Well, I do believe I owe an apology to you all for such a long break between posts. Things have continued along pretty Ho Hum over here and do in my own opinion of a lack of eventful "blogworthy" things I didn't write anything, but I know there are and were things I definitely could've wrote about. So I apologize for my lack of discipline in this area, but I am human...
So I have continued on working on my two projects, Watoto I am still currently working on and I finished Eagles Wings about 3 weeks ago or so. It has been nice to only have one project to work on. Without the project trips to look forward to, work has became what feels more and more like "just" a job which it is, but hard to remember that this is my form of ministry here. Since I don't interact a ton directly with the community though that have presented a challenge here.
Anyways, we were lucky enough to be in Uganda for an International Soccer match that we went to this past weekend. Soccer is a god here. I definitely learned that. Downtown on the day of the game was crazily packed with people and horns and excessive noise of people in anticipation of the game.
Traffic was backed up everywhere and every direction trying to get to the match, but that was okay since Tim and I decided to go early and take a Boda (motorcycle). We ended up getting incredible seats at midfield in the 3rd row. Praise God it was awesome. It was absolutely just something you can really explain or describe. Fans are constantly screaming chanting yelling cheering blowing horns, playing music, dancing, anything and everything. Just crazy. It definitely was the noisiest environment I have ever been in. My ears were ringing for 3 days from the ear deafening of the game.
Uganda won 2 to 0 which made the game even more fun because when Uganda scored, the stadium erupted to a new decibel with cheering and screaming as well as everyone starts hugging and high fiving and jumping up and down! Just chaos.... it also makes it quite fun because there are no seat numbers... which I mean not too surprising right? It is a poor country and all that extra work getting people in their right seats and patrolling that is just a ton of work so easier to just have a first come first serve seating basis right? Ya that makes sense, but probably should only print the number of tickets the capacity of the stadium then Right?....
Well maybe not as we found out during the game as we ended up sharing our 4 seats with 9 people and come to find they sold 70,000 tickets to a stadium that has a capacity of 40,000 so I guess you could say that makes the stadium quite hectic, but it only adds to the amazing atmosphere of chaos. I mean what could be more fun than having almost twice as many people in a stadium.
My time is sadly coming to a close here though I am quite eager to get home to be with my family and fiancée as well as see all my other friends and relatives!
God does continue to challenge me here as always. I go through many ups and downs of feeling incredible closeness with the Lord and it seems so easy to continue to walk upright in the Spirit while times like now God feels so incredibly distant. I read my Bible, pray, seek, knock and just something is missing, but I truly know trust and believe it is for my good and God's ultimate Glory. He challenges me in these times to ask " Do you really love me?" And in these times I do my best by Gods Grace to press in and say Yes I do as hard as this is. My soul desires you (Psalm 42... I think)
Lastly, I am getting sick with what seemed to be like all the symptoms of Malaria, but I got tested and didn't have Malaria so praise God for that, but still not feeling quite all better so Pray for me.
God is working in my heart in amazing ways as I feel I try to truly understand what it means to Love the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength and what it means to fear the Lord and verses like working out my salvation with fear and trembling. There are so many verses that talk about these two things. So they must be pretty important. Anyone can say oh ya I love God, but do we? Because I know so often I live, I think, I worry and I feel like I don't love Him at all. But oh God I desire for you to be the deepest desire of my heart that all else pales in comparison. This is definitely something I am trying to challenge myself a lot with.
Keep praying for me to finish strong here as that can be a struggle here.
Love you all!
K2
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Sipi Falls
So last weekend, my fellow interns and myself were blessed to get to go on our first get away travel intern weekend to Sipi Falls....
A quick little background of what I had seen this far in Uganda is all flat very little elevation change and I hadn't seen a mountain in about 3 months since I left Colorado, which does have mountains for those of you not familiar.
Now all the sudden we get to Sipi which is on the border of Uganda and Kenya and BOOM mountains.
