Saturday, September 27, 2014

To marry or not to marry...

After a recent conversation with a friend about to get married, I have a bazillion thoughts running through my head on the comments from other believers on marriage.  You have probably heard some of these....

Just make the choice and God will bless it.

Oh he doesn't need to be a believer... that will come later.

Or... you're single... he's single... and you both are believers. 

You are too young... you don't know what you want.

Or... you're not getting any younger... you just need to settle down.

When you are ready to get married, just pick someone.

And my all time facorite... You're single? What is wrong with you?

Ok... the more of these I write the more irritated I get over what our society and culture has done to the sanctity of marriage... an institution put in place by God.  The verse that says 'it is not good for man to be alone' has been thrown out to me so many times with the implication that I should just find one and settle down.  Now to be completely honest... I have met some amazing single men ( believers and unbelievers) but I have not been called to marry them. 

Could I have made the choice to marry one of them?  yes
Could it have been used for my good? yes
Would it have been God's best? Probably not

Ultimately I believe love is a choice... I will choose to love and respect the man that God puts in my life for His plan and purpose in His timing.  After 20+ years of getting to know the God of the universe, I do not believe that he just started the earth spinning and let it go... he is involved in the day to day operation of each thing that happens.  The Word  says that nothing happens without his knowledge and his permission... for he is omnipotent.  How much more should he be involved in the entity of marriage... something that is to image the trinity? (A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken = God + husband + wife... found in Ecclesiastes)

So for those that say the only stipulations to marriage for a believer are that they be single and a believer.... I disagree.  (If this the case... why are their still beleivers that are single and why is every believer not happily married? The stats still hold true that 50% of Christian marriages end in divorce.)  What happened to seeking and hearing the Lord's voice? Where does the peace that passes all understanding come in? Where does seeking godly wisdom come into play?

With all that said... God loves you whether you are single... married... divorced... or separated and He chooses to use each according to his perfect plan!  You are no less of a person because you are single.

Married believers ... come along side the young married and engaged couples... encourage them to follow the Lord wherever He leads. 

Married ladies... be that Titus 2 woman that encourages the younger women how to respect their husbands and raise their families in the way of the Lord. 

Single believers ... stand firm in what God has called you to do today.  God doesn't write two identical love stories so know that yours will not look the same as any one elses expectatuons. And just remember... your God loves you more than giving you second best.

To marry or not to marry...

After a recent conversation with a friend about to get married, I have a bazillion thoughts running through my head on the comments from other believers on marriage.  You have probably heard some of these....

Just make the choice and God will bless it.

Oh he doesn't need to be a believer... that will come later.

Or... you're single... he's single... and you both are believers. 

You are too young... you don't know what you want.

Or... you're not getting any younger... you just need to settle down.

When you are ready to get married, just pick someone.

And my all time facorite... You're single? What is wrong with you?

Ok... the more of these I write the more irritated I get over what our society and culture has done to the sanctity of marriage... an institution put in place by God.  The verse that says 'it is not good for man to be alone' has been thrown out to me so many times with the implication that I should just find one and settle down.  Now to be completely honest... I have met some amazing single men ( believers and unbelievers) but I have not been called to marry them. 

Could I have made the choice to marry one of them?  yes
Could it have been used for my good? yes
Would it have been God's best? Probably not

Ultimately I believe love is a choice... I will choose to love and respect the man that God puts in my life for His plan and purpose in His timing.  After 20+ years of getting to know the God of the universe, I do not believe that he just started the earth spinning and let it go... he is involved in the day to day operation of each thing that happens.  The Word  says that nothing happens without his knowledge and his permission... for he is omnipotent.  How much more should he be involved in the entity of marriage... something that is to image the trinity? (A cord of 3 strands is not easily broken = God + husband + wife... found in Ecclesiastes)

So for those that say the only stipulations to marriage for a believer are that they be single and a believer.... I disagree.  (If this the case... why are their still beleivers that are single and why is every believer not happily married? The stats still hold true that 50% of Christian marriages end in divorce.)  What happened to seeking and hearing the Lord's voice? Where does the peace that passes all understanding come in? Where does seeking godly wisdom come into play?

With all that said... God loves you whether you are single... married... divorced... or separated and He chooses to use each according to his perfect plan!  You are no less of a person because you are single.

Married believers ... come along side the young married and engaged couples... encourage them to follow the Lord wherever He leads. 

Married ladies... be that Titus 2 woman that encourages the younger women how to respect their husbands and raise their families in the way of the Lord. 

Single believers ... stand firm in what God has called you to do today.  God doesn't write two identical love stories so know that yours will not look the same as any one elses expectatuons. And just remember... your God loves you more than giving you second best.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Reflections from a content heart

Tonight as I was taking a nice hot shower... the realization hit that in a few days I am leaving the village that I have called home for a year. 

This is met with a mixture of emotions...
-sadness to say 'see ya later' to my 100+ little brown eyed cuties that call me mamma and make me smile when they keep repeating 'see you' or 'bye'
-excitement for the next steps in my life
-joy in knowing that anytime I come back I will be welcome with open arms
-trepidation as I step into another culture in a few weeks with a lot of unknowns

But ultimately... my heart is overwhelmed with contentment...

This year has taught me to be content...

I have learned to be content with bucket baths and hot showers...

I have learned to be content in solitude as well as with visitors...

I have learned to be content with the simplicities in life along with being blessed by the abundance from generous friends and family...

I have learned to be content with simple meals as well as exquisite dining...

I have learned to be content in my quiet time along with corporate worship no matter the language...

I have learned to be content in sickness and in health...

I have learned to be content in my wilderness as well as in the promised land...

I have learned to be content with the local critters... ok... maybe not so much on this one!

With all this said, I look back over the past year thankful that God used me despite my imperfections and my fears.  I have been blessed above and beyond what I could ever ask or imagine in this journey to a new land and know what He has for my future is for my good and His glory.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

That is what faith can do...

On the drive back from Kampala today I was pondering how God was going to work out some big (by my standards) financial issues. I was reminded that if I have faith the size of a mustard seed that a mountain can be moved .... and this seems like a mountain from my view point. 

So I am stepping out of my comfort zone to see what faith can do...

There never seems to an abundance of resources waiting for a project but the other way around.  I normally do not stress about money because God has shown me time and again that he is faithful to provide.  For whatever reason I am being called at this moment to stand in the gap for specifics for the school, our children, and our support staff. 

With leaving in a week and a half and after a conversation today I realized I have been spending a lot of my own money for school and staff needs.  It hasn't been an issue until I came to the realization that my finances are dwindling after not receiving a salary for a year and I have set an expectation that when something is needed it will be gotten (a teacher's heart).  Because I haven't said anything,  our staff on the ground just thought it was ministry money coming in and being put towards these expenses.  This encouraged a talk with some of my co-workers in the ministry here of the situation and making sure they were aware to not have the same expectations of my predecessors.

Here is what we are looking at...

School supplies...curriculum, classroom supplies, kitchen supplies for cooking and cleaning... this is an on going thing as we grow ... adding classrooms, children, and staff.  We are attempting to provide quality education for these children which requires certain supplies... here are some recent examples of supplies that were requested by the teachers...

Pens, scheme books, long rulers, chart paper, and other supplies... around $75 per term
Dictionaries relevant to east Africa... 30,000-40,000 shillings each $12-15...bought 2
Calculator for end of term reports... 60,000 shillings each $25...bought 1
Curriculum books... need 4 @20,000 each... about $32 total
Omo cleaner and sweepers for cleaning the dirt out of classrooms... 125,000 shillings $50

Supplies for the kitchen...
Soap, bleach, omo, scrubbers to make sure the dishes are sanitized and everything is kept clean... about $100 per term
Sugar, tea, salt, oil, curry powder, etc for staff meals... about $100... which doesn't include the posho and beans bought for children's and staff meals...that is budgeted for.

Needs for children...

Shoes and socks for new children... with the addition of a bunch of new children 2nd and 3rd term...a little more than 1,000,000 shillings has been spent on shoes since I arrived back in country the first of August. (about $400)...some of this was money left from last Christmas but definitely had to be added to.

Leaky water barrel... went on a home visit last week and as I was visiting with the family they shared that their barrel used to collect rain water is leaking... it is metal and has rusted through... without this rain catchment system they have to walk about 3 km down the side of the mountain to fill jerry cans with water from the bore hole that ITFM provides.  To replace this barrel with a sturdy plastic barrel it is about 85,000 shillings ... about $35.

A new school block... as we are nearing the end of our second year of school at Integrity Primary School we are in desperate need of a new school block to add P3 and P4.  The cost is about $25,000 and we are about halfway there.  The goal is to have it ready to go by February 2nd... the first day of school in Uganda.

New muzungu staff

...housing... furnishing... living expenses...transportation... etc... -with the blessing of a new young couple coming to take over the work that I have been doing over the past year, comes the need to build a small private residence for them as well as all of the start up furnishings.  I am excited that God has provided willing hands to serve full time in this village and in turn would like to do everything I can to assist in the transition

The need is great and even though some of these seem small and insignificant... added together it is a big financial situation in my mind.  I am simply sharing what the LORD has put on my heart and if He is calling you to assist feel free to give at... http://inthefieldministries.org/angela/angela.htm and it will be passed on as specified.

If you are unable to give please join with us in prayer.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Never a dull morning

I was recently asked what my normal day looked like.  Well there is really no such thing as normal and I have learned... I have to be flexible.

