Sarah Lynne Nashif

New Blog Address

2009-02-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm not in Africa any longer. I really do still update my Blog. I've just moved over to Wordpress.com. Still included a lot of thoughts on Africa, but also now incorporate ideas from my Masters in Business Management Program. Sorry to everyone who has been thinking I just stopped writing! I have been posting new articles at www.sarahlynnenashif.wordpress.com. Please come check it out!

Nothing but a Nub

2008-08-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

Before, I came to the Mission Field, and actually long before I knew that I would soon find myself in Africa, I wrote a Blog on Myspace called Is Your Faith Big Enough to Remain Nameless? It talked about that the call to Christ is the call to sacrifice. That walking in God’s purposes more often than not will not bring glory, nor is there any glamour in it. It was a piece of writing that I still pull out to remind me of my calling, align my perspective, and motivate my vision. Nevertheless, personal experience on the mission field has redefined my definition of what real sacrifice looks like and feels like.

I really only have a few stories from the mission field that are truly life-threatening or crisis-occurring experiences. The fact is that I’ve discovered that the hardest trial is that one which takes a little something from you day by day by day. The string of circumstances that individually hardly bare significance, but combined can equal big sacrifice. The lesser trial is the one time big sacrifice. Because, the fact is that after one big loss, the rest of your energy can be then focused fully on recovery. Or after the one big sacrifice, maybe you can get the human praise and encouragement after, that serves as a reward.

What is truly hard about the mission field is that the daily wearing down of your will and emotions. The mission field is like sand paper on your life. Culture and Circumstances that slowly whittle away at your patience, whittle away at your grace, whittle away at your energy, and may even whittle away at your joy, if you let it. The fact is that after six months in Africa, I can not point to one thing that was too hard to overcome or one thing that would force me to walk away. It’s never ONE thing. Instead it’s the daily occurrences that rub on you day in and day out, until ultimately you are “rubbed” down to nothing more than a nub. So here I am, nothing but a Nub. But, I think God can use a Nub.

Always Practical

2008-08-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite color? Everyone has a response to that question. I’m sure your response is rarely significant. However, I remember back in Junior High and even high school my response was always “Green” - which was a complete and total lie. The fact was I loved everything red! But, I wouldn’t say that because I always felt that red wasn’t a practical color. Furthermore, I sure wouldn’t think to buy something red – as much as a favored it. Black and White seemed much more practical for sheets, furniture, dishes, etc.

And even now, I see myself doing the same thing, but on a much larger scale of course. For example, I thought as much as I would really love to live downtown and have a truly urban lifestyle, I would never choose that because why pay twice as much money for half as much space, purely for appearance sake. And it didn’t matter how much I really wanted that experience in my life, I would ultimately never do it. But, as of this last month I finally thought, why not? Why automatically remove the impractical choice, without even a second thought?

I feel like I should psycho-analyze why I feel like I must always give a practical answer or make the practical choice. Fact is, I don’t know why and instead of spending time figuring out why, this year I am going to endeavor to choose what I want, even if it’s not the most practical choice. This doesn’t mean I won’t continue to make responsible decisions, but I think that a string of practical decisions may result in a successful life, but may not result in a happy one. Hopefully, I’ll have the boldness to test the theory.

Beggars in Christ?

2008-07-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

Dreams quenched, hope quenched, joy quenched, building of each other ceases. Just imagine, spreading your tarp, on a street corner, living day by day. The only phrases uttered, “hungry”, “money”, “help:” While this is the image in Africa, this image is also you and I without the generous gift, our Father, through His son gave us. Imagine if we had to beg, like really beg, not only for our daily bread, but if we had to beg and plea for an ounce of mercy from our Lord King; begging daily for the crumbs of His table. Imagine if His mercy wasn’t new every morning. Imagine if upon begging enough, our only hope was to maybe return to the Father’s house to live just as a servant as in shown in the prodigal son’s story. What if we woke up groaning in our rags, begging for just a taste of His presence? What if the scripture said “beg, beg harder –give me your most pathetic look and the door might be opened; weep and wail for my attention, and then it might be given.”

But, amazingly, that’s not what the scripture says. Instead, God seeks to dress us in the most fabulous of evening wear, the wedding gown. That is how our Heavenly Father pictures us – as His bride, worthy of love and worthy of a great inheritance. He knows us well – well enough to know we’d be the wimpiest army, the least victorious, the most downcast troop to display His Glory and Triumph for the cross without His equipping of us with His steadfast love, His enduring faithfulness. He pleas with us to cast our cares upon Him and promises that nothing can separate us from our Father’s love. Without His open arms – we would not have seat at the banquet table. But, he does offer and we do sit as heirs to the throne. So no begging in the Kingdom!! He generously equips us to follow Him, delight in Him, learn of Him, rejoice with Him, cry with Him, rest in Him, mourn with Him, laugh with Him, and be victorious through Him!! Thankfully, in Christ there are no Beggars. We are all welcome to take a place at His table. Amen.

- Thanks Liz for such inspiring thoughts!

Life Lesson from Africa #2

2008-07-24T18:58:00.000-07:00

I CHOOSE TO LAY MY LIFE DOWN

Choosing to change the world is neither glamorous nor easy. We decided to take on the Santa Claus occupation; we brought Christmas to the orphans. We came laden with boxes of toys – dolls, airplanes, cars, jump ropes, shirts, both kitchen and doctor play sets. We came prepared with the entire Christmas experience to the kids, including hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas movies. We also came armed with my DVD Player and Projector, as well as a video screen and gasoline for the generator. Then hooked it into their ancient sound system and the kids all gathered with their hot chocolate to watch Polar Express and The Nativity. Many fell asleep in their chairs and on the cement floors, but, a faithful few (around 50) lasted all the way to the end of the night at 1am.

But, to be truly honest, this is a story of which the telling of is much more fun than the living of. Out on a beautiful lake on a gorgeous sunny day, reaching almost 95 degrees, SEEMS like a lavish holiday to those digging there cars out of piles of snow and ice all around the States. However, we had to sweep out and kill no less than 30 spiders from our little hut/room. Those were only the ones we could see with our flashlight, near the floor, we didn’t even want to disturb the one’s above our heads. Before climbing into bed, I brushed off a pile of poo dropping that were resting there. Then I brought my bags and shoes into my bed with me, tucked in my mosquito net tightly into my mattress, and slept fully clothed, praying that I wouldn’t be attacked by something in the middle of the night and that morning would come soon. When I woke up early the next morning, and cocked my head as I focused in on the “poo droppings” resting on top my mosquito net. Turns out that, that scratching I heard all night above me was the BAT that lives in that particular hut. I was happy to not go to bed with that knowledge; then my dreams all night which were full of creepy-crawling things, would have included creepy-flying things as well. And like I said, the telling of this adventure is more fun then the living of it, since my ideal Christmas doesn’t usually include peeing out behind a tree on Christmas morning. In my journeys here in Africa, I have discovered that I can stand almost any “third-world” setting…….but, please just give me a toilet! But, to see how much fun these 200 kids had, was worth it. This is the only toy that these kids will get this entire year and I made a mindful decision not to ask, if they had ever gotten a gift on Christmas before. I didn’t think I would be able to take the answer. It’s not really until looking back on my pictures that I can see the true joy, we got to be a part of on Christmas day

Life Lesson from Africa #1

2008-07-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

EVERY CHALLENGE IS AN OPPORTUNITY

In Africa, I’ve learned that every Challenge is an Opportunity. Let me give an example. To the dismay of all Americans who are native to the North West United States, lattes do not exist in Uganda. At best, you can get a poor quality cappuccino. However, they do have the actual espresso machines; they just don’t know how to use them! One day, we had guests in from the US and they were so desperate for an Iced Latte that I asked the “bartender” if he would allow me to make a “special drink” using just ice, milk and his espresso machine. He was happy to comply and even thrilled to learn how. It was at that moment that I realized that no lattes means a potential business. Since that day I have considering offering my expertise as a barista to the few large hotels in the city. By helping them expand their drink menu they can cater to the western crowds, which pretty much are the only people that can afford to stay there. The bartender I taught continues to serve patrons at that hotel the Iced Latte I taught him to make. Zero access to lattes is not a challenge, rather a great opportunity.

For another, more personal example; since we were a ways out of the city and with the language barrier, cultural and financial barriers, building close relationships can be difficult. So I spend more time alone in Africa than I would ever in the United States. But, I’ve learned that isolation just means more quality time with God. What could feel like a real challenge is just another opportunity. I have never had that much time to read my bible, listen to sermons or pray more than this season in Uganda and that is an opportunity that I may never get again.

Liz's Thoughts on Ethiopia

2008-07-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

My dear friend, Liz was suppose to come join me in Uganda, but because of the situation surrounding the building of our medical clinic (see earlier blog), she ended up going to Ethiopia for six months. She is an American registered nurse, who has walked away from her job her to give medical care to the impoverished in Ethiopia. Below are some of her thoughts that she is sending back home. Some are so close to my personal experience that I just had to include them in my blog, because it felt like me talking about Africa, but also some of her experiences are very unlike Uganda that I thought it might be interesting to reveal the culture diversity that is found in Africa.... so enjoy!

Learning to Say No
7 million…. I honestly do not know how anyone would do a census around here – with the amount of people who are jobless, homeless, or in makeshift shacks – it’s not like they have some sort of tax ID, or an address, or have their kids registered in school. Everywhere I go, people are begging – I see cripples, people with massive deformities, kids with continual eye and nose boogars (sorry, you all are going to get the real story here – from a nurse who’s fascinated with the gross stuff). The beggars here are different – far more aggressive than home. It makes me wish for the homeless man on the corner who politely holds a sign and quietly waits back home. It’s easier to “look the other way” and think, “Oh God, please help that man, as I get a green light and drive off”. Here the beggars here come up to your car window, put their hands on your window, stare at you with well rehearsed puppy eyes and speak with a minimal voice of someone who is in survival mode. And when you notion with your hands and head that you don’t have anything –which let’s face it, we all have something – after the empty hand gesture – they get even more puppy eyed and more aggressive. I began to get frustrated – within 8 days of being here, I had a meltdown. I came here to say “yes” – not to repeatedly tell people no. The problem of poverty is huge – I could be completely broke in a day giving all my money out to the poor- and the next day, it would be the same problem. Handing out money is not the means to and end, but it puts a bandaid on it for maybe an hour or two? In Uganda, the beggars are not near as aggressive as Liz describes. So, instead of kids begging for money, you have vendors trying to selling all sorts of crazy things to cars stuck in traffic. You can buy anything from toothpaste, a newspaper, and phone time, to posters, chairs and clothes! However, learning that you can't possibly meet every need that you see, is one of the very first realizations that comes to you in Africa. You could be out of money in a week and never accomplish the purpose that you were sent to do if you can't learn how to say "no", despite how hard it really is and the internal conflict it creates inside of you.

Got Power?
I do not have electricity at least 2 days a week. The government is rationing out the power. I guess the power runs off a hydroelectric system and Ethiopia did not get as much rain earlier on this year – as indicated by the famine in the south – it’s gotten significantly bad, people are starving down south. Some days I do not have running water until afternoon – and I do not quite understand that one. And the 2 days a week are variable… so you never know! It like the feeling of Christmas morning… it’s somewhat a magical cloud as you wake full of anticipation and run down to check out the presents under the tree – that is the same feeling that embraces my heart as I approach the light switch to assess if it’s a day full of power. Rather goosebumpy, my palms get sweaty just reaching for that little switch. So, you can imagine how my heart drops when nothing happens as I flicker the switch back and forth… ahhhh yes, the trials of the mission field. I know, you feel sorry for me. I understand the feeling of anticipation or dispointment based on your access to electricity. In Uganda, we never had power on Sunday morning (so no looking nice for church) and we never had power after a lightening storm other than that, it was just as unpredictable. Though we didn't have electricity for days on end sometimes and when we do so many people are illegally tapping into the lines that its so weak, the lights cast a sickly glow that isn't all great.

Plans; Organization; Yeah Right!
There are certain things one needs to know and attempt to understand about Africa. Nothing is quite what you think, nothing goes as quick as you’d like, and nobody cares that you are in a hurry and they’rre not!! I’m laughing right now. So the clinic has not been running – it’s been an idea that’s been running that somehow was communicated to me as an actual tangible activity. So, I’m working on getting it up and going. I’m in the process of purchasing supplies, organizing paperwork – yea, I’m going kill some trees, but there is no organization here! And, in order for us to get accredited through the government, there needs to be documentation for the people we see. There is some medical care going on. The Entoto team has been buying prescriptions for these patients with HIV, and some minimal supplies from a pharmacy – as needed, not kept at hand. I have a designated room in this community center – and now I’m going to fill it! LOL. I told you Liz! When you told me that they had this clinic fully functioning, I was impressed, but had my doubts. And, you're right, all you can do is laugh out loud!

World Impact Church

2008-06-24T00:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that came out for the Origin Worship Night! We had the great pleasure of hearing the heart of Royce Iverson and how God motivated him to get out of the church pew and onto the mission field. Royce, and his wife Elizabeth, with their two kids have been City Bible Church’s missionaries in Uganda, East Africa for one year now and is who I have been working directly with over the last year as well.

