Home Sweet Home

The last three days have been undescribable! I don't even know where to begin. So far there are seven of us international students with the final comming tomorow. Already we have become a family complete with a host Mom who looks out for us and whom we all love dearly.  When we first met her she told us she was waiting at home for us and couldn't wait until we moved in. Before we could do that on we had to go to thw Watoto central church service on Sunday.

Never in my life would I have imagined being part of a church service like that!! Words cannot fully explain it, it was so overwhelming.  For starters the building is easily four times bigger than out church at home and not only do they have five services each Sunday ( and one on Saturday night) but eah one is packed full of people praising the Lord. So much so that there is an overflow area where everything is broadcased out to. I was reminded of breakforth when everyone worships with abandon, only this is what happens every week. Pastor Gary Skinner has started the year with speaking about fresh starts, as this is the jubaliee year of Uganda.  Never before have I been to a church service where the pastor is so passionate about his message that he is jumping  up and down on the stage!  It alsomst reminded me of myself when in drama I made a mistake at practice ! :)  During communion I was moved to tears by it all, and my heart overflowed with thanks giving to The Lord who brought me to this place. After the five of us who had already arrived went to lunch with our Mom, Esther, and Joseph. That was a time filled with much story telling and it was just so much fun to be out with everyone.

Yesterday after much anticipation we moved into our new home!!! Yay!!!!! Even though we had had a fun morning of game playing and getting to know each other we were overjoyed when the bus pulled in to take us home. I was not prepared at all for this! It is georgous , Sydney will be glad to know my bed is pink and somehow Natalie and I ended up rooming together in the biggest room. Needless to say it has already been deemed the " hang out room " for all my new "sisters". My roomie Natalie is from Texas and I am so excited that I can finally embrace my inner southerner and say y'all and have that be normal!!!  I was going to upload pictures but the computer is not letting me so I will try again later. :(

I am so blessed, already we have become a family and I cannot wait to see where the next six months will take my four new sisters, two brothers, mother and myself!!  Already we have begun planning for how to decorate out prayer room to have thoughts, dreams, prayers, ect. posted on the wall to share with each other and last night after dinner we had a sharing and prayer time compete with singing to close off.  At this moment I feel so blessed beyond measure and certain that I am living as God has called me. I cannot wait to actually begin Watoto 360 on Friday, and tomorow those of us already here are going to baby watoto to spend the day. We are sooooo... excited!!!! After only a few days this country and it's people have captured my heart and I know that I shall never get it back.

Woohoo!!!!!! I made it !!! After years of dreaming I am now in Kampala Uganda. After just under a day I am already falling in love with this country.

My flights were both very good and on the way from London to Entebbe I had no one beside me. That was so nice as it meant I got to stretch out and get comfy when I wanted to sleep.  I landed in London at 1:30 on the second and that is were my first mini adventure started.When I left home I thought that I had an 11 hour layover in London and that was totally fine with me, when I landed however I found out that it was a 22 hour one and that I had to go to a different building to spend the night in terminal 1 instead of 5. That was a bit nerve racking and I got maybe 2 hours of sleep max but in the end I got here and was met by Peter ( my Watoto leader ) and two class mates who I am looking forward to getting to know better.

Right now our permanent home is not ready so we are staying in the Watoto guest house and it is so nice!! The only down side is the bathroom, last night after only just arriving I managed to lock myself in and neither I nor my two class mates could get me out! After what felt like quite a long time they went to look for help and of course that is when the lock finally opened and I was free from my little prison. Though it was slightly embarrising  it was very funny and a good ice breaker :)

Today we had a relaxing morning and then went on a small tour of the city with Peter. I am amazed by the Watoto church! It is gorgeous and way way bigger than I would have expected. McDougal is maybe a little bigger than 1/4 of its size and I cannot wait to go to church on Sunday.

Well the day has come and in a few hours I will be flying out of Calgary bound for London, then after an 11 hour layover I will make it to Entebbe! God has been so good to me and I am so incredibly excited to follow his leading to Uganda. He has answered every prayer that I have had about this trip, not always as promptly as I would like, but in His time everything has and will continue to unfold. For the last while I have been praying that I will find a classmate sitting beside me on the plane, when I mentioned this to a friend he told me this would take almost as big a miracle as me getting the funds that I needed in time ( that happened).  Well today I found out that not one but two classmates will be arriving on the same day at the same time as me! God is so good, I realise that this does not mean that they will be on the same flight as I am but knowing god I will not be surprised in the least if they are.

Well my teeth are out and after a few days of jello and soup I am feeling fine.  To my knowledge I was not one of the overly funny coming out of surgery however I do remember my bottom lip being frozen and trying to make fishy faces then asking my Mum if I looked like a fish. I also told her that it was  fun and could we do it again. Apparently for the first hour my foggy brain had very little concept of pain.

As my departure date comes closer I find myself getting more and more nervous. It will not be the first time that I have travelled overseas, but it will be my first time travelling alone. My current prayer is that I will find myself sitting next to a class mate. I know that there are five other Canadians going, and I am so hoping that one of them will be on the same flight as myself.  I will not be at all surprised if God answers this prayer. When I left B.C I knew that it would take a miracle for everything to work out if I were to go to Uganda and since I have been home God has not stopped working. I feel so unworthy of all the ways he has blessed me. As I am a fairly independent person it is at times hard for me to accept all the blessings that God has been pouring out, and I have needed to be reminded more than once that if God has laid it on anthers heart to help me in any way I need to accept that help graciously.

Yesterday I finally made it to the city and after a day of shopping I think I am finally ready to go ( minus a few small things ) and my Christmas shopping is done.  It was an amazing day spent with my cousins in the morning talking about their past experiences in Africa and then a laughter filled afternoon as another friend drove down to Red Deer from Edmonton to shop with me before I leave. I am sure that after all our giggling and talking the stores we entered will never be the same.

With Christmas in 3 days and my departure in 12 I am so looking forward to seeing my family as they begin to come home tonight. Looking back on the year I am realise how far I have come, and I know that no matter where life takes me in these next six months God will be with me. He is faithful and will never leave my side, His love prevents it.

28 days and counting,  time is flying by, and I feel like I have accomplished very little. On the other hand I feel like there is not truly a lot to accomplish! Everything that I need to do can be done if I spend a full day in the city, and I  have yet to do that. My flights are arranged, and I will be heading out on January 1, yeppers I leave on New Years day! After what I am sure will be a long two days flying I will arrive in Entebbe, Uganda on January 3!! Whew, I am a little nervous about finding my way on my own in the airports but God will guide me of that I am sure.

In the last few weeks since coming home I have been working, trying to figure out how to do everything, and trying to get together with friends while I am home. So far the last is by far the hardest!  Between my work schedule and all the things they do arranging time to get together is not easy, much to my  disappointment. However slowly but surely I have been able to connect with a few people and the time spent with them has been so amazing! I am coming to realise  that once you complete high school there will be people that you lose contact with as life takes you on separate paths, and your role in the lives of those you stay close with will change, but with a little extra effort you can stay close.

For the last five days I have been spending time in Lethbridge area with my big sister and her family. I had not seen my little niece since July and I am shocked at how much she has grown and changed in the last few months. Last time I saw her she was a still a baby, now she is a little girl who is learning to walk and talk! At the risk of sounding old, they grow up way to fast! It was a wonderful five days though. On Sunday afternoon Natalie and I preformed together as the " background ambiance" for a ladies high tea. I am generally not comfortable playing in front of anyone but it was a ton of fun to be able to do this with my sister.  I have been incredibly blessed in so many areas and family tops that list.  Though I am so excited to be going to Africa the thought of being so far from my family for six months is both scary and sad. All the nieces and nephews will be so different when I get home.

On a down note, yesterday I had a dentist appointment in Calgary and learned that tomorrow I will be having my wisdom teeth taken out. I am terrified of going to the dentist at the best of times so this is not going to be the highlight of my week. Prayers for the surgery and a quick recovery time will be greatly appreciated. My sister has made me promise to take a few pictures of my chipmunk face so that will hopefully be some comic relief.  For today though I am trying to get things done around the house and listening to Christmas music while I pretend that tomorrow does not exist. Only 20 days until Christmas and I can't wait!

Praise!!

Well I do realise that I have not had any updates for well over two months so here goes. Working at the orchard was an amazing experience. It was not a job where you wake up and dread going to work, I found that I would wake up and be so excited to go. Weird I know. I worked with a team of amazing women who made my time away from home just fly by.  Perhaps one of the most rewarding things about my time away though was the chance to spend countless hours with my family. Living with Nathan and Leslie ensured that I got to know them and the boys much better than I have ever before and for that I am so incredibly thankful.  Some may have asked my cousin Jillian how she was enjoying seeing me in her spare time. I am not sure how she would respond other than asking, " what spare time?". It is true that I very likely saw as much of her as I did those I was living with, but only because we worked together so much. By the end of the season we were spending one day a week together peeling apples ( when the cold came that was NOT a fun job ) and varying hours at night having dance parties while we made caramel apples together. I think that was easily my favourite job. Often we would go to the farm after it had closed for the evening and when you have a half hour to wait while the caramel cooks ( we made it all from scratch and if I do say so myself it was pretty good) the dancing can get a little crazy. Especially on nights when we would make multiple batches. I think our record was somewhere around 600 in one day.

 

Throughout the summer I found that there were many people at the farm who were incredibly supportive of my desire to journey to Africa with Watoto and they would often ask how the  process was coming and if I had yet been accepted into the program. To never have an answer to that question other than "not yet" was incredibly frustrating at times but I did my best to continue to put my trust in God. Thursday November 8 I was asked to come back to work for the day to assist in inventorying and at the end of the day I found myself chatting with my boss for a few minutes. I admitted to her that I was really feeling that I was not going to be travelling to Africa in January as that date was so close at hand and I did not see any way for it to work and I did not even know if I would be accepted into the program yet. Well that night when I went home I found an email waiting for me from the Watoto 360 office in Uganda saying " Congratulations! Your application has been approved." Well I did not know if I should be jumping up and down in excitement or crying ! I had all but given up hope that this would happen and then God works it all together. What an amazing God we serve!

I have something like six weeks until the program starts and I know that there is no way I can do this on my own. There is an overwhelming list of things that need to be done. Fundraisers, shots, banking,..... the list goes on and in truth my little mind cannot see a way for it all to come together. Thankfully I do not have to. God has looked after me thus far and I know he will not leave my side now. I will covet your prayers as I move forward to discover what God has planned for me on this journey. For today I will end on that happy note and with the verse that I have claimed as my own in the last few months.

 Psalm9:10

Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

 

 

 

 

 



Well grad is over and done with and already I am finding my days to be much different than any other summer. For one it is hotter in BC than in Alberta, and for two I am living with the knowledge that a new chapter of my life has started. As Sydney and I decided, to say a new chapter does not seem right as so much has changed that life feels almost like the beginning of a new book. However to say we are starting a new book sounds to final and like everything from the old is being left forever in the past. We decided mutually that though life is changing, all the things from the past will remain part of us and friendships do not have to end with grad. Therefore we are beginning a new book but it is a sequel to the one we have written in the past. The is "the adult years"the sequel to all that has happened up until this point. It will have many of the same characters as before and references to all that happened in the previous book.  For any who have known me or for that matter have taken a few minutes to read previous posts, you will know that for most of June ( in the final chapter of  "old book") I was praying that I would receive an answer as to whether I have been accepted into the Watoto 360 program or not by the 29 of June. In one hundred percent honesty, though I believe that God can do all things and that he loves me and cares for my every need, there was a part of me that doubted that he would answer the prayer for confirmation in the time line I had set. I mean he is God and his timing is not always mine ( as I have learned many times since beginning this application process). However on June 30 I found waiting in my inbox another message from the Watoto staff and though it was not the final go ahead that I have been waiting for I have received the second phase of the application process. This requires a criminal record check , and the filling out of two health forms. So though it is not quite the answer I was looking for God did provide for me in the time frame that I had asked of him (though  it does astound me that I had the audacity to set a time frame for the creator of the universe in the first place!!!), and as one of my cousins and various others have pointed out for me in one way it can be looked at as a kind of acceptance in that I doubt that Watoto would have passed me from the first stage to this second if I had not passed the initial stages of application. Now again the ball is again  in my court and if this application is going to be finished  it is once again up to me. It seems so overwhelming, moving, starting over again, and having this all to do in such a short period, however God has promised that "my grace will be sufficient for you". I know that he is looking after me and will see me into all that is coming in my future.By his grace I will continue on and find my way, even as far as Africa.