While I'm not one to normally jump on a bandwagon, I'll admit: this Tebow thing is kinda catchy; especially living in Colorado. But that's the problem I have- Tim Tebow is not a thing...he's not a fad... he's not a super hero.

He's a guy who lives life with remarkable and admirable character on and off the professional playing field.

He's not infallible, nor is he unbroken.

He's a guy who loves Jesus and wants to make sure he lives his life in ways which honor the Lord and express integrity, grace, mercy and love. He's using the gifts God created Him for- to play football and to be a strong leader.

That's exactly how we should all be living our lives. Whether or not we are highlighted on national news, ESPN and every talk show which thrives on controversy, if each of us- you and me- were living our lives exemplifying these same values for why Tim Tebow has been placed on a superficial pedestal -- wow, God's glory would surly shine bright!!

The glory goes back to God-

our Father, our Creator, our Guidance and our Savior.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. JOHN 3:16

Joy is an outward sign of inward faith in God's promises. So, by magnifying the joy God has given you, you exhibit your faith to others and encourage them.

For 2 of the last 5 years, I've lived, worked, served, and been invested in lives of people in East and Central Africa. 2 weeks in Kenya - 6 months in Zambia - 1.5 years in Uganda.

While it's not a lifetime, it certainly was life changing. Full of incredible life lessons, significant growth and numerous rich experiences. One of the more vivid learned life lessons is about Joy.

The reality of the rawness of life is very apparent in that region of the world. Many friends have and live on extremely little; many are unsure if tomorrow they'll have more than 1 meal; many share a small house with no running water or electricity with 7+ family members; some are in school now, but there's no guarantee for next term, let alone next year. And that’s their present life. Their past, is full of injustice, disease, war, violence, neglect, huger, and more than we in America can often comprehend. Yet, they don't allow their life circumstances to affect their heart. Instead, they choose joy. They choose to have a heart of worship. In ALL situations and all of life's circumstances.

I don't know about you, but that's a huge challenge for me. To choose joy- in all circumstances. Through the pain and the sorrow, through the job losses and the financial insecurity, even through the loss of loved-ones. Yet, that's one of the very reasons Jesus came to this Earth, was born in a manger and died on the cross. To bear our pain and our sorrow. To take on our sin and the sin of this world, so that we don't have to be held down. So that, instead, we are free to choose joy.

I’m personally not a fan of new year's resolutions. I prefer to live each day as if it’s a new opportunity to start fresh. Yet there’s something about a new year that our society clings to and encourages us to finally make a change. This is my challenge to you, and to myself- to choose joy.

I personally have been challenged with various struggles over the past 5 months of transitioning and reassimilation to life in America again. There’s been great loss (of friends and relationships left behind in Uganda), job insecurity, disconnect of friends, community and church, lack of vision and direction, financial instability, family disapproval, depression, confusion, and physical pain. BUT- there’s also been job and financial provision, reconnection of friends, phone calls and text messages from my “other” life in Uganda, spiritual growth, deepening prayer, peace of mind, and a whole lot of LOVE. I haven’t always been able to choose joy, yet through these struggles, I’ve seen God’s hand guiding me in this journey. Many days He literally picked me up and carried me through.

I will choose joy!

In February 2012, Akello Joyce will continue to Advanced Level Secondary School in preparation for University. The reason she will be able to continue her education is because a fellow Ugandan heard her story and wanted to impact her life.

In October 2011, Joyce took her final exam for her Ordinary Level secondary school education. The results of this exam determine whether a student can continue with Advanced Level secondary school which is required to eventually attend University.

Joyce is the first person in her family to complete O-level secondary school!

Meet Akello Joyce.

Tribe: Acholi

Hometown: Lacor village, Gulu, Uganda

Age: 17 years

School: Trinity College

This is her story. It’s also a story of how justice prevails, love wins and peace unites.

I meet Joyce in August 2010 while visiting the Scripture Union club at Trinity College in Gulu, northern Uganda. Joyce was the newly-elected Chairperson. After a short time with Joyce, it was apparent that she was a gifted leader. She has a fire for the Lord that is clear from her Worship. She was one SU leaders who, if I hadn’t been to their school in a few weeks, she’d call to see when I was attending their next fellowship. She craved the extra guidance in her life.

In April 2011, Scripture Union Gulu had the opportunity to financially support 9 students to attend the national conference in Mwiri, 7 hours from Gulu. Joyce was immediately selected to represent her school. Few students from Gulu are ever able to attend this camp. These students would be ambassadors for their entire tribe and region. A region largely only remembered as a war zone and a place of the destitute. I knew all of the Gulu students would shine at camp, but Joyce really rose to the occasion. While she’s a powerful leader, she’s equally quiet and humble. She’s not the first person to suggest herself as the group’s spokesperson. She and Thomas were selected to represent the Gulu team in leading the entire camp of 300 students in Acholi singing and dancing.

Video of Joyce (and Thomas) leading cultural singing at Scripture Union National Camp in April 2011

Joyce comes from a conventional Ugandan family. Her mom is the predominant care-giver of the household. Her dad has two wives. He’s a truck driver so travels frequently and he’s HIV+. Her "step-mom" practices witch craft. Her older brother is a maker of boda bodas [motorcycles]. He never completed his secondary school education because his mom, the mom who practices witch craft, said he would be cursed if he continued his education. Her two younger brothers are in primary school. She supports her family by selling vegetables in the local market. Her father is often traveling for his job; with frequent trips to Sudan- a place where prostitution is cheap and readily available. The little money that her father brings back to the home does not have the priority of paying for his daughter’s education. After all- she’s just an Acholi girl.

But Joyce doesn’t listen to the historic stereotypes of her tribe.

Joyce is very intelligent and determined. She sought out a scholarship to cover her secondary school fees. She is natural and gifted leader. She is full of life.

Joyce was nearly unable to finish her O-level schooling and take the national exam. Less than 4 weeks before the end of the term, she was informed there was no money to pay her school fees. The organization which awarded her the scholarship didn’t receive their funding and therefore couldn’t pay their scholarship students’ school fees. Devastating. But Joyce persisted. She continued to study, continued to purse ways to pay her school fees. She prayed and trusted God would provide a way. She shared with me her situation. I prayed for her.

The amount she owed was equivalent to $65 USD. Sixty-five dollars was standing in the way of a bright student being able to continue her education and have hope for a great future. Frustrated by the system and the injustice of her situation, on Facebook, I posted that I was:

“Breaks my heart that a government school can't submit the final exam (to finish high school) for one of their brightest and best leaders because she doesn't have $65!! Pray for God to provide a way for Akello Joyce!”

I did not ask for anyone to sponsor her. I was simply expressing my frustration and hoping others might also join me in prayer. Instead, 2 people responded saying they wanted to perhaps help or know more. I felt compelled to say, let’s first pray. Then, a third person responded. A Ugandan friend of mine, Kuteese Cornelius Matthew, contacted me. He wanted to pay the remaining balance of Joyce’s school fees. Cornelius is himself a University student and has his own challenging history and struggles. God changed his life and so he wanted to help out this girl he’s never met. INCREDIBLE!

I'm very touched by Cornelius's heart and desire to squeeze what small money he has, to help out a fellow sister in Christ. What's even more exciting is that Cornelius is from the Kampala area. His tribe is buganda- Historically, the Buganda and Acholi have not gotten along. One steals cattle, the other deceitfully disarms the other and then kills them! Cornelius spent 3 months in Gulu on an internship and gained a love for the Acholi people. We became friends during his time in Gulu.

What a beautiful reminder that Christ’s love transcends historic tribal differences and brings unity!

I'm in awe of the way God provides!!!

In February, Joyce hopes to be accepted to and attend Sacred Heart Secondary School- the best all-girls school in northern Uganda, located less than a mile from her home. Her dream is to someday be a doctor. Or… a preacher! I’m certain no matter what she does, she will shine for Jesus and give God the proper glory for all the ways He’s impacted her life!

To me, Joyce says “Thank You” over and over again. And she wishes I lived closer so that she could make me some odi, sim sim paste; Ugandan peanut butter. I too wish I lived closer as I would love some odi! -- Truly, the Glory goes back to God as He’s the one who conducts this orchestra. I’m simply an instrument.

Everyone’s story has something to share with the world. Joyce’s story teaches us to ask: Have I made a significant impact in someone else’s life?

-Written and posted with permission.

Ever wonder what it it might be like for construction workers of the Middle Ages to be re-birthed into modern day technology? Here's a look-

Hydraform block production - http://vimeo.com/32313539

Building foundations - http://vimeo.com/32387850

The Battle for Murram - http://vimeo.com/31250251

This series of videos are the construction site of a future secondary school in northern Uganda. The 55 incredible Ugandan national staff were totally new to these modern foundation and brick-making techniques 8 months ago! They received their long-awaited Hydraform machine in late-Aug and quickly took to mastering the new equipment. The Hydraform machine enables the crew to create soil-based inter-locking bricks; the latest cost-effective solution for construction throughout Africa.

I personally stood on the land of this construction site in March. At the time, they were still clearing and marking off the land for future construction. They've come a long way!

This is the future site of Restore Leadership Academy. An incredible secondary school (O & A level) outside Gulu town. From the Head Master, to the teachers, to the students- this school excels in values of honesty and integrity. The students standout from fellow secondary students at nearby schools. They're taught to believe in themselves and their dreams and not allow life's circumstances to hold them back. They're challenged to live with good character and moral values. Respect and love are at the root of the teachers and administration- which carries over to the students when you watch them interact with others. The best part- they praise Jesus for their successes and provisions!

Restore International is in the process of building a school that stands on the values of justice, love and unity- all in the name of Jesus. The land they're building on in northern Uganda is where spiritual wars were literally once fought, as recent as 5 years ago! They have certainly been hit with challenge after challenge! But...Justice prevails and Jesus always wins!!!

For this school, the staff and students and the many future students.... this is their Promised Land!

Three of my buddies, John, Blake and Shane, have given an unmeasurable amount of tireless days, weeks and months - even years - to bring this project to where it is today. They still have a long road ahead, but I smile when watching the videos knowing the monumental obstacles which they've overcome, the hard work put in by all the workers and volunteers, and the contributions by stateside staff and supporters.

Something great is happening here!

Restore International - http://www.restoreinternational.org

This Christmas, where will you do your shopping?

Consider the social and ethical impact as you purchase!

- Where are the products made?

- Under what conditions did the labors work?

- Is the company concerned about the holistic care and future of it's workers?

- Will the purchase of your item positively impact an individual, a family or a community?

Here are a few fabulous options for socially conscious purchases-

31 Bits - designer necklaces & bracelets - http://31bits.com

One Mango Tree - clothing, scarves & more - http://www.onemangotree.com/

Krochet Kids - hand-knitted winter hats - http://www.krochetkids.org

Mend - canvas tote bags - http://store.mend.co/handbags

Sseko - summer sandals - http://www.ssekodesigns.com/

Remnant - Tshirts & headbands - http://remnantuganda.com

Imani - designer necklaces - http://www.imanilove.com/

Tubahumurize - various textile items - http://www.rwandanwomencan.org/

"Learn to do good. Seek justice, correct oppression. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17

While church and kingdom are related, the former is always subordinate to the later and the kingdom is the more comprehensive reality.

The kingdom is God’s action in the world. And this action was made most clearly visible in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the kingdom is present whenever the words and way s of Jesus are proclaimed and embodied.

Yet the presence of the kingdom is not under our control. It cannot be reduced to mere institutional reality. The kingdom is not a system. It is the rule and reign of God. It is a dynamic, not an organization. It is a power rather than a structure. The kingdom appears where God’s will is done through the power of the Spirit. It is there where God’s shalom is present and where God’s peace, mercy and justice are made manifest.

The kingdom of God, Jacques Ellul writes “is not the report of an observable, measureable reality… it is an affirmation of a counter-reality.”

Excerpt from: "Resist the Powers" by Charles Ringma with Jacques Ellul

Recently, a teacher friend shared a story. After she informed one of her students to put something away (speaking in her always kind Kindergarten teacher voice), the student replied, "Can I get a please?" The 5 year old is, to some extent, correct in requesting additional politeness as the teacher informs him to do something. But his response was not, I believe, rooted in requesting politeness- it's rooted in changing who has authority in the question. As a 5 year old, I don't think he cognitively intended this transfer of authority. More likely, this has been modeled to him, and he uses it perhaps out of a conditioned response. The comment uses a play on words, something our society is very so good at doing, and he puts the authority on himself by essentially informing the teacher of how he, a 5 year old, requests that she speak to him.

Isn't this much like us? As small children of the Lord, we run to Him with our questions. We absolutely need to always first take our problems and issues to God. But how are we approaching our God with these questions? Are we giving the Creator of the Universe full authority? Are we asking as small children would ask their daddy, or are we asking like a disgruntle teenager speaks to their "parental units"? Where is our desire for authority rooted? My guess is, most often, we ask using a more demanding or informative approach- yet we place a question mark at the end to make us feel as if it's still a humble inquiry.

We ask:

God, can't you heal this person?

God, can't you give me a break from all this crap happening in my life?

God, where's my husband? (my personal favorite!)

When we run to the Lord, are we releasing our questions and burdens of life with an open mind and heart? Are we embracing the freedom He offers under His full authority?

These are questions, I personally, need to be asking myself.

I also think that I need to read Job 38-40 more frequently. To Job's desperate cry to the Lord, the Lord offers a rhetoric response:

"Have you ever given orders to the morning." v.12

"Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?" v.17

"Can you set up God's dominion over the earth? v. 33

..."Tell me, if you know all of this." v. 18

Chapter 40, v2, says it perfectly. "Will you, the one who accuses God, let Him answer you?"

Below is the short devotional which lead me to the above contemplative thoughts- I wonder what it will stir up in your heart?

Excerpt from: "Resist the Powers" by Charles Ringma with Jacques Ellul

To call into question

The power in the question lies in its ability to see other possibilities.

Some people have a passive approach to life. This may be part of their culture, where things are accepted rather than questioned. Others take a more questioning approach. This should be encouraged rather than suppressed. Jacques Ellul comments that "the movement toward freedom leads the individual to call into questions...the external constrains by the group."

While social reality is premised upon structures and institutions and we all need to live within certain constraints, this never means that we should simply accept things the way they are. Change is always necessary lest things stagnate. Therefore, the power of the question lies in its ability to move us beyond the present into new ways of being and acting.

Reflection: The asking of good questions is more difficult than giving the right answers. Job 38: 2-3

Mountains have captured my heart and roused up in me a great appreciation for their splendor. The peaks appear impressive and majestic in their height and rigidity. On top a mountain summit, I find a calming peacefulness that offers a different view of the surrounding land. A different perspective. From a distance, the mountains remind us of how small we are. The grander of the mountains remind me of my meekness and of my humble place and role in God's magnificent world.

A friend recently shared with me this Oswald Chambers quote. It offers great perspective. I find it beautifully encouraging, yet equally challenging.

