The last two weeks

Thank you to all the family and friends who have supported me to my trip to Uganda. I have been here now for almost three weeks and it has flown by, I am hoping the rest of my stay doesn’t go by so quickly. The last two weeks have been busy and very exciting, God is truly moving here and to be apart of it is one of the greatest blessings. I am fortunate enough to be able to see where Sozo got its start, when I first came to Uganda was two summers ago and when we got here we had the first seventeen for about two weeks. And now in 2012 we are getting ready for the two-year mark and to see what all God has done is somewhat overwhelming. There are now three homes, and around sixty kids and when I first got here two weeks ago, it was very emotional. Not in a bad way but just being able to see what God has let happened and the people involved it is purely amazing. The first week was sort of my observation week things are different now schedules are set and paces are made. I did not want to automatically jump in and possibly mess up the system that was created to help these beautiful children. And it is awesome to see kids do stuff with out being told it’s almost or is part of their nature to just do it. In America it is not like that most of the time. Then the first week was up and then the second week started fast with two teams coming in for their spring break trip, one from Alabama and one from North Carolina. And myself being on my own I just wanted to help as much as possible and be able to assist the new visitors and get whatever they needed if the staff here were busy or something. And being able to get to know each one of them and see their hearts burst open with love and comfort for the kids was just an honor honestly. It was different than any other one-week trip I was apart of even though I am here for five months I felt apart of the groups that were here.

Jinja-

Every trip of missions that I have been apart of back home usually has one day of relaxation a day to do something we might not do at home. Well about two hours north of Kampala is an area called Jinja and is one of the starting places of the Nile River. We went to the Nile and baptized some of the children that haven’t been baptized before because most of them were already baptized before. And I have been to some thing like this back home, either at a church or a creek but never in Africa or the Nile. This time was different you could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit strong which I have never felt before at something like this. Every time a child was dunked in the water the other kids who had been baptized before would smile and laugh but not a laugh as if they were making fun but, a laugh of joy. These kids get it they understand what this meant and what they were starting with Christ, not saying in USA kids don’t but I feel that some baptize their children because that’s just what we do like a habit. You could see the joy and happiness of the kids that were dunked and wow it was so amazing to be there for that and witness something that was different than what I had seen before. There were also a few people from the teams that were baptized and it was the same as the kids pure joy and excitement and in a way it’s indescribable because it was just a period of time that God had orchestrated perfectly for it to happen.

Washing-

There is a school that Sozo has partnered with and I helped with on my first trip, the school is called Rays of Hope. It is located in the slums of Kabalagala and it has around three hundred kids that go there and the joy they have in their faces every time I am there is something you never see in America. Most of these kids don’t have a real family, which means they live with a caregiver. A member of their family who takes care of them but most don’t even want to take care of these beautiful children. Most of them are abused physically and sexually daily and live in awful conditions, so going to school for them is an escape and somewhere they can eat. Yesterday we went and washed the feet of all the children and gave them flip-flops. I have done feet washing before and but it was with people I knew that I was comfortable with, and now I am washing a kids feet who can barely speak English and I don’t know if he or she even wants me touching their feet. But it was one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences of my life. There are a few sozo boys that go to Rays and I was able to wash their feet, which was awesome. And then this one boy who I don’t even remember what he looked like or his name, but I was washing his feet and told him that Jesus loved him and he responded saying that Jesus loved me as well. And in that moment what do you even say to that? Here I am some spoiled kid from America that grew up with everything I could ask for or wanted washing this little boys’ feet and he tells me this. And probably he has nothing, nothing of his own that he can call his own, and he tells me that Jesus loves me. In a way I felt like I didn’t deserve him to tell me this not that I am better than him because I honestly know that I am not. But I guess I just felt that this boy probably struggles every day to survive and with a big smile on his face tells me that it was humbling to be reassured that yes Jesus loves us all. That day is something I will remember for the rest of my life, and also is one of my highlights of my small time on this big earth.

Going back-

Most of you know reading this that on my first trip here to Uganda, a few others and me experienced something you only see in movies. We were involved in a bombing at a restaurant during the final match of the world cup. Well after leaving the school and grabbing lunch we decided to go back to the restaurant and see it, and inside I realize wow that was somewhat of a bad idea. The past year and a half since that happened I had been strong through it all not really affected by it. The only thing that was hard for me to understand was, why? Why me why was I spared and the fourteen that lost their lives at that restaurant wasn’t? I understand now, that God has a plan for everything whether we understand it or not. Well yesterday being strong and holding back all emotions was not on my mind then. As soon as I walked through the gateway where cars would park it all came back every single thing it was like it was happening again. Everything that I saw was in front of me even though it really wasn’t, I stayed there for a minute or two and decided to quickly walk out and go back to the van we were traveling in. It just finally hit me and almost broke me, which isn’t a bad thing but seeing where we were sitting in proximity to the bomb I shouldn’t be alive right now. I mean honestly being feet away and have people sitting further in the room than me that was severely hurt or killed and I walked out with a small scratch. That night during prayer after devotion a started crying a little I guess I just want to know. God is most high and he makes things happen for a reason and I have complete trust in him that he made things happen the way he did but, I am no one just a kid from America no one special or with a title. But we were protected that night and the tears last night were in true thankfulness of my Creator and being able to be back here in Uganda and be apart of the doors he is opening is a gift that I can’t compare to any other gift I have received.

I just want to say a thank you for everyone praying back home and for all the support I have received. I ask for continuation of prayers not only for me but also for the staff here, the beautiful children we have and Rays of Hope. God has big things planned for Sozo, thank you for letting me be apart of it.