It is a little sad to see how the public transit Matatu (an old beat up VW bus looking thing) could barely I mean barely like people walking were keeping up with us going up these hills. I guess in the car's defense there were 16 people in the van with a desk on top. Too bad we didnt get a picture of it, it probably was a site to see.
So we got there and were pleasantly greet by one of the people working, This place was truly amazing... So i honestly really don't know a whole lot to say, so I figure I will go with the ol' picture is worth a thousand words kind of thing with lots of pictures. But on one hand I just wanted to share a few things from our trip.
Though I am not complaining at all by any means. I do love it here! I consider it a true joy to be here and such a blessing the Lord has chosen me to serve here, but you do make a few sacrifices and I am the first to admit my sacrifices are few compared to many missionaries. So I didn't realize until we got to go here a few things that were so amazing for all of us. You would've thought we had been brought to the Promised Land with how excited we got about a few little things... Hopefully you will find it entertaining.... Its the little things.
So we got to the resort just in time for lunch and served some really good pasta, but what came with it was CHEESE, SALAMI, and CRACKERS. Oh my goodness, please do not take this for granted. This simple combination is a blessing and like James 1 says all good things come from the Lord well this combo is from the Lord. My goodness it was amazing so I think we raved about that all afternoon until we went hiking and saw more of this beautiful place. But we also got cheese with just about every meal, Oh man it was incredible. I LOVE CHEESE. Such a blessing. Cheese is expensive here so it is a true treat.
Then with dinner, we had fresh homemade rolls and bread and with breakfast too I forgot about that. Just like my Mom makes. Another thing not to be taken for granted. Good bread is hard to come by so ... Aww Man it was incredible. It was like you know an appetizer at a nice restaurant that has good bread and you eat too much of it and ask for more because you are bored and eat while you wait for your real meal. Well, although the food was so delicious, we asked for more bread almost instead of our meal because it was SO Delicious and such a treat!
Also, at night here because we were at about 6,000 feet of elevation, something you will never believe happened... It got COLD. I got to, yes Got to wear a sweatshirt. Oh man I hadn't done that in 8 months. And yes that means I didn't go to bed sweating and sticky like many nights in Kampala though it has got much better since we now are in the heart of rainy season as well as Tim and I couldn't take it any longer and broke down and invested in a fan. Glorious. But anyways so ya in Sipi I got to use this foreign thing to me called a blanket, I believe that's the word for that soft cuddly thing you place over you while you sleep to keep warm... he he... sorry once again ...I am not complaining at all just so appreciative of these things. Another thing we honestly probably rejoiced in all weekend of how much we LOVED the Cold. It was awesome.
Last, but not least, they had not only a beautiful shower, but it also had this other thing foreign... water pressure to shower and feel nice and clean as well as it was a nice warm shower. Notice I said warm because they do have hot water for your shower here in our apartment.... But your choices are burn your skin hot or ice cold. So that was our topic of conversation at breakfast most mornings after we showered. When someone came up for breakfast that was the first questions, "Hey have you showered? ... Oh my goodness Ya I did it was amazing.... What I haven't showered yet?! ... Dude you gotta try it? Whoooo. Its amazing!
It may not look like much, but it is wonderful!
So ya just a few things the Lord blessed us with and obviously I cannot repeat enough that it really isn't bad at all. The sacrifices are so minimal and absolutely worth it. I don't want to discourage people from coming here at all. It is an awesome place in need of help so still such a great experience and blessing in my life!!! I LOVE IT!
That's Me swinging on this vine next to the waterfall
Completely safe....
Until Dan fell on the rocks below, which we have a video of, but the internet is a little too slow to publish, but crazy and couldve been a lot worse, but Praise the Lord he is fine.
The view right outside where we were staying such beautiful lush greenery and waterfall. Pictures do not do it justice
For those who followed my travels in Morocco and the finely designed structure bridge there, here is one in Sipi
Ya look at that view and you can see how flat Uganda is in the distance
That is Sipi Falls. 300 foot waterfall and we are hiking to the bottom. You can repel down next to it, but we chose not to.. (Your welcome mom... he he jk)
Almost to the bottom
The pool at the base of the falls
The Group with Hannah in front thinking she is Magellan, sorry to break it to you Hannah, but you didn't discover Sipi Falls.
