Well, we finally have both power and internet on the base, and although I should be using this time to write my sermon for Sunday, I wanted to give a quick update on life here at Hopeland. We're in the final stages of the lecture phase - our last week of actual class is next week, and after that, a week of team building and preparation, and then we're off to Zanzibar. It's been really rocky these past few weeks, both in the DTS as a whole and in my personal walk, but things seem to have smoothed out pretty well by now, and I really feel like we're ready for whatever awaits us on the outreach. Every free moment these days is spent working on skits and Swahili songs to present in churches, and today we started waking up at five in the morning for group prayer. I'm really hoping that five in the morning becomes a little easier to deal with as the time goes on, since we'll apparently be up praying every morning during outreach as well, but today was pretty rough. Even though we turned the lights off at nine last night, getting up this morning was nearly impossible. If it hadn't been for my and Lucy's brand new Masai blankets, which are amazingly warm for such thin pieces of fabric, I don't think we would have survived at all. The freezing African mornings are hard enough when the sun's up, but before sunrise it's even worse. So, after prayer and before lectures, Lucy and I had to absolutely beg Msaki for some coffee so that we could stay awake for class. He gave us some, and it was actually wonderful - I've never been much of a coffee drinker, but African coffee has so much sugar in it that it's absolutely delicious. Of course, we were shaking for the rest of the day, but at least we were wide awake! I'm going to have to buy some when we go into town tomorrow, otherwise there is absolutely no hope of making it through these next few months.

In other news, I'm preaching this Sunday, and I'm both excited and nervous. I'm speaking on relationship with God, based entirely on what He's been teaching me these past few months, and I'm planning on sharing bits of my testimony and the things that brought me to God, which will be the first time I've ever done that in front of a group of people. So, please, keep me in your prayers, and hopefully the Lord will use me in a way that will absolutely blow me away.

I'm still in the process of figuring out exactly how long I'm going to be staying here in Africa. I've been getting more and more serious about the idea of doing a School of Biblical Studies in September, but if I were to do that, I would probably come home for the summer at least, just to spend time with my family before I'm gone for another year. I know, without the slightest doubt, that I'll be spending a large amount of time here in my life, I'm just not exactly sure where that time will fall. I am, as the Ugandans say, slowly by slowly learning the language, and it is my greatest hope to one day understand it so well that I'm able to teach English here to the people who don't have the resources to learn it in a school or with a private tutor, but again, I'm waiting on the Lord to discover exactly when all of this will happen. I still have a commitment to go home for at least a month to fundraise for the lovely orphans in Karpinsk, Russia, so whenever I think about trying to schedule and plan all of this, I get a little bit anxious, but I know that God has given me all of these desires and alerted me to all of these needs, so again, I am fully trusting Him to tell me where to be, and when to be there. I can't wait to see how He works it all out. One travel plan that is certain, however, is my upcoming trip to Egypt. I'm not exactly sure when that will happen, but we're planning on the end of January, a bit after DTS graduation. Lucy gets three weeks vacation time from her Year for God program, and I know I'll need a bit of a break to clear my mind after getting back from outreach, so we've decided to save up our Christmas money and take a week long trip to Egypt, to see the pyramids and just relax. We're going to try to work it out so that we can stay with a YWAM base in Egypt, and since we've (as a total answer to prayer) found round-trip flights to Cairo from Entebbe for $420, tax included, that would make the total trip unbelievable inexpensive. So, from Uganda to Zanzibar to Egypt. And then, who knows. It's so exciting, to see how God is working everything out right now. If you had told me a year ago that I would be traveling all over Africa, I don't even know how I would have responded. Yet, here I am. Just another testament in my life to how wonderful the Lord is.

Some pictures from our trip to the source of the Nile River this weekend.

In the car (!) on the way to the Nile.

The girls and Bosco, right before we got on our tour boat.

The Nile.

Just meditating under a memorial to Gandhi. You know.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our amazing ministry trip last weekend. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get them up, we've hardly had internet at the base at all this week.

The church we visited last Sunday.

The children in the congregation. 

Will preaching. This was actually during a pause in the preaching, I felt like it would be disrespectful to actually take a picture as he was speaking.

Will and me at the pastor's house for lunch after the service.

Well, we’ve officially entered into week eight of lecture phase. I honestly can’t believe it, today in small groups when Msaki told me that we were leaving for outreach in four weeks, my jaw dropped. I remember all too clearly the first few weeks of being here, when I was literally ticking off the days, counting and re-counting how much longer it would be until I got to go home. I guess that’s just another example of the incredible transformation that God has been working in me during this amazing time in Africa, and I praise Him greatly for it. The more I think about it, the more excited I become for what I know He is going to bring for me after this period of training – He’s already given me a small taste of what it feels like to live a life dedicated to serving Him, and it left me absolutely craving more and more. There’s still so much to work out, but I’m fully relying on God for all of that, He’s already brought more together for my life than I could have ever imagined was possible, and I know, because I know Him, that the best is yet to come. All I have to do is wait on Him, trust in Him, and be open to whatever path He has in store for me, and He will work everything else out according to His perfect plan.