But, the vision is so much bigger than them or me. City Bible Church sent its first Missionaries to Uganda in the 1980’s. Since then Portland, Oregon and Kampala, Uganda have been divinely intertwined. The vision from the very beginning was for a Church, a Bible Institute, Primary School, Medical Clinic and Orphanage. The current Pastors, Wilfred & Deborah Kaweesa, (born and raised in Kampala) were even educated at our very own Portland Bible College in 1995-1997. Over the last 20 years through regular support and numerous missionaries sacrificially going out from City Bible, Uganda has a thriving church of over 500 people, a Primary school with 90 students a year and has graduated over 400 pastors. Now Royce & Elizabeth Iverson are the next generation that has stepped up to add to this big vision, that is now called Hope Village.

In case you are newer to City Bible Church , you might not realize that the church you call home is a world impacting church. The focus on missions and humanitarian causes around the world has been part of our heritage for over 50 years. And even though you don’t hear about it every weekend, City Bible has church plants and ministries in South Africa, Cambodia, Laos, Romania, Japan, China, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, just to name a few. In 2007, over a half a million dollars went out of City Bible Church’s doors into other countries for the building of churches, outreach programs and humanitarian causes.

But, the giving is all in vain, without the workers. The amazing fruit that is in Uganda, and around the world, are from many unsung heroes that got out of the pew. Not for accolades; in fact many names have been forgotten, but to do something great for God. We are lucky generation, to be building on the backs of such great men and women that have called City Bible Church their home before us.

For more information about Uganda, check out the website at www.hopevillageuganda.com and you can read more about other City Bible Missionaries all around the world at http://www.citybiblechurch.org/p/12862/Default.aspx

Goodbye Africa - Until Next Time

2008-06-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

While I am excited to return home (the land of milk and honey does have its appeal), I am almost sad to see Africa go primarily because of the fodder it has provided for writing. Such great learning experiences have inspired such great thoughts, that for the first time in my life I felt that they were thoughts worth sharing. And I am hoping that others did to.

Nevertheless, up to this point in my life, I had never considered myself a writer. Having the time and wealth of stimuli has opened me up to what I hope to be a lifetime habit of writing. I can only hope that this new mental exercise will lend me to see the patterns in the States that will even still inspire thoughts worth sharing.

Medical Clinic Update

2008-05-20T00:20:00.000-07:00

One of my main responsibilities while in Uganda was to get the Medical Clinic started. No, I do not have any specific medical training or background, however God knew that wasn’t what was needed at the beginning. Establishing such a clinic in Uganda, requires networking with ten different government departments, international agencies, local non-profits and non-governmental organizations. The process is both convoluted and bureaucratic. So my government training became the desired expertise at that moment. So we were speeding along in the process, and it “seemed” as if the medical clinic would be our first building to go up.

But, then Culture stepped in. We had put $5,000 on an extra 5 acres of property adjacent to the 20acres we currently own to put the Medical Clinic on and the new Primary School since both would be to serve the entire community at large and not just those living at Hope Village. Nevertheless, with money down and contracts signed, the owner, Mr. Ben, changed his mind. Why? Because his 20+ kids began fighting among themselves about whose inheritance he was selling off. They claimed that he was pulling property from the wrong wife. He has four wives and obviously he was not treating them all equally and his kids would not have it. As a result, he changed the property to some other land that was not adjacent to our current property, which was completely unacceptable from both a transportation and security standpoint. Mr. Ben could not give the money back because he had already spent it! He was selling the property because he needed the money for something unknown to us. Unfortunately, property rights are pretty much nil in Uganda and without the actual title to the property we had no claim (even with the contract). This is something that would NEVER happen in the United States; from the involvement of four different wives to the breaking of a signed contract. Nevertheless, this debate carried on for another three months while our team had to meet with each immediate family group that Mr. Ben had. However, I am happy to say that as of last week, Hope Village is now 100% owners of that extra 5 acres and are ready to see what God will do with it!

Intercultural Communication

2008-05-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Learning to communicate in a cultural context can often be difficult. And if you are not especially conscience of the difference in how you live, then the point you are trying to communicate might never be understood. In one of my sermons at a Youth Camp in Entebbe, I was talking about how the key to releasing the potential that God has put in you is your environment. In other words, that one’s environment has a profound affect on who we become and what we do with our lives. The analogy I had written in my notes was of a boy who had a pet Gold Fish. One day, this little boy (lets call him Tommy) decides that he wants to play Lego’s with his Gold Fish. So he takes him out of his bowl and puts him next to him. Well, a little time goes by and soon Tommy notices that his favorite pet isn’t looking to well, so he carries him to his mom and asks if the gold fish is sick. Of course, we all know that Mr. Gold Fish can’t survive very long out of his water habitat and perished playing Lego’s. Well, you as an American probably totally catch the point about the affect of the environment on our lives. Nevertheless right before I began to tell that story, it dawned on me that this story was terribly wrong for a Uganda audience. First, Ugandans do NOT have pets. They do not see animals that way at all. And, in fact, they laugh at white people who pet, play and protect their dogs. Dogs are suppose to protect you….. And, secondly, fish are meant to be eaten! Why in the world would you even bother with a fish that is that small! The idea of keeping a fish in a clear bowel would be such a foreign thought to the Ugandan that they would miss the point of the message completely. I was lucky to have the Holy Spirit there with me to reveal this before I blundered into a intercultural Faux Pas.

The Crazy Man

2008-05-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

On our trip to the Equator, we met a crazy man. Unfortunately, in African countries, there is no place for those that no longer maintain full facilities “upstairs.” He was sitting on the porch of the little “restaurant” we had taken a break at, before headed back to Kampala. He was harming anyone, but he was obviously carrying on a conversation with himself. The trouble didn’t start until the police officer walked up. The military police officer asked what he was doing and the Crazy man responded that Museveni told him that he could be there… (Musevini is the President of all of Uganda). This response hardly helped the man’s claim to be there, nevertheless the confrontation escalated quickly because of the rifle that the officer was waving around.

The end result was nothing short of shocking. When a couple more soldiers came over and joined their friend and with stick began to beat him off of the porch. They were joined with two other “civilians” joined them, one of which had just served us coffee. See, now that the initial officer needs to “save face.” He can’t just walk away and let this man be because we as Muzungu (white people) have just seen his failed attempt to exert his authority. So this group of Ugandan’s beat this poor man all the way down the street. A slow, brutal, excruciating, retreat of a crazy man, who I will never know what the ultimate result was.

My heart truly broke. Here is a child of God; made by God; loved by God, and here are men beating him, because he was in a place they didn’t want him. I wanted to intervene; to stand between the soldier and this poor man. And to be honest, what was more scary then the “crazy man” was the military police officer that caused the whole “intervention;” waving his gun around. We could all see the image of a stray bullet killing an innocent bystander. We all exited the porch not because of the insane actions of the mentally disabled, but rather the of a egotistical man with a gun. So I guess in the end, who really turned out to be the “lunatic?”

Return Delayed to Africa

2008-05-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

So as always God has His own plans. And I’m learning to just go along for the ride! I had planned to be in Uganda for a total of nine months (October – June), But, Unfortunately, I am unable to return to Uganda for May/June as previously planned. This is extremely disappointing to me, but it is in the best interest of my health.

However, I am excited to share that with much prayer and discussion with the Elders at City Bible Church and the Pastors at the church in Uganda, I have decided to return to Uganda again for another six months next year (2009), departing February 17^thand returning in August 2009!

My time there will probably take on another purpose than my first six months. Beginning next year, Hope Village will be under major building projects and will need several Operation Policies and Procedures in place in order to function well and be a good steward of the investment made there be so many people.

Not being in Africa does not mean that I am not staying busy with Hope Village projects. In fact, it has particularly beneficial to have my first hand experience to add to our videos and print materials currently being designed for other fundraising projects. Furthermore, I am busy working with CBC and a few lawyers on establishing a Governing Constitution for Hope Village. In other words, who will be on the board, who will handle the money, and how policies and procedures will be established. Not too exciting, but important for a strong organization.

Finally, God has also provided me with work already here in the US! So, ultimately, in all of these things, you can see that God’s timing is always perfect.

I Never Us To Cry

2008-05-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

God has taken me through several seasons of Brokeness. Over the last four years, I have had all these seasons back to back and in this order; Expectations Dashed, Hope Deferred, Alienation, Attack on Reputation, Failure, Lack of Purpose, Isolation, and Attack on Health. Maybe I was so hard or so prideful or so self-reliant that He knew it would take several seasons and not just one, like many tell of. And, I’m not sure this trend of seasons that are conduits for brokenness have quite ended yet. In fact, maybe it is a life-long process – the seasons of brokenness never end until we are whole again with Christ.

One perfect symptom of this state of brokenness for me is I always cry. I Never Use To Cry….. Ever. I never use to cry…..and in actuality I had a bit of pride in this fact. I liked such words as “Stoic” and “Strong” and therefore like when they were associated with me. Movies moved me, but not a single tear would escape, but now the simplest of speeches will move me to tears. A profound quote in a book, insightful song and literally every time I walk into the presence of God cause me to “well-up”. I don’t think that it’s that I’ve just now discovered my “feminine side.” No. It’s that God has broken me…..

It’s funny; here in Africa most of my sermons to young people have been about the fact that we are vessels of potential. Potential that does not go away even when we have been damaged or wounded, failed or ignored. However, I think that God has given me a new revelation of how to truly release the potential that God has put into each one of us. That answer is brokenness. True potential cannot be released until you are broken. Here is the example that comes to mind. You know the piggy bank we had when we were little, that had no cork hidden in the bottom, but instead the only way to gain access to the money you had been saving was to physically break the piggy. This simple truth would cause you to think twice before accessing the worth that was inside. Sometimes, I think God uses life that way on us. The potential that God has put inside of us is valuable. He uses “life” to break us in order to get at what is valuable. Yet, not only does brokenness physically release the potential within us, but it provides a second revelation. Just as the action of breaking the piggy bank demonstrates that the contents of the bank are more valuable than the bank itself. I honestly think that maybe part of the purpose of the breaking process is to reveal the true value that is within.... to ourselves. God sees us not as we are, but as we are supposed to be... He wants to help us to see the same.

God has broken me in order that my true potential can be released from within me. The good news amidst the brokenness… is that God promises to complete the work that he begun in us (Phil. 1:6). And in fact, like Paul in 2 Corinthians, we may be broken, yet we will not be crushed.

Many people might also be in their own seasons of brokenness, and are running from church service to church service seeking healing for their brokenness. I’m beginning to realize that my same attempts were the wrong response to brokenness. Rather, God is asking us to see what He is trying to do through our Brokenness. He is asking us to see what potential he is releasing from within us. And to remember in the end, “all these truly do work for good to those who love Him.” (Rom. 8:28)

What I Love About Being Back in America

2008-04-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to be home for three weeks. And in just the little time that I’ve been here, I’ve been asked what are the luxuries that I plan to prioritize during my time here! And, well, the things that I appreciate about being home are different then what most would think, so here they are…..

Paved Roads – My number one favorite thing about America! Paved Roads represent the very definition of convenience. My first couple days here in Portland, I have had moments of confusion on what to do with myself because I had accomplished my “To Do List” in record time! My two things that I thought would take me all day, only took half the time that it would take me in Africa. I credit this primarily to paved roads and an organized road system with lights and stop signs.

Talking on the Phone without a Delay – When every conversation for six months includes a two second delay, you can never get into a good “flow.” In fact, you can ultimately end up having one conversation about two topics simultaneously – the topic you are responding to and the topic they have moved onto. My friend Chad was so nice has to offer to delay his response by two seconds in order for me to feel more “at home,” I was happy to refuse!

Stumptown Coffee – a stumptown, vanilla latte provides a great happy feeling, even if it is completely superficial I missed the joy it brings. But, even more importantly, I don’t miss the actual coffee so much as the “Coffee Culture” in Portland. I have had so many deep, meaningful conversations in a coffee shop that it now represents a comfortable, desirable place. Ultimately, Portland coffee shops represent quality time building quality relationships.

Chocolate Chip Cookies –Every American I run into on my travels that live long term in Africa, have people bring them back Costco size bags of chocolate chips. And, I have discovered that you can not get a bag of chocolate chips even such developed places as South Africa or England. In fact, surprisingly, chocolate chip cookies are a distinctly, American institution that I am happy to return too.

Shoes – so I’ve always had a bit of an addiction. My closest is literally “overflowing” with all sorts of styles and colors of these magnificent creatures. However, I went to Uganda, with very few, partly because of space and partly because I just couldn’t provide that kind of abuse to these companions of mine. Simply put, I just didn’t think my shoes weren’t cut out for the mission field… and the fact was they weren’t. But, now our reunion has been both sweet and bitter. My feet unfamiliar with these enclosed and somewhat high shapes, have been longing for the dirty flip-flops now resting in Uganda…. Nevertheless, I look great!