This is our hut on the right where the boys stayed. Girls on the Left.
A better view of the falls outside our door
The third of the 3 waterfalls here. So there is Sipi Falls, the one by our lodge and this one above our lodge a little hike away
Now you can see Hannah to get some perspective of how big things are.
By the way all these pictures are by Tim who is missing from a lot of pictures bc he takes them, but gotta give him all the credit. He is a stud photographer...
Our girl interns. Jess in front just got engaged last friday. Her Fiance flew to Uganda, surprised her and proposed on Lake Victoria. I know right? Studly move! Props Adam. Well done sir.
Look at that view down the mountain from the top
Our friends who came and sat with us, very intrigued by us Mzungu (white person) they don't see us too often
Young Olympians Hopefully!
Our Guide Jasper.. Does it look safe to swim in Jasper?
Okay, I can test it... that little girl pushed me in....
jk, I jumped and was in the process of doing a cannonball to splash the children
Tim & I gave it another shot.
Yep God made all of it.
WOW
Well Done Tim!
This is our Album Cover
Or Maybe this
Or that?
This is for Dan's Solo Album
This one for his Christian album
I know isn't this Indescribable? That's my God, hopefully yours too
I know its a lot of pictures, but you can see how good Tim is of a photographer! SO glad he is here to capture just a taste of this beauty.
Intern Pics
Does something look wrong?
Here's all of us. Daniel on the left just got out of swimming in the waterfall....
Just kidding... Unfortunately, Daniel couldn't come, but we missed him and wanted him there so Tim also being a photoshop expert. Added him in there.
Hope you have a great day... Thanks for looking along and playing with me. Love to hear or see what you are doing, what you are thinking, maybe even a question for me?
I love hearing from people.
That's all for now.
A quick little background of what I had seen this far in Uganda is all flat very little elevation change and I hadn't seen a mountain in about 3 months since I left Colorado, which does have mountains for those of you not familiar.
Now all the sudden we get to Sipi which is on the border of Uganda and Kenya and BOOM mountains.
It is a little sad to see how the public transit Matatu (an old beat up VW bus looking thing) could barely I mean barely like people walking were keeping up with us going up these hills. I guess in the car's defense there were 16 people in the van with a desk on top. Too bad we didnt get a picture of it, it probably was a site to see.
So we got there and were pleasantly greet by one of the people working, This place was truly amazing... So i honestly really don't know a whole lot to say, so I figure I will go with the ol' picture is worth a thousand words kind of thing with lots of pictures. But on one hand I just wanted to share a few things from our trip.
Though I am not complaining at all by any means. I do love it here! I consider it a true joy to be here and such a blessing the Lord has chosen me to serve here, but you do make a few sacrifices and I am the first to admit my sacrifices are few compared to many missionaries. So I didn't realize until we got to go here a few things that were so amazing for all of us. You would've thought we had been brought to the Promised Land with how excited we got about a few little things... Hopefully you will find it entertaining.... Its the little things.
So we got to the resort just in time for lunch and served some really good pasta, but what came with it was CHEESE, SALAMI, and CRACKERS. Oh my goodness, please do not take this for granted. This simple combination is a blessing and like James 1 says all good things come from the Lord well this combo is from the Lord. My goodness it was amazing so I think we raved about that all afternoon until we went hiking and saw more of this beautiful place. But we also got cheese with just about every meal, Oh man it was incredible. I LOVE CHEESE. Such a blessing. Cheese is expensive here so it is a true treat.
Then with dinner, we had fresh homemade rolls and bread and with breakfast too I forgot about that. Just like my Mom makes. Another thing not to be taken for granted. Good bread is hard to come by so ... Aww Man it was incredible. It was like you know an appetizer at a nice restaurant that has good bread and you eat too much of it and ask for more because you are bored and eat while you wait for your real meal. Well, although the food was so delicious, we asked for more bread almost instead of our meal because it was SO Delicious and such a treat!