I’m not really sure where to start in explaining the things that God has been doing in my life in the past few weeks, but since I’ve been so terrible about responding to e-mails and all else lately, I feel like I should include everything in this post, so I apologize in advance if it’s terribly incoherent or not at all cohesive.

One of the biggest blessings in my life right now is the amazing ministry team, for lack of a better word, that God has raised up. I’m not sure if I’ve made mention of it in previous posts, but the past two Sundays I have had the great pleasure of traveling around to different churches in Uganda and getting to watch as my brother Will preaches and my brother Stephen translates. It’s been such an amazing experience for me, and it’s also brought the three of us together in a way that only God could have imagined – we now take every opportunity possible to lift each other up in prayer and encourage one another with the word of God, and it is absolutely causing a huge transformation in my life. For the moment, I’m simply along for the ride, I do what I can here and there but have yet to find any real significance in my involvement in this group, but I remain so positive that God will reveal something to me. For the meantime, though, I’ve found it a wonderful way to develop the servant’s heart that I so long for. This past Sunday, as Stephen and Will were sitting and talking to the pastor, I took the opportunity to help the pastor’s wife with the dishes from the lunch they had made. I think this is slightly culturally inappropriate, since they take such great pleasure in absolutely accommodating their guests here, and I practically had to force her to allow me to help, but it was an amazing experience, kneeling down on the dirt floor hand washing dishes with two women who have remarkable faith. I’ve realized through these few experiences just how far a little bit of love, a little bit of compassion, and a little bit of support can go. As the pastor and his family, as well as probably half of the children in the village, were walking us back to Lake Victoria, one of the women said something that struck me so very much – she said it was so rare to find an American woman who was so willing to converse with people like them. It absolutely floored me, the amount of respect that they place on us, even before we’ve done anything to deserve it. That’s something I had actually been struggling with ever since coming here, because so many people have the idea of the rich “muzungu” or white person, who will come in and bring financial support and save the day – but when she said that, it made me realize that respect is not entirely bad. There’s a way to use that to really, really get God’s word across, and then turn around and use our lives, our love, our passion for Christ to show these people that there’s so much more to seek than money, although, thus far, it is I who is being taught by them, and not the other way around. Experiences like these, though, they’re just so amazing and humbling and it’s incredible because this, this is really what life is about, and for the first time in my life, I’m really understanding what it means to live. I spent years and years pursuing everything I could think of that would make me happy, and as I was doing that, I was drawing further and further away from the only thing that could ever truly make me happy – the perfect love of my Creator. Now that I’ve realized that, nothing else really matters. I want to live to serve Him, in whichever way He has in store for me. At the moment, I feel like it’s simply doing more of what I am doing, and I have no doubt that, as I continue, God will continue to reveal to me the way that He has planned for me to share His love and His light, but for now, I still have some healing and discovering to do. Standing up in front of the church yesterday, I don’t know exactly what it was, but something about the drums and the Luganda praise songs, it just hit me, how far I’ve come, where God brought me to and what He took me from. Exactly a year ago, I was an absolute mess with seemingly no hope of ever getting out of any of it. I was on a constant stream of drugs and alcohol and so many other terrible things that I never knew which way was up, and all I wanted was to get out, of all of it. Now, here I am, in the most amazing place in the world, in constant fellowship with the One who created me,  and I get to spend as much time as I want praising His name and walking with Him, and it brings me pure and constant joy. To me, it’s seemed like such a gradual change that I never really paused to think about how remarkable it all was, but yesterday morning, in front of that church, I was so overcome by the absolute greatness of God that I fell to my knees, and could do nothing but weep and worship. I do not, in any way, deserve even a portion of what He’s already given to me, and yet, here it all is, and He only has more in store for me, as long as I continue to seek Him with all of my heart. It’s more amazing than I can even use words to describe; all I can say is that God is so, so good.

I have found in this place, in these people, in my God, the joy that I have longed for all of my life. I have found an absolute appreciation for life that I never had before. I have found a purpose, a way to truly be effective, something about which to be passionate. I’ve found everything I’ve ever wanted out of life, and I know that I haven’t even cracked the surface of the potential that my relationship with God holds.

This concludes another amazing week here at Hopeland. I’m not sure exactly what week we’re on, I’ve lost count, maybe something around seven? Whatever it is, there are not nearly enough weeks left for me in this place. I think we leave for outreach in exactly a month, maybe even a little bit less.

Fortunately for me, however, that won’t mark the end of my stay here – I’ve made the official decision to stay on for a bit, I’m saying at least until March, but who am I to even guess? I’m here until God tells me, no, forces me to go home, and I’m praying hard that won’t happen any time in the foreseeable future. I’ve gotten Africa in my blood; bugs, mud, and all, and I’m not sure I will ever be rid of it, I’m not sure I could ever be happy anywhere else. Of course, I’ll be happy wherever God sends me, and as long as I’m doing His work, I will need nothing else, but a large part of me is already starting to think of Africa as home.

This week was incredibly eventful, although the lessons were nowhere near as life-altering as the ones last week, this week we learned about missions work and evangelism, but Musaki taught, so really we just heard loads of stories and said “Ameena” over and over. But, all the same, I have come out of it much better than I was going into it, and the way the Lord has been working in my life this week is intense enough to make up for any lack of learning anywhere else. This week, I’ve been completely “pwned by God” as Kelli likes to say – He’s had to smack some major sense into me, but fortunately for me, after smacking it into me, He lovingly fed me the rest of it, and now, after it’s all over, I finally understand what it truly means to submit entirely to the Lord. I’m going to have to really resist getting preachy right now, I’ve just preached a mini-sermon about this to my DTS this morning, and am apparently getting up in front of an entire African church to preach the real thing in a couple of weeks, but, in short, my life is the Lord’s. He has a perfect plan, tailored exactly to fit me, with my needs and desires and talents, so why on earth would I ever seek anything else? He has given me the chance to live out every second of my time on this earth doing His will, and therefore walking fully with Him, so it’s simply ceased to make any sense to me how I could ever want anything else.

With that knowledge, however, God brought me loads of work. Surrendering everything to Him is a lovely idea, in theory, but when you realize just exactly how everything-like “everything” really is, it gets a bit more difficult. It involved making a few decisions that I didn’t really want to make, and even giving up a few things that I didn’t really want to give up, but that is all simply my lack of trust, my lack of faith.  So, that’s where I am right now – absolutely immersing myself in prayer and the Bible, trying to direct all of my thoughts, hopes, and dreams towards God, and committing to Africa for longer than I ever would have thought was possible. 

The girls, minus Scovia, before the Love Feast.

Lucy, Musaki, Kari, part of Ben, me, Miriam, and David after our baptism.

It's crazy how even the hard days here are some of the best I've ever had in my life. All morning, I was struggling so much with a number of (incredibly stupid) things, and nothing was easing the troubled feeling I had in my soul - I think part of it might have been that I kept falling asleep during my quiet time this morning, when I don't spend proper time with God in the morning, I can usually feel it for the rest of the day, like I've missed out something amazing and necessary. Anyways, so since it's Wednesday and we have the afternoon free until  work duty, I decided to take some time to go into Wairaika (I really don't feel like I spelled that one right..) and get rolex and chapatti for lunch. Luce and Kelli went into Jinja, and Will was busy with homework, so I ended up going by myself, and it was exactly what I needed... walking down the dirt roads, listening to John Denver, and just praising God for His perfect creation, it put everything in my heart right back where it needed to be. On the way, I met up with a group of Ugandan schoolgirls, I'd say they were about eleven or twelve years old, they didn't seem to understand what I was saying when I asked, but after we realized that they couldn't speak much English, and my Luganda vocabulary thus-far consists of about two or three words, on a good day, we settled for a middle ground of Swahili praise songs. It was such an absolutely beautiful experience - one of the things I think God has been really opening my eyes to while being here is that He is a God above all language or cultural barriers. I had never even though about that, but the other day, when Musaki was talking about what it really meant to be a missionary, he was saying that he can talk to his God in a million different languages, and He reciprocates accordingly, and it really struck me just how entirely vast God really is, and that was just confirmed today.

It's so beautiful here, like words will never explain. I've already cancelled my initial plane ticket home, I'm here until God absolutely forces me out of this country, and I'm praying that will never happen. I could honestly spend the rest of my life here and not feel like I missed out on anything.

Boys playing in Lake Victoria... I very nearly missed my baptism because I was so preoccupied with photographing them.

Being re-baptized at the mouth of the Nile River, quite possibly the best experience of my entire life. After an amazing conversation with one of my new friends here, in which he described baptism as the drowning of the old you and the birth of a person dedicated to Christ, I knew that I had to be re-baptized, and with that in mind, we took a half hour hike down to this amazing spot on Lake Victoria, and there I drowned everything that I ever hated about who I used to be, and became an entirely new creation, along with my twin sister Lucy (as seen in the second picture, which was taken right after she attacked me, after the actual baptism of course). Walking to the river, singing "mambo sawa sawa" with my new brothers and sisters, I felt so complete, and afterwards, walking back with a group of twenty who were all joyfully praising the Lord, I had never before felt so entirely alive. Between my perfect God and this breathtaking land, I am truly coming back to life.

A couple of pictures from one of our (nightly) power outages - the first one is the spare bed, which we use as a couch and candle holder, and also sometimes a laundry line. The second one is my favorite meal in the entire world, African chapatti and "chips" (no one from outside of America understands what a "french fry" is, apparently), which we order every Thursday night. 

Will, Kari, and Bosco after our mountain climbing adventure.

Sorry, this is an incredibly small image - blogspot has changed the way that they upload photos, and it's too much for this little Ugandan internet to handle. I've been trying desperately for weeks to get photos to upload, finally I just gave up and made them tiny. Anyways, this is from the top of a mountain/hill thing that we climbed a few weekends ago, overlooking a bit of where we live. You can't actually see the Hopeland base, I think it's a little to the left? Anyways, it was an absolutely amazing day, and, as you can see, this is an absolutely amazing place.