IN AWE...

Jan 16 06 4:30pm
Jambo friends! Uganda is so incredible!!! I am learning a ton more than I expected… actually a lot about our American culture. I am seeing things in such a different light here… getting out has allowed me to see more clearly. I was not set on learning about my culture in Uganda but being here immersed in a new culture that is so different than our own has forced me to identify aspects of America that I had not seen while living in it. And even things about myself are more visible being so far away from “it all”. Five months… and already the breaking has begun.
I have little time to write… the electricity is not so consistent and will be going out pretty soon. So I apologize for the conciseness. There is so much to say!!!
Taking Africa in day-by-day in Uganda is so awesome. There is such beauty in untouched creation. We don’t have so much of that in California. And it causes me to worship God constantly… you can’t go very for without being reminded of the glory of his awesome creation. The sky is HUGE!!! I am convinced it is bigger here. The sunsets are like nothing I have seen before. I have seen some pretty insane sunsets- Tim, Scotty, Adam remember Mt. Whitney? Does not even compare to this place. Grampa, A-Ewt, remember Haleakala in Hawaii? Still does not touch what the sky looks like when it sets in Uganda. It is a new masterpiece every night.
College group family, you were in my thought and prayers this morning before my classes- it was 7am Monday morning here so 8pm Sunday night in CA- sweet to know that thousands of miles away we are still united in spirit as we come to worship at different hours, different days, different countries together. Grace.
Classes have been centered on worldview and learning the African worldview before we begin to work with the orphans. Next week I will be set up with a family that I will continue with through the remainder of my time in Uganda. This place is refining me. I continue to be broken by what is see and learn. I will share more in later updates.
I will continue to be in touch as much as possible. I think of many of you throughout the day here and please know that when I do you are taken before God in prayer.
Please continue to ask God to hold me and guide me. I am very open to what the next step in my life may be. I am not swayed by any dream or plan or specific step other than to continue to seek and follow God… wherever that may be and whatever I may be doing. Also, presidential elections are set for Feb 23 please remember this date and ask for God’s protection here… if you want stay up-to-date with the specifics of the next weeks leading up to the election check the Ugandan news link.
Thank-you so much for all your comments and prayer…it is such an encouragement to know you are continuing with me in this step.
His Mercy is Good.

Less than 24 hours...

Less than 24 hours now. Soon I will be flying towards Entebbe, Uganda, prepared (as much as I can be) to spend the next five months in a step of faith outside of my comfort zone. My bags are packed, I have said a lot of goodbyes and now is the final time of reflection that can be so tedious and uncomfortable.
In stark contrast to what I expected I am full of such a solid peace that passes my rational understanding. I reread through Luke a couple weeks ago and was taken by the words of Jesus. His call to leave it all and follow him can seem so daunting and too demanding. But the call to discipleship can be the most incredible step we ever take. It is a place of surrender that rationally does not make sense and so the one called is forced to rely on something or someone greater than human reasoning. I have found myself so many times, as I share with people about my passion for Uganda and decision to go, saying that if God is not real my life does not make sense and is an utter waste. And so I have been challenged to realize really why I am going. For those of you who know me well, I am not naïve- I question things and challenge arguments; I used to love debating… thanks to Tim Cain I only debate now if I really want to understand something that does not make sense to me. And with that drive in me I have questioned why I am doing this.
The answer is so simple. I believe the call of Jesus Christ is the word of God. And so, I believe that this call is to be taken as the truth. We live in a culture where truth is relative and right and wrong blend into one another. But I am convinced that Christ is the truth. So in response to his call I am surrendering my will to his. I am taking this step in confidence that the call of Christ is life. All of the other passions and desires and goals that can make up a lifetime make years spent chasing after them seem like living… but what a true and fulfilling sense of life is found in responding in faith to the call of Christ. I am experiencing that life now as I prepare to leave for Uganda. I could not be doing anything else in the world that would bring me such joy and confidence. This is life. Not because it is Uganda, but because it is obedience to Christ’s call… there is nothing better than this.
I don’t know what these next five months hold. I am excited to be living in the country that has become such a focus of my studies and passion. It will be a whole different world and such a step outside of my comfort zone… and this is the place of breaking and molding and growth. Challenging, but so rewarding. I am stoked.
Thank-you so much for those of you who have continued to pray for my family and me. What an incredible gift your prayers are.
I am looking forward to sharing this experience with you as it all unfolds…
Less than 24 hours…

Psalm 18 (fragmented)
1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the strength of my salvation, my stronghold.
30 As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises to your name.

Convicted...

"It's a strange feeling to be so completely dependent on other people; but at least it teaches one to be grateful, and I hope I shall never forget that. In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more then we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. It's very easy to overestimate the importance of our own acheivements in comparison with what we owe others."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, LETTERS AND PAPERS FROM PRISON

How it all happened...

In November of 2004 I saw the documentary Invisible Children and my heart was broken. Invisible Children exposed the story of children in Uganda who commute each night from their homes in the bush villages to the city of Gulu to escape abduction by the LRA (a terrorist organization that instills fear through brutal child abductions). This documentary opened my eyes to a world I never knew existed.

Up until that point I had been considering a career in the media as a host or broadcast journalist. With my focus on a high-rise office in New York City, I was completely unprepared for the images that I saw on that screen. I saw emaciated children, their eyes full of pain and fear as they huddled together in the thousands. I heard them crying for parents they had lost, a sibling murdered before their eyes; a pain one little boy said, “my heart beats to.” There was no one to comfort them. These images shattered my previous dreams and tied my heart inextricably to the fate of these Ugandan children.

Since that life changing night nearly one year ago the burden of my heart has been the children of Uganda. I have researched the history of Uganda- the specifics of the war crisis, AIDS, and the heavy effects on these children. I have met with the director of Invisible Children, visited with missionaries from Uganda, attended lectures of African and Ugandan natives.... Through it all, I have asked God to direct my passion for the orphaned children of Uganda according to His purpose.

A few months ago I was given a unique opportunity to apply for an institute in Uganda that is built on the mission statement “bringing the Fatherhood of God to the fatherless.” After considering and surrendering to God the costs of leaving my family, friends, comfort zone, and America to live with orphans in Uganda for six months, I applied. In September I was accepted.

I will leave from LA January 9, 2006 and fly into Uganda, Africa. There I will attend the New Hope Institute while living and working with orphans. The lessons in the five months of classes and every-day life will be centered on Biblical principles of caring for and raising children- specifically the Ugandan orphans.
I cannot impress upon you how excited I am about this step in my life. This is a total surrender of previous dreams and hopes and plans for the sake of hearing and following the call of Christ in my life now. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27.
I am definitely in need of prayer support! These are my major requests now:

1. That God will strengthen my family during this time and will bring us closer together in Christ. I love my siblings and parents so much and am going to miss them a ton!
2. Travel safety.
3. That the upcoming elections in Uganda will be a continued step toward democracy and the voice of the people. That God’s will be done in this country.
4. For the children, that these precious little ones will be spared of AIDS, protected from the LRA, and may find true comfort in the arms of our merciful God.
5. For my heart to be completely given over to God, that His will may be manifest in my life and that this experience will help guide and direct future plans.
Thank you so much for your prayers. It means so much to know I have friends and family back home taking this step of faith with me. Together may we may attempt to live out Isaiah 58:10, “If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”