High-Speed Internet – You don’t realize how much your life revolves around the internet until you don’t have it and when you do have it, it takes five minutes to send an email out. It menas that when you are on the internet that you drove 45 minutes to get to it and then are paying $3-5 dollars an hour for it. It dramatically changes the culture. In Uganda, if you see someone on the computer, it is polite to check if they are on the internet before engaging in a conversation. It changes your work behavior. I spend hours getting ready to be on the internet with pre-written emails and a list of information that need to be acquired. There is no time to waste just browsing while you randomly remember what you should get off the internet. I do not miss the frantic feeling that overtakes you when you get onto the internet. I’m happy with my constant and direct access!

What Key Is That In?

2008-04-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

The best part of Africa is the people in the churches. These are the best people that you will every meet. Friendly, loving, joyful, and their worship has such a posture of devotion, you can’t help but be in awe of the authenticity of it. However, the flow of worship can be extremely awkward. Here in the United States (and all other countries I’ve been too) in a worship service, the songs are chosen beforehand and the keys they will be sung in, in order that band and leader can work simultaneously together. However, this is not true for most churches in Uganda. When they actually have a keyboard (and often they don’t), the worship leader begins singing a song and while the congregation joins in, the piano player keeps hitting different keys on the keyboard in order to identify the key (C, Em, G, Bb etc) that the song leader has randomly started singing in. And this goes on song after song. No plan, no flow, just constant distraction during the first minute, while you wait for the keyboard to finally find the right key! I feel bad for the musicians who must operate in this environment. The church could sing the same song four weeks in a row, but each time it could be in a different key, depending on who the leader was or whether they had a cold or not that week! But, ultimately, they always do join in and impressively, the congregation seems to not even notice the off-key plunking that happens at the beginning of every song.

Resurrection through Baptism

2008-04-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

On Easter Sunday, we went out to Bwerenga Hope Village. There is currently a village church on the property, which is an outreach of RUN Bible Church. The property rests right on Lake Victoria. And, very appropriately, they had a couple baptisms scheduled for that day – where they would bury their “old man” within the dark depths of the lake and be resurrected out into the newness of Christ. I thought it a special significance to do it on Easter when we are celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. And even more significant is the fact that, the water of Lake Victoria is both cold and completely unsanitary. When I spoke to the church before-hand I told them about City Bible Church’s baptismal tank, which is more like a nice bath with its heated water. Before, they walked into the water; I prayed that God would guard their bodies from the many diseases that water carries. But, I respect their commitment to taking the next step in their walk with God with so much faith.

Generosity of Christians

2008-04-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

Nevertheless, I would not be able to be here, if it weren’t for the extraordinary generosity of people in the United States, who despite their inability to walk away from their responsibilities, still participate at a sacrificial level with their financial support.

Once again, amidst my travels around the world I realize how rare and awesome the generosity of Americans really is around the world. At the core of every American is the mentality that tomorrow can be better than today. This vision, allows us to invest in the futures of not just “our” next generation, but the next generation of the “world.” It is this same ideology that we share despite religion, age or ethnicity. It is this vision that motivates us to invest in people. As soon as we as Americans begin to loose this perspective, we will loose a large part of what makes America great.

In this blog, I group all Americans together, in one homogeneous observation. And, we know that generalizations are just that; generalizations. And, maybe, your personal experience tells you something different about the generosity of Americans, but facts prove my observations to be true. America is the only country whose charitable contributions equal 1% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

But, I do want to note that the largest part of my personal experiences and personal observations of “generosity” in Americans; are primarily of Christians. Thank you to all those generous people that have supported and continuing to support sacrificially so many great humanitarian causes, including the one I’m working on now. I really hope that people, even those that don’t share the Christian faith will also see Christians as generous people, and I hope that I will always be known as a “Generous Christian.”

Murchison Falls

2008-03-28T06:59:00.000-07:00

Between many excursions out to the villages, we scheduled time to give Andrew a Safari experience. So, Andrew, Jessica (my Nairobi Adventure Friend) and I went on a road trip. A popular destination spot in Uganda is Murchison Falls. It is a narrow place, that the entire Nile River is forced through, creating a violent display of water that is awesome to be near. Giving a spectacle that looks similar to a firework display show, but just with water. While the falls are the highlight, it is also a National Park, full of giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, and my favorite the elephant. We took a boat trip up the Nile to the base of the falls and along the way we saw hundreds of hippos , with probably another hundred more below the water, since they can hold their breath for…. Also, of interest that most people aren’t aware of is that the Hippopotamus is the number one killer of humans by an animal. So if caught between a hippo and a lion, choose the lion! We also saw plenty of crocodile’s, with their mouths open, strangely enough. But, it turns out , that is how they cool themselves on a hot day, when they are guarding on their eggs and can’t get into the water. We camped out in tents in the middle of the park. In the morning we would wake up to a Wart Hog lying right next to our tent. We had been warned to make sure that we left no food in our tent or they might come right in. Now, this entire Safari Adventure would have been more fun if I hadn't been hiking around on crutches the whole time... but I was still. If a lion gave chase then my friends wouldn’t need to run that fast, all one had to do was run faster than the girl on crutches.

Back on Crutches

2008-03-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Yes. It’s true.

God intended most men to walk on two legs. Obviously, God intended me to walk on four legs. For those that know me, you know I’m right because you’ve seen me on crutches in my life more often than years I’ve been alive. This is the fourth time in less than two years I’ve found myself on crutches. And for those that don’t know me well…. Well, let me warn you,….I break easy. Which surprising for a girl as active as I like to be, but nevertheless, pinch me, I will bruise, push me and will fall and more than likely if you do neither, I will still manage to break or tear something just walking down the street on my own.

My foot is currently bright with pretty colors of blue, purple and yellow. I have torn the tendons that run across the top of my left foot… again. But, to be honest, finding myself on crutches in Africa is the most inconvenient crutch experience I have ever had. Take away my car (parked within 20 feet of my front door), remove drive-thru banks, drive-thru food, and then remove paved roads and sidewalks and then add the Uganda rainy season (this isn’t like the daily drizzle in Portland, picture in your mind instead hurricane and you’ll have a better idea) and now you have a perfect scenario of a potential prison with no walls. Regardless, I’m not one to sit around - it’s a recipe for “crazy” for me (picture big hair, frantic eyes, and conversations with no one in particular). So now when I go around Kampala, I’m not just watched because I’m a Muzungu (white), but because I’m a “cripple”. One day, when I was exhausted of “crutching” around through crowds of Africans on uneven, unpaved roads, I took a seat on a ledge on a busy street and someone tossed me a coin – as if I had joined the ranks of beggars!

(Ok, that didn’t really happen.) But, I get so much attention and so many people say “sorry” when I walk past, that I’m scared if I were to stop for a rest, I would find a pile of coins next to me! I guess, I’m trying to find the humor in every situation. And, well, you never know it could be a God-given way to raise money for Hope Village!

Invisible Children

2008-03-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went up for a visit to Gulu. Gulu is located in Northern Uganda and is infamous for being in the middle of a war-torn region. Gulu isn’t a tourist destination. In fact, our East Africa Tour Book, gives one paragraph description that states, in no uncertain terms, that there is no reason for a visit or even a friendly drive-thru. The town is teeming with NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) that are there to provide basic services to millions of people that live in IDP Camps (Internally Displaced Person Camps). These camps are basically shanty’s smaller than your personal bedroom at home, but they house entire families. People arrive to these IDP Camps, hoping to escape the violence and find safety in numbers, but, new problems arise. Millions who once relied on the land to provide for their families have been relocated to IDP camps where they must depend on insufficient rations from international aid. There is no infrastructure, no systems or processes, no leaderships, no laws. So how do you educate all those kids? How do feed all those people, who have left their crops behind? Water and Sanitation become big issues, as disease spreads quickly among people living in such close quarters. Therefore, access to clean water, economic opportunities, health centers, and education are a pressing concern in these people’s daily life. So, we went to Gulu, in order to see first hand what these different NGO’s were doing to meet these many pressing needs within the IDP Camps.

We specifically visited the offices of Invisible Children to learn about their different initiatives. In 2005, to help provide economic opportunities for these individuals, Invisible Children began The Bracelet Campaign. This is an initiative that simultaneously provides jobs in the displaced community, while raising awareness around the world. Each bracelet represents a reach child’s journey through this war and represents a particular need that they to bring awareness to the West. The profit from the sell of these Bracelets funds all their education initiatives. Therefore, enough people (primarily Americans) by purchasing a simple bracelet for $20 have helped to employ 180 people in the camps and send 662 number of people to Secondary school. We met plenty of other great people (mostly young Americans like myself) who are working to provide education and to thousands of people. We also drove by the United Nations World Food Program, which is basically a score of large rectangle buildings that warehouse enough food to help feed the hundreds of thousands of people currently still living in the IDP Camps in Northern Uganda.

History of the War

2008-03-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

The war in northern

Uganda

has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 21 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government have been waging a war that has forced nearly two million innocent civilians from their villages and homes and into these IDP Camps. The war has seen over 38,000 children abducted and forced to fight as child soldiers. A war has not only lead to the murder, torment, and rape of thousands, but also the devastation of an entire community.

The LRA rebel movement can be traced back to a woman named Alice Lakwena. In the 1980s, Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her and ordered her to overthrow the Ugandan government for their injustices. Lakwena and her followers, known as the Holy Spirit Movement, gained momentum as resentment toward the government increased. When Lakwena was exiled, Joseph Kony, took control and transformed Lakwena’s rebel army into the LRA. Kony’s LRA did not receive the same support as the Holy Spirit Movement because of their extreme tactics. With dwindling support for their cause and heightened government offensives, the rebels resorted to abducting children and indoctrinating them into their ranks. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops are children. In 1996, as a response to the LRA attacks in the villages, the Ugandan government forcibly evicted thousands from their homes and relocated them into overcrowded camps in hopes of providing protection.

In recent years more and more international attention has been focused on this crisis. In 2001, the US Patriot Act officially declared the LRA to be a terrorist organization, a huge step in drawing attention to the conflict and the atrocities committed by the LRA. In 2004, Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, the first piece of American legislation to address this disaster. And in 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Joseph Kony and four of his top commanders. A temporary truce between the Ugandan government and the LRA has held for more than a year, and as peace continues to progress, many nations, including the US, have appointed special envoys to oversee this process. This current cessation of hostilities marks the longest period of peace in the North for more than 20 years, and the talks have made significant strides in reducing the conflict. A declaration for lasting peace is scheduled to be signed on April 3^rd!

Nevertheless, in Gulu and the surrounding districts, issues concerning the nature of justice for victims and perpetrators for war crimes are presently being debated. And, the majority of northern Uganda’s population lives in IDP camps, and while the desire is for them to return home, the issues surrounding their return are complex. Some have been displaced for more than a decade, and their former ways of life are all but gone.

African Advertising

2008-03-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

The average home in Uganda does NOT have a television. Most People can not afford magazines. All forms of public transport are always blaring the multiple radio stations, but the quality is so poor, I often wonder who can understand. Now, newspapers are quite prevalent, but it doesn’t arrive to your home. You must buy it from the many vendors that work the traffic lines in downtown Kampala, therefore many Ugandans never see a paper. Therefore industries and businesses that are looking to market their product or service to the average African must find creative ways to get their message out to the consumer. In Uganda, they paint Buildings. For example, this picture is of a storefront is painted with the colors and logo of Uganda Telecom (UTL), which is my personal cell phone provider here in Uganda. However, this is not an actual UTL store, nor does it even sell UTL products or airtime. It is in fact, simply put, a building being used as a permanent billboard. These “building billboards” include advertisements of different cell phone services, as well as products ranging from Coca Cola to Feminine Products (no ladies, I’m not joking – these building often include visuals). These painted buildings are more common than gas stations and McDonald’s put together in the States. If a building is painted in Uganda, it is an advertisement; not many can afford to paint a building otherwise. These buildings are worth noting because this marketing scheme is now permanent make up of the visual fabric - that is Uganda. But, it can be frustrating when you first arrive because one may keep pulling over to these painted building marked all over with a certain company’s logo and not find the product or service you are looking for! In fact, often the actual businesses are so poorly marked that you can drive right by for a month and not realize it was there!

Muslim Evangelizes for Christ?

2008-03-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of the projects I’ve been working with the church on here in Kampala, is starting a network of Cell Groups. These are small groups that meet in home all around the city on a couple designated nights each month to pray and care for individual needs. There are several more challenges to launching such a project here than in the United States. For example, both transportation and communication are much more expensive and complicated here. Most people do not have a car and therefore must take public transport to a meeting. Because most roads are not paved outside of downtown and there are no traffic lights, traffic congestion is usually awful, therefore, it takes a long time to get places. Furthermore, while everyone has a cell phone, the system here is not by monthly contract, but by prepaid airtime that you load on your phone. And, many of our cell leaders can not afford to call the members of their own Cell groups to check in on them or remind them of the next meeting.