Monday morning I had planned to greet the childre,  have a staff meeting, go visit each classroom, give out gifts for perfect attendance, and work on some paperwork.  Well it seemed like everyone else had other ideas... two new children needed to be registered... school fees needed to be paid and receipts written... children came in for shoes...Mamma V (our kitchen cook) was off campus for the day burying her aunt that just died so our gardener was put in charge to make breakfast and lunch for everyone...met with our clinic staff to see how the children's checkups were going and found out we had 4 children with jiggers again... and the list could on.  After school, it was finally sunny so we went on a couple of home visits to get some information on a few of our children.  The first home we went to was a 20 minute hike UP the side of a mountain that I wasn't prepared for... and these children do this numerous times a day! 

Today started off with me not wanting to get out of bed.  Came down to greet children and staff. Saw one child come walking up to come to school that was not enrolled but with school supplies.  Sent him home to bring his jaja to fill out the registration paperwork and haven't seen him since.  Then as I was walking around the classrooms taking attendance one of my staff had an urgent message that her baby was not doing well and she needed to quit.  So we are now looking for a middle class teacher.  Truly never a dull moment!

Crazy?

I am in an odd mood tonight...  can't really explain everything...

,.. maybe it is all the changes coming up quickly in the near future
...maybe it is all that is going on in the village at the moment
...maybe it is the craziness of a certain 19 year old living with me at the moment... AVE MARIA

I feel the need to pull out my proverbial soap box at the moment.

Everytime I look in the mirror I am seeing more of these silver strands and lines that didn't exist yesterday.  Recently while in the market in town a man walked up  to me asking if the 20 year old with me was my daughter only to have the same sentiment replayed a day later by a self proclaimed 'player'! REALLY? 

I have been told to act my age at several times in my life only to be left wondering... how is someone my age supposed to act? We have already defined the fact that I don't do normal well and since I don't really know what someone my age acts like... I am going to act how I think I should act!

Now in regards to the self proclaimed player... no woman needs a man to play with her heart and emotions and not be serious.  If you are planning to sweep me off my feet, you better be ready to catch!  I don't want empty promises.

So with that I crawl down off my soapbox to my walker... and will cruise through this journey called life.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Life is hard... but God is good!

Today has been one of those days ...

It seems that maybe I was in a fussy mood or woke up on the wrong side of the bunk bed... but almost everything today has bothered me. 

Today school fees were due.  I had been telling the children from the first day of school this term that if school fees were paid by their entire class... the class would have a party with snacks and gifts.  Call it bribery or positive reinforcement... but something was needed to motivate these children to bring in school fees.  (Now I will clarify... our school fees are very reasonable and much less than other surrounding schools.... nursery fees are about 8$ and primary about 12$ per 3 month term.)

From past experience the only way families send school fees is if their child is sent home from school specifically needing to bring back school fees.  Today was that day.  I went down to the classrooms and called the list of students that had paid all or some of their school fees or families that had made prior arrangements... those children could stay.  Everyone else had to go home to retrieve school fees.  Well just as I am dismissing the children to walk home... they get halfway down the road and it starts pouring down rain.  I felt awful.

Once the rain slowed down a jaja comes into my office and lays out last terms receipts not understanding why I sent 2 of her grandchildren home.  I had to pull  one of my teachers out of class to explain that school fees for term 3 were due today even though the term 2 school fees for these two children were paid this morning.  After trying to argue for me to let the children back in class... I asked when she would be able to bring the term 3 school fees in... and after sheepishly looking at me... pulled the money out of her hand and put it on my desk.  Frustrated that she sat there and argued about school fees when she knew good and well they were due today and she had them.  (This happens regularly.)

To add to the frustration I realized after lunch that a couple of children came back and were admitted to class without paying their school fees.  Had to talk to the teachers and remind them that they need a written note or to show their receipt to get back to class.  And I get the bobble head effect!

As I was sitting in my office this morning ... one of my teachers made the statement... If you give me your office key at lunch, I will have my students clean your office.  As I looked around my office I realized how dirty my office was with all the mud that had been tracked in... and I also realized that I had those crazy ants that build those enormous dirt mounds working on one in the corner of my office behind my file cabinet....  have I mentioned how much I HATE dirt and bugs? So to relieve my frustration...I have spent the afternoon chipping the dirt mound and trails off the wall with a ruler.... sweeping out all of the dirt... and moving furniture so the little critters can't hide!

So at the moment, I am sitting in my office waiting to see if anyone has school fees to pay by 4pm which was the cutoff to get a party.  Unless I have a mad rush in the next 20 minutes... there are no classes getting a party.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

From the eyes of a child...

Or to be more specific... from a little brown eyed cutie!

Today Victoria flew in to Uganda to spend a month assisting with the ministry. Since she came in mid day and we wouldn't have to spend the night in town before coming to the village... I decided to reward a couple of my kids who had been super big helpers with school related tasks on a field trip to the airport. 

This may sound like a mundane task for many but for Samuel it was like winning the lottery.  The day I told him...  he clapped excitedly all the way from my house to the goat pen with a great big smile on his face.

Our day started out rather wet with a major rainstorm overnight that continued well into the morning making the road way rather muddy and all of us rather soggy!  We took the pit latrine digger with us to Busunju to get a new pick ax as the other one broke due to so much rock.  From the time we arrived in Busunju... Samuel and his sister Fiona started asking questions...what is that? Where are we? Look just there!   The impressive part for me was that all of their questions were in very clear English!

I needed to go grocery shopping before picking up Victoria so we decided to go to the new mall near Entebbe to shop and have lunch before heading to the airport.  Our first stop was Nakumatt and when we walked in to the right was the electronic section.  The kids just froze ... starring at the flat screen tv's.  I had Hannington explain what they were and after a few minutes moved on with our shopping.  This type of store was very new to them so their was a lot of questions and comments about what they saw.  After getting groceries... we went to put them in the cooler in the car and then headed back to the mall to take lunch at KFC... that just opened.  I knew that they would be familiar with chicken and potatoes so this was the best choice.  Fiona got so wrapped up watching the people in the mall that she only wanted her coca cola...so we packed the chicken and chips for the ride home.  Samuel ate every bite of his chicken and chips.

After lunch we had a few minutes before heading to the airport so we took the children on the elevator in the mall.  Fiona squeezed my hand so tight as it moved up and down... something she had never experienced up until this point.  Fiona was also very concerned about all the security guards and police.  Not sure what she has been taught about them but she was very unsure of these people and clung to my side.  We got back to car and started to the airport.

As we passed lake Victoria, Samuel is starring out the window... and states in awe... Mamma, so much water.  It occurred to me that he has probably never seen anything bigger than the swamp in the village so Lake Victoria was 'so much water'.

Near Entebbe there is the old Entebbe airport and runway that the UN now uses as a base.  At the end of this runway there are several old planes just parked... turning green with age.  Samuel and Fiona had never seen an airplane much less so many different ones so they were in awe.  As they made comments or just starred it hit me... these simple things in my lifestyle that I take for granted are a huge learning experience for this 10 and 14 year old.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Stand up and be counted

Well I had seen the signs posted in Kampala that the census was being taken...

A young man named Fisal came by the village today to register all that are residing here.  It also happened to be the first day of school.  So between the opening assembly and running errands for the teachers... and hiring a new teacher for P2... I took the time to sit in my office and meet with the census taker.....

As he asked the questions I just had to laugh because the way they were worded or the info they were trying to glean would only be asked in Uganda!

Here is a sampling of some of the questions  and comments that were made ...

How many years have you made this year? When I gave him my age... his comment was...you are not very young.  LOL!

Marital status... when I told him I was single... he asked "are you searching?"

How many children have you produced from your body?

What is the floor of your house made of?

Are you lame in any part of your body?

Is there a flush toilet in your house? To which I replied, yep... the only one in the village!

Does every member of your family use soap to bathe?

So I do realize that my answers are very different from the majority of the people living in the village and I do understand that the government is wanting to make some changes and that is why they are doing this... but I found the entire process very amusing!

The good... the bad... and the ugly...

Sometimes in this journey on planet earth ... you will go through moments that are good... bad... and ugly. 

For most of us... we like the good.  You know what I mean... those times when everything is going well.  You feel good!   You are living at peace with those around you.  The basic needs of life are being met.  And the list goes on...

The bad... not many of us like this ... much less the ugly that can come along with the really bad.  Oh... you know what I mean... you are not feeling well... loved ones are sick or dying... your best friend just found out she may have cancer... the bank account is registering in the red... it is a toss up between gas in the car or food on the table... all the way to ugly... where life is just so heavy you can't get out of bed... life is just not worth getting up for.

Recently some things have happened in my life as well as those close to me that make me ponder... how do we handle the bad and the ugly times in our lives?

First and foremost... we were not meant to go through the good... the bad... or the ugly by ourselves.  Our Maker wants us to rely on him in each situation... trusting that he knows what is best.

Second... I was listening to one of my favorites songs on the drive back to the village today..."Blessings"... and it reminded me... what if the trials in this life are his mercies in disguise...

-what if He allows something to be taken out of our lives .... only to replace it with something better?
-what if He allows sickness in our lives.... to slow us down and make us thankful for health?
-what if He allows someone around us to have a need... so that we see He answers prayers through us?
-what if He allows tough financial times... to show us what really matters in life?

As I continued pondering the happenings of life... it hit me ... I just need to be thankful for today.  He's got this...whether it is good... bad... or ugly!