Never allow yourself this thought, "I am of no use where I am", because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him... When you labor at prayer, from God's perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ. -Oswald Chambers

Did you catch that? From God's perspective there are ALWAYS results. There are always small advances, small improvements and small successes....even when all we see are set-backs, challenges and what sometimes seems like failure! He truly does always have a great and marvelous plan. Sometimes Satan gets in the way of God's plan looking less than ideal to us. But the great truth is that God is more powerful than all the evil on this Earth! So, even when it appears as if we're continually beaten down and God's glory doesn't seem to be able to shine through...remember that the Lord lives and reigns over everything. While we may not be able to see His present Glory and we may not be able to see how our every-day challenges are bringing hope to His Kingdom.... that's not always our goal. Our daily goal is to simply seek God and, as this quote suggests, take our orders from Jesus. As long as we stay focused these two things, God will manifest ways for his Glory to shine through. We need to let all the burden of desiring to see his glory and advancement of the Kingdom rest on Him!!!

The transition to life in America has a been quite challenging. The challenges aren't entirely around the excessive consumerism and materialism, as most would expect. The bigger challenges are with a lot of deeper heart-issues.

From a society that is interdependent, community-based, cooperative... to a society of independence, self-sufficiency, and personal achievement.

From a culture that always has time for an intimate conversation over tea or a meal...to a culture of planning coffee-dates a week in advance.

From a pace of life where the bus full of 60 people will literally stop (and make everyone else wait) for one person to buy a chicken.... to a pace of life that is like a high-speed train which seems impossible to jump on board!!

I often struggle the injustices in the world- that our friends, brothers and sisters in other parts of the world labor for enough clean water and we (in the West) water our lawns (with drinkable water) even during the rain... that children can't go to school because their parents don't have money for the fees which are equivalent to a monthly gym membership.

Please, do not read this as me complaining about America or life in America. I am very appreciative of all America has to offer and I'm thankful to be born in this great nation. I am simply being real and honest about a few of the challenges of such a transition.

Life is a journey. We never arrive at the destination. Paths merged, are redirected and sometimes continue straight. But- the true joy of life is the journey.

My journey in Uganda was incredible. Stealing the Peace Corps slogan...it truly was: The toughest job I ever loved!! Along our journeys- we receive directions, guidance, and course corrections. My journey has arrived at: Slow down. Do not pass. For now, I don’t know the next direction. Maybe it’ll be a sign saying: “U-turn” or “Road Closed” or “Lanes merge” or “Moose crossing”!? Whatever it will say…the unclear path in the middle is still part of the journey!!

What’s next? - The notorious question everyone's asking.

Rest. Renewal. Wait.

As Solomon teaches us, there’s a time for everything. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” This is a time for rest, renewal and waiting for God’s direction. It’s hard to fully explain how draining it is to live in another culture unless you’ve personally experienced it; for an extended period of time. Doing ministry on top of daily life becomes even more challenging- physically and emotionally draining. For the past 15 months, my life was in Uganda. It wasn’t simply a trip; nor did I just live there. I had a life, a home, friends, relationships, and a ministry. My heart and passion was in my work. It was sad and difficult to leave my life in Gulu. I left completely empty- having given it all. It’s now time to be refilled; physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Will I return to Uganda or stay in the U.S.? I simply don’t know just yet. There are great reasons for choosing either option. I truly want to follow God’s will for my life. Yet, we often – myself included – think that God’s desire for our life is for us to DO His will. I’ve come to realize that what God wants most- is for us to simply SEEK Him. Most likely, if we’re seeking Him with all of our heart, we will in turn do His will- and He’ll choose to use us for His Kingdom.

For now- I’m back in Longmont, CO. Enjoying the luxuries of life in America. Peaceful walks in a quiet neighborhood. The mountains & the ability to get away to my happy place. Climate control and air condition. Washing machines. Strawberries, grapes, cherries and more. Organization. Smoothly paved roads. Guaranteed daily hot showers. Carpet. And my favorite- the ability to be invisible… to not stand out the second I walk out of my house!!

To all my supporters; financial and prayer partners - Thank you for your love, support and encouragement over the past year and a half. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve with Scripture Union of Uganda in Gulu. The SU Family and students are forever grateful for the time I was able to spend with them. And I am grateful, and forever changed, for my time with them- and for all the Lord taught me and ways He stretched me and forced me to grow over the past year!

Thank you for being a part of my journey!

Love & Hugs from the Rockies,

Daneen :-)

“Stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along.” Robert J. Hastings, The Station

Dear Uganda,

Thank you for welcoming me, loving me, breaking me and remolding me.

I leave, not as I came.

I will forever cherish...

-red murram dirt

- beautiful smiles

- joyful hearts

- simplicity

- true brotherhood/sisterhood

- warm hospitality

- mango season

- intense lightning storms

- raw and real life

- interdependent community

- slow, quiet mornings

- easily accessible public transport

- dependency for the Lord for renewal, redemption, strength and grace

- the bush

- ex-pat bond

- the best pineapples

- seeing brokenness restored in ways only possible through Jesus

- experiencing God’s Kingdom come

- posho – haha! Just kidding!

- running water and electricity (when they’re there)

Dear God,

Thank you for Uganda.

Every good and perfect gift is from above – James 1:17

It is somehow June 2011. I have less than 3 weeks remaining in Uganda.

I’m not yet ready to say goodbye to the great relationships I’ve made with so many people. It’s difficult to think about leaving the ministry I have loved being a part of for the past 15 months – the schools I’ve spent time at, the students who have become friends, the community members who have become partners. I’m invested in life here - it’s a very special, unique and sweet life... which I enjoy.

Equally, the students are not ready for me to leave. Last weekend, I was literally showered with nearly 200 notes from students. Notes expressing their love and gratitude for the time I’ve spent with them. I read every single message and will cherish the words of these incredible students.

This past weekend, we held the 2nd Annual Scripture Union 1-day Youth Conference in Gulu. After a number of major difficulties leading up to the conference, it was a huge success. We anticipated between 250-300 students. But God had bigger plans. 420 students attended. I was amazed. We had a beautiful representation of the “church” at the conference. Volunteers, teachers, speakers and facilitators represented over 15 local churches, 4 local organizations, 3 local businesses and over 15 schools. It was a fabulous example of the church truly working together! Most important – the students were challenged and encouraged. WOW! Glory to God!!! The past 2-3 weeks, have been some of the most challenging in my time in Uganda. For many reasons- which I will not list. Yet, amidst the challenges, I’ve been filled with a sense of peace and have been capable of taking each overwhelming issue one at a time (even though I was hit with about 5 at once.) It’s truly been God’s strength and grace which has sustained me. We are currently in the middle of a very busy week showing the Jesus Film in schools around Gulu. I continue to trust in the Lord’s provision for strength, energy and patience throughout this time.

My next few weeks will be filled with visiting all the schools, churches and NGO’s I’ve worked closely with during my time here. Spending a Saturday with the amazing girls at Purse of Hope. Showing the Jesus Film in Swahili to the ladies of Remnant. Tea with Mamma Joy and Pastor Ron. Embracing the special and unique community of expats in Gulu. Enjoying the great selection of tasty authentic international food. Treasuring quiet mornings. Appreciating evenings of good conversation. And lots of continued prayer for God to show me HIS path for what’s next.

With love from Gulu....

VIDEO: Gulu students say Thank You to LifeBridge High School students for the opportunity to attend Scripture Union Camp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks4cC_uhhGc

It’s true - I enjoy is hanging out with high school students. Call me crazy, if you want! But I think they’re awesome people. In Uganda, the relationship between youth and adults is one of respect and hierarchy. From a small age, children are taught to give ultimate respect to their elders. This includes the actions of kneeling when you greet someone and not looking someone in the eyes. To us in the West, this appears demeaning and rude. However, this is African culture. As a result, it takes time to establish a mentor-type friendship with the youth. Additionally, the idea of youth “hanging out” with an adult in a mentor-type environment is largely uncommon.

Recently, I had the opportunity to have students over to my house after church. Many students are boarding students and therefore remain at their schools for church or attend nearby churches. The Scripture Union club from Restore Leadership Academy was asked to sing at the Youth Service at Watoto Church. Since they were already in town, the school approved for them to hang out at my house before returning to school. We enjoyed sodas, fresh baked cookies, snacks, games and simply hanging out. The students loved exploring the random things in my house; basketballs, games like Jenja, the computer, the stove with an oven and sweets (candy!). It was great fun to hang out with these students outside of their school environment.

Some of my favorite students – yes, all youth leaders have favorites even though we’re not “supposed” to and try hard to not show it – happen to be 4 sisters who attend Restore. After they experienced the homemade American-style cookies, they mentioned they wanted to learn how to make them. So that’s what we did. During their holiday break, before the second school term started, the girls came to my house and we baked cookies! I gave them the recipe and explained how recipe’s work and left it to them to figure out measurements. They did fantastic and we had a ton of fun. The cookies – chocolate chip – were super yummy! They divided the cookies among for 4 of them so they could each have their own stash in their dorm rooms at school! They also had a baggie that they would give away to people around their house.

A fabulous day.

Last week, April 22-27, I was able to invite 9 students from Gulu to attend Scripture Union Camp in at Mwiri Busoga College. Mwiri Camp is the SU Annual Leaders conference held in Central Region; 7 hours from Gulu. This was an incredible opportunity for these students to travel outside of Northern Uganda, meet students from around the country, grow and be challenged to "Lead Where You Are" and be part of the SU-Uganda family - which is like no other!

Nine students from six Gulu schoolswere selected to attend the conference. Each of the students are leaders in their SU Clubs and they were overjoyed to be chosen to attend this camp. They had an amazing time, made new friends, were challenged and changed, and inspired to be great leaders!

Joyce (Gulu High School), Francis (Gulu High School), Joyce (Trinity College), Ronald (Keyo SS), Evelyn (Keyo SS), St. Mary’s College (Daniel), Francis (Gulu College), Anete (Gulu SS), Winnie (Gulu Parent’s Comprehensive). Additionally, a new SU-Gulu volunteer was able to attend as a camp facilitator, Thomas.

The Gulu students represented Acholiland with pride! In front of the entire camp of 250 students, they had the opportunity to share testimonies of Scripture Union in their schools. They lead the students in Acholi singing and dancing…and oh, did we dance! At Cultural Night, over 20 groups made presentations, and the Acholi Cultural presentation won first place! I’m so proud of these students!!!

Video of Acholi Dancing at SU Camp Mwiri - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp8cCtZ4JqU

I cannot possibly put together my own words to express the students’ great experiences and gratitude for attending camp. Here are some of their own words:

Anete – Gulu Senior Secondary - I’m so much impressed with all that they’re [SU] doing. The thing I love the most is Praise & Worship. It touches my life so much. I feel like I should not even go back to Gulu. I feel like I’m in the next level. I’ve changed; I am not as I came.

Ronald – Keyo SS - What I’ve experienced is about leadership; being a good transformer and not a conformer.

Joyce – Trinity College - The thing that excited me about here is Bible Study and Quite Time. You just read your Bible and understand. When I go back to our school, I will encourage them to make sure we do Bible Study and that we learn how to do Quite Time.

Winnie – Gulu Parents’ Comprehensive College - I meet many friends from different schools, different districts, and of different tribes – many of which I never knew before. And I never knew they’d showed me the love as I had in our place [Gulu]. But I was not surprised that they showed me more [love] than I’ve had before. I think it’s all because of the love of Jesus, that he sacrificed himself on the cross to show us love - so we give back the glory to God in the Highest.

Joyce – Gulu High School - I’d love to say a great thanks and appreciation and ask the almighty God to bless you [LBCC students who sponsored students to attend camp]. And thank you very much to our Auntie Daneen who bought for us biscuits in the bus.

HUGE thanks to the High Schools students at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado; my home church. For one month, these HS students gave their offering specifically to send students from Gulu to SU Camp. I am so proud of the LBCC students for rising up to be a part of what God is doing in Uganda! The video of thanks from the Gulu students is coming soon!!

Many people often comment about how I must be living an amazing adventure. I must have so many stories to tell. Well…sure. Life is an adventure and along the way it’s filled with stories. Riding a public bus for 5 hours with a chicken at your feet… cooking by candlelight and headlamp because there’s no power… chasing chickens out of my house… if you think those things are adventurous – then, yes, I live an adventurous life. But since when do we journal life’s remarkable moments with stories of cooking and public transport? Yes, life is a compilation of all our short stories. And I must admit that the best stories of life in Africa almost always involve transportation!! :-)

But we’re missing the point. Life is definitely a journey; sometimes into the unknown. It can certainly be an adventure. And life is absolutely about making the most of the little moments and creating great stories. But at the core of our lives, the thing that makes our stories memorable and what makes the journey more enjoyable is one thing we all treasure most: Relationships.

Relationships with one another are at the core of who we are. Quite simply, that’s how God designed us. To be in relationship with others. To share our lives with those around us. To live in community.

The joy of my time in Uganda is all a result of my relationships here. I would equally say that the joy of my life when I live in the U.S. is also defined by my relationships. (Well, that and the mountains!!!) :-) Having dinner with my friends Patrick & Mary and their new baby girl. Attending an SU Fellowship club at a school. Hanging out with students after fellowship to hear about how school is going. Talking with students about their dreams! Laughing about the craziness of our lives in Gulu with my expat friends. Listening to a podcast with friends and sharing about what God is teaching us. These are the things that standout when I think about what I love most about my current chapter of life!

You see. If I were to let the daily circumstances of my life in Gulu define me and my time here - the same things that some say make my life “exciting” - I’d probably be pretty miserable. No one enjoys being dirty within 10 minutes of leaving your house. It’s incredibly unsafe to spend as much time as I do on the back of a motorcycle without a helmet; yet, most often, I have no other choice. The joy of cooking is laborsome because everything must start from scratch. As I type this workers are hammering in my kitchen as they continue month 3 of their attempt to install countertops and cabinets. Those things are all part of my everyday life. These are all things that are certainly a part of living in Uganda. If I were to allow these things to be my experience here…it’d be a pretty lousy experience.

Yes, I do have a great life! I thank God daily for the awesome life He’s blessed me with! I’m thankful for all the adventures, all the travels, all the wild moments, all the experiences, all the journeys. But I’m mostly grateful for the wonderful relationships and the love! Yes, I’m still waiting for the ultimate relationship... someone to share my life with. Someone to share this journey and all the adventures with. But in the mean time, and always, I have Jesus to walk with me. Following Jesus down this road that lead me to Uganda… has been the best road I could have ever taken. I would have never dreamed up even half the experiences I’ve had in this last year. I trusted God with His plan, and joined him on his journey and His story. And God, most certainly, always writes the best stories!!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost

We each have the opportunity to choose the road less traveled. Often, it’s the road that God desires for us. It's a matter of if we'll follow. It’s not always easy. But it’s always worth it!!

My worlds have collided…and it’s a beautiful thing.

It’s amazing to have 4 friends and sisters from Colorado, working side-by-side with my Ugandan friends, brothers and sisters!! We’ve spent two days digging holes and pouring concrete to put up clothes lines outside the dormitories, and planted over 50 trees around the SU Campsite. Lots of hard work and hours of fun, laughter and fellowship with new friends!

After two days working together, Joshua challenged us to describe our experience in 3 words.

Julie – Joy, Peace, Fun

Laurie – Partnership, Delicious, Worship

Kinsey – Work, Friends, God

Jessie – New and Exciting

Bonnie – You, Me, God

Dennis – He, She, We

Daneen – Together, Love, Peaceful

Sammy – Exciting and Fabulous

Joselyn – Fun, Love, Unity

Joshua – Exciting, Teamwork

Barnabas – Free and Fair (he’s still stuck with elections in his mind! Haha!)

As Sammy says:

It is so exciting to see the joy of teamwork and enjoy the peace of the Lord in worship, and experience love freely and be blessed with fair weather!! :-)

My home church, LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, CO, is sending a short-term missions team to serve alongside Scripture Union and myself for 2 weeks!! From March 19th – April 3rd a team of 4 girls will be part of an amazing journey with God and the great work he is doing in Uganda! I’m certain that they will be blessed during this time and that they will bless many others; myself included.

Here’s the plan:

SCRIPTURE UNION CAMPSITE – FIXER-UPER PROJECTS

4 days – SU Campsite, Entebbe

The USA team will serve alongside a group of Ugandan Scripture Union staff/volunteers at the SU Campsite, along the shores of Lake Victoria. Projects will include: planting trees, planting grass, putting up clothes lines, and general cleaning. We will also have a day of Retreat to spend time together in fellowship, prayer and fun!!!

WATOTO LIVING HOPE - CHILDREN'S DAY

2 days – Living Hope, Gulu

The USA team is packed with girls who love children! With a church Children’s Ministry Director, a Kindergarten teacher and a Middle School youth leader, these girls are gonna be stellar! We will hold 3 half-day Children’s events. The events will be similar to a mini-VBS program filled with: praise/worship, Bible story time, games, craft, snacks and FUN! We are expecting around 200 children for each of the 3 sessions. The Living Hope ministry serves 800+ women in the Gulu area who are all either HIV+, child mothers or returnees from serving with the LRA, the Uganda rebel army. The ministry indirectly ministers to over 3000 children who belong to the women of Living Hope. This Children’s Day event will be one of the few opportunities they have to directly minster to this group of children.

Students from the Scripture Union Clubs of two local secondary schools will be joining the team to volunteer!

SCHOOL OURTREACH - SCRIPTURE UNION CLUB VISITS

4 days – Gulu secondary schools

The team will have the opportunity to spend time with the heart of the Scripture Union ministry: SU Clubs at secondary schools! We will visit 6 schools during their schedule SU Club meeting. The students will start their meetings as normal, with boisterous praise and worship, prayer and testimony sharing. The USA team will then lead the students through a time of sharing/teaching, encouragement, prayer, and games. The students are excited about the team’s visit. They always love when people from “outside” come into their schools to share with them. They find it encouraging that someone on the other side of the world took the time and money to come spend time with them! The team will not be bringing gifts or money or promises of pen pals or sponsorship. They are simply giving their time to love on these students!

LOVE and LEARNING

4 days – Gulu NGOS

The team will spend their mornings in Gulu visiting various non-profit organizations (aka NGOs) who are doing great work. This opportunity will also give them a chance to learn about the region, the history, the challenges and the great work God is doing. We will spend time visiting the following: World Vision Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Remnant Uganda, Zion Project, Watoto’s Baby Home and Invisible Children.

There will be glitches. There will be a need to modify our schedule. There will be laughter. There will be tears.

I’m eager to see what God is going to teach these girls and myself. I’m excited to be a part of their journey. I’m honored to host them in a place that has become home to me.

My first time to Africa started with a 2-week short term mission trip. Who knows where this will lead...

"It is a beautiful thing when folks in poverty are no longer just a missions project but become genuine friends and family with whom we laugh, cry, dream and struggle." Shane Claiborne

"Love is the single greatest outreach strategy because it is the fundamental value that motivates the Gospel." Mark Mittelberg, "The Unexpected Adventure"

Stacey (roommate): “Something is burning!”

Me: “In the house, or outside?”

Stacey: “Inside!”

I rush to the hall to smell and see smoke near the ceiling. As we’re both searching around to see where it’s coming from, Stacey spots the main electrical control panel on the wall. It is smoking!

We both yell for Tim, our other housemate. We all kind of walk around thinking [out loud] of what to do and what we can use to put out the flames, which are behind the panel door. A fire extinguisher? Ha, they don’t even sell fire extinguishers in Gulu! We turn off the main power switch from outside. Thankfully the fire is contained behind the panel door and we don’t want to expose it to more oxygen. Tim thinks about baking soda. Thankfully we had a good bit in the house. Using a piece of cardboard, he funnels it behind the panel door. Eventually the flames seem to die down, but we’re still concerned it might be smoldering somewhere we can’t see. Tim goes up into the crawl space to check things out.

Stacey calls the landlord. I call a friend who was a firefighter in the US.

Fire returns behind the panel door. We’re out of baking soda. Tim, again thinking quickly, mentions sand. Stacey heads outside to dig up some sand. Sand is a regular part of the ground around here! I give some sand to Tim and then funnel the rest behind the panel door. Again the flames seem to die down.

We bring in the hose from outside…just in case.

We open the panel door to see the damage and ensure the fire is truly out.

We all make phone calls to get in touch with the best electricians we can find in town. We need to ensure someone who really knows what they’re doing comes to check things out and ultimately repair things correctly!! A total of 4 electricians come through the house throughout the day!

No power until a good repair is done.

What happened? One electrician says that because the electrical current fluctuates so much, you need to have a good ground and a good regulator (to control the current flow into the house), and he suspects we’re lacking both.

Moral of the story:

1. Always have a boy around the house with quick thinking

2. Buy a fire extinguisher…or stock up on baking soda

God is seeking to “interrupt” your life and reveal to you a journey that will set everything in your world, all of your planets of purpose in orbit. Sometimes, he will lead us down a path, to a job, into a life of someone or someone into our life – and the pause in the time we so loosely label an “interruption” actually changes everything. And to those attuned to recognize it and who have the understanding to interpret, it is the combustible element that activates the great love of God, he is trying so desperately to show.

Damon S. Davis, CEO of Legacy Group Global

“Journey to the Heart of Darkness”

Greetings from dry, dusty and HOT Gulu!

We are in the prime of dry season. There has been no rain since December, and with most roads being dirt roads, it makes for one dusty town! It seems I can’t drink enough water to quench my thirst. The heat doesn’t seem to subside unless you’re sitting directly in front of a fan!! I arrive to visit schools covered in red dirt. This is Gulu in February…and now March. We all hope the rains will come soon!

But even in the midst of this dust bowl… Life is fabulous!! Life is joyful! I’m incredibly blessed. God is amazing!

On Feb 12th, 140 students attended a 1-day Youth Conference in Gulu. It was organized by Richard Kakanyero and his church, Worship Revival Center Gulu. Richard has a love for Scripture Union and wanted to partner with SU for this conference so he contacted me. The main purpose of the conference was to bring together the SU members from various schools, encourage them as they start a new school year and challenge them to be the ones to change their Nation! 140 students attended from 13 different schools around Gulu. They had a fabulous time. Richard did a great job organizing everything with a little coaching from me. I’m so proud of him. He recently finished high school in Dec 2010. During his secondary school years, he was very active with his school SU Club and held the position of Chairperson in 2008.

If you’re looking for success stories from Scripture Union, Richard is one! The vision of SU is to transform the youth to follow Jesus and be filled with hope, and in turn, those youth transform their communities, families and nations!!!! Richard is transforming his church and his community. It was his idea to hold the conference. He was the one who challenged the church to stand behind him in organizing the event! He was the one who encouraged the SU Club at Trinity College to host the event. Richard has an amazing story of how he came to follow Jesus while living in the bush with the Ugandan rebel army (against his will), how God provided the opportunity for him to escape and of how the Lord has taken care of him over the years. It's people like Richard who bring hope for great things in Uganda!

In two weeks, the LifeBridge team will arrive in Uganda! My church in Colorado has organized for a short-term mission’s team to come to Uganda and serve with Scripture Union and myself. I have been doing much planning and organizing for this team to arrive. We will be involved in 3 main projects: 1. SU Campsite fixer-upper projects. 2. Children’s Day (VBS-type program) for children of Watoto’s Living Hope. 3. School outreach visits with SU Clubs. I’m looking forward to the team’s arrival and the opportunity to share with them a piece of my life here in Uganda. I’m especially excited because two of my closest friends are coming on the trip: Laurie and Julie!! So excited!

I love visiting the school SU Clubs. Each time I visit a school or spend time with students at a conference or camp, I become closer with them and they want to know me better. This is now my 3rd term with the students in Gulu and they no longer see me as a scarce visitor or the “mzungu”, but as part of them; part of the SU Family. It’s still a challenge for many of the clubs to incorporate Bible Study in their meetings. Ideally SU wants to see these clubs move from being solely fellowship clubs, and become discipleship clubs! Slowly, slowly! Recently, at least 3 schools have been asking me for the 2011 Bible Study guides! Excellent!

It’s exciting that church leaders, schools and local non-profit organizations often invite me, representing Scripture Union, to be part of their activities. This is a great foundation for the Scripture Union ministry in Gulu!!!

As one of the Congolese ladies of Remnant recently said: Daneen has been very blessed and she is blessing to so many others. Satan is mad!!!

Love it!! :-)

Much love and big hugs from Gulu,

Daneen

Presidential Elections were held on Feb 18th followed by 2 weeks of additional voting for regional and district leaders. Here in Gulu, it’s been calm the entire time. There were a few uprisings in other larger cities in and around the capital, however, even those quickly subsided. While there is certainly much debate about whether the voting was truly fair and impartial, and the most predominant opponent to the President still refuses to accept the results…we are thankful things were as peaceful as they were. President Yoweri Museveni will carry on with his 25 year reign of tyranny …oops, I mean “democracy”.

At 26 years old, Thomas Okello celebrates that he has made it to live beyond the times of the war, terror and fear. He was born in 1988; shortly after the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) started terrorizing the Acholi people in northern Uganda. His hometown is Odek (70km east of Gulu); the same hometown of the LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony.

Thomas is the first person in his family to complete secondary school. In Dec 2010, he finished his S6 school year, the final year of Advanced Level Secondary School, at Gulu College. As the last born of 7 children, he was fortunate to have older brothers who worked hard to pay for his school fees.

As he awaits his S6 exam results and hopes to attend university in August, he is choosing to volunteer with Scripture Union in Gulu. Thomas was an active member of his school’s SU Club from his first year of secondary school. Even as an S1 student he took on the leadership role of Publicity Chair. As an S5 student at Gulu College, he lead his SU Club as the Chairperson.

“Being in SU encouraged me. It taught me to know that God can change everything.”

The goal within his SU Club at Gulu College was for the entire school to be a school for Christ. “What I like about SU is that it nurtures the young children to have hope in life.”

When you first meet Thomas, you will notice is bright smile and how he intently listens to you. He wants to catch every word you say. He’s happy and joyful…always. He says: “I love to encourage people to have hope.” When you talk with Thomas, you can see that he has great hope for amazing things!

His hope comes not from a loving or encouraging family nor from an easy or enjoyable childhood. His hope comes entirely from Jesus! He accepted Christ into his life in 1996 at Amwolo, a church in Odek.

“In the village, people never believed I could make it through secondary [school].” He left the village and moved to Gulu in 2003. He came alone at 15 years old. With no family, he lived in a one-room hut with 7 other boys. He had no money for food. Family members who received free food distribution in the Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs), sent food to Gulu for him. He was determined to find a way through secondary school. He knew, that with God’s provision, he’d make it!

By 2005, Thomas was a total orphan. His mom died of cancer in February of 2002. In Nov 2002, he sat for his Primary Level Exam (PLE). An exam that literally determines your future education opportunities. He passed the PLE and was permitted to continue with secondary school. His father had been abducted by the LRA before Thomas was born. During his time as a soldier with the LRA he was shot in the leg. After escaping the LRA, Thomas’ dad returned to his wife and Thomas was the last born. The LRA came back two additional times for Thomas’ dad. Abducting him and taking him to the bush. Thankfully both times he was released since he was crippled and walked with a stick due to the gunshot wound. Life for returnees from the bush (after being in the LRA) were and still are not easy. His father often resorted to drinking a lot of the locally-brewed alcohol Waragi. In 2005, his waragi was poisoned [on purpose] and he was killed.

“Luckily for me, I was not abducted.” Whenever Thomas talks about his childhood, this is always a statement he makes. He is very thankful (and very lucky) to have not been abducted by the LRA. However, like everyone of northern Uganda, he did not escape the daily fear that the LRA might come. In 1996, the LRA burned their house and all their properties. For 6 years, from 1998-2003, Thomas and his family and neighbors spent nearly every night sleeping in the bush. Taking just a bed sheet or blanket, they would sleep in the tall grass, between rows of maize (corn) or in the swamp.

With the war, the terror and the fear being replaced with peace, joy, and courage Thomas has a bright future. His dream is to become a secondary school teacher for Economics and History. He says he will also start his own business and still do ministry. “I’m now a life example. I’m the one to make sure their [his family] lives change.”

He wants to volunteer with SU because: “I have a desire to encourage other students and children to have hope. To follow Jesus.”

Less of me. More of God. That's where I find the most contentment!

So I lay me down for Kingdom come

Steal all that is within me

‘Cause all I want in this world is more of You

The less of me, it is You

Increasing as I fade away

Your life for all the world to see

God, it is You who breaks the chains

It is You who lights the way

And everything I am cries out for You

So make my life transparent

Your life in mine displayed

And let every earthly glory

Go back to you

"You" - Hillsong LIVE, A Beautiful Exchange

God has been incredible this past year. Of course, He’s always incredible. But I’ve seen His faithfulness to a different level this past 12 months. Perhaps it’s because when you give Him everything, you need Him more than ever. You trust and depend on Him like never before. And He comes through!!!

It’s February and, according to what was “planned”, I have less than 3 months remaining of my time in Uganda. I arrived in early April 2010 and plan to stay through early May 2011. The plan: to finish up my committed one year serving with Scripture Union and return to the U.S. Return home. Find a job. Hang out with some awesome high school students. Play in the mountains. And, if it’s time (please, Jesus), my future husband find me. :-)

I love my life! I’ve been very blessed. Every bit of it. I’m immensely grateful for all the incredible adventures and this wild journey.

And I love my life in Uganda. It’s often not an easy life. The heat is literally exhausting. Power is frequently not there! It’s impossible to stay clean (or feel clean) for more than 2 hours each day! As much as life feels normal here, daily I’m reminded that I’m a foreigner living in a foreign country. BUT… it’s a sweet life. I value the simplicity of life in Gulu. I love the small-town feel. I enjoy getting together with friends for a meal or to simply play games. No need for manufactured fun here. I’m thankful for an awesome community of fellow Believers to do life with. I enjoy my job and the opportunity to serve Jesus in Gulu!

As my time nears a “supposed end” in Uganda, I am searching for God’s direction on what’s next. I’ve learned that if I can really listen to Him and do what He wants of me, that’s what will be BEST for me! Even if it doesn’t always seem like the easy choice. I think about what’s next, and wonder if I really am to go back to the U.S., or if God wants me in Uganda a little longer. Perhaps an extra 3 months. I’m still not solidly convinced either way. So I continue to wait seek God’s direction.

It’s true, that when you give up everything - particularly your own plans and agenda - to follow Jesus’ will for your life, the blessings are huge. But after a time, there’s a temptation to think that “I’ve given my time. My part is done.” Pride tells you you’ve sacrificed more than others. Fear tells you it’s time to worry about the future. I’ve given enough. Its someone else’s turn. (Thank you Francis Chan for this reminder!)

BUT…Jesus says to keep on keeping on and you will see more of God!

YES! I want MORE OF GOD!

That doesn’t automatically mean I need to remain in Uganda to serve Jesus. This all just means I need to stay open to His direction.

God wants us to trust him with abandon!!! Without any restraint. Relinquish control to Him!

I listen and wait...

I studied engineering because I always had a dream (and life goal) to be an astronaut. I was very serious about this, which is why (even with not the best grades or brightest brain), I studied (and struggled) through aerospace engineering. My grandma was my best champion. She would always send me cards and letters which were signed “Reach for the Stars”. That’s what I was doing!

My favorite quote through high school, college and 5 years after college was:

“Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars.”

That was my ambition and by accomplishing that goal (of becoming an astronaut and making it to the stars), I thought I would have significance in life. I would make a difference in people’s lives. Perhaps I would be able to be part of a scientific discovery through studies in zero-gravity. After a few years working for Boeing…Yes, I really was a rocket scientist… I started to be realistic about all that it would take to have a good enough resume to even apply to the astronaut program. It took a good 2 years to finally give up the dream, but I realized there was just too much to do in life and I didn’t want to spend 20+ years focusing on a career that may or may not turn out as I planned.

In the background, God was working on my heart and re-molded me and my views of success and significance. In 2005, after working in the Aerospace industry for 7 years, I chose to do something against the norm of American society. I left a secure, well-paying career to transition into the non-profit industry with the idea of wanting my every day job to be giving back to society. I spent time serving with the U.S. Peace Corps in Zambia, returned to the US and held a variety of jobs ranging from teaching gymnastics to answering pilot’s questions to selling satellite imagery!! While I never found the “perfect job”, I had peace knowing that I was where God wanted me for that season. Today Jesus has me serving in Uganda in a job that I love with Scripture Union! Discipling students through Bible Study and camps/conferences and partnering with local churches to encourage daily Bible reading!

I had come to a point of transformation. Jesus taught me to be content in all situations, as long as I was listening to what and where He was guiding me.

Instead of needing to achieve what I saw as success and significance by going to be with the stars; I could simply let my life be a life for Jesus by Shining Like A Star!!!!

Become pure children of God…in this crooked and deprived generation…in which we Shine like Stars in the universe!! – Phil 2:15

For the past 5 years, my new favorite quote has been:

“Sometimes on the way to a dream, you get lost and find a better one.”

And that’s where I am now. I no longer have a 5 Year Plan. My plan is whatever God has planned for my life, which involves lots of trust. Everything to God. My life, my job, my money, my house. He’s the Lord of our hearts and the Creator of the Universe. Who else should I trust? While it’s not always easy [to have complete and total trust], it brings great peace in knowing I have perfect significance in God, my Father, through Jesus!!!!!

Things that make me smile! :-)

Trees... the forest... snow... and clear blue Colorado sky!

Playing outside!

Being a kid again!

Thank you Colorado!

Thank you, awesome friends!

I’ve been soaking up all things American for the past 3 weeks. It’s been a great joy to simply be on a break. A vacation from “work” and a chance to live in luxury for a few weeks! It’s been refreshing and enjoyable to catch-up with friends, share with so many about what God is doing in Uganda and receive loads of hugs!!! It’s interesting…. When you’re on vacation in America, and your life and work are somewhere else, you have a different perspective. You see things differently.

BLESSINGS

- Carpet

- Climate control

- Water fountains

- Paper towels

- Nice restaurants, with too many choices and incredible bathrooms

I truly do love the U.S. of A. and I am beyond grateful to be born an American. The challenges below are in no way meant to be criticism to our great nation. These are simply some things that, after living overseas for some time, I’ve picked up on that seem to be more apparent to me now than they did before.

CHALLENGES

- Sarcasm – It seems that many of us communicate nearly entirely through sarcasm. With our friends, with our family, with our co-workers. Sarcasm is defined as: a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt. Wow...who wants their best friends always communicating this way? Many might say it’s just my sense of humor. It seems as though we mask our true thoughts and feelings through using this method of “humor”. How do you have deep conversations or share your true thoughts and feelings when so much is covered in sarcasm?

- PDA – Public Display of Affection – Holy cow people! Get a room! After being immersed in a culture where zero PDA is acceptable, where very few boyfriend/girlfriends even hold hands in public, it’s been a shocker to return to the West. I’m all for holding hands and even small pecks, but the making out in public seems a bit out of hand!

- Complaining – I’ve always known this, but it’s been emphasized on this trip. We sure do complain a lot. It seems like there’s always something to complain about. Largely because we feel entitled to so much, that it leads the door open to grumble about the smallest things. And it seems all of this complaining leads to a ton of drama! Uggh, drama!!

This brings to mind a song I sang as a kid...

Are you grumbly hateful or humbly grateful? What’s your attitude?

Do you grumble and groan, or let it be known you’re grateful for all God’s done for you!?

Just something to think about! :-)

- Worship – I’m for sure very thankful for the awesome church worship in America. I definitely love it and miss it when I’m in Uganda. Yet, one of the most encouraging things I love about my job in Uganda is that I get to walk into SU Fellowships at schools and see students praising and worshiping God with such pure and simple joy. Singing, jumping and dancing. To the beat of a drum or two and maybe a hand-made tambourine. And that’s it. No extravagant lights. No synthesizer. No one “leading” them to get them to clap their hands. They do that all on their own. It just makes you think...what do we really need to worship God???

Scripture Union Camp is something many students around Uganda look forward to each year. There are camps throughout the year, but the big one is always in December, once the school year has finished! For the students of Northern Uganda, the idea of Camp is still new and growing. The first battle with hosting a “Camp” in northern Uganda is to get the students to understand what this means. When they first think of the word Camp, they think of an IDP Camp. A camp for Internally Displaced Persons. A place where many of them may have lived up until 4 years ago. A place where many of them were born. Memories or thoughts of life in the IDP Camp are generally not the best.

Since July I have been trying to inform students at schools in Gulu about SU Camp. During our visits to the schools to show them the Jesus Film, we also showed them video of a previous SU Camp so that they could get an idea of what camp is like! They are very familiar with 1-day Youth Conferences. And a camp is essentially a multi-day Conference where you stay away from home. They liked this idea!!

In northern Uganda, our end-of-the-year Youth Camp is held in Lira. A town 2 hours from Gulu. For Gulu students to attend, they would not only need to find the 10,000 UGX registration fee, but they would also need money for transport to and from Lira. A total of 30,000 UGX, which is a big challenge for the students and their families. Approximately $15.00 US.

Since August, I’ve been challenging the students to consider finding a way to send at least 1 or 2 representatives from their school to camp! So that a student could experience all the great things about camp and come back to share with the rest of their classmates! We have also visited a number of local churches, encouraging them to sponsor students to attend Camp!

Why is it so important to have these students attend camp?

- For them to hear the Truth and the Word of God

- To be encouraged in their journey with Jesus

- To be challenged to trust the Lord with their life

- To be motivated to share the love of Jesus with others

- To receive a more comprehensive understanding of Scripture Union and our unique family

- To meet new friends from around northern Uganda

- To be guided through Bible Study by good leaders (in hopes they incorporate this into their school SU Clubs)

- To travel to a new place and all the experiences that come with that opportunity

- For them to get to be kids and have FUN!

And have fun they did! We had 93 students attend camp from 5 districts: Lira, Gulu, Kitgum, Apac, and Oyam. For over 75% of the campers, it was their first time to experience a residential camp!!! They were overjoyed!!!!

I was especially excited that 42 students were able to attend from Gulu!!!

Restore Leadership Academy – 20 students + 1 facilitator (SU Patron)

Keyo Secondary School – 2 students + 1 facilitator (SU Patron and school Reverend)

Gulu Senior Secondary – 3 students

Gulu High School – 2 students

Christ Church – 4 students

Favor of God Ministries – 12 students + 1 facilitator

LifeLine Church Gulu – 1 student + 1 facilitator

Watoto Church – 2 facilitators

For me, being the Camp Manager, there were a number of challenges and frustrations. Even the first day, I found tears in my eyes at 9am, already overwhelmed with the challenges. But Jesus carried me through. It was all HIM that I was able to continue forward with the logistical nightmares!! I had to continually remind myself this is not mine or even SU’s camp….but God’s! But even with those challenges, the camp we wonderful! As far as the students could see, camp was well organized and filled with a great variety of activities and topics.

THE BEST PART: The students had a blast and God was glorified!

Our focus at SU is to CREATE TRANSFORMERS. For the students to be transformed themselves, and for them to, in turn, go out and transform others; their friends, families, Uganda and the nations of Africa!

Each day we had a topic which was shared in the Bible Exposition message and later reinforced during small group Bible study.

Day 1: The Making of a Transformer – Self Esteem (1 Timothy 4:11-16)

Day 2: The Calling of a Transformer – Standing Out (Daniel 3:1-18)

Day 3: The Destiny of a Transformer – Purity of the Mind (Numbers 13:1-3 & 16-33)

Day 4: The Commissioning of a Transformer – Putting Off and Putting On (Ephesians 4:17-5:2)

The days started early with Fitness Club/ Devotion Time at 6am! Each day was filled with Praise & Worship, Bible Exposition, Quiet Time, Bible Study, Workshops (Topics: Scripture Union, Panel Discussion on God/Faith/Religion and Relationships), Life Skills Sessions (HIV/AIDS), Sports … and of course, lots of eating!!! Each evening we had a different event; Movie Night, Cultural/Talent Night, Worship Experience, Family Night and Candlelight!

My favorite night of camp is always the last night. Not because camp is ending, but because it’s a really special time. After 4 days, the students have made some great new friendships. They’ve become close with their Families (their Bible Study groups) and they don’t want camp to end!!! One of the most special times at camp is when we give gifts within our families. It’s incredible to see how created the students are and what they sacrifice to find a gift for their family member. The purpose: instill in them giving hearts. And they give and love it! They will find ways to even buy wrapping paper. They decorated their family tables with leaves, flowers and even fruit! It’s a really beautiful time!!

After we give gifts and celebrate with singing and dancing, we move into a time to wrap-up the whole camp. With our theme being Light Your World (Matthew 5:14),this year, we have ended our camps with a beautiful candlelight ceremony. With the lights off, one person gives them a final challenge for the students to go into their World and be a Light for Jesus. One candle is lit, and it lights another. Within minutes the room is full of LIGHT! What a great visual for the students to see how if each of them can be a small Light, together they can make a huge impact!! Wow! So powerful!

At the end of camp, you’re able to look back and say it was all worth it. Every bit of frustration. Every tear shed in feeling overwhelmed. The long days. Everything! ALL WORTH IT!

It’s a humbling honor to GET to serve the Lord in northern Uganda.

Living Hope is a ministry of Watoto Church which reaches out to over 800 women in the Gulu area. These women are: HIV+, returnees from abduction into the rebel army, widows with children and teenage mothers. Living Hope serves to restore their dignity. Living Hope is not giving these women their dignity. God already gave them dignity when He created them. However, due to various life circumstances – a 20 year war, HIV/AIDS pandemic and abandonment or widowment – they have been robbed of their dignity in countless ways which we can hardly imagine! Through spiritual discipleship, improved quality of life, ARV distribution center, empowerment through vocational training g, and income generating projects these women are being offered a second chance at the life they deserve. The women are also offered to participate in a literacy class which, upon graduation, they can read and write in English.

On 14 December 2010, Living Hope Gulu celebrated their launch of MakaPads production in Gulu and I was honored to be among the invited guests! MakaPads is an innovative and affordable sanitary pad. MAKA: Menstruation Administration Knowledge and Affordability. Approximately 80% of girls are absent from school during their menstruation days; and many even drop out of school. A number of well-organized schools try to have an annual budget to purchase pads for the girls in attempt to keep them in school.

MakaPads is a project of Technology for Tomorrow, T4T; www.t4tafrica.com. T4T is an African company providing African solutions. Using readily available materials T4T is making life easier while protecting the environment. The MakaPads are made from papyrus and recycled paper. Papyrus is found in the swamps and found in a variety of locations around Uganda.

I was honored to attend the launch celebration. The Director of Living Hope Gulu knows that through my work with Scripture Union I have contacts with school Head Teachers. She asked me, with less than 24 hours notice, to invite some Head Teachers. This week, most Head Teachers are either busy finalizing report cards or they have left school for their holiday as schools closed last Friday. I called up a few of my favorite Head Teachers who I thought would be most interested in this program. Two attended. Madam Anna, HT at St. Mary’s College Lacor and James, Dept. HT from Restore Leadership Academy. They both enjoyed learning about both Living Hope and also MakaPads and its focus on keeping the girl child in school. They both expressed that their schools have budgets to purchase pads for the girls. They wanted to now purchase their pads from Living Hope!! Awesome!

While I’ve known about Living Hope for some time and have spent some time at the Center in Gulu, I’ve never heard any of the women's personal testimonies. It was incredible to hear some of their stories and how they tell their stories with such joy because they have been restored dignity!!! There was some great Acholi dancing and Marilyn Skinner, wife to Pastor Gary Skinner who started Watoto, attended and spoke to the women and guests (with her “fireball” way of speaking!) Living Hope came to life from a burden put on Marilyn’s heart for the vulnerable women of Africa! It was great to meet her in person and express my personal appreciation for Watoto being in Uganda, and specifically in Gulu!

Recently a friend at university asked for my input on "the effectiveness of NGOs in Uganda". Wow. That's a complicated topic. Here's my attempt at a response:

The biggest challenge is: How do you measure effectiveness or success. We, the western world who mostly “run” the NGO’s, want to measure it by results and improved statistics. We want to see more children going to school. We want to see fewer children die of malaria and dehydration. We want to see reduced numbers of those infected with HIV. While those are all great things, they are not the only things that can show proof of our effectiveness.

For example: A grassroots organization provides jobs to women by purchasing paper beaded necklaces which are then sold under fair trade to the West. The women are now making an income. They are receiving training on how to save money and start their own business. Perhaps, with their added income, their family is eating better. Perhaps their school-aged children are in school. But… perhaps, their babies are still getting sick. Perhaps their husbands are violent. But… for the most part, the women are full of joy. What’s different now from their life before this job? HOPE. Now, they have hope.

What good is hope if you’re children are still getting sick? Hope is believing that there can be a positive outcome. Specifically, a positive outcome in their circumstances or life. In a region of the world that has been hit hard by war, violence, political instability and other severely challenging life situations, HOPE can be what gets you through to tomorrow, or next week. It can be what helps you to start thinking about and planning for next year and the future years to come! And that, is a big change in mentality that is extremely hard to measure!

This is NOT to say that these grass-roots organizations are only bringing hope into the loves of the people in Uganda. While I personally believe Hope is a HUGE piece to international development, these orgs are doing much more. Many organizations have seen great “success” with individuals graduating from their programs and moving on to start their own business and continue to provide for their families!!

So that gets us on the topic of grass-roots vs. large NGOs. Grass-roots organizations are predominately privately sponsored. Meaning they are not receiving large grants from state-sponsored programs, i.e. USAID grants. Grass-roots orgs are also generally small in size. Perhaps they are working with a group of 20 girls or up to 100 women. I’m personally a big fan of these smaller NGOs. By being smaller, they have the ability to really invest in the lives of the group of people they are working with. They are able to more closely monitor how they are doing and if they are choosing to change their lifestyles to improve their over-all situation. While these NGOs are targeting small groups of individuals or communities, they are able to really try to do things right and create opportunities for impactful change!

The large NGO’s are a whole different beast. UNICEF, UNHCR, World Food Program, World Vision, Compassion In’tl. I certainly can’t speak for all of them, nor would I want to say they are all the same in how they run their orgs and their effectiveness. However, I do feel, and I have seen concrete examples, that these orgs are more susceptible to ineffectiveness. Simply due to their size. They are reaching out to large communities and large groups of individuals. They have big programs. This simply leaves the door open to not be able to do as much follow-up as might be necessary to ensure effectiveness.

For example. One of these NGO’s holds a training on Entrepreneurship. Many eager individuals attend the training. Attendees receive excellent information and a variety of practical ways to create a business. Attendees leave with excitement and ambition. However, they return home to their current life situation and life returns to normal. That excitement and initial motivation can easily be lost. If the NGO does not have personal follow-up or assigned a mentor to this individual, the attendee’s time at the training (and the tax-payer’s dollars) were wasted.

It’s by no means fair to say that this is always happening. This is simply an example. And an example I’ve personally seen happen. I don’t entirely fault the NGO. They’re reaching a large number of people, so they don’t have the resources to follow-up with each person they hope to be “helping”. But since they are trying to reach so many (entire nations), this is simply the possible outcome.

I’m not sure I’m even close to answering the question...

Can NGO’s do more harm than good? ABSOLUTELY! How? By their approach to their programs which can create an “enabling” environment as opposed to an environment for change. NGO’s that give free hand-outs have certainly, in the past, created a sense of dependency. If an NGO is in a specific community for even a short amount of time and they’re handing out free food, it creates a community that no longer feels they need to attempt to find a way to get their own food. Why spend time trying to find work for food, if this NGO is just going to give me free food? This enables the society. This allows the society to not have a reason to change their circumstances to take care of themselves. It creates dependency. The people eventually become dependent on the free hand-outs. Cases like this are especially prevalent in regions that were affected by long-term war, famine or other extreme crises. Again, this is not entirely the fault of the specific NGO. If there is a long-term famine going on in the world, it’s hard to just watch it happen. Many will say: it is the rest of the world’s responsibility to step up and help those in need. But to help them for only long enough to help them get back on their feet again.

This situation is somewhat prevalent in northern Uganda which has been affected by a 20+ year war where peace only returned 4 years go. For 10 years, or 15 years many people were forced to live in Internal Displaced Person (IDP) camps; the equivalent of a refugee camp. In these camps, they didn’t have the land space to grow their own crops. They were forced to become dependent on the foreign aid from organizations like WFP. To be honest, I’m impressed that this region is not more dependent on foreign aid than it appears to be. Yes, there are children and adults who see a white person and assume you have money and expect you to give them money, simply because you are white. Simply because the people that brought in the “free food” in the past, were white. While that does exist, it’s not overwhelming the norm. I’ve even talked with a few educated Ugandans about this idea. A number of them have made comments that northern Uganda will not remain a place that is dependent on the outside; the West. They have all expressed that there is a desire in the culture of the people to want to find a way to make it on their own. While again this does not mean everyone feels this way, it gives me hope that there is a desire to move past where they are now.

I’m especially impressed by northern Uganda when I compare it to Zambia. I lived in rural Zambia for 6 months in 2006 serving with the U.S. Peace Corps. During my time in Zambia, I was really challenged with the mentality of people. I found them having nearly zero desire to want to improve their life situations on their own. Their answer to finding money for their community school was always: write a grant to XYZ NGO or aid organization! And Zambia is a nearly 100% peaceful nation. There’s been no extreme war or conflict, no famine, no major natural disaster. But, the international community has been flooding Zambia for so many years with hand-outs that it created a generation of adults who expect others to help them instead of them helping themselves.

It’s my prayer that Uganda and many other developing nations do not end up with the situation I saw in Zambia. Again, let me say that not all of Zambia is like this. I have many fellow Peace Corps volunteers who had very successful experiences in Zambia!

I feel like I’ve just rambled on about development and not sure I've really created any key points. But this is where my rambling ends.....

We, the West, try so hard to find ways to "fix" things. Save Africa! Ha! But look at these faces!!! I think they are the ones who can teach us something!!

Various people have contacted me about things I might like in a care package. Things for the work in Gulu, the community or even myself. Since I will be in the US for 3 weeks in January, care packages can be mailed to Colorado and I will have plenty of space in my checked luggage to take these items back to Uganda. This saves you -kind folks who send items- a lot of money on postage!!! :-)

PLEASE MAIL SMALL PACKAGES TO:

Laurie Bates

625 Ken Mar Ct.

Longmont, CO 80501

**All packages should arrive to Colorado by January 15th, 2011

Here’s a list of requested items...

GIFTS FOR UGANDAN FRIENDS/COMMUNITY/MINISTRY

- Bibles... Bibles... Bibles : Full length (OT & NT) for Adults, not Childrens Bibles.

- [old] iPods or digital cameras. The ones that are sitting on the back shelf in your closet! I have a some awesome friends who would love to have an iPod.

- Good speakers: to hook up to computer to show movies (with a projector) for community

- Small [portable] projector. To show movies to community. Most people in my community do not have electricity and therefore do not have a TV. Yet they LOVE to watch just about anything. I’d love to be able to offer a bi-weekly video showing outside my house!

SMALL “NECESSITY” ITEMS

- Chapstick: Burts Bees or other organic brand

- Food items: Parmesan cheese, pepperoni, alfredo/pesto sauce packets, granola bars (Cliff, protein, etc)

- Travel size: tissues, toothpaste

- Contact Solution (Opti Free)

- Ibuprofen, Aleve, Excedrin (for headaches and bad neck pain)

- Tampax tampons, regular

- Books: "Streams in the Desert" by Cowman & Reimann, “A Hole in the Gospel”, “The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget”, “A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman”, "The Case for a Creator".

- Smelly candles (i.e. Yankee)

WISH LIST

- Head lamp (mine still works but the “clasp” to keep the batteries from falling out came off.)

- Origins products http://www.origins.com/ Have A Nice Day moisture lotion, Spot Remover, Night-a-Mins, GinZing eye cream

- iTunes or CD: Chris Tomlin: And If Our God Is For Us, Hillsong: A Beautiful Exchange, Les Miserables, Rent

THANK YOU and may the Lord Bless you abundantly!!!

A large portion of Scripture Union’s work is done through school ministry. It’s a HUGE blessing to even be permitted to talk about Jesus in government schools! One of the great benefits of working in a predominantly Christian country; where Church and State are not required to be totally separate. It’s amazing how a country that was founded on Christian beliefs (i.e. USA), no longer permits those Christian beliefs to be part of the same government body that started the country. Yet, in a country where Christianity was only [largely] introduced 200 years ago, everyone is free to say that Jesus Rules!!!! *step down off soap box*

Nearly all secondary schools throughout Uganda have Scripture Union Clubs. Junior Scripture Union Clubs in primary schools is also growing. The idea of various kinds of “clubs” is a big part of school culture in Uganda. Much of my work in Uganda is working within the SU School Ministry!

All SU Clubs are designed to be inter-denominational! This means that it’s a place for anyone to gather who simply believes in God, wants to learn more about Jesus and the Bible and be in fellowship with like-minded students.

All SU Clubs have a Patron; a teacher at the school who is a follower of Jesus and who volunteers to help guide the students with their SU Club. In Primary schools, the Patron is the one who organizes all club meetings and activities. However in Secondary schools, the clubs are largely run by the students themselves. It’s incredible to see how well these students run their clubs! These students GET IT! They’re organized, they have great visions for their clubs, they’re awesome leaders and….the most amazing part…they LOVE JESUS!!

SU Clubs are encouraged to meet at least once a week. Many schools have daily fellowship during their school lunch hour.

WHAT DO YOU DO AT AN SU CLUB MEETING?

A typical school meeting or fellowship time looks like this:

Opening Prayer

Praise and Worship and Open Prayer

Testimony Sharing

Singing

Bible Teaching or Bible Study

Closing Prayer

The goal is for these SU Clubs is for the fellowship to also be a time of Discipleship. SU Members are challenged to grow in areas of Bible Reading, Prayer & Fasting, Attending local church, Witnessing, Acts of Service, and Spiritual Leadership.

Each time I go to an SU Club meeting I’m always blessed and encouraged. Sometimes life and work and ministry here is very challenging. But it’s a true JOY to get to interact with the students. They LOVE having visitors of any kind but especially someone from Scripture Union!!!

You want to learn more about Uganda or other places in Africa? Check out some of these books? I've read all but about 5 of the books listed below, so feel free to ask me about them.

Books about Uganda:

Girl Solider - Faith J. H. McDonnell

Aboke Girls - Els De TemmermanFirst Kill Your Family – Peter Eichstaedt

The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget: Murder and Memory in Uganda – Andrew Rice

The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa’s Most Wanted – Matthew Green

Living with Bad Surroundings: War, History, and Everyday Moments in Northern Uganda (The Cultures and Practice of Violence - Sverker Finnström

The Lord’s Resistance Army – Tim Allen

Trial Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord’s Resistance Army – Tim Allen

Africa: General

Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown – Paul Theroux

The Only Road North - Erik Mirandette

Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places – Paul Collier

South Africa

The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay

Kaffir Boy - Mark Mathabane

Sudan

They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky - Benjamin Ajak

God Grew Tired of Us - John Bul Dau

Emma’s War – Deborah Scroggins

Rwanda

Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

Land of a Thousand Hills - Stephen Kinzer

We Wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families – Philip Gourevitch

As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda by Catherine Claire Larson

God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation - Joseph Sebarenzi

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, Congo, Zaire)

A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman – Lisa Shannon

Journey to the Heart of Darkness – Tresor Yenyi

The Ponds of Kalambayi - Mike Tidwell, RPCV

WEST AFRICA

Ivory Coast:

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village – Sarah Erdman, RPCV

Sierra Leone:

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier - Ishmael Beah

Cameroon:

Mango Elephants in the Sun: How Life in an African Village Let Me Be in My Skin - Susana Herrera, RPCV

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT and FOREIGN AID

The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity - Michael Maren

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa - Dambisa Moyo

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good - William Easterly

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time - Jeffrey Sachs

The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working - Robert Calderisi

Global Outlaws: Crime, Money & Power in the Contemporary World – Carolyn Nordstrom

If you’ve ever wondered what life is like in Uganda…..check out this 5 minute video. It’s a glimpse into my life here.

Gulu Revealed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxS8nmpS7q4

This [amateur] video only portrays "daily life". I intend to do another video in a few months which will focus on ministry/work. I initially made this for the student ministry at my church in Colorado.

Ever curious what in the world it is I do here? Sometimes I wonder myself. Ha! :-) Below is my recent "report" of the ministry of Scripture Union in Gulu.

MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS: Sept 2010

* In August, visited 6 churches to encourage partnership with SU. Use SU literature resources, mobilize volunteers in schools, send students to camps and conferences and potential Sunday School Teachers Training.

* Gulu Bible Community Church ordered variety of SU literature; totally 59,000 UGX. Waiting for payment confirmation before delivering materials.

* Gulu High School ordered 100 Come and Worship books. Books were delivered to SU Patron on 16/09/10. Awaiting payment.

* Partnership with the Christian Union at Gulu University to do school ministry.

- Over 20 campus students participated in visiting 11 different schools over the week of Sep 12-19. The secondary students really enjoyed the time with the university students.

- Encouraged the campus students to continue to visit these schools through out the term and to continue volunteering with SU.

* At all school visits, we talked about SU Lira Camp and encouraged students to seriously consider attending. Especially for students that might live in Lira. We challenged each school to send at least 2-3 representatives to camp!

* Received commitment from community member to donate 100,000 UGX for Gulu HS students to attend SU Lira Camp in December.

* Sacred Heart has requested Bible Study leader training for their student leaders. Working with Patron to first have official meeting with school Reverend to create good working relationships with SU and Catholic-based school!

* Sep 27-28 hosted Kid Stand team (from USA) in Gulu. http://www.kidstand.org/ They were in Uganda as part of the Kampala Love Festival and visited schools around Kampala. I helped them with the connections for local schools and ministries here in Gulu for them to visit. We visited: Gulu Hospital, St. Joseph's Children's Home and School, Laroo Boarding School, Zion Project, and Third Hope Uganda.

* Coordinating with community member who has experience in Life Skills programs at schools in Kampala. Hope to start doing program in Gulu schools in mid-Oct.

WAY FORWARD (for Oct-Dec 2010):

* Really trying to raise up and train committed (potential long-term) volunteers for SU Gulu. Big challenge!!!!

* Camp mobilization with schools and local churches

- Encouraging schools to request local OB's and OG's in community to sponsor students to go to Lira Camp.

* Working on Camp Worship activity called "Weave" for both Lira and Gayaza!

We’re told to guard our hearts (Prov 4:23).

Why?

Because, above ALL ELSE, our heart is deceitful. (Jer 17:9)

But…our society tells us to Follow Your Heart!!!!

Our heart is the center of our being. Everything we do in life, flows from our heart. Therefore, all our actions, thoughts, are a result of the condition of our heart. We all try to manage our brokenness by fixing it ourselves. We make lists. This is what I need to improve or change. These are my issues in life. But these lists lead to PRIDE or DISPARE.

We are fighting a losing battle.

THANKFULLY...Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith is also the designer of our hearts!

He submits himself to remembering our sins no more. We are made white as snow. We are purified.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities. I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you.”

Wow, what a promise.

WE SIMPLY NEED TO:

* ASK FOR A NEW HEART.

* GUARD OUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE!

These are the highlights from a great message I recently listened to by Scott Nickell of Flatirons Community Church. Download here: http://www.flatironschurch.com/messages/messages.php

"There's an App for That - Guard Your Heart" - Aug 14-15, 2010

THE BAD – The typical logistical nightmare of organizing and carrying out a youth conference in northern Uganda.

THE GOOD – Jesus always shows up and the students always have a great time!!!

Apac is about 4 hours from Gulu, via Lira. My counterpart/co-worker in Lira has been planning this conference, but she couldn’t be there for the actual event. She asked me to take over as the person in charge to make sure everything gets done and goes smoothly. I was not excited about this task. Arriving to a town I’ve never been to before, working with people I’ve never met before. I’ve already planned and carried-out one youth conference in Gulu, so I know of the out-of-the ordinary frustrations that come with this role. But this is ministry. Specifically, this is service with Scripture Union of Uganda. Often times, No, is not an answer!!!

The day started with my 5am alarm clock. Ready by 5:30am when the driver is to come and pick me and the vehicle from where I’m staying in Lira. He arrives around 5:40am, but the vehicle has issues starting. An ongoing issue with this vehicle. Sometimes you have to push it and put it in gear in order to get it start. After trying for 10 min, the ignition turns over. We drive into town to pick up two others from the SU Lira office. After a quick load up of last minute items, we leave the office by 6:04am. Not bad, only 30 minutes late.

Before leaving Lira, we need petrol; for both the vehicle and for the generator as there’s no electricity at the conference venue. We drive around Lira for literally 45 minutes searching for petrol! We fill up the vehicle at our 2nd stop; but we don’t have a jerry can (or any container) for fuel for the generator. We drive around hoping to find a petrol station which also has a container we can purchase. Emma, one of our SU Lira volunteers, finally decides to use our nice, very new and very clean jerry can that we use for drinking water…to put petrol in it!!!! I finally speak up, but there seems to be no other option. But the petrol station we’re at, has no petrol. We stop at 3 others. No petrol. Finally, we find petrol and we’re on our way. It’s nearly 7am!

I settle in for the 2hr drive on horrible roads. I try not to let my already growing frustration get to me; especially knowing what the day ahead might be like.

Jesus, Jesus, please be with me. I can’t do this. I need you. Give me grace, give me patience!

To increase my feeling of being stuck in a foreign world, the 3 Ugandan guys in the truck, continue to talk only in the local language. I can’t even attempt to be interested since I can’t understand a thing. They’re even using a dialect slightly different from the little Luo I do know. The radio is on. The guy on the radio is shouting in the local language. I finally ask “what is this guy shouting about.” The answer: He’s preaching. Of course. When we preach, we shout! It’s the Ugandan way.

I begin to sink lower in the front seat; wishing I had my iPod yet, even if I did, that would be an incredible sign of “I’m not interested in you.” Instead I talk to my friend…

Please, please help me. My grace dispenser is empty. Please fill me up. Let your all-consuming power come and take over me!

We arrive to the venue in Apac at 8:30am. We made it in 1.5 hrs! According to the conference schedule, Opening Remarks are scheduled for 8:30am! No one is fazed! No one else is there!! Only one of the key volunteers from Apac is at the venue location. We unload and start setting up. Several trips are made into town and to people’s houses to get the rest of the equipment, firewood, food, etc. By 10am the cook hasn’t shown up yet. In order to eat lunch by 2pm, the beans need to be on the fire (to start boiling) by 10:30am!! And tea break is scheduled for 10:30am.

I know this is Your conference and somehow everything will come together for Your Glory. Please fill me up! These are all your children. You love them, help me to be loving to them even when I’m annoyed, frustrated and irritated!

I ask the SU Apac Committee Chairperson for the names of the people he asked to come be Bible Study leaders with us. He says that he talked to some people about coming, but they were not able to meet to go over the Bible Study. He says that he also, has not seen the Bible Study guide! WHAT!? The “plan” was that the Chairperson was in charge of all the details that could only be handled by the local Apac person. I was assured; everything should be under control. One of the volunteers did show up. But he had written his own Bible Study. No, no. We have a Bible study that all the leaders will use, so that each group does the same study!!! He’s okay with this. Thankfully, some of the SU Patrons that came with their schools are wonderful and offered to lead Bible Study group in short notice.

At 10:10am, I hear a bunch of voices singing...loudly. A lorry (cargo-type truck) full of singing students arrives. 74 students and their patron from Apac Secondary School. Wow! We register our first students for the conference!

We officially get our day’s program started just before 11am!! We reschedule the schedule and figure out what to take out of the program and what activities can be shorted in length. There’s a struggle to come up with the new program. 3 of us are talking it over, and can’t seem to agree on what will work best! We finally, somewhat, agree (for now) and move forward.

The cooks are moving along quickly. More students are arriving. Our MC is doing wonderful at leading the students in fun praise. Most importantly, the students are having a blast. They are dancing and singing with huge smiles on their faces!

The rest of the day moves on. We have a great time of small group Bible Study. Lots of worship and praise jam which the students all love SO much! Great speakers. Even a fabulous preacher who didn’t shout at the students!! YAY!! The best tea I’ve had yet in Uganda. We have extra money so we even buy cabbage and greens for lunch; to go with the standard posho (cornmeal substance) and beans. Everyone is working together!!!

"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Col 3:14

* * * Love brings us together in unity. * * *

In total, 105 students from 4 schools, along with 5 teachers and 6 other Apac community members, come to be a part of this 2nd Annual Scripture Union Apac Youth Conference!

Even in this crazy day, you would think my mood might worsen as the day goes on. As the frustrations and annoyances pile up on top of each other. But somehow, Jesus comes through, as he always promises to if we allow Him to and call on Him! My grace dispenser was restored. At least enough to get me through the day.

Our conference theme, which is the Scripture Union Uganda’s theme for the year, is “Light Your World “ (Matt 5:14)

Somehow God always manages to Light up MY World!!!! WOW!

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior, all the day long!

Ongiya Calistus Nyeko is coming to the US of A!

He's been selected to participate in Invisible Children's 2nd Teacher Exchange Reciprocal Program. This program is for Ugandan teachers to spend 4 weeks teaching and learning in an American school.

Last January, my Ugandan co-teacher, Omony Alex, was selected for the pilot Reciprocal Program. Calistus will tell you that Alex came back changed and more motivated. It was an invaluable opportunity!!!

Calistus is the Keyo SS Head Teacher, the school where I taught at during the summer of 2009. I was part of the first group of IC TE/X teachers at Keyo SS. Calistus welcomed us into the Keyo family with open arms, a big smile and his huge heart and passion for education!!!! After I learned of Calistus's acceptance to the program, I called him. He was beyond estatic. Before I could even say "Congratulations", he said to me "Thank you for your prayers."

Please read more about Calistus and the TE/X program here: http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2010/09/on-the-ground-ugandan-teacher-heading-to-the-us-of-a/comment-page-1/#comment-362603

Sometimes it’s easy to forget where I really live. Yes, I’m by far a minority fair-skinned person among the dark black Acholi of northern Uganda. But, being a minority becomes so normal that I often don’t notice skin color. I never get into a car to drive anywhere; instead I walk, ride my bike or get a motorcycle taxi. This becomes normal. I yell back “Byeee” to the kids saying “Munu, munu, byyyeeee”. It’s just normal.

But then, occasionally, something hits me and I realize “whooo, I’m living in Africa.” And it’s crazy how normal it all seems.

While enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon watching “House” on DVD (my newest addiction), I decide I’d like a soda. I have none in the house. I take an empty glass soda bottle and exit my high-walled gated compound to walk down the street. Outside my compound gate there are kids on their way back home from fetching water at the near-by bore hole. I greet them and start walking.

Someone calls out my name. It’s my neighbor, Grace. She says “You’re going to get a soda?” Yes. Why don’t you send someone to get it for you? Because I’d like to walk and get it myself! I ask her what she’s doing as she’s not at her house but another neighbor’s. She’s collecting guava from the tree. I continue down the road.

More kids to greet.

I glace at the incredibly muddy road now that the rainy season has started up again. I quickly navigate the best route to take. Jump over this mud puddle, jaunt to the right, then back to the path, leap over another muddy section and I’ve cleared it.

Arriving at the small shop (more like a “stand”), I open the fridge and pull out a Mtn Dew. I have a Coke bottle so I negotiate with the shop owner for her to still take my Coke bottle in exchange for a Mtn Dew (a Pepsi product). She agrees. I give her my 1000 shilling note and a young girl behind the counter gives me my balance of 300 shillings. The soda cost me about 32 cents.

I head back towards my house. Maneuvering back thru the muddy road. Past the neighbors’ houses; all round mud-brick houses with grass-thatched roofs. I consider saying something to the boy who’s throwing grass at the baby goats and the mamma goat. I take note that the babies seem to be doing well. They’re only about a week old.

I pass Grace again and she says that the guavas are good. Their season is starting. She tells me I should come get some when more ripen.

I open the “peak-hole” of my compound gate, open the latch from the inside and enter. Closing the gate behind me, I realize how vast and different the world is. In particularly, how different my worlds are here in Uganda.

I have my Ugandan world of riding my bike to visit a school, greeting all the kids who want to touch the Muzungu, playing with the kids at my house and picking them up and holding them, going to the market to purchase tomatoes or chitenge material for the tailor to make something. That’s the Ugandan lifestyle. It’s all normal to me.

Then there’s the world I can slip into in my house and watch a movie or TV show from America, I can go to The Coffee Hut which is the Panera of Gulu, I can text friends and meet up with them for dinner, I enjoy a contemporary church worship service on Sundays, and I occasionally ride in a car. This is also all normal to me.

I’m beyond thankful for this small Western world within my Ugandan world.

So which “normal” is now normal? I think it all somehow blends together into a lovely balance.

This is my life. I live in Africa!

**

On the surface, talking with Ugandans, seeing how far the north has come since the years of the insurgency (less than 5 years ago), watching modern buildings being built, attending a contemporary truth-based church worship service…you see a developing nation moving forward. There’s hope, some behavior change, and maybe even a plan! But you go a little deeper and you see the limiting factors. Traditional beliefs, customs…CULTURE! Pick up any copy of the New Vision or Monitor (Ugandan newspapers) and start reading. (This is only a sample, I don’t attempt to give a full report nor do I intend to conquer how deep the cultural traditions lie.)

A Goat Keeps Away Ancestral Spirits

In Koro, a sub-county south of Gulu town, many people have family members buried on what is now someone else’s land. They died while living in the Koro IDP camp during the height of the war and were buried. With the movement to move out of the IDP camps and return to their land, most people want to take their dead family members. Tradition is that they are buried in their ancestral homeland. Many people have exhumed the bodies and taken them home. However, many have not. Not because they do not want to, but because they can’t afford to buy a goat. Yes, a goat! A goat must be sacrificed for every dead body that is exhumed and reburied. It’s necessary for proper cleansing; to ensure the dead person’s spirits don’t return to haunt the land or family. So the dead bodies stay buried. The people who are now living on that land want to cultivate. The local government tells the farmers: it’s okay, their farming equipment doesn’t dig deep enough to dig into the graves of the dead people.

This is Your Co-Wife

A man brought home a younger girl (in her 20’s) to live at his home as a second wife. He brought her to the house and said to his 1st wife “This is your co-wife”. The new woman ended up fleeing saying she had not been told about the first wife. The man said he was entitled to as many wives as he wanted because the house was his.

Government Changes School Closure Date with 2-weeks Notice

The Ministry of Education, in late July, announced that secondary schools must end Term 2 one week earlier than planned, and students report back for Term 3, 2 weeks earlier than planned. Zero advance notice was given to any teachers or schools. The announcements came over the radio and newspaper on Monday, July 26th. Term 2 was scheduled to end on Aug 13th; but was now mandated to end on Aug 6th. With only two weeks advance notice, schools and teachers were expected to modify their teaching and exam schedules with losing an entire week! Students were forced to take exams with only 2 days notice. They even took exams on Saturday, only having a break from exams on Sunday. The complications extend beyond students being forced to take exams with little notice. For Term 3, students are to report to school 2 weeks earlier than planned, which means that families have 2-less weeks to gather school fees for their children to return to school on time! Additionally, students now only have a 2 week break between the two terms. The early school closure also complicated a number of programs, including our Scripture Union Camp which always starts on the last day of the Term. Camp which was scheduled to start on Aug 13th but had to be changed to Aug 6th!

The government’s reasoning for the date change is somewhat legitimate; to allow more teaching time during Term 3 since students start year-end exam in Oct-Nov. BUT the timing was not at all appropriate and caused much frustration, disorganization and even anger towards the Ministry of Education. This is only the beginning of school date changes. It’s highly expected that for 2011 Term 1, students will not be reporting to school until after the Presidential elections are complete so that students who are registered to vote are able to do so in their home towns (often not the same location as their school). Term 1 normally commences around Feb 1st; however, it is likely students may not return to school until late February or even early March!

76,000 former IDPs Stranded in Camps

Most of the 1.8 million former Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have returned to their respective villages. In a number of districts, many are still “stranded” in the IDP Camps. They want to return home have not been able to for a variety of reasons:

- Widows, single mothers and orphans are denied access to their land (because women can’t own land)

- Land disputes with southern Sudan which is claiming to own parts of far northern Uganda land.

- Land disputes between clans/families. (In the past, land titles were not a part of the land ownership system. Everyone lived on their ancestral land, so everyone knew whose was whose. But with people being way from their land for so many years, going back to over-grown fields, land disputes are a big issue.)

- In Kitgum, which boarders Karimojong land, people fear cattle thieves. (The Karimojong are known to be an unlawful tribe and cattle thieves, to the present day.)

Circumcision

Circumcision is not a common practice at birth in Uganda. There was a report of a woman leaving her boyfriend because he (in his 20’s) saw no reason to “shed blood because he was perfectly healthy.”

Some tribes [in Uganda] require that anyone who dies having never been circumcised, the body must be circumcised before burial. Whoever does the circumcision on the dead guy, will then NOT be permitted to do any future circumcisions on “live” men for fear that the dead persons evil spirits might be passed on!

Ngoboka Bernard is a Ugandan, a man after God’s heart and His will, a Scripture Union volunteer, a trained electrical technician, a dreamer, a comedian, a loving big brother, and one of my best friends in Uganda.

In mid-June2010, Bernard was accepted into a program for Biomedical Engineering in Kampala. The program is through the Ernest Cook Ultra Sound Research and Education Institute (ECUREI) ehttp://www.ecurei.com/ and it’s the only program of its kind in all of East Africa. The institute is connected with Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA) and Fonty’s University of Applied Science (Netherlands). How did such an amazing opportunity arise? Only God can do such a thing. Here’s the story…

Since Bernard was in secondary school, he’s had a dream to do engineering. His years in secondary school were incredibly challenging. After overcoming a number of self-deteriorating situations, he persevered to study extra hard for his remaining years in school. What most students studied in 4 years; he did in 2 years. While he did a phenomenal job, his scores for the year-end national exam were not high enough to permit entrance to university. He attended a technical school to learn the skills of an electrician; the closest thing to engineering. Yet, through the years, he’d occasionally mention to his friends that someday he would study engineering with a university abroad.

Back in May 2010, Bernard literally woke up one morning with the idea that he should look into doing medical equipment repair. He knows it was God that put this on his heart and mind. He felt very strongly about this and spent much time over the next few weeks gathering information. In Uganda, researching something is not as easy as jumping on the internet for a few hours. Instead, it requires literally going to the places you might hope to find the information. This involves taking public transportation around a large city, going to each major hospital in hopes of finding the information.

After the first 2 weeks of moving to various hospitals and inquiring with people working in the medical profession, Bernard’s research was concluding that there is no course to learn how to do medical equipment repair in all of East Africa. He’d have to go abroad; to the U.K. or the U.S. While the idea of studying abroad sounds very intriguing and certainly has its value, it is extremely challenging for individuals from developing nations. Financially, culturally, logistics, Visas and more. He also learned that there are currently only 3 Ugandans trained to do medical equipment repair. THREE, in the entire country. This means that many hospitals and clinics must bring in trained technicians from overseas; South Africa, Korea and other distant nations. This makes the cost of the repair extremely high. As a result of this high cost, many hospitals/clinics cannot afford to get their equipment repaired. Many of these institutions have rooms full of non-working equipment. Non-working heart monitors for AIDS patients. Non-working oxygen breathing machines for a newborn baby with breathing problems.

Bernard was not even tempted to give up. He managed to get connected with one of the 3 trained Ugandans in this field. This individual put him in contact with the Academic Registrar at ECUREI. He arrived to the admissions department on Tue afternoon. The person suggested he fill-out the application for their Biomedical Engineering Diploma program. The admissions officer saw the value in someone like Bernard attending this course. Someone who’s been working in a career as a technician. They saw the value of this hands-on experience, and disregarded what the academic scores on paper showed. For anyone who is familiar with the ways of Africa, you know that this is so NOT the African way; to think outside the set “guidelines” for a program. While the admissions process normally takes months, just like any university, they said that it was the last week for admission and they would contact him the next day.

Wednesday morning, Bernard received a phone call to come to the Admissions Office. He left the Admissions office with his acceptance letter in his hand! He was beyond ecstatic!!

The course start date was August 16th. Since only 1 month prior, university was not even on his radar of possibilities, there was not time to save the money. He would need to find 4,013,800 UGX (approximately $2,000 USD) in less than 2 months.

I joined Bernard in the search to find funding. We both asked around and did research regarding available grants, scholarships or sponsorship programs. I exhausted all my contacts within the education field. We located 3 scholarship programs available to first-year university students. THREE. All other programs were for returning (2nd year) students only. The programs wanted the applicant to show “proof” that they were doing well in their studies. A valid requirement, yet how do those students get started with their first year? We both continued looking. Not for one minute did Bernard every question that God would somehow provide the funding. From Bernard’s solid trust in this provision, and from walking beside him in this story, I also became fully convinced that the funding would come; from somewhere, somehow.

I offered to Bernard that after he and I exhaust all possibilities of support within Uganda, I would attempt to raise the funds from my supporters (friends) back in the U.S. I can’t express how much I am normally NOT a fan of seeking a financial request for development in Africa from people in the West. It’s not the most sustainable approach. However, I truly believe in Bernard and this plan God has laid out. Also, something becomes NOT sustainable when there is no personal connection to the person(s) receiving the financial support. In this case, I have a personal connection to ensure all sponsored money is used appropriately as well as being an on-the-ground encouragement/mentor to the person receiving the funding. Our hope (both mine and Bernard’s) is to at least raise his initial year of tuition. Throughout his first year, he can then apply for other scholarships for his remaining 2 years.

Emails to friends in the U.S. were initially sent on July 26th. We had only 3 weeks to raise nearly $2,000 USD. In those 3 weeks, 10 wonderful individuals and families stepped up to support Bernard’s education. THANK YOU to: Amber, Amy, Dana, John, Joi, Ken, Kris, Lauren, Lindsey, Mandy, Marcia, Sue and Tim. Additional funding came from Bernard’s dad and one of his aunties.

One of the things I love about fundraising is that there are always a handful of sponsors who you never expected to give money, to give. Whether it’s because you’re not sure if they support “the cause”, or you know their personal financial situation and they wouldn’t be the ones you’d expect to have extra. Yet, they give! AMAZING!!

On Monday, August 16th, 2010, Bernard paid his tuition and attended a week of university orientation. He is now a university student and beyond excited and amazed. Every day he is thankful to God for the Lord’s provision and His might ways!!!

When Bernard graduates in May 2013, his diploma will have the names of all three universities: Ernest Cook Ultra Sound Research and Education Institute (Kampala, Uganda), Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA) and Fonty’s University of Applied Science (Netherlands). His diploma will be for Biomedical Engineering from a university abroad; just like he always said he’d do!!!!

In Bernard’s words:

“I am moved by all you guys to give money for a stranger you know nothing about. But just because a friend of his [Daneen], suggested it. I've learned so many lessons from you, Daneen. You guys are accountable and you care for people. They go out of their way to pay this money. OH MY GOD, wow...it is a very strange thing. It is not found here in Africa. I’m jealous about you guys! The good jealous. I'm inspired.”

“You moved out of your way to help me. You are a key player. God gets the glory, yes, but you the person” are the one who made it happen.” Somewhat jokingly : “English is a hard language, I don't know the words in English!!” :-)

I hope this gives you some insight to what a difference ONE PERSON can make in life of someone on the other side of the world…in Uganda!!

******

TO SUPPORT BERNARD’s EDUCATION (tax deductible)- https://www.scriptureunion.org/donate.php Under Gift Designation: "Daneen Leidig - Uganda". MUST DO: Email Daneen (daneenleidig@gmail.com) that a contribution has been made with the amount. Otherwise, I will assume you've made a contribution to my ministry with Scripture Union. I will ensure that EVERY penny that you contribute goes directly to Bernard for his tuition, books and other school requirements!!

ECUREI Tuition, Books, Accommodation Costs:

2nd semester (Spring 2011) – 1,828,800 USH = $914 USD

3rd semester (Fall 2011) – 2,388,800 USH = $1,294 USD

4th semester (Spring 2012) – 1,828,800 USH = $914 USD

5th semester (Fall 2012) – 2,388,800 USH = $1,294 USD

6th semester (Spring 2013) – 1,828,800 USH = $914 USD

In mid-May, I met Pastor Ron at an internet café in Gulu. He saw my Scripture Union letterhead and asked me if I could help him with getting Swahili Bibles. Sadly, SU does not have a large stock of Bibles, so I said no and gave him a contact for the Bible Institute in Kampala. Swahili is not a widely spoken language in most of Uganda. However, here in Gulu, there is a small community of women from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who all speak Swahili. Pastor Ron is the main pastor at Gulu Bible Community Church which was a church plant from Rock Harbor in Costa Mesa, CA. He and his wife, Mama Joy, are originally from Kenya (where Swahili is widely spoken) and has started having one service a week in Swahili.

About 3 weeks later, I received an email from my church in Longmont, CO - LifeBridge Christian Church. They forwarded me an email from a lady, Tammy Will, who had visited LBCC with her sister. She realized she had some Swahili Bibles at home and she thought it was time for the Bibles to go back “home” to Africa where they could be used. My church wanted to know if I had a use for some Swahili Bibles. Again, under “normal” circumstances, had I not been connected to Pastor Ron, I would NOT have known of a use for them here in Gulu. SU does have a use for Swahili Bibles in other regions of Uganda that border the DRC, as well as Kenya. I responded with YES, I would be happy to receive these Bibles as I knew of a great home for them!!

In June, I moved into a house which is in the same compound (fenced wall) as Zion Project which is a Women’s Counseling Center for these Congolese women. These women are now part of my daily life!

On Monday July 26th, I delivered the two Swahili/English Bibles to the Congolese women at Zion Project in Gulu, Uganda.

I met Mamma Joy for the first time that morning and she is one of the most delightful women I’ve ever met. She is FULL of joy and love. She lives her life for Jesus and His Glory. When I shared with her the whole story of these Swahili Bibles she just said: “Glory to God” and “We Thank God for that!” She spoke of how these women are thirsty for the Word!! All with a huge and beautiful smile on her face!

I presented the books to her and the women. As I told the story for the women of these Bibles, Mamma Joy translated in Swahili. They were overjoyed to be receiving Bibles. They were extra excited to hear that they were Swahili and English, since they are also trying to learn English!!! They said to me “Thank you”, “Asante Sana” and “I love you!”

These women said to you Tammy: Thank you. Asante Sana!!!!!! I am simply the deliverer of this great gift.

Thank you for allowing me to be apart of this story. Thank you for feeling moved to put these Bibles into the hands of native speakers!!

After I left the room, one of the women said this to the rest of the women: “Let us read Psalm 117.” “Why this scripture passage?” asks Mamma Joy. “Because of what the Lord has done for us this morning. Let this be our memory scripture.”

Please…go and read Psalm 117 (only 2 verses) with your family so that you can know the joy of these women!

What’s even more amazing, Tammy, who sent the Bibles, is sister to Kathryn Will. Kathryn and I traveled together to Kenya for a Mission Trip in Turkana in 2005. My first time ever in Africa. Wild!

I love how God connects His people for the betterment of the Kingdom!

ABOUT THESE WOMEN FROM THE CONGO:

Pastor Ron also works with the women at the Zion Project Women’s center. He, or someone from his church, comes every morning to do devotionals and praise/prayer with the ladies. All of these women are from the Congo. They were abducted (in the Congo) by soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army; a rebel army originally started in northern Uganda which later moved into the Congo. The LRA has been out of Uganda for 4+ years and northern Uganda is doing amazing rehabilitation and a very safe and peaceful place. However, the LRA is still very present in northeastern Congo as well as Central African Republic. These women escaped from the LRA (the bush) and many have had children with the LRA soldiers (not by choice). Culture says that the women must go to the home of the husband. Their “husbands” were all from this area in Northern Uganda. Sadly they are not welcome in their homeland of Congo, yet this is also a foreign land for them. Very few in the Gulu area speak much Swahili. The women, through a partnership with another ministry, also receive English lessons and various training in craft-type projects (beading, sewing and screen printing). These women are full of life and a love for Jesus! :-)

More about Zion Project – http://www.zionproject.org

More about Gulu Bible Community Church - http://www.rockharbor.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=204&Itemid=210

DO YOU HAVE SOUVENIOR BIBLES IN YOUR HOUSE? If they’re Swahili Bibles, I would love to find a useful home for them!!! :-) I’m sadly guilty of this myself and have one that’s in a storage box in Longmont!! :-(

This is the story (really pieces of the story) of John B Gasangwa. A Rwandan born in a refugee camp in Uganda, who returns to his homeland and overcomes injustice in mighty ways, giving God the glory along the way. This is only half of John’s story. What is largely missing in this narrative of his life is John’s passion to follow Christ and serve the oppressed and fight against injustice. His life desire is to serve the widows, orphans and those who are hungry. His humbleness is what makes his story even more powerful!

Born in a refugee camp outside of Kampala, Uganda in 1981, John lived with his mother and father, two older sisters, and an uncle. After 3 years in a refugee camp, his family was “kidnapped” by Ugandan government militia. While running to escape the soldiers, John’s uncle was carrying John on his back when he was grabbed and beaten. John fell to the ground while his uncle was beaten to death. The family was taken to the equivalent of a concentration camp where they spent the next 10 years. Each day, approximately 20 people were killed in the camps. For no reason, other than people needed to be killed. Thankfully most children were spared from the deliberate execution. However, in this ‘camp’, John’s two sisters died of disease and hunger. This camp and “war” is known as the Luweero war in Uganda! Read more about Luweero here: http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/3749913

Back in Rwanda, the minority Hutu population was lashing out against the majority Tutsis through various massacres. In 1990, John’s dad returned to Rwanda to fight against the genocide acts towards his tribe and family, all Tutsi.

John’s mom heard about a feeding program at a nearby hospital. Through the assistance of Dr. Barbra from a volunteer with Germany Committee Doctors, John’s mother was able to feed him and keep him healthy. Through the assistance of World Vision sponsorship, John attended primary school. However, World Vision only paid for half of his school fees. To get the additional money for his school fees, John worked for a Catholic priest for 2 hours after school. Even from a young age, John’s determination shone through his families struggles and past experiences.

In Spring 1994, the mass-scale genocide against the Tutsi’s occurred. Over 1 million men, women and children were killed over 100 days. In September 1994, at the age of 13 years, John, against the wish of his mother, boarded a bus in Kampala going to Kigali, Rwanda. That’s a 10+ hour bus ride…alone…at the age of 13! Upon arriving in Kigali, having never previously been in his homeland of Rwanda, he got directions to the military barracks to find his father. He arrived and was informed his father was killed while fighting during the genocide. John then headed to the eastern region of the country to seek out an aunt and uncle. If he were to stay with his aunt and uncle he would have not been able to attend school. And John had a huge desire to attend school. He heard on the radio that the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was accepting children (into an orphanage) and putting them in school. John immediately left his only known family in Rwanda for the chance of attending school.

While at the orphanage with IRC, they discovered John had excellent language skills and he started helping with translation. You could say this was his first job in the International NGO community. A job many adults would work years to get. John was 14 years and conversational in 5 languages; English, Luganda (from Uganda), Swahili Kinyarwanda(native to Rwanda), and French (widely spoken in Rwanda).

John attended his first year of secondary school at Gahini Secondary School in the town of Gahini (which is also the site of the first Christian revival and Anglican church in Rwanda.) There was no SI (freshman) class so he started immediately as an S2 (sophomore). During his S3 school year (19960, John and some fellow Tutsi students, became aware of a planned plot (organized by the Hutu students) to kill all the Tutsi’s at this school. The army was alerted and soldiers came to the school. The following school year, John requested to change to a better school (and hopefully safer school) in Kigali. In 2000, he completed his (O and A levels) of secondary school at Lycee de Kigali.

John was a very bright student with big dreams. His secondary school scores qualified him for a government scholarship at university in Rwanda. During his time as a university student, his holidays were spent at the IRC orphanage. That was his home. When the orphanage was closed, John and his friends (who were like brothers) decided to build a house for them all to stay in during holidays. Yes, they built a house! While being a full-time student at university, he and his friends also saw a need for Vocational/Technical schools back in their [adopted] hometown. They built not one, but two vocational training schools in the area. They were all children of the genocide. Most all were orphans themselves. They searched for funding and created a training school and also a center for street kids to live. Many of kids John helped get into this center are now in university or secondary school. Both vocational schools and the center continue to run in a sustainable way, by locals, to this day in 2010.

John will tell you that he is not a program-driven individual. His goal is not to create programs or projects. He is driven by the people and the desire to assist them in whatever way possible. He sees a need, and creates a solution. He’s never walked into a region to do months of research to assess the needs of the people and then take months to create the best plan and fundraise. He simply goes in and gets it done!

Upon graduation from university John spent a number of years in Kigali helping to serve those who are underserved. He worked for World Vision Rwanda assisting in telling the stories of the kids who needed sponsorship just like he was gifted with years prior. Later he also worked with World Vision’s Micro-Finance programs. He worked for Opportunity International within their microfinance department.

In 2008, John was requested to visit the United States with World Vision (WV). He spoke at various WV events sharing his story and the work of World Vision in East Africa. During this trip, he became connected with someone who thought John would be an excellent candidate for Colorado State University’s MBA in Global Social Sustainable Enterprise. After much paperwork and effort to find financial support, in Aug 2009, John moved to Fort Collins, Colorado to start the 1.5 years MBA program.

In 2008, after returning from his trip to the US, John’s pastor [in Kigali] was inspired by his story and wanted him to encourage the congregation. When John went o speak, he was moved to tears and felt God saying “What can you do?” for these people. He remembered his childhood and the feed program that enabled him to live. He closed his Bible and notes and instead of speaking he served the people in the congregation, many who were young hungry children. He announced that he would start feeding the children one meal a day. This feeding movement later turned into creating a school for the children. To this day, the children are still feed daily and there’s a school at that church.

In Colorado, after going to church with his host family, a friend took John to a church in Longmont, CO, LifeBridge Christian Church. After the service, he meet one of the pastors who asked him “How can we [as a church] help you; spiritually, financially?” John knew this place was Home. That same pastor, Brian Mavis, continued to mentor and patiently answered all of his questions. While John had grown up going to church, believing in Jesus and thanking God for all he had, he never gave his life to Christ. In 2009, Brian baptized John into God’s Kingdom and John professed giving his life to Jesus Christ!

Through his MBA program, John is working to bring affordable fertilizer methods to farmers in Ethiopia which he hopes will transfer to Rwanda and other nations.

I had a great 4th of July weekend in Gulu!! My friend Sandi came to spend the weekend with me! She’s a Peace Corps volunteer in Pader (2 hrs from Gulu). It was fun to have someone stay with me in my new house and spend the weekend together. It was her chance to enjoy the “big city”. In Pader, her house has no running water, so she LOVED getting to take a proper shower with WARM water!!!

On Sat we went to a party with everyone from Invisible Children. Last year I was here with IC and their teacher exchange program. Currently, there are 2 groups of the teachers here from the US (about 30 total). Each year, they have a big party for all the US teachers and their partner Ugandan teachers. (Last summer, we had a similar party when I was part of TE/X). Alex, my teacher from last year (and dad of baby Daneen) was even there! It was lots of fun. Always with lots of dancing; American and Acholi!!!

Sunday after church, we had hamburgers and hotdogs at a café in town run by an American couple! They even put up a huge American flag that they found in the second-hand market. The lady selling it said it was a curtain and only 2,000/-; about $1USD!

Later in the evening, a restaurant in town has a big screen and projector where they sometimes project the TV or a movie. A few Americans asked them if they’d show a movie of their (American) choice on the 4th. They played “The Sandlot”!! Great Americana movie!!!

No fireworks but it sure was a great weekend celebrating America! I thank God often for the precious gift of being born in the U.S. I appreciate and love [most] everything that comes with being American! I sometimes wonder how God choose were each of us would be born. It’s beyond my understanding or comprehension yet I’m so grateful and proud to be an American….and an American living abroad!

On June 25th, Aber Daneen turned 1 year old!!! So….we had a party!

The family came over to my new house. Concy and Alex arrived with 5 children in tow, and carrying Daneen! All neighbor kids or cousins. All clothed in their best dresses and suits for the boys! Daneen and Fortuante were dressed in their look-alike dresses that I brought over for them from WalMart!! Very cute!

Angeline, a teacher from Keyo SS (where I taught last year), also came with her 3 boys; Trust, Justin and Earnest (6 months old).

The kids had a blast playing with my exercise ball. It must have been the largest ball they had ever seen. While showing Fortunate my room, she saw Piggy! Piggy is my stuffed animal (yes I’m 34 and have a stuffed animal that travels with me!!). I’ve had Piggy since I was in 4th grade!!!!!!! That’s over 20 years ago and he’s still in great (or maybe okay) shape! Fortunate LOVED hugging and playing with Piggy. For Daneen, this large stuffed animal was a bit much, she wasn’t so sure about it at first!

We had cake, pork and sodas. They loved singing Happy Birthday to Daneen! I also put on my one “kids” movie I have with me; Madagascar II. They watched it intently. I’m not sure some of them had ever watched a film, let alone an animated one. It was a fun time! I suppose I successfully had my first ever kids birthday party!!! :-)

I moved! From my country oasis at Tom & Rose’s house into town! I now stay in a 3 bedroom house attached to the office for Zion Project. I’m currently alone in the house. Don’t worry mom, we have a 24/7 guard who keeps bad people outside the large compound walls! In 2 weeks an intern (with Zion Project) will arrive to stay for 3 weeks. In August, two girls arrive to stay for a year. All the girls are Believers which is a huge blessing!!

The new house isn’t near as quiet as the old house; but it’s still very nice to be in town. I’m adjusting to having women talking in a foreign language outside my window...all day long! But it’s a place I’m grateful to be in. I know the girl that runs this organization and she knew I was searching for housing so offered me a room in the volunteer/intern guest house!!

****** LIVING ROOM (furniture coming soon) ************* KITCHEN

And most importantly…the shower has hot water with a decent pressure!!! :-) Visitors (girls only) are welcome anytime!! Boys can maybe sleep outside with Sunday, our guard!!! :-)

My bedroom!

I love the purple walls and have posted pictures of friends, family, CO and PAIGE all around my room! Including picts of the mountains on my window screens so that I have views of the mtns every day!! :-)

About Zion Project – http://www.zionproject.org/

It is a program for counseling and rehabilitation for Congolese women in the Gulu area. The women have daily devotionals lead by a local pastor, do sewing and beading projects, English classes and counseling classes. These women are mostly all abducted by the LRA (the rebel army that was behind the 20+ year conflict in northern Uganda.) After abduction, the women were “given” to LRA leaders as wives and had children. Once these women escaped the LRA with their children, Congolese/Ugandan culture says that you must go to the home [or land] of the husband. These women and children are not welcome in their home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and they’re forced to live in the foreign land of Uganda. They mostly speak Swahili which is not widely spoken in the Gulu area. There’s a nearby church that was planted from Rock Harbor in SoCal and the pastor now offers a service in Swahili! Anyone out there with Swahili Bibles on your shelves as a “souvenir” should send them back home! :-)

It’s a crazy city. Mainly because of the traffic. The traffic is beyond description unless you’ve been to Nairobi or India. Perhaps those are comparable! There are jams (traffic jams) everywhere and always. Yes, there are traffic rules but they’re not always followed. To me, getting around the city always seemed crazy. What is considered a taxi is more like a small bus; a matatu. In order to take the taxis you need to know the city decently well to know which one to take so that you can then get on another taxi to your destination. So, for someone who doesn’t spend much time in the big city, it’s difficult to take taxis unless I ask someone (I know) the directions. The other option is to walk, but then, too, you still need to know where you’re going. And it’s also a rather large city so you could be walking a long way. Another transport option is to take a boda (motorcycle). This is the easiest for someone who doesn’t know the city, but it’s much more expensive. A boda ride that costs 2000/- might only cost 750/- in a taxi.

On Sunday, June 13th, I spent the day with 3 friends walking all over the city. It was MUCH more enjoyable to explore the city on a non-working day. Streets in the business district were nearly empty when on Monday morning they would be packed with cars not moving! This day walking around the city really helped me actually enjoy Kampala and see some great sites that I wouldn’t have expected to see!!! We had a fun day of walking, chatting, eating, taking photo shoots and just enjoying!!!! I was with sister Rita (the other muzugu working with SU, outside Kampala), brother Bernard (my best friend here) and brother Ron! While we walked all over the city, I still don’t have a good map in my head of where everything is! It might a full year before I figure that out!

We saw some amazing buildings; mostly temples or other houses of worship!

We sat on a hotel rooftop near the south side of the city, just taking in the sites, chatting and people-watching from afar!!!

Rita and I shared the experience of sundaes with our Ugandan brothers who had never had one!!! Yummy! They enjoyed them so much!

This is the Serena Hotel! Yes, it’s in Uganda! The only 5 star hotel in Uganda! We loitered around the hotel checking it all out and enjoying the air condition inside the lobby!

On Saturday, June 5th, Scripture Union (SU) Gulu is partnering with Kyambogo University students of Youth of Divine Destiny (YDD) to hold a one-day Youth Conference in Gulu.

After jumping through the hoops of the Ugandan education system, we succeeded in gaining approval from the necessary local government and church-heads for their stamp (literally for their stamp) of approval for this conference. It would be way too straight forward if we were permitted to go directly to the schools themselves!

After joyous experiences of making copies of the letters announcing our Youth Conference (ha ha! Check this out if you want details: http://daneenleidig.blogspot.com/2010/06/challenges.html) it was time to deliver the letters. HAND DELIVER! The postal service is not reliable enough (or fast enough), email is simply not available to most all schools and phone calls are not formal enough.

I spent the past 2 weeks visiting 3-4 secondary schools a day to meet with the Head Teacher (Principal) to inform them about the Youth Conference. I, Daneen from the USA, would have loved to have been able to inform the schools weeks ago. Alas, this is Uganda. Most Head Teachers and SU Patrons (teachers who head-up the SU clubs at their schools) were NOT phased when I said the conference was next weekend!! I was very encouraged as, at nearly every school, I was greeted with much welcome and support for the SU ministry. Very few even bothered to ask me what country I was from. I found this positive, as if that’s their way of simply accepting me for who I am and not where I come from and the assumptions that go with what I can “provide” being a white person . (Or maybe because they’re s use to all the NGO’s in the region!??)

Most of the large details are set. I fully expect there to be a variety of last minute issues and items. Now we just hope that students show up. We’ve budgeted and planned for 400 students. Yet, when I went to make the official request for buns at the bakery (for tea break), Susan (my SU co-worker) suggested I only comment to ordering 200. Hmmmmm!!? What does she know that she hasn’t shared??!! Oh yeah, experience of working with students in northern Uganda! :-)

“Work” in Africa. Not always the easiest thing. Often filled with challenges, which individually are small and irrelevant, but added together, frustration easily sets in. On this day, all the small things hit together within a matter of 2 hours!

Office “work”. We, Scripture Union, don’t have an office in Gulu. We have a building where another organization allows us to store a few boxes of literature and we can come and meet there. There is no desk, no internet, no computer, no printer, no copier, no office supply room. Today’s task: receive a document from my “boss” (located in a town 2 hours from me), print and make copies. Sounds easy enough, right? Here’s the process:

Printing. Go to the internet café and download the document. Save document to USB drive. Insert USB drive into internet café computer and pray it doesn’t transfer a virus. Café techie prints document. Pay for internet usage and prints. Forgot to use letterhead paper, so reprint. Why we can’t put the letterhead into the Word document of the actual letter I haven’t figure out yet!!??

Phone usage. While at the internet café, a fellow customer sees the “Scripture Union” logo and inquires to me about Bibles. I explain that SU doesn’t have the resources to provide Bible’s but there’s the Bible Society in Kampala. I can get him a contact from my colleague, Susan. I know Susan has her Warid SIM card in her phone today; but I currently have my MTN SIM card in my phone. So I swap out the SIM cards, and using my Warid Pakalast (the ability to talk “until you have nothing more to say”, all free for 24hrs at the cost of 65 cents!!!) I call Susan to get my new Reverend friend a good contact. Yay for the Rev. BUT, in the is process, somehow I misplace my MTN SIM card, something I’m normally very cautious about the placement of the tiny piece of cardboard which preciously holds all my Ugandan contacts! After searching in the normal places in my backpack, searching around where I was sitting and standing, it can’t be found. :-( Not good.

Make copies. Hoping the SIM card will show up later in my backpack, I move on. Take print-outs to photocopying business (thankfully only a few doors down the street). Ask techie to make desired copies. No self-serve Kinko stations. Attempt to use provided large paper cutter only to have it not work ends up “spoiling” your copies. Finish up. Pay. Now back to the office to assemble documents.

This process of the internet café, printing and making copies, somehow took 1.5 hours!

Food. At this point, I’m pretty frustrated already. I decide to head back to our shared office and try to relax and re-group myself! And I want to grab some food on the way. I swing by a café. I’m craving some muesli (granola) with yogurt. Of course, the muesli “is not there.” The person who was to bring it from Kampala had a different “program.”

So I decide to go to the office and then go to the Supermarket; don’t’ get too excited, it’s only the equivalent of a large 7-11.

Sharing an Office. Only to arrive at the office and find it locked. I don’t own a key. It’s not our office, remember. The person is not around. I move on to the Supermarket three doors down, and buy a yogurt. I take it to the office and sit on the ground in front of the doors.

Garbage. I eat my yogurt quickly as it’s after 2pm by now. In following with Ugandan procedure, I take my empty yogurt cup (now garbage) and throw it in the drainage ditch with the rest of the garbage. It’s pointless to carry it around town searching for a garbage can. They simply do not exist.

RESTORATION!!! Now I’m pretty much to the max of my cultural flexibility! I want to just cry as I’m sitting on the ground in front of my locked office, but instead I call a friend. A friend who I can always count on for amazing wisdom and reminders of the Truth. He comes through and really lifts me up…as I cry on the phone explaining my day of all these silly petty little things…to someone who has real issues (like not being able to find work!!) Yet he simply says he’s sorry for my day and reminds me of God’s promises to carry us through all life’s circumstances!

And just like that…with a Pakalast phone call, I’m able to turn my day around and keeping going.

The moral of this story?? Ummmm… work in Uganda is often challenging. Even the small things which back in the western world are so simple can add up and just become frustrating. Yet, at the end of the day, or the middle of the day, whenever you can wrap your mind around the Truth and faithfulness of our Father, you remember Jesus is walking beside you or perhaps carrying you along.

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Heb 13:5

Huge thanks to my dear friend Bernard who allowed God to speak through him to encourage me! A great blessing in my life!!! As I know he would so humbly respond to this comment: Glory to God!!!!! :-)

Last summer, I would visit Alex’s family a few times a week. Each time, they would insist on feeding me. It’s Ugandan culture, so it’s only right that I stay and eat. Sometimes just tea, sometimes a special meal if they knew I was coming. Always very hospitable. And now that I've returned, it's the same!! :-) I’ve always wanted to return the kindness and have them to my home and make them some of my dishes! So we did.

On May 23rd, the day before Alex went back to teaching for Term 2, the family came over to my house (where I stay) for dinner. Alex, Concy, Fortunate and Baby Daneen (now 10 months old).

Everyone had a fun time playing with some volleyballs before we ate.

Fortunate did NOT like Chogo, the dog. Chogo wanted to play with her and was nipping at her toes as I was carrying her. She was NOT okay with that! I tried to get her to pet him, but that just made her cling to me more!

With some help, we made roasted chicken (in the oven), chips (French fries), hamburger with cheese mix (which Alex saw and thought was pizza), pasta, cold sodas, and….BROWNIES! Fortunate LOVED the brownies. She had at least 3 (it might have been 4) throughout the night.

It was a great evening. Nice to finally be able to host them!

My 2 Acholi families: Tom, Concy, Alex, Fortunate, Rose & Aber Daneen (x2)