Despite, these challenges, Cell Groups have gotten off to a great start! The Church has 15 Groups that meet in different neighborhoods, and every week we are hearing different testimonies of how groups are growing and people are getting saved. But, here is one particularly astonishing story.

In Uganda, it is very common for every household to have help with cooking or cleaning, no matter how poor. I view it as the way they help distribute the wealth. Anyway, the “help” for one particular Host Home is Muslim. While she does not participate in the Cell Group, she is always present to help serve tea. So one night, the Muslim Helper invites a friend to visit the Cell Group. Her friend ends up receiving prayer and accepting Christ into her life! What a stunning conversion story - to be invited to a Christian Cell Group by a Muslim friend and then end of following Christ! It’s a good reminder that God does not see the same social barriers that we do.

Standing on the Equator

2008-03-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Living in Kampala, Uganda, I find myself only one hours drive away from the Equator. Not having a car here, it wasn’t terribly convenient to get to for me. However, it just doesn’t sound that cool to say, “I’ve been an hour away from the Equator.” So we took a drive to the Equator. There isn’t too much to see there, other than the line drawn across the street, that shows which is the North side and which is the South Side of the world along with several African Craft Vendors that have set up shop for the tourists that pass through. So here is my picture, proving, I have visited the Equator. I have had a foot in each hemisphere simultaneously. See how much cooler that sounds, than saying I was an hour away. In fact, in all actuality, I have STRADDLED the Equator..….. Need I go on? Now, I can also say, I have been to the middle of world…..Well, I guess you get my point.

God's Thoughts Towards Me

2008-03-20T06:25:00.000-07:00

When I am downcast, how often has God give me a specific encouragement from His Word? How many times through the years has God given me a promise for my life? These are messages that shouldn’t be forgotten, not only because they are from God, but, because they are eternal words; words suitable not just for the present, but also for a lifetime. And I have failed to be a good steward of God’s messages for my life. I’m reading a book right now that urges that you keep an ongoing list of God’s promises to you. So here is the beginning of my own list…..

o Prov 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (NKJV)

o Isa 40:31 - But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. (NKJV)

o Phil 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

o Isa 61:1-4 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (NIV)

o Est 4:14 -For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (NIV)

o Dan 6:4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

o Eph 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

o Mal 3:11-12 - "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the LORD of hosts; And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," (NKJV)o Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.

o II Tim 4:21 If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Mr. and Mrs. Gecko - The 2nd Chapter

2008-03-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Many of you will remember my very first blog I ever wrote was about my friend Mr. Gecko. To recap, Mr. Gecko was the original tenant of my room in Uganda on the missionary field. When I moved in, we became roommates. I was indebted to Mr. Gecko for keeping our room clear of spiders and other creeping, crawly things, and therefore forgave him for failing to pick up his ”droppings” that he left scattered around the room. (Boys just don’t have the same sense of propriety as girls do!) And I figured that every roommate has their failings, it’s just a matter of choosing which ones you can live with! Nevertheless, I felt a certain amount of sadness, that he was unable to roam free with other geckos and a little concerned that maybe a measly spider here and there wasn’t enough food for the little guy. So one day, he was resting close to the door, so I help point him in the right direction; in other words, I shooed him out. I was sad to see him go, but felt all noble in doing the right thing. About an hour later, still reveling in my good work for the day, I saw another Gecko crossing the wall. I was horrified! This whole time I thought I was only living with Mr. Gecko, but the fact was that I was living with Mr. AND Mrs. Gecko! I had single-handedly split up a marriage. To makes matters worse, I began noticing a gecko on the outside of my screened windows. I imagined it was Mr. Gecko staring longingly in for his lost mate. As I am feeling guilty about the family I separated, I determined to help Mr. Gecko and Mrs. Gecko reunite. Then just last week I saw something that released me of this heavy burden. I watched as a gecko slid through a crack between the window pane, that from my angle didn’t look big enough for even a penny to slide through. However, this crack was big enough for Mr. and Mrs. Gecko to come and go as they please! Unbelievable! Here I had discovered Mr. and Mrs. Gecko’s personal front door entrance to our abode. Not only did I not split up Mr. and Mrs Gecko…… by the increase of “droppings” left around, I think they may be actually hosting parties in my room!

Ugandan Wedding

2008-03-15T04:16:00.000-07:00

The Ugandan wedding is one of a lifetime experiences……HOPEFULLY. Though a great experience to add to Sarah’s Life Bank, it is seven hours that I don’t know that I would necessarily choose to live again.

Nevertheless, it did give me a cause to put on a Busuti is the traditional Uganda wear for women; differentiated from other traditional wear of African countries, by the material that rises in a dagger-like form from the shoulders. Furthermore, before putting the garment on though, these woman wrap themselves in several layers of clothe in order to add bulk to their bodies. I had to remove some of the layers or I was sure to faint in the heat or fall over from the weight of it all! While I felt a little like a girl in a bad Halloween costume, I received very many impressive compliments, primarily “You look soooo smart!” (Uganda English for, “Girl, you sure look hot!”)

In the wedding everyone who brought a gift (or money) for the Bride and Groom, present it personally to them in a format similar to our US wedding custom to get in line to greet the new Husband and Wife. Another distinction is instead of just serving cake to each other, the Bride and Groom also present cake to their in-laws, as a sign of thanks for the time and care they invested into their new spouse. Also, worth mentioning is, it is still common practice in Uganda and most African countries to present a dowry to the Bride’s parents. Depending on the wealth of the gentleman, or the value placed on a daughter by her parents, the dowry could range from a Bible to several cows or goats!

Health Update

2008-03-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for your prayers!! Here is the update from doctors here in South Africa. First, the results of the Cat Scans, of my head and abdomen, came back negative for tumors!

However, I have been diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Metabolic Syndrome. This Syndrome is characterized by an under-active thyroid and insulin resistance. These problems not only cause high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure in the present, but diabetes and heart problems in the future. The most frustrating thing about all of this is that after seeing a dietitian, they said I'm already making all the right health decisions with diet choices and exercise! Nevertheless, diet and exercise continue to be key factors in stopping the progression of this disease. They think the reason it took so long to identify the problems is because my level of exercise in the States kept many symptoms at bay.

I am currently on four medications. The primary one is to help stop the progression of diabetes by helping my insulin process sugar. And another one is to bring my cholesterol levels down. I will come back to the United States in April for three weeks. There I will do a second round of tests to judge how my body is responding to the medication, as well as get a second opinion. I will return to Uganda to finish my planned time until July.

Continued Prayer Support for….

My hormone and insulin levels respond positively to medication
International Insurance reimburses me for my medical attention in South Africa
That the necessary diet restrictions will be easy to adapt to
That the progression of problems will reverse itself

One final thought; Right now, God willing, my plan is to return to Uganda in 2009 after working for six months in the States and saving money. There is great work to be done in Uganda! However, without access to regular exercise and appropriate diet, as well as a positive response to regular medication, this will not be possible.

Assessing Life in Light of Death

2008-02-28T12:08:00.000-08:00

Since arriving in Uganda, I’ve developed an onslaught of symptoms that begin to raise concerns about my health. Initial doctors in Uganda, said not to worry it is just a cultural change. But, knowing my body, I felt that I should seek a second opinion. So while here in South Africa I saw a specialist. After several tests, he acknowledged something is definitely wrong and sent me on to another specialist. I’m hardly a hypochondriac, and to be honest the possibility was pretty minute, nevertheless, when unsure of the future, once can not stop the mind from pondering over all the potential scenarios, that life might go. One lesson we get as you get older is; you begin to learn how life can change dramatically in a single moment of time. So what if my life was to dramatically change in a single moment?

What if I didn’t have as many “tomorrows” as I thought I did? Not really feeling like I was at death’s door, but nevertheless I thought, at age 27, if I wasn’t going to see a ripe old age, what changes would I make in my life right now? I rarely sit around and think about my own mortality and like your average 20-something, I’m not quite thinking about retirement plans yet. But, in light of this new perspective, I realized the answer was - nothing. And, that realization shocked me. Health permitting, I would choose to keep on with my endeavors in Uganda. I would still pay that money to fly back to the United States for my friends wedding, I would still choose that family vacation and

The only thing that I would maybe consider is not continuing on with my Masters in Business program. However, I would probably consider continuing working on my degree in Theology. One should never stop pursuing God. And gaining knowledge of God is the first step in knowing God. It is and will be an eternal pursuit, I think.

You always hear about those people who at the end of their life, wished that they had given up the pursuit wealth and “things.” They wished they had spent more time with their friends and family. And in light of my life through the lens of death, I realize that I have put relationships first….. so far. Should I pat myself on the back that, the thought of death would not force a radical change in my life? That my choices and priorities are correctly aligned in light of human frailty and mortality? And it is true that often, more than some, I have always assessed my life in each moment in light of eternity. And assessed each choice in light of James 4:14 which says our existence here is but a “mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”. Plenty of writers in both the Old and New Testament refer to our lives as David did in Psalms as nothing more than “a single breath.“ In light of eternity, the difference between a person that lives 30 years and him that lives 70 years is really quite insignificant.

Now don’t going thinking that I am all noble and everything. In this rare moment of introspection; in light of thoughts of mortality, I am sad to think what future may be missed. And to be truly honestly, I think maybe I am just not old enough yet to have acquired such common distractions – like the pursuit of wealth instead of relationships. Maybe if I picked up a mortgage and a few kids, my focus would lose some of that eternal perspective and readjust a focus onto the material world. One can not guess what choices I will make a few years from now. Regardless, of what future might hold, assessment is always valuable and sometimes we need a little reminder how short our wick really is.

"Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore..."

2008-02-27T09:20:00.000-08:00

I have left Africa without exiting the Continent. Welcome to Johannesburg, South Africa, aka. “Any Town, USA”. Now I am sure that if I stayed here long enough I would see significant cultural differences between South Africans and Americans, however at first glimpse, Joburg could be any city in California. Full of shopping malls with Louis Vutton , and as well as movie theaters. coffee shops, bookstores, and every kind of restaurant imaginable. Paved roads, phone lines, street lights, stop signs and crosswalks, are the first sign that this place is much different than Uganda. But, then you see clean streets, Audi’s (and my own personal red Mazda 3), as well as high-rise buildings with excellent construction. “Toto, we are not in Africa, anymore” ….. in fact we are in a completely different world then we have known in the last four months.

So I took an extra week in Johannesburg after 8 grueling days of training with World Vision. Bill and Joanne Scheidler, graciously opened up their house to me for a place to stay. On Sunday, I visited City Life Church, pastored by their daughter Gini and her husband James Monagham; both who my family have known for a long time. I also attended their Generation Church on Friday night (ages 12-21) and they sang many songs I recognized, including one from Donna Lasit!

I also got to meet up with a couple other friends that live here. We actually met one year ago on my tour through Egypt! We never imagined that we would be able to see each other again so soon. (It’s a small world) They took me on quite another adventure actually. We went about 90 minutes outside of the city to the bush and sped along on 14 different zip-lines that zig-zag back and forth across a canyon. They progressively increase in speed and you wear padded gloves that you use on the zip-line to slow your incoming speed into the next platform. I did do one day tour. I spent several hours in the Apartheid Museum. It depicts the incredible fall of the political policy of racial separation and therefore discrimination between blacks and whites in South Africa. We visited areas around town where you could see a few signs left behind as reminders of this separation; shops for those with Black skin and others for those with White skin, and separation in public transport as well as drinking fountains. Different tribes regulated to certain suburbs (or better described slums) around the city; in which to leave, you must have a pass to travel. I have already had a real “Safari Adventure,” but one thing I did the day before leaving South Africa was visit a Lion Park. This is the first time in my life I have ever seen a White Lion. Such beautiful creatures! Then you got to go play with the lion cubs that had been abandoned by their mothers. You felt like you could adopt one and take one home as a pet! They also had a couple Giraffes at the park that you could buy food to feed! So I filled my hand full of “giraffe food” which looks like nothing more than pieces of round cardboard to the human eye, but it sure looked attractive to that giraffe, as he wrapped is gooey, gristly, warm, (and moist) tongue around my hand to make sure not to lose a single bite!

Aids Education with World Vision

2008-02-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

I am a strong proponent of not “reinventing the wheel” and not wanting to waste my time trying to figure out what would work and what wouldn’t. Therefore, I initiated a search for a good and impactful Aids Education program that had be tried and tested in Africa already. World Vision has a program call Channels of Hope that puts on workshops for Pastors about the AIDS pandemic and helps them strategize on how their church can personally be involved; whether it is counseling people with HIV in their churches, caring for the sick in their communities, or educating youth and church members about transmission and prevention. After being in Africa for just a short time you begin to quickly recognize how influential pastors are as a whole on the continent. They wield immense amounts of influence over the people that are in their congregations, even when it comes to their families health decisions. If a Pastor says to go to the doctor, they go, if he says just pray about it, they do. By educating Pastors, you are able to multiply the impact of that education, since each Pastor can represent anywhere from 200 to 1000 people. It is even further multiplied if you can mobilize an entire congregation to make strategies to reach their surrounding community. You can see the rippling affect such a strategy can have by simply targeting community leaders; which in this case is most of the Pastors anyway.

I was there representing Uganda, but as the first American to be trained in the program, my true nationality was often mentioned. I also was only one of two people who did NOT work directly for World Vision. It was a divine opportunity (God-ordained) to take part of such an eye-opening experience and gain access to such a great program and toolkit that is often reserved for those employed by World Vision. Present in the 8 day training were people from the African countries of Mozambique, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Lesotho. And from the Eastern Europe countries of Georgia and Albania as well as the Latin American country of El Salvador. El Salvador, interestingly enough, I learned uses the US Dollar for their currency, in other words, they have no national currency! Through the years I have begun collecting a currency bill from each country I attend, but if I ever go to El Salvador, I’ll just have to keep one of our very own greenbacks! And, just as diverse as the countries, were the languages spoken. The workshop was in English, but two translators were present, one translated into Spanish and the other into Lesotho. Let me give a more vivid picture of how diverse of cultures were present in this eight day training. The trainer wanted to use riding a bike as an analogy for a particular session, however when she asked the group how many knew how to ride a bike, ONLY HALF raised their hands. How many people in the United States have never learned how to ride a bike? Maybe I assume to much, that such a practice is a staple for all children living in the United States, and I would be shocked to find out how many truly miss that lesson growing up in the US, nevertheless, I am quite certain that it would NOT be 50%!!

Again, World Vision’s Channels of Hope will be a great tool for incorporating AIDS Education into the Hope Village outreach programs. It is a strategy that I never anticipated before arriving to Uganda, but I believe will be even more impacting then any other idea. On my return to Kampala, we will be able to incorporate these three-day training sessions into the Bible College on Hope Village Property and another Bible College on Bussi Island, and we hope to also host a workshop for at least 50 Pastors in June on this topic of AIDS Education and how churches can be mobilized to reach this community.

4 Life Bibles - Soroti Youth Camp

2008-02-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

We have purchased 1,000 New Testament Youth Bible’s!! After quite a bit of work and prayer getting them to Uganda, we have been able to give out our first 75 to youth camp in a small town in Soroti, Uganda about a six hour bus ride outside of the city. Help from Portland Bible College, Origin Young Adults and City Christian Highschool made the purchase possible at $3 a Bible. As you can see in the picture these Bible’s are trendy and catchy. They include cool quotes, analogies, and stories scattered throughout the Bible that increase the relevancy of the words to young people. Actually, they are so popular and attractive that if anything, we have had difficulty making sure that these young people can actually, really read English! But, many of the young people do not own their own Bible and this Bible includes studies, on salvation, abstinence, self-worth and peer pressure. We continue to look for, pray for and strategize for opportunities where these Bible’s will have a live-changing impact.

Heaven in a Parking Garage

2008-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

You can find Sarah's happy place is in a Parking Garage. I dream of this place... of its big pepperoni slices, pieces of cheesecake, cinnamon roles, and even coffee frappiccinos! The NY Kitchen is is tucked away the corner of a parking garage, but you hardly notice. It took quite a bit of wandering to find. Our Aussie friends that we met white-water rafting down the Nile, had been in Kampala for a month and were equally thrilled to find this place because after only one month, you are ready for a little diversity. I actually like African food. But, the problem is that you simply get tired of eating the SAME THING every day. We, as Americans, are use to variety. Having Thai food, Mexican food, Italian food and Fast food all in the same week, has always been common for me. I go to this restaurant so often, they call me their "best customer." I know the names of all the wait staff and even the owners. If I haven't been there in awhile, they say "You've been lost!" which is the Uganda way of saying, "Why I haven't seen you in awhile!?"

My Western Fix

2008-01-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

Despite, the political unrest, you could tell that Nairobi is a great city. It actually helped to give me my “Western Fix.” The coffee shop “craze” has not reached Kampala, but it is prospering in Nairobi. I got an iced vanilla latte every day. They even had it with nonfat milk! What luxury! The presence of fast food, coffee shops, pancakes, and strawberries, made me almost jealous of the missionaries that get to live there! Furthermore, it was a treat to go into a bookstore, almost the size of Borders; we spent two hours just browsing and reading. We have nothing like that in Kampala. And we even went bowling, but that was only because everything else in the entire city was closed and we were so very bored, waiting out the result of the Presidential elections. It all made me realize that I am actually living the true “missionary” experience. On the other hand, it has been a great experience to live with less. What would it feel like to just possess the bare minimum of living, and not to be surrounded by stuff/clutter, or in other words excess? Well, come to Africa with only two packed bags and then you realize how much you can live without. I can tell you that it is “freeing.” Sure there are some things that you really miss. I do miss big bookstores, drive-thru banks, and the coffee pastime. But, ultimately, what you realize is all the things that you don’t miss. I miss experiences and good times with friends, but I really don’t miss any particular object. I think about all the things resting in my storage unit back home for the last two years. In other words, I am paying money to store items that I am not using! This should be the very definition of excess. And while, I doubt that I will return to the States in a rampage of minimalism, I think this experience will, at the bare minimum, change my priorities, but it also, more than likely it will change any life endeavor to collect objects.

Rioting in Nairobi

2008-01-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

Go figure, my first travel experience out of Uganda into the rest of Africa would lead me straight into political upheaval! But, to be truly honest, with my Bachelors in Government and International Politics, I found the experience quite exciting to live through. Another missionary girl, also from Oregon and living here in Uganda for a few months, needed to leave the country in order to renew her visa. So Jessica and I determined to make a holiday out of it. Inauspiciously, we decided to go to Nairobi. It was eerie on the first day to walk out of our hotel into a Ghost Town. The streets were EMPTY; no cars; no people. The city of xxx number of people had shut down, waiting for the Electoral Commission to release the results from the Presidential Election. And malls, movie theaters, banks, markets, grocery stores, and even gas stations had closed not as a result of violence, but in anticipation of violence. I had briefly mentioned that the city was shut down for elections to my parents, but it was not until the news made the front page of the Oregonian that they realized the full weight of what we were in the middle of. Every time CNN came out with a new report, I got a new call from my family. And, because of the Media Blackout by the Kenya government, it was hard to get news about what was really going on. Though, the biggest story was of the 40 people that were burned alive in a church by protesters. But, this was in a town that is a 6 hour drive away from Nairobi. And buses were attacked on the road, though tourists have been left unharmed, people were killed. And of course all buses and trains have been canceled indefinitely. Nevertheless, the fact is, that the city feels pretty safe because there were military on every street corner. And to those in the States, the very presence of military on the streets is cause for alarm, however after living in Uganda for three months, it has become commonplace to see men in uniforms with rifles, roaming the streets.

Our New Years holiday in Kenya wasn’t quite the holiday we had imagined. But, Jessica and I made an adventure out of it anyway. Since there wasn’t anything to do in Nairobi and we needed to remain within the military quarantine of downtown, we ended up jumping from Five Star Hotel to Five Star Hotel – we ate at the Hilton, the Serena, the Sarova and stopped by the Fairmont Hotel. And since there wasn’t much to do other than watch television for the impending election results and subsequent violence, we made friends with the wait staff everywhere we went who chatted with us about Kenya life and politics. One restaurant even opened up their doors just for us! The owner assured us we would be safe there and as we ate tacos our waiter, Charles, explained about the differences between the two candidates, Kibaki and Odinga. Then he escorted us to a taxi, negotiated a good price and sent us on our way safely. We also were able to do some souvenir shopping at the ten shops (of over 100) that opened for a few hours in the Curios Market. We had Kenyans physically dragging us their shops, trying to make us their best friend so we would purchase something. And, boy do Kenyans love to barter. The start the price at 5x the actual value and you have to spend hours talking them down – and you still pay too much! Mostly because you are too tired to argue anymore so you just give in.

We did get a chance to escape for a few days to one of the premiere Safari parks in Africa! But, it was a little touch and go, getting back into Nairobi, with our uncertainty about the political climate and how much violence had entered into the city. Furthermore, since our original flight had been cancelled, and all buses and train routes closed, we were unsure for a couple days how to get back to Kampala. We ultimately, got the last two seats on a one-way flight on a commercial airline. It was a relief to leave primarily because there were plans for a Political Rally that day, and the fine line between “Rally” and “Riot” is easily crossed when that many people get together. But, to further complicate things, Uganda gets all its fuel from Kenya. Therefore because of the political unrest, Shell was not delivering fuel out of Kenya. Places that had gas had long lines and prices reached up to $8 a gallon in some places. It is weeks like these that are a glaring reminders that I am living in a third world country. Even after arriving safely to Kampala, it was another week before we got back to the routine of things (i.e. getting to internet).

As a whole, this is an interesting study in Democracy in Africa. Up to this point, Kenya had been an example of how democratic peace can bring prosperity to a country. Kenya was the Pride of Africa; a haven for their more war-torn neighbors including, Uganda. Yet, the question has been raised again. Has colonization created a permanently, hostile environment for free and fair elections? Will Democracy work on the African continent? I truly believe it will. The United States has had two century’s of democracy and most of Africa has only had two or three decades. Democracy must be tried and tested. But, at the same time this serves has a good reminder that Democracy is fragile, no matter where in the world you live. And, unfortunately, it only takes handful of people to bring chaos to order and tyranny to freedom.

Safari - Shush, Mr. Hippo, I'm Trying to Sleep

2008-01-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

One staple of the African experience is “going on Safari.” We saw all of this in the two days we spent at the Marsai Mara Game Park in Kenya, which borders the Serengetti in Tanzania (about 5 hour drive out of Nairobi). Technically we went to both Kenya and Tanzania on this trip. You can see me on the marker, with one foot in Kenya and one foot in Tanzania (standing in two places at the same time.) Before images of binoculars, khaki’s, and round, Safari hats fill your mind. Let me tell you that the modern Safari experience is both quite commercialized and expensive. Nevertheless, true to the advertisement, we saw plenty of Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, and even Lions. I guess it is extremely rare, but we saw a total of six Cheetah’s and over 13 Lions resting in the shade under some bushes, with their baby cubs playing by them. And every time, we saw the warthog running across the plain, I couldn’t get the character Pumbaa from Lion King out of my head! You drive around in a van with a roof that lifts off. So you can stand as you 4x4 over dirt roads and through the brush, scouring for any hint of movement. However, the fact is that without a good guide, (ours had been touring Kenya parks for 30 years), we probably would have missed most of the animals in the 200 square miles that make up the Masai Mara. You honestly could drive through the wide expanse of Africa without seeing anything but a good panoramic view of scenery. Furthermore, I feel like my little pocket digital camera with 3x zoom, doesn’t do any justice to how close to the animals we were. My recommendation to anyone who goes on Safari is to make sure to have a good camera lens with you! A little better camera and I could’ve counted the whiskers on the “cats” nose. The hotel we stayed at was in the Game Park and had its on own Hippopotamus Sanctuary. It was pretty cool to be able to have a Coca-cola, while watching baby Hippos fight from the 360 degree observatory that was built out into the middle of the pond. That was, of course, until the whiff of Hippo reached your nose. For animals that live in a perpetual bath, that was one nasty smell. When that wind heads your direction, you decide pretty quickly to remove yourself! And furthermore, since our room was so close to the Hippo Pond, we were constantly awakening to sounds of “yawning” Hippo’s. “Shshhhh, Mr. Hippo, I’m trying to sleep!”Since we had two 5:30am days on this Safari, New Year’s Eve wasn’t much of a party at the Safari Lodge. But, we did stay up to midnight to ring in 2008 with a lame DJ, a drop of 20 balloons, and plenty of Japanese tourists and Senior Citizens. On our way back to Nairobi, we stopped and toured a Masai Village. These are the “Native Indians” of East Africa. They are a tribal people that live in mud huts, care for livestock, and make fire from rubbing sticks together. Furthermore, the rite of passage for males into manhood is killing a lion. Although the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, the people have clung to their age-old customs, like piercing and stretching of their earlobes the removal of the canine tooth buds, bright color dress, and a diet consisting of meat, milk and blood of their cattle. And, because of their distinctive customs, they have become one of the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally. But, they also have learned how to make money off the ever steady flow of tourists that travel by their huts.

The Remedy

2008-01-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

America is a blessed nation in the world, hands-down...we live in abundance. We never lack for food, shelter, relationship, entertainment, portfolios, amusement, or opportunity. We can literally be numbed to pain, loneliness, and depression, simply because there are so many remedies for such ailments, (and they don’t need to be prescribed by doctors).

In America, we have every conceivable need/desire met. Dull night?--- go down to the local pub and drink that dullness away. Feeling lonely? --- hop on Myspace or join any of the millions of chat rooms, or better yet, use your cell phone (modern black book) and give any friend a buzz. Too quiet for your liking? ---turn on your iPod and play any song from any band, from any genre. Or better yet, flick the TV on and turn it to any of your 600 stations (in hi-def, of course), or simply pop in newest release from Hollywood and tune out from the real world for a good two hours. Stomach growling? --- jump in your car and drive 3 minutes to any fast food joint and for a measly $5, u can stuff your face with tasty food. (Side note: when I asked my African friends what was their favorite food, while visiting the USA; their response was Wendy’s drive-thru.)

Of course, an argument can be made that these man-made remedies do not entirely overcome loneliness and depression, and ultimately, America is becoming more and more desperate in her “pursuit of happiness.” But, how many of us get lost everyday in experiencing superficial “highs.”

My friend Josh believes that the reason, why America does not see the miraculous, as far as signs and wonders go, in comparison to third world countries that have numerous reporting of such weekly is because, WE don't need GOD. All of our needs are taken care of. There is no sense of urgency for praying for a roommates pounding headache when he can simply swallow a couple Tylenols....likewise, your voracity in prayer for a friend’s broken arm is not the same as one who lives in a remote village, six hours from any kind of medical help. We just go to the emergency room and the doctor fixes it.

There becomes no need for a Redeemer, when there is seemingly nothing to be redeemed for.

On the other hand, Ugandans need GOD. More than likely they have nothing else. They don't have cars, Tivo, Winter Sales at Nordstrom, iPhone, or happy hour to preoccupy their thoughts like we do. God is all they have to turn to. God is their only remedy; the only solution. Whereas, in America (and the western world in general) the option of God as a “remedy” is just one out of a long list of possibilities.

We have set up systems and infrastructure that give us a self-reliance that makes it easy to remove God out of the equation.

Please understand, here in Africa, I really miss my late-night happy hours with friends and weekend concerts in downtown Portland. I really do believe that God is happy when people share conversation and laughter over a good meal and rejoices to see the creativity that comes from the musical gifts He gave out. However, the problem arises when these things replace God…..or when they become the fruit of our existence here on earth.

Just as my friend, Josh, explains best, “Think about this: if GOD and this whole Christianity turned out to be a complete hoax, lets face it--we got a pretty good Plan B, eh? I still have a good job, a couple degrees, friends, cars, money, house, bed, food, etc. I aint doing all that bad, in this life of mine. But, for your Ugandan friends, there is no Plan B....GOD is their all and their “everything”. If JESUS never existed we'd be doing OK here in Portland, Oregon. But, if JESUS never existed, people of Africa would not be OK.”

In America, we have constructed mechanisms that provide remedies for every symptom. The problem is that the disease is still there, we just don’t feel its affects anymore. God is the only true remedy. We should feel jealous of what the people here in Uganda have. They have authenticity. And as I discussed in my last Blog, they have God.

I think and articulate best in a dialogue. Thanks, Josh, for participating in a dialogue even across a couple oceans.

Where is God in the Suffering?

2008-01-05T10:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just don’t know what you have to give here in Africa. Their lives are so hard and they do everything with joy and humility… I feel like I just can’t compete spiritually with them…. Truly they are closer to God than I have ever been… maybe it’s because they do not have the luxuries to distract them, do not have our Western comfort to make them soft. God is essential to survival. But, they say, “If God wasn’t here, we would’ve died years ago.” This is a statement of faith. Of all people who are justified to ask, “Where is God in the midst of all this suffering?” It is these people. Everyday is hard work; Everyday is survival. (These statements are no longer cliché for me… they are reality… the reality of Ugandans)

The fact is, the ability to ask the question, “how could God allow all this suffering and hardship?” is a question asked by academics up in their spiraling towers, as they analyze from a distance. It is a question asked out of abundance, on behalf of people who have a different question. Their question here is simply, “Where would I be without God.” Oh, that we in our Western mentalities would abandon our analytical high-horses and simplify our faith down to just…. “I believe.” The Bible says to have “faith like a child” and I see now how our adult-minds get in the way.

We erect strongholds of self-reliance and raise the flag of our independence on top.

Again, I ask what do I have to give? Will my education feed their children? Will my words bring their husbands back? Will my presence here make their lives easier? I have been rendered speechless here more times in three weeks then ever in my life. I don’t know what to say. So I ask you… what do you say, to a woman (Lydia), who decided to keep her baby, even after the father left her while she was pregnant, only to have that daughter die from pneumonia at age six. What do you say, to another woman (Margaret) who matter of factly says, her husband slept around for years before finally leaving her with her two daughters. They tell you the story, simply because you asked, but these are not emotional statements, just statements of fact. Literally, every person’s personal story is marked by tragedy and death – fathers, mothers, siblings, coaches, teachers – people taken much to soon. But, you would never know by their countenance. I know, because I ask - and then I know not what to say. All words; seem meaningless.

And in actuality, all my words are meaningless; unless they are accompanied by power; the power in God’s word. I began this journey as the Prophet Jeremiah did, telling God, "I do not know what to speak. But, as God said to Jeremiah in Jer. 1:9, "I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and governments…”

My words of comfort are empty, but when I quote the words of Jesus, that he came “that they may have life, and may have (it) abundantly” (John 10:10), it pierces through all circumstances and thoughts because “the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, both soul and spirit…”(Heb 4:12) He is providing words, where I had no words. The Word of God brings life, where there is death; fullness where there is emptiness; and hope where there is despair.

The answer is - I have nothing to give. Thankfully, we have a Savior, who is willing to give everything.

Merry Christmas: Poop is Raining from the Ceiling

2007-12-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

As explained in my last blog, since Christmas in Africa can’t ever truly “feel” like Christmas, why not make it as different as possible. And we succeeded, Christmas 2007 will not be lost in our memories. You know what I’m talking about…. when in the tradition of not breaking tradition, ten years of Christmas holidays all blur together into one general trend of triviality. From Kampala, Uganda, we took a 45 minute drive to Lake Victoria (largest lake in Africa and source of the Nile) and took a wooden boat on the 75 minute ride to Bussi Island. Our mission? To show the Love of God to 165 orphans, or in other words, take on the Santa Claus occupation. Out on a beautiful lake on a gorgeous sunny day, reaching almost 95 degrees, seems like a lavish holiday to those digging there cars out of piles of snow and ice all around the States. The name of the Orphanage that we visited was called Ossanide. It is ironically pronounced “Oh Sunny Day”, but is actually translated into English as “He Is Worthy.”

What a joy it is to bring Christmas to orphans. We came laden with boxes of toys – dolls, airplanes, cars, jump ropes, shirts, kitchen play sets, and doctor play sets. And come prepared to bring the entire Christmas experience to the kids, including hot chocolate, popcorn and Christmas movies. How many people have made 200 cups of hot chocolate over an open fire? Well, I have. And I doubt that many others have found themselves in the same company. Please pardon this expression, but I felt like a witch from fairy tales, bent over her magical pot of potions, with my big ladle, open fire, and black kettle. I brought 40 liters of “Long Life” milk (the brand that doesn’t need to be chilled) and plenty of sugar and coco powder and we mixed and boiled it in two batches over an open fire. We found out later that the orphanage had never had milk before. The “house moms” kept wanting to dilute it down with water to make it last longer. But, not for Christmas, we said! The popcorn, also cooked over the open fire, turned out a little burnt and a little unsanitary, once the “house mom” and kids had finished cooking it and putting it into bags. We also came armed with my DVD Player and Projector, as well as a video screen and gasoline for the generator. Then hooked it into their ancient sound system and the kids all gathered around to watch Polar Express and The Nativity. Many fell asleep in their chairs and on the cement floors, but, a faithful few (around 50) lasted all the way to the end of the night at 1am. Even I started feeling like it was little bit like Christmas sitting there watching Santa on the screen with my hot chocolate in hand!

But, to be truly honest, this is a story of which the telling of is much more fun than the living of. We had to sweep out and kill at least 20 spiders from our little hut/room. Those were only the ones near the floor, we didn’t even want to disturb the one’s above our heads. I brought my bags and shoes into my bed with me, tucked in my mosquito net tightly into my mattress, and slept fully clothed and with my shoes on, praying that I wouldn’t be attacked by something in the middle of the night and that morning would come soon. Then, I woke up, and cocked my head as I focused in on the “poo droppings” resting on top my mosquito net. (I was reminded of the episode from The Office when the bat gets in and Angela screams Poop is raining from the ceiling. Poop!) Turns out that, that scratching I heard all night above me was the bat the lives in that particular hut. I was happy to not go to bed with that knowledge; then my dreams all night which were full of creepy-crawling things, would have included creepy-flying things as well. And like I said, the telling of this adventure is more fun then the living of it, since my ideal Christmas doesn’t usually include peeing out behind a tree on Christmas morning. In my journeys here in Africa, I have discovered that I can stand almost any “third-world” setting…….but, please just give me a toilet! So, after barely a few hours of sleep, we got up to deliver Santa’s gifts. It doesn’t matter how you organize, the simple fact that you are giving gifts to 165 kids and to be honest combined with the fact that we are in Africa and disorganization is a way of life, chaos took over for about an hour. But, to see how much fun they had, was worth it. This is the only toy that these kids will get this entire year and I made a mindful decision not to ask, if they had ever gotten a gift on Christmas before. I didn’t think I would be able to take the answer. It’s not really until looking back on my pictures that I can see the true joy, we got to be a part of on Christmas day. It won’t matter how many years pass, the simplicity of this Christmas holiday will not be forgotten.

Let it Snow; Let it Snow; Let it Snow

2007-12-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

No streets lined with light, Christmas trees or decorations, no eggnog latte’s. or chilly weather. Does it sound like Christmas? No. And it doesn’t feel like it either. Here in Uganda, driving in the car listening to “Let it Snow”, “Jingle Bells”, “Frosty the Snowman” and here we are in the middle of summer – living in a pleasant temperature of 90 degrees every day. We were talking about how nice a white Christmas would be! Well, we almost got our wish..........

No, it didn’t snow in Africa, but we did have an attack of lake flies. Millions of little flies about the size of a fruit fly converged on our living quarters. And strangely enough, under the glare of our porch lights and the beam of our flashlights, as we dashed to the dining hall, you had the impression that it was snowing outside! Unfortunately, the moment didn’t last long. You were soon completely distracted, trying to avoid gulping down these bugs!

Fact is, it feels like I’m missing the Christmas experience this year; the houses wrapped in lights, the smells of pine and cinnamon, the appearance of Starbucks holiday cups, movies about Santa Claus and the holidays of dysfunctional families. I even miss the bustle of people in the malls and I’ve never been one of those crazy Christmas fanatics. I get annoyed when I hear Christmas music too early and I really don’t enjoy eggnog or pumpkin pie that much. In humorous moments, I’m a self-proclaimed Grinch. But, today, I’ve realized I’m not and actually I’m far from it. And though, I have always enjoyed candlelight services, the excuse to throw a good party, and I especially like buying that “perfect” gift for my friends and family; I’m quite sure that beginning in Christmas 2008, I am going to appreciate this season so much more; and maybe even get a little fanatical about it (though don’t get your hopes up that far!). As for Christmas 2007, I am going to enjoy the stocking hanging on my wall (sent from home).

I Like Big Butts

2007-12-23T05:42:00.000-08:00

Does it seem odd to visit a zoo on the continent that all the other zoos import animals from? Well, Kampala has a zoo – the Entebbe Wildlife Center. It’s not hard for this zoo to put the animals in their natural habitats. The zoo feels like the Ugandans found an animal and just put up a chain-link fence around them! My partner in “adventure” is Molly Nixon; visiting Uganda for two weeks with Tim and Merrill Smith from Pastor Jess Strickland’s church (Living Hope) in Aloha, Oregon. It was nice to spend time with people from home. Even though Molly and I just met here in Africa for the first time, we were “forced” to be fast friends, since we were constantly in close quarters in taxis, buses, and boda-boda rides! J We really did have a lot of fun exploring together. Molly is finishing up nursing school in May, and very well may find herself back here Uganda soon! There were no giraffes or elephants at this zoo… guess those can only be seen out on “safari” or in the “wild” here, but we did get most unreasonably close to the animals; hence, the picture of Molly’s foot on the Rhino’s horn and my uncertainty to shake hands with the monkeys due to my trepidation at getting rabies. As you can see, the African idea of safety is not comparable to the American mentality on safety, which was probably inspired by our litigious precedent. Nevertheless, we found ourselves hiking through the hidden trails of the zoo, getting close and personal with the animals, but ended up getting plenty of “butt shots” of animals instead. Our favorite animal of all was the Rhino…. “I like big butts, I can not lie” J

Rafting Down the Nile

2007-12-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

I never would have thought that I would be on the Nile twice in 12 months time. Last December (2006), I was in

Egypt

riding down The Nile on a Falucca. We spent three days and two nights wrapped in sleeping bags on top of these ancient sailing boats, sleeping under the open skies (and actually freezing to death in the night desert wind).

This December (2007), I find myself in a totally different place on The Nile and a totally different experience. Since The Nile finds its source from Lake Victoria in Uganda, this end of The Nile is fast and violent. Unlike the slow, meanderings of The Nile in Egypt, this trip was in a raft, holding on for dear life in the midst of Class Five rapids. And since this close to the equator in Uganda the temperature rarely drops below 80 degrees Fahrenheit, getting tossed into the river is an inviting thought. At the beginning of the six hour rafting trip, Josh, our guide (a world wanderer from Canada) explains we will get tossed from the raft during this wild and adventurous trip and therefore we must practice being overturn in calm water and how to hold on to the raft in such occurrences. The three other guys, on our raft were from the States as well and had just finished studying abroad in Kenya. They had gone already the day before and had been over-turned three times the day and were quite excited about the prospect of being thrown around a second day in a row. These two factors made me question what kind of risk I had put myself into. If Class Six rapids will kill you, what will Class Five rapids do? Only maim you? And for those thrill-seekers, who are worried that the rapids may well kill them, why not go bungee jumping first! And, finally, if the bungee-jumping and the rapids don’t kill you, then the crocodiles will. Yep, I laughed when our guide told us to stay in the boat during a 30 minute portion of our rowing because there was a 15ft croc living in this portion of the river, but it turns out he wasn’t joking.The fact is, for all this preparation and intimidation, the day was amazing; exotic scenery, beautiful weather, and eight exciting white-water rapid experiences. I never felt nervous or fearful once we got going. Maybe I am a true adventure seeker, but more than likely it’s because I grew up in the water. I’d prefer to be in the water than the boat and I feel very comfortable in it. And just in case, two very talented, kayakers went ahead of us, in case any of got thrown, they could rescue us and bring us back to the raft. They also send a kayaker down ahead of you with a video camera to tape your triumphant journey through these rapids, or your tumultuous excursion, which ever may find you. So for $45, I am able to relive my white-water experience for years to come. J

Gravel Girls

2007-12-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

An entire generation of fathers are missing here in Uganda and maybe Africa as a whole. Some died of Aids, others go to other countries to find work and send money back home, but never return, and many to be honest, just leave. This pattern extends into the church. The churches are full of single mothers. Everywhere you go you see and meet moms who are only 20 years old, already with two kids.

For example, you meet women, like Immaculate, who make gravel for a living. She is 24 years old with three children, ages 1, 3 and 4. Every day, on my way into town we pass the “gravel factory” where she works. The gravel factory is just piles of rocks on the side of the road, available for purchase. This particular gravel factory is owned by a woman, who employs another six or so women, who sit all day on banana mats and chip away at large rocks, with hand tools. While their children, sit next to them and play in the rocks – no 11am play-dates or 1pm nap-times, just manual labor day in and day out. Immaculate, works everyday, but Sunday for hours on hours in the heat, pounding away, in order to make a living. Immaculate will make enough to feed her three children, but probably not enough to send them to school. The only reason she herself was educated growing up, was because of the kindness of a Canadian named Sarah. The Iverson’s have started recruiting friends and family to sponsor children’s school costs; for $10 a month you can send an African child to school.

Where is father of Immaculate’s children? Well, he just left one day. It’s hard to imagine how these women find time to nurture their children after such long days. That is probably why they suggest at times that maybe when we go back to the United States, we would take their children with us; because the love for their children wishes for a better future. They were thrilled to let us take their pictures. Immaculate even went and changed into the black top you see her in, so she wouldn't be in her dusty work clothes. These women are survivors and troopers. Their strength and perseverance was worth a tribute.

RUN Bible Youth Camp

2007-12-18T08:02:00.001-08:00

Our church put on a youth camp all this week. There were 270 kids there in an age range of 11-21 years old, with the majority of them, 15-18 years old. Anyone who remembers going to Twin Rocks camp in Tillamook every summer for youth camp, and thought they were “roughing it” – how wrong we were! These kids get up every morning at 5:30am for prayer (Morning Glory, they call it). There services and sessions are under a large tarp and they sit on wooden benches, while electricity goes in and out on the PA system. They sleep on mats on cement floors under leaking roofs and nightly visits from lake flies. But worse yet, all 270 kids and adults share only four latrines (ie. holes in the ground) for their bathrooms! Many ladies of the church also stay on the grounds and make breakfast, lunch and dinner for them. Close to 100lbs of Mitoki and Beans every meal, and then they slaughtered a cow on Tuesday to have meat for a few evening meals. I learned that a cow is one of the few animals, of which you can eat the intestines and not get sick. As I watched them squeeze “stuff” from the intestines, I decided to not stay for dinner that night.

I had all three of the morning sessions on Wednesday – which equals four hours; 9am – 1pm. I guess you could call this my inauguration to preaching African-style! Since it was so much time, I made it pretty interactive. I purchased journals and pens for anyone that didn’t already have them at the camp with them. Then in my first session I talked about the Seed of Potential that God placed in each young person. So then I had them journal their future dreams and plans and then a couple brave ones came up and shared with the group, what they had written. In the second session, after talking about how they need to protect their potential, which includes sexual purity, I broke them up into groups to discuss the lies of Satan to young people, and to the Ugandan people as a whole. Again, I had several teens come up and shared the results of their group conversations. Finally, in the third session, I addressed past hurts and abuses in their lives. Then had them journal what they needed God to heal them from, in order to move to their future. Over 50% of people raised their hands to the two things I asked if I could pray for them about. I was so relieved that God helped me communicate through an interpreter and more importantly that I had enough relevant stories and illustrations that my points were understood and received. On Friday, they had a testimony time and it was exciting to hear how the kid’s lives were touched during the week. I remember how great camp was every year for me growing up and was an impact it made the choices I made as a teenager growing up. So it was fun to get that same camp feel and to see the same impact in the Ugandan youth.

Otino Waa - Our Children Orphanage

2007-12-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

The missionaries that we visited for Thanksgiving in Lira (Northern Uganda), started building an Orphanage four years before. It was great to get a vision of what Hope Village will look like one day. One approach/strategy that I love about this orphanage is that they print their own money. The kids are given a monthly allowance of Otino Waa money and are responsible for purchasing their own school uniforms and school supplies. So if they lose something, then they must have the “money” to replace it. It teaches the kids responsibility and even monthly budgeting. If they are responsible with their “money”, then they have extra each month for treats. Real money (Ugandan Shillings) is considered contraband. They use to do give a monthly allowance in shillings, but they kids would go spend it all. Many had as many as 13 pairs of pants!

What a pleasure it was to walk around and visit with the kids. Here are some of my favorite pictures.....

Current Projects

2007-12-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

"So, what is Sarah up to exactly?” For those detailed friends and supporters out there, here are the details…

Youth Outreach:

Currently, the students in Uganda are on their “summer break” until February (even though it always “feels” like summer). They take two other breaks during the year for one month – one in May and another in August. It is during these times that we are targeting the youth with the AIDS education and other topics including Peer Pressure, Making Right Choices, Abstinence, and God’s Plan for their lives.

Please remember in prayer the upcoming speaking engagements; there will be a range of 100-300 young people at each event.

¨ December 10^th – 15^th RUN Bible Youth Camp
¨ January 14^th -18th Youth Camp:

Specifically, pray that God gives me relevant analogies to communicate the principles to the youth and that I would be comfortable speaking through a translator. Also, we are still working on getting the New Testament Bible’s that have youth-focused devotionals. I was hoping to have them by the January camp, but not sure if that will happen.

AIDS Education for Pastors

Praise Report – God has really given me favor with World Vision Organization here in Uganda. They are talking about including me in their AIDS Education Facilitator training in South Africa in February. They would mentor me to be able to facilitate my own Aids Education Conferences for Pastors. This program is specifically directed to help pastors educate their congregations, create their own outreach programs, and care for the HIV positive people in their communities. Since Pastors are truly the front-lines of the epidemic here, this is a unique opportunity. I would be able to incorporate this program into two Bible College’s and we are talking about planning a Pastors Conference around this topic in the Spring.

Hope Village Construction

No construction is currently being done because we are waiting for the Hope Village Board of Directors to be established. They will be responsible for making decisions on building and policies as well as to keep accountable for the financial decisions. Please pray for wisdom as the governing structures of this 1.5 million dollar project get put into place, and everyone can be happy with the accountability in place.

Medical Clinic

Another praise report - God brought us a great resource for the Medical Clinic! A man randomly contacted me by email. He started a clinic in another area of Kampala and since it such a tedious process, he has a heart to help others that have to go through the same process. He has really helped to break-down the steps for us and even given us contacts within different agencies and organizations. I will need to visit ten different locations and find the “right” people at each office in order to get us recognized as an official clinic as well as receive the drugs and materials needed to stock the clinic. Please continue to pray over this entire process – as I am going to take the lead on navigating this process.

I also came to help build the local church here and they have determined to keep me busy! Here are the projects I am working on at RUN Bible Church.

Assimilation Program

I am working with Staff Pastors at RUN Bible Church to put an Assimilation Program in place for the church. In other words, help them capture visitors, make them feel loved and then connect them into Membership Class and Cell groups. We need creativity for the strategy because on 50% of people have phones and there is no addresses here. So following up with people’s prayer requests and needs are 10x more difficult! In this process, we are also pulling new curriculum together for a two-month Membership class. Currently, the class goes indefinitely!

Church Cell Groups

Pastor Wilfred has asked me to help him organize and launch Cell Groups in their church. They started to put them together last year, but never got it launched. We have scheduled Cell Group Leader training in January and are pulling curriculum together for that. Cell Groups will be launched in February. Please pray that the leaders catch the vision to be “Pastors” of their people.

Singles Ministry

Finally, I am helping the church launch a Singles Ministry. Again this is difficult because of the technical barriers (lack of phones and emails) and financial barriers, since many of them may be looking for jobs. But, just like in the United States, this group of people are looking for a relational community, not just another church service. We are planning to do Quarterly Events and Cell Groups for singles. Our first event will be on New Year’s Eve. Please pray that we will find a good venue for our event and that we can motivate them to get plugged into Cell Groups and evangelize their communities.

When did poverty become a virtue?

2007-12-05T05:21:00.000-08:00

When did poverty cover a multiple of sins and prosperity become without any virtue?

We, as Americans, and maybe even more so, as Christians, we live with a guilt for our prosperity, for our success. We grow up hearing, "there are starving children in Africa, finish all your food!" Four years after high school and 30 pounds later, I realized that, that voice speaking to my conscience was helping no one, least of all me!

The other countries and cultures constantly reinforce that feeling. As if I, not finishing my mashed potatoes, would solve the problems of poverty in Africa, let alone feed one child.

Please, don't get me wrong. There is a principle here, everything in moderation. The availability of resources does not forgive gluttony or excess. We should recognize our abundance and be grateful for it.

And Americans are grateful. They are the most generous people on earth. And here are stats to prove it. Research done on charitable giving around the world reveal that in the United States' is the ONLY nation's whose charitable giving is the equivalent to OVER 1% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The United Kingdom is in second place with 0.73% of its GDP going to charitable giving. France and Sweden, who enjoy an even higher GDP fall to the bottom of charitable giving in developed countries. They are out given by countries like South Africa. I am proud to live in a philanthropic generation. And I believe, why not strive for 2% or higher?

I am currently living in Uganda for 9 months, working to establish an orphanage and medical clinic as well as, establishing a Christian Aids Education Outreach to high schools. It's a big vision that requires a lot of great people who give out of their God-given abundance. And as a result of this endeavor, I am constantly amazed at the sacrificial generosity of Christian people. Ultimately, one day, my own vision is to make enough money that no one has to fund my own philanthropic work. I can come back to Africa or wherever the need is; and fund it myself. When I return from my time in Africa, will you judge my efforts to increase my wealth? Will you know my motives? Do you judge the hearts of many of those around whom God blesses?

Strive. Move forward. Win. Succeed. These are not sinful words. Yes, excess and abuse of abundance sadly occurs even among Christians, yet is it not just another extreme to be poor for poor-sake? When did poverty become a virtue? The fact is, in an effort to "relate" with the down-trodden, we may very well remove our ability to create change. I see the faces of Africa daily, and I wish I had the money to meet every need. If we, as Christians, all become poor, who would benefit? I choose to be faithful with little, that God may trust me with much. But, to whom much is given, much is required. Instead of settling for little, I choose to decide to meet the requirement.

Thanksgiving Turkey RIP

2007-12-01T06:16:00.000-08:00

I definitely will never be a vegetarian. If I can meet my own Thanksgiving TURKEY and still enjoy the Thanksgiving MEAL, then there is no hope for me. Here is, Herbert the Turkey, (or Herb, may he rest in peace) on Thanksgiving morning. While so many American’s enjoyed an “Organic Turkey” for their Thanksgiving holiday, I think the terms “fresh” and “organic” take on a whole new meaning here in

Uganda

. And, I believe an African would be shocked at how much we American’s pay for an Organic Turkey! But, it was really nice to find Thanksgiving so familiar this far away from home, thanks to Herb, may he rest in peace.

Drugs, Alcohol and Mini-Skirts - A Survey of Ugandan Youth

2007-11-26T05:43:00.000-08:00

In my endeavor to create an Aids Education Program that is relevant to the Ugandan youth (age demographic 14-23), I constructed a 13 questions survey about Sex, Culture, Christianity and Aids. Hardly intended to be scientific at all and really just a survey of Christian youth, it still gave me a glance into the perspective of Ugandan youth. And honestly, I really wanted to determine if the church had adequately addressed these sensitive issues with their youth. I was encouraged to find that ALL believed that sex outside of marriage was a “big deal.” And furthermore, that their Christianity was the largest determining factor in their decisions about sexual relationships. Some of the things they wrote down were…. helped equip me to resist the devil; helps to overcome temptation; to live morally well; I learned to abstain until marriage, kept me safe from sexual immorality; that I am a temple of Christ and I need to protect it; I love my Jesus more than anything; taught me to relate with opposite sex in godly manner; Helps me to keep my thoughts pure; It provides boundaries for me; I know God will honor a pure life; Christianity has provided me something bigger to look forward to – that’s heaven.

And, worthy of special note…. “The Church taught me to only have one wife.” This is not a response you would find on any survey taken of American youth!! However, that is reality here. I have often asked a teenager how many sibling they have, and to get an answer of 25 is completely normal! (The woman are reading this thinking… that is not humanly possible!) But, this is because a man will have several wives, sometimes one in each village he travels too or he keeps one on Tanzania, one in Kenya and one Uganda. (Now you, men, are thinking… I’m moving to Uganda!) However, the Uganda Christian church is constantly battling this tradition of multiple wives. For example, when someone gives their life to Christ and decides to join a church, which wife do they keep? What happens to the children of the non-wife? These may seem like obvious answers on paper, but the reality is that sorting through the nature of these familial relationships is no easy task to communicate and implement.

This probably gives you the perspective Africa/Uganda seems like a backward, if not morally weak society. But, the lens of the cultural perspective is always relative. When I asked the Ugandan youth their impression/opinion of the United States Culture, the majority of responses were that our American Culture "is bad because it’s where mini –skirt (half-naked styles) came from and are practiced.” That it is “bringing bad things into Uganda like prostitution, taking drugs and putting on mini skirts.” Now, I must admit that having mini-skirts, grouped in with such sins like alcoholism, drug use, and promiscuity, made me chuckle a bit – and still does – hence the title of this Blog. Nevertheless, morality here is not determined by your family relationships, rather, your morality is demonstrated by your modesty. The fact is that morality is probably found somewhere in the middle, but it is interesting how the culture affects where the emphasis falls.

Now to be fair, not all of their perspectives were mentioned our problems with mini-skirts. Other responses were…

It’s relative; it has brought the gospel, sent missionaries, equips church leaders, enhances values, but it also encourages immorality via pornography, homosexuality and divorce.
They should change some of their behaviors and lifestyles, like the movies they put out and other people copy
The worldly people are totally destructive, but those that know God are really compassionate
American Christian culture is perfect
American Parents are so busy that their children do whatever they want to
I don’t want to judge them because they are people too - with struggles

Now to the main topic – that which is my motivation behind the survey – that of HIV/AIDS. And the dialogs confirmed that contrary to our youth’s experiences in the United States, ALL youth in surveyed personally knew at least one person dying of AIDS, and many knew more than could be counted on two hands. I asked how Aids affected the lives of these people, and some of their responses were: They have no hope for tomorrow; hopeless; unhappy; they are always sick; they have unanswered questions; they all died; they cursed God before dying; hated their lives; makes them miserable; they have given up on life and don’t care if other people catch it.

Despite the cultural differences, Ugandan teenagers face the same struggles as American youth. All the Ugandan youth said that a lot of their friends or acquaintances at school (this is both high school and university level) are already sexually active. Furthermore, the majority admitted to being tempted or also received peer pressure to engage in sexual encounters. This is not surprising, really. The same Satan that is out to kill, steal and destroy in America is at work here too and he employs every means necessary to do so.

If you’ve made it to the end of this long Blog, I’m impressed and honored to keep your attention for so long.

Going to the Hospital

2007-11-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

We attended a special service at Bwerenga Church (on Hope Village Property) on Sunday night. During worship, a two-year old boy napping on a mat on the floor, started convulsing. My first thought was that he was having a nightmare, but when I went to him, I realized he was having a seizure. It last at least 8 minutes, while the church prayed and we turned him on his side and put the end of a spoon in his mouth to keep him from choking on his tongue. When it was done, you could see he was burning up with fever so I carried him outside, and Elizabeth Iverson went to find the parents and get her car keys. The service continued on, and we took him and the parents to the hospital.

The hospital is nothing we would find, even in the ghetto, of our country. Cement walls and floors, with open windows for ventilation. The children’s ward was a room of 17 metal cribs. Moms bring food and a mat to lie on the floor next to their children’s cribs. No chairs, no mattresses, no TV, no mosquito nets; just a lot of waiting and a lot of silence. Another mom let me pray for her little baby with asthma.

Turns out that our young patient, Cerabu, had Malaria and his temperature of 105 is what caused the seizure. I have a picture of this young boy because just the Sunday before, he spent the entire service on my lap. It is to God’s glory that we were there! No one that attends this village church has a car and, who knows how the boy would’ve made it to the hospital if we hadn’t been there. Thankfully, he stayed just the one night at the hospital and was able to go home the next day.

Uganda Luxuries

2007-11-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

In the United States, having a maid, a cook and a tennis instructor are all indicators of an extravagant if not wealthy lifestyle. This is not so in Uganda. These services are the mechanism for which wealth is distributed here. The world simply does not run the same at all. Trying to incorporate our Western way of doing things is just not relevant to the economies or speed of things. For example, in the United States, almost every household has a washer and dryer and those with wealth in abundance (I say wealth “in abundance”, because here ALL Americans are wealthy in comparison. The simply fact that every child can attend school for free makes us a very rich society.) But, I digress, back to the topic at hand. A washer and dryer in

Uganda

would be neither normal nor a luxury – simply put, it would be irrelevant and unusable. Let me explain. Electricity (aka power) is not only expensive, but weak and inconsistent. Out of the three weeks, I’ve been here, I have been without power at least 50% of the time. And when there is power, it is hardly strong enough to heat enough water for a shower. Now let’s say that you have a generator to power your washer and dryer. Why would you pay an exorbitant amount of money to power those power hungry appliances, when you can pay someone to wash your personal clothes by hand for 5,000 shillings (translates to roughly $3 US Dollars). The cost for someone to sweep up my cement floors, beat out my rugs, and change my sheets is 3,000 shillings ($2). In the United States, we do not pay people to do, what machines can do for us. Most of the world does not function that way. The mentality in Africa, is why have a machine do, what you can pay a person to do. It is in this way, that the wealth trickles down the all classes of the society.

Living Missionary Style

2007-11-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

And for those that are concerned that Sarah's adventure in Uganda is not so "missionary-like"... let me give you a true taste of missionary life....

Where's the Toilet....................................??

"Welcome to Uganda Sarah" - I haven't even been in the country 24hrs and this is where we stop to pee. All I got to say girls, is thank God I was wearing a skirt. And I had to use my backpack to keep the door shut, though it hardly increased the privacy. I truly believe toilets are the best invention. I do have a toilet in my room, but once you leave home, you never know what you'll find!

Where is the Power.........................................??

So I've gotten tons of questions about my living situation here. I am currently NOT living on the Hope Village property. Buildings still need to be built there! Right now I rent a room at Banana Village with the Iverson family, which is also where the CBC Storm Team stayed when they were here in July. I am feeling settled in and this is beginning to feel like home.... the only reminder that "this is Africa" is that I've only had power for about 30% of my time here (and thats now exaggeration)... according to Royce Iverson, it wasn't like this before I came!
But, here is a look at home.....

Next best invention, next to the toilet, is electricity (thank you Mr. Edison). I guess no electricity on Sunday is a pretty normal event here in Kampala since government will divert power to different areas of the country on a rotation system due to the shortage of it. However, on Monday we woke up without power still. Turns out the power lines were down (and still are), due to the huge thunder and lightening storm we had. Without electricity you can’t charge our computers or our cell phones, and since the power warms our showers, its been a cold couple of days! Basically to sum it up, since I have only had electricity for 30% of my time in Uganda, you essentially get use to it and adapt. If the power is on, you jump in the shower darn quick, whether you need one or not!

Malaria Mondays

2007-11-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

Or so we call them in order to remember to take our weekly dosage of Mefloquine to protect us from Malaria. Side affects to these pills include sleeplessness and vivid dreams. It is definitely true that I remember my dreams in the morning more now then before taking these pills, when before I hadn’t an inkling of any dreams. Certain nights are restless, where you never fully fall asleep nor do you ever fully wake-up, leaving utterly exhausted the entire next day. If this happened too often I would stop taking the pills entirely.

The fact is that if you sleep under a mosquito net that you decreases the chances of contracting Malaria by 50%. And across Africa, you cut deaths by Malaria in children by 1/3. That’s why you hear about such organizations as www.nothingbutnets.com, which hopes to help every African child sleep under a net. Malaria medicine is great for a season, but you can not take it for a lifetime or it will destroy your liver and therefore is not viable for African to take their entire lives. Contrary to popular belief, there is a cure to Malaria. And taken within the first 24-48hours of noticing the symptoms, you have a 97% chance of a full recovery from Malaria. However, the problem in Africa and why Malaria is killing xxx number of people every year, is that basic health care services are often too far to reach for people that they rarely seek treatment for ailments and many times the cost of services is more then they make in a month even though the cure only costs about $10.

Infestation of Evil Spirits

2007-11-07T05:33:00.000-08:00

As I was busy getting my internet business done, before my costly hour was up, at the ARA (American Recreation Association). They have a radio station always playing in the common area and the station was doing their regular news update on top of the hour.

I usually block out the voices, but the repetitive use of the words “evil spirits” kept interrupting my thought process. As I tuned in, the story unfolded as such. A Boarding School (these are VERY common in Uganda) in a local district, had after several attempts to remove the “evil spirits” that were plaguing them, had to shut its doors, until someone could come and fix the problem. Furthermore, accusations were being laid at a gentleman’s feet that he had been taking money from the school to help remove the “evil spirits” but that he had in fact invited more in. Several parents having heard of the “evil spirit” problem had already picked their children up from this boarding school thus sparking the shut down. Now this information was reported as fact on this credible radio station. No words like “supposedly” or “allegedly” were ever used, it was all reported in tone and verbiage of complete validation. To say the least, stories of the supernatural appear here every day. They are woven through people’s daily experiences; conversations over lunch, or over the water cooler at work and as already discussed reported daily in the news. Is this pure superstition or the things of the spirit more blatant and more bold in Africa? Are they present in the United States, but just hidden better -behind our luxurious exteriors and orderly processes?

Dead Man in the Street

2007-10-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

The value of life is just not the same here in Africa. For example, crossing the street here will get you killed as demonstrated by the dead man we saw laying in the middle of the street on Saturday. Traffic continued to move by, as if it was business as usual. In the

United States

, a dead body in the road would have blocked traffic for hours. And worse yet, here another man took the shoes from the dead man’s body. Who knows how long he will lay there in the middle of the road. Someone said that people, especially white people, don’t stop because here, they are quick to judge and they will probably think it was you, who hit him with your car. Then on occasion maybe even take matters into their own hands, which often includes stoning people in the street. So unfortunately, you don't stop to help here often.

It is risky business here because there are no speed limits, no stop signs and everyone drives on the wrong side of the road! And to make matters worse, I have counted a total of only TWO (2) stop lights in the entire city of Kampala - which has close to 3 million people living in it! Therefore, I thought something so rare, deserved to have its picture taken!

Rooster Honorarium

2007-10-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

Pastor Mark Bryant was here for a few days with some businessmen from his church in Boise, Idaho. We drove 2 ½ hours to a small village where the church was dedicating a new building. Here you can see a picture of their old church, which would allow rain all over the attenders.

Over 250 people showed up; many walking as many as 4 miles in order to be there. They are very excited to have a tin roof on their new building! The service lasted 4 hours, with two choirs, two sermons, an update from a local government official and about 8 greetings, including one from me.

They were dressed in their very finest for the occasion. Traditional Ugandan dresses are very colorful and extravagant.

They gave me some sugar cane as a gift, but they gave a rooster and some eggs to Pastor Mark as an honorarium for speaking. These people are the poorest of the poor and have nothing else to give. The rooster is the highest honor, they could give a guest speaker. It sure was entertaining to drive over two hours with a rooster in the car!

My Friend - Mr. Gecko

2007-10-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

My first night here I woke up with a large spider bite on my foot. Anyone who knows my extreme fear of spiders might find that an ironic welcoming gift. However, after the second night in my room, I was startled by a new resident, Mr. Gecko. Turns out geckos eat mosquitoes and other insects, so since his presence, I have not been personally eaten in my room. So other than the random “droppings” I must sweep out of my room daily, I am happy to share my room with this guest! As you can see in the picture, he is in pursuit of one of my nemesis spiders!

After asking many of you in the States for suggestions for Mr. Gecko’s first name, I received many suggestions including....

Gary the Gecko
Chad or "Abstinence" - both courtesy of Chad Van Horn
Lizzy - though I don't think suggesting your spouse's name wins you very many marriage points, Brian
Gabriel - since he's my guardian angel (against spider bites)
Then there were several votes for the name Geico (TV Ads sure do influence us way to much!)

Despite how great, many of these ideas are, I have come to think of him as just Mr. Gecko. :)