Also, at night here because we were at about 6,000 feet of elevation, something you will never believe happened... It got COLD. I got to, yes Got to wear a sweatshirt. Oh man I hadn't done that in 8 months. And yes that means I didn't go to bed sweating and sticky like many nights in Kampala though it has got much better since we now are in the heart of rainy season as well as Tim and I couldn't take it any longer and broke down and invested in a fan. Glorious. But anyways so ya in Sipi I got to use this foreign thing to me called a blanket, I believe that's the word for that soft cuddly thing you place over you while you sleep to keep warm... he he... sorry once again ...I am not complaining at all just so appreciative of these things. Another thing we honestly probably rejoiced in all weekend of how much we LOVED the Cold. It was awesome.
Last, but not least, they had not only a beautiful shower, but it also had this other thing foreign... water pressure to shower and feel nice and clean as well as it was a nice warm shower. Notice I said warm because they do have hot water for your shower here in our apartment.... But your choices are burn your skin hot or ice cold. So that was our topic of conversation at breakfast most mornings after we showered. When someone came up for breakfast that was the first questions, "Hey have you showered? ... Oh my goodness Ya I did it was amazing.... What I haven't showered yet?! ... Dude you gotta try it? Whoooo. Its amazing!
It may not look like much, but it is wonderful!
So ya just a few things the Lord blessed us with and obviously I cannot repeat enough that it really isn't bad at all. The sacrifices are so minimal and absolutely worth it. I don't want to discourage people from coming here at all. It is an awesome place in need of help so still such a great experience and blessing in my life!!! I LOVE IT!
That's Me swinging on this vine next to the waterfall
Completely safe....
Until Dan fell on the rocks below, which we have a video of, but the internet is a little too slow to publish, but crazy and couldve been a lot worse, but Praise the Lord he is fine.
The view right outside where we were staying such beautiful lush greenery and waterfall. Pictures do not do it justice
For those who followed my travels in Morocco and the finely designed structure bridge there, here is one in Sipi
Ya look at that view and you can see how flat Uganda is in the distance
That is Sipi Falls. 300 foot waterfall and we are hiking to the bottom. You can repel down next to it, but we chose not to.. (Your welcome mom... he he jk)
Almost to the bottom
The pool at the base of the falls
The Group with Hannah in front thinking she is Magellan, sorry to break it to you Hannah, but you didn't discover Sipi Falls.
This is our hut on the right where the boys stayed. Girls on the Left.
A better view of the falls outside our door
The third of the 3 waterfalls here. So there is Sipi Falls, the one by our lodge and this one above our lodge a little hike away
Now you can see Hannah to get some perspective of how big things are.
By the way all these pictures are by Tim who is missing from a lot of pictures bc he takes them, but gotta give him all the credit. He is a stud photographer...
Our girl interns. Jess in front just got engaged last friday. Her Fiance flew to Uganda, surprised her and proposed on Lake Victoria. I know right? Studly move! Props Adam. Well done sir.
Look at that view down the mountain from the top
Our friends who came and sat with us, very intrigued by us Mzungu (white person) they don't see us too often
Young Olympians Hopefully!
Our Guide Jasper.. Does it look safe to swim in Jasper?
Okay, I can test it... that little girl pushed me in....
jk, I jumped and was in the process of doing a cannonball to splash the children
Tim & I gave it another shot.
Yep God made all of it.
WOW
Well Done Tim!
This is our Album Cover
Or Maybe this
Or that?
This is for Dan's Solo Album
This one for his Christian album
I know isn't this Indescribable? That's my God, hopefully yours too
I know its a lot of pictures, but you can see how good Tim is of a photographer! SO glad he is here to capture just a taste of this beauty.
Intern Pics
Does something look wrong?
Here's all of us. Daniel on the left just got out of swimming in the waterfall....
Just kidding... Unfortunately, Daniel couldn't come, but we missed him and wanted him there so Tim also being a photoshop expert. Added him in there.
Hