Going on a "Safari"

"Safari" is Swahili for "journey" so this title works on two levels. haha

1. I am on a journey in my relationship with God and in ministry.

2. I recently went on my second safari to Murchison Falls and Paraa with my sister and her friend.


Since the last time I wrote (again it's been too long), God has been growing me in many ways. He is teaching me a lot of patience, which is a frustrating but beneficial process:) It's a moment-by-moment decision to crucify my flesh, and unfortunately sometimes the flesh wins out. But failure, even in small things like our attitudes, is part of the maturing process. If we never fail, then how will we appreciate when we succeed through the grace of God? So I welcome it all because it is molding me into the image of Jesus Christ:) Maybe someday soon I won't be at all bothered when I have to wait for someone for over an hour to show up to a scheduled meeting. lol

I am blessed that the Lord continues to use me in the lives of each of the Congolese people. Recently I have been able to do home visits inside the army barracks, where the environment to Christianity is sometimes hostile. After sharing the Word and praying with a certain soldier's wife without the soldier knowing, he got very angry that we came, but then God softened his heart and he was ok with it. Praise God! Another lady in the barracks was Muslim (which I didn't even know at the time), but after hearing the Word preached and asking me some tough questions about Christianity, she decided to come to church the next Sunday and gave her life to Jesus on that day! Then she testified of it in the Swahili service! I was really touched that God used a simple thing like me sharing scripture and answering her questions to bring her into His family! God is continually pushing me onward on this journey into the hearts of the Congolese people and ultimately, into His heart. Home visits are becoming a daily routine now with Mama Joy and/or Baba. I am learning more Swahili every day and can understand much more than I speak now, since I am around it constantly.

My sister Leah came with her friend Kyle at the end of May and have been ministering with the House of Prayer here in Gulu. God has been using them in amazing ways to raise up leaders and impart truth. I have to say that I have really enjoyed Leah living here with me for 2+ months! What a blessing:) In the picture to the right Leah and I are introducing her to the Swahili congregation while Mama Joy translates

The other "safari" with Leah and Kyle was really fun and adventurous to say the least. The trip was postponed by a day due to a flat tire on the boda (motorcycle) that we drove there. We also hired another boda, so in total four of us drove/rode the 3 hours to Murchison Falls/Paraa. When tourists that we met there found out we came on bodas all the way from Gulu, they were astonished ( I guess it's difficult to do... Leah and I must be more on the wild side than I thought lol)

We had a wonderful day on the boat tour to the bottom of the falls (pictured left) seeing live hippos (pictured below), crocodiles, elephants, and making friends with missionaries who were sitting near us. We also saw lots of giraffes and warthogs and bison on our motorcycle ride through the park. At the end of the day, we were ready to head back when the other boda got a flat tire. It took so long to fix that it was no longer safe to leave the park and go home. The problem was that every place to sleep was all booked up and the food was too expensive for us to purchase at the grand safari lodges. But our God is so faithful! We met a group of tourists from Gulu, and when we began to talk to them, teir Ugandan driver invited us to stay with them at a place not otherwise advertised for only $5! There were exactly enough beds for all of them and us. PLUS, the driver was able to purchase some local food for us (which we could not have gotten being white) for only a couple dollars!

I believe God allowed all this to happen because He wanted us to witness to the group of people from Gulu that we befriended. And we were able to do just that with many seeds being planted, even in the midst of their drinking and partying. Even our boda driver wasn't saved, so God used it to show him the true love of Christ through us. He's gonna come to Jesus really soon... I know it!

So in the morning, besides the elephant that decided to charge us on the park road, we had a good, safe trip back to Gulu. Thank God I made it back in just enough time to get cleaned up and preach the Sunday morning message at church. Whew!

In a week and a half I will be going on another "safari" to visit everyone in the US! It'll be the first time I've been back since last October, and I'll be in Wisconsin and Indiana for a total of 5 weeks (Aug 5-Sept 13). I'd love to see you if you are in the area! Just let me know and we'll set something up. I'll be speaking at various churches to share what God has been up to in Gulu and in my life in the past 10 months.

Thanks for reading! Many blessings on you!

Raca Raca

Long Overdue Greetings from Gulu, Uganda!

I haven't written in two months... so sorry friends! So this post will be a summary of all the changes God has been doing recently... very fast ("raca raca" in swahili)

At the end of March I moved on from Zion Project. I am thankful for the 6 months that I spent with this ministry because I grew a lot, and it was a door to other things that God has for me here in Africa.

So the beginning of April found many changes in my life. I went to a city near the capital called Entebbe and stayed in a friend's home named Martin Lagara (pictured left) for a week, resting and seeking the Lord for the next season. It was really wonderful. Here is the living room of the house I stayed in... almost like America:)

God spoke to me there a lot about how he is making me to become a bold lion like Him (the Lion of Judah) and walk in my authority in Christ, which I am excited about!

When I returned to Gulu, Richard Kakanyero and I started courting!!! He is an amazing man of God and my best friend. I cannot wait for all of you to meet him at our wedding in the future! We have a calling to do ministry together and have been blessed to start it now! Here is a picture of us at my leaving-Zion-Project get together. Isn't he cute? haha

Also, at that same time, I moved into the home of Pastor Peter King and Christine Mwaka (pastors of Revival Worship Center and Richard's spiritual parents) I am thankful for getting to live more like a Ugandan now that I live with Ugandans (it's not always easy though because of cultural differences) They call me daughter, and I am blessed to do life with them, especially our nightly times of worship and prayer:) Here is a picture of me and "Mom" (Christine) at a traditional wedding of one of their church members. The girl in the background is their daughter Nicole, and they also have a 6 month son named Junior. Pastor just returned from being in the States for three months with Invisible Children, so no pics of him yet.

Then in the beginning of April I also started doing full-time ministry with Pastor Ron and Joy with the Congolese at Gulu Bible Community Church. I do a lot of teaching and preaching messages at church and weekly fellowships, but I would like to get more into home visits and one-on-one mentoring and counseling. May God's will be done among these precious people whom He died for! Currently in the discipleship class I co-lead with Pastor Ron, we are teaching on marriage and relationships, because it is the main issue in this culture. Here is a picture of me at one of the fellowships in a part of the city called Cereleno (pronounced "Chair-ay-layno") with Mama Joy sitting next to me. God does miraculous things in all the fellowships but especially in this one such as physical healing and deliverance on a weekly basis. Glory to God!

So that's all for now, but I will be sure to let you know how things are going and tell the stories of life in Africa very soon. Richard and I are in need of finances for the future, so if you feel led to give, you can do so through the paypal button on the right-hand side of this page:)

God's richest blessings on you all!

Witch-doctor No More!

I have a really exciting testimony to share with you!!

On outreach for Zion Project last week, the ladies wanted to visit a Congolese girl who accidentally burned down a hut in their district of Gulu called Kasubi. She put some charcoal in a trash heap, which caught fire, spread rapidly across an entire field next to it and then over a fence to a hut on the other side. The hut just happened to belong to a witch-doctor, who had yelled at one of our women the morning before we went there.

When we arrived, the little girl was fine, but I felt led to go over and talk with the witch-doctor to tell her sorry that her hut burned down. None of the women wanted to go with me because they were scared of her except one named Flora (who was the only one there who could translate into Luo anyway). So Flora and I ventured over to the hut, and we were welcomed very warmly with smiles and chairs to sit on. When Monica (the witch-doctor) came, her and her friend Lucy sat on a mat and listened to me share about how God's heart breaks for their situation. They lost literally everything except the clothes on their backs, and she has four children in school who lost all their books. They were sleeping outside on the ground:(

When I asked if I could pray for them, they said yes, so I knelt down on their mat, layed hands on them and prayed for God to provide for all their needs and to reveal His love to them. When I finished praying, I asked them if they know Jesus. Monica said she's not saved but her children are. I asked her if she wanted to be saved, and she said yes! So I shared the gospel message with them. Lucy didn't seem to be interested at first, but after I finished sharing, she said "I'm tired of all these bad things happening to me., I want to be saved!" Then I asked if anyone else around wanted to be saved, so they called all their children to come sit with them on the mat! Some of the children were rededicating their lives to Jesus because they had backslidden and some were for the first time. There were 8 people in all that prayed a prayer of salvation with me, a whole family was brought into the kingdom at the same time! Glory to God!
Then I did a basic crash discipleship teaching on the importance of going to church, reading your Bible and praying everyday. Monica was very interested, asking me where they should go to church and how she could get a Bible in Luo so she could start reading it. Monica's son, Simon, was there with us, and he's been a believer for 10 years, he said. He shared a scripture from his English Bible from Isaiah 30 about how God has turned their mourning into dancing and their sorrow into joy. What a perfect scripture for this time!

I am amazed at how God set this up for Monica (and all of them) to be saved. One of her kids was already walking with the Lord (probably praying for her salvation), and God allowed her to lose everything so that she would turn to Him. Pray that they all continue walking in the light, growing closer to Jesus every day and that they don't fall back into their old ways.

BWANA ASIFIWE!! (Praise God!)

Bar Alimo

Sorry for the delay everyone! Things got busy, but now I'm ready to share all about my day trip to the village:)

Sarah and I went with Richard (our friend and guard at ZP) on bodas to his village to meet his family and see what life is like there. It was a bumpy hour and a half there on the bodas. We even had the bodas cross a sketchy bridge without us on them because it didn't look safe. Pictured left is Richard crossing the bridge. After a harrowing ride, we finally arrived at a clearing that had a few huts his family owns and lives in. The "village" was different than I thought it would be because I envisioned it being a bunch of huts all close together like in the IDP camps. But it was nice and quiet, so that was good:)

As we met some of Richard's brothers and sisters (he has 9 total), we were promptly given a bottle of soda (That would be our first of three during the day. We were swimming in Mountain Dew up to our eyeballs by 4:00pm Wonderful hospitality). Then Richard took us to see his bee-hive pots that he made. (Sarah and I posing for the camera in front of one hehe) He also took us on an educational tour of all the various types of food that his family grows on their land. Some of it just looked like a tangle of weeds and sticks to me, but if they can grow food from it, more power to em! Check out this field for growing cassava (a very popular root eaten here).

After our extensive walking tour in the hot sun, we decided to rest. Richard's brothers were busy slaughtering a goat for us (which is a huge honor). I know you want to see the picture of that, so here it is! And for breakfast they served us goat liver (which looked and even tasted like steak tips with more flavor Yum!) They left us alone to eat because we were the guests of honor.


We also used this machine to shuck g-nuts (kinda like our peanuts). You put all the nuts inside, and then pull the handle back and forth, so it separates the nuts from the shells and collects them in a basket underneath. Pretty cool!

After some time of thanking all the family members that had gathered round and sharing as best we could (Richard translated into Luo for us), it was time for lunch! This time, we made everyone eat with us:) Let me tell you... it was a FEAST! We had goat of course and potatoes, cassava, three different types of cooked greens, sim sim paste, millet and sorgum (both types of "bread" that feel like play-doh in your hands). Here's the visual:

After lunch we retired to one of the huts for more soda and fellowship time. I knew that if God wanted to do something, this would be the time. So as I was silently praying, I saw that one of Richard's sisters had on a necklace with the colors of Africa (black, red, yellow, green) which also happen to be the colors to explain the gospel. So I was able to share the entire gospel message, and everyone listened. All but three of Richard's family members are yet-to-be-saved, but God is working on them:) No one gave their life to Jesus on this day, but they said they would soon. They first want to participate in the traditional funeral rites of their deceased father. Please pray for them to come to know Jesus and for the plans of the enemy to be cancelled in their lives, especially at this funeral rite (March 19th), which involves witchcraft. God gave Sarah a scripture to speak truth to the lie that they can wait to come to Jesus until later (about letting the dead bury their own dead). It was powerful!

One of Richard's brothers' wives is saved, and we were able to lay hands on her and pray for healing for her stomach ulcers. Praise Jesus! We believe it is finished!

All in all it was a great day. We are planning on returning (at which time one of the sisters is planning to show us a traditional dance with her dance troup). Thanks for coming with me to Bar Alimo.

Totowonana (until next time!)

SOON TO COME!

Pics and stories of my first village experience since I came in Oct 2010... You won't want to miss it so check back soon:)

A THANKFUL HEART

God has been reminding me lately that the cure for a bad attitude in ministry is making the choice to be thankful.... SO I thought I'd share a few praises of what God has been up to here in Gulu, and hopefully when I see them all in one place it will encourage me (and you too)!


* I prayed for the sister of one of my boda driver friends named Anna. She had her intestines removed due to wounds inside her stomach and had a colostomy bag (the opening for the bag looked painful). We both felt a lot of heat when I prayed, and I left believing she was healed. A little while later, my boda friend told me that God healed her wounds so they could put her intestines back in! The surgery went well, and she is recovering nicely:)


* A couple weeks ago two ZP visitors from the States preached the gospel message at the army barracks prison in Gulu. There were 32 men who attended and 30 of those got saved that day! The next day 15 of them were released from prison, and later that week several more were released. So virtually all those who were set free spiritually were also set free physically. The visitors saw them on the street giving praise to God for their freedom WOW


* A couple months ago, a short-termer named Matt was able to lead an ex-LRA member to the Lord in our neighborhood. Alexander (pictured right), then came to Gulu Bible Community Church (GBCC) to testify that God saved him, set him free from fear of walking in the light, and even brought forgiveness and reconciliation between him and a family of one of the people he killed while in the LRA. The family even cooked a chicken for him! He is continually being more set free from fear, and is actively attending GBCC. This past week he brought his yet-to-be-saved wife with him to church (She was given to him as his wife in the LRA) along with two of her friends (one of which was delivered and got saved on Sunday). He is also praying for two more of his ex- LRA friends who are afraid and lost just like he used to be. Praise the Lord!


* The presidential elections passed peacefully here in Gulu (only a couple minor issues in Kampala) Thank you Jesus!


* God provided the finances and resources to get the ZP nursery started. We have the giant tent up (pictured right), and the mud floor is almost finished. We have also been blessed to have sturdy wooden, miniature tables and chairs for all the little ones and more toys and learning materials.


* God has given us discernment and direction about which girls to accept into the ZP Girls' Home, so now we have two new girls in the family with more to come in this next month :)


* God has answered my prayer for a mentor, and even exceeded my request by giving me a whole spiritual family! Baba Ron and Mama Joy (as they are affectionately called) are the pastors of the Swahili service at GBCC and have taken me under their wing as one of their spiritual daughters. I have found so much love and acceptance and freedom to be me when I visit their home. It is so healing...


These are just a few... there is so much to be thankful to God for!

Grace Like Rain

Have you ever truly experienced the grace of God? All my life I have heard that it is by grace I am saved, but in this season of my life, as I have left the security of all I’ve known and allowed God to expose all the darkness and frailty in me, I can say for the first time, that I am beginning to understand this grace that is saving me moment by moment.


Before coming to Africa, I pretty much thought I was perfect. Oh, I knew that I sinned here and there, but who doesn’t? I really believed that I was a good person and that my own determination to please God would be enough. I prided myself on my amazing ability to be holy while judging others whom I deemed “less holy” than me. When they didn’t meet my expectations, I would condemn them in my mind.


I brought this prideful mindset with me when I came to Gulu, Uganda, but life in Africa smacked me in the face with the reality of my very-present weakness and sin. So instead of being proud, I condemned myself until I repented. Then I went back to thinking I had it all together until I was once again confronted with my sin, and the cycle went round and round…


It’s like Brennan Manning talks about in his book "The Ragamuffin Gospel":

“We fluctuate between castigating ourselves and congratulating ourselves because we are deluded into thinking we save ourselves. We develop a false sense of security from our good works… Our halo gets too tight and a carefully disguised attitude of moral superiority results. Or we are appalled by our own inconsistency, devastated that we haven’t lived up to our lofty expectations of ourselves. The rollercoaster ride of elation and depression continues.”

And that’s just it. I did think that I saved myself through my good works and repentance. Before, when I sinned, I would repent and then force myself to try harder to not sin the next time. But I have realized my effort just doesn’t get the job done. In “trying harder” I am not any different than the Hindus or Muslims, or any other religion for that matter, because they are all based on works. I even viewed repentance as a good work to earn God's forgiveness, when in actuality repentance is a response to the truth that I am already forgiven! As a Christian, I am not saved by my works, but by the GRACE OF GOD. Jesus already did all that was necessary for me to be forgiven and walk in victory when he died on the cross! This all sounds very clique if you’re like me and have been a Christian your whole life, but let me tell you, it’s so different when you actually experience God’s grace.

I had one such encounter last week. In the past couple months I have really been confronted with the wickedness of my own heart. I was very discouraged on this particular day because I could not get my eyes off my own sinfulness and depravity. I just cried out of sheer self-hatred. But God, in his gentle way, lifted my eyes up to see Him through a series of worship songs. He revealed His love through the death of Jesus on the cross to me in a brand new way. I could just feel Him washing me clean of all my sin, wrapping me in His arms of grace. God showed me that my sin, although not good in and of itself, is being used to make me aware of my desperate need for Him. And that is a very, very good thing:) He is making me what the Bible calls “poor in spirit,” realizing that I am nothing without Him and His amazing grace on my life.

Before I viewed myself as an angel with her halo perfectly in place, but now I am realizing that I am a saved sinner. My halo’s a little tilted… and that’s ok.

“The tilted halo of the saved sinner is worn loosely and with easy grace. We have discovered that the cross accomplished far more than revealing the love of God. The blood of the Lamb points to the truth of grace: What we cannot do for ourselves, God has done for us… Jesus Christ bore our sins and bore them away. We cannot wash away the stain of our sins, but He is the Lamb who has taken away the sins of the world.” - The Ragamuffin Gospel

“Hallelujah, Grace like rain pours down on me… Hallelujah, all my stains have been washed away, they’re washed away!”


And this is the gospel of Jesus- Grace.