was quite a distance away. the protestant shrine was interesting as well. there was a small chapel building, and signs posted saying that the martyrs were buried underneath. there were also a couple of artistic pieces set up to pay tribute to those who gave their lives there so many years ago. if it did not take so long, i would post pictures of them...but i guess we all will have to be patient. :)
it was really really awesome to learn about some of the history of this country, especially from a religious aspect. i am still just blown away at the number of people, and am grateful that i got to be there with them to witness it all....very cool stuff.
kirsten.
ok soooo today was a very interesting day. wooohooo. jon, his research assistant (george) and i went to namugongo to the martyrs' shrine. i had my first boda experience (a motorcycle taxi) so that was quite awesome. we then took a taxi van the rest of the way. the amount of people there was just insane! probably about 2 million...and they come from all over the place to participate in this national holiday. people were there from tanzania, congo, kenya...just to name a few. in the 1890's the king of buganda (the region i am in) had 25 catholics and protestant christians killed on june 3. there were several others that took place over the course of a couple of years, but this was the day that the most people were martyred. it was very interesting, and kind of incredible that so many people would come from all over the place for this. i think i said it already, but some people started walking over a week ago so that they could be in namugongo.
anyways...we were at the catholic shrine, and it was kind of hard to see because of the masses of people, but we got to a spot where we could kind of tell what was going on. the president (museveni) was at the catholic service, but all we saw of him were his cars leaving afterwards. there was a lot of singing, and the music was close to traditional african music. it was explained to me that the catholics allow more of the traditional type music, while the protestants taught the hymns that i would be more likely to know. jon and george started talking to a couple of high school students, who said they wanted to become priests if God allowed it. they talked about praying to the martyrs and how anyone who was there would receive a blessing from God simply for being in that place today. it was interesting to hear different people's take on things.
afterwards, we started walking down the road to the protestant shrine. on the way there, we kind of got caught in a stampede of people...a little scary. especially when a taxi tried to pull out into the crowd of people. that was a little much. but we finally made it through, and took another boda because we found out it was quite a distance away. the protestant shrine was interesting as well. there was a small chapel building, and signs posted saying that the martyrs were buried underneath. there were also a couple of artistic pieces set up to pay tribute to those who gave their lives there so many years ago. if it did not take so long, i would post pictures of them...but i guess we all will have to be patient. :)
it was really really awesome to learn about some of the history of this country, especially from a religious aspect. i am still just blown away at the number of people, and am grateful that i got to be there with them to witness it all....very cool stuff.
kirsten.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
watch out for the crocodiles...
hello all. it is a little after 8:00 and i am seriously considering going to bed. whoah. today was pretty awesome...i had the opportunity to go to the buvama islands in lake victoria. it took a couple hours of driving before we arrived to the "dock." hahaha there was no dock. the boat was in the water and there were guys who picked us up and carried us out to the boat. they carried the guys up on their shoulders, and picked me up sideways. so...that was interesting. it took about an hour and a half on the boat, which was like a long wooden canoe-ish thing with a motor and a tarp over the top. the purpose of us going there was to check on a building project. there is a school on the island that was started by wgm and the project going on now is the church building. the nurse near the school, jennifer, took me around through the village right near the school. it was very different, even from the houses near kampala. there is no electricity on the island, and very few shops for food and such. one of the guys who came with explained that is very much just survival for them. they will fish and grow food, but there isn't a place to sell it, and they need most of it to sustain themselves. i enjoyed talking with jennifer and walking around. i wish i was better able to communicate with the people, but like many others here they speak a language called luganda. so it was pretty limited to "hello" and "how are you?" and then jennifer would translate some other stuff for me. our stay was short, because we had to be back this evening, but i am very thankful i got to see the island and some of the ministries that are going on there.
that kind of lacked some details...whoops. but my brain is not really functioning right now. tomorrow is going to be busy busy busy in kampala because it is martyr's day (a national holiday in uganda) and i am going to be in the middle of it all! apparently millions of people come from all over to be here. jon (he's working on his doctorate here) is taking me to the shrines and to witness all the stuff that's going on, and he said that people started walking about a week ago to get to kampala tomorrow. don't really know what to expect, but i have a feeling it is going to be crazy. :)
that kind of lacked some details...whoops. but my brain is not really functioning right now. tomorrow is going to be busy busy busy in kampala because it is martyr's day (a national holiday in uganda) and i am going to be in the middle of it all! apparently millions of people come from all over to be here. jon (he's working on his doctorate here) is taking me to the shrines and to witness all the stuff that's going on, and he said that people started walking about a week ago to get to kampala tomorrow. don't really know what to expect, but i have a feeling it is going to be crazy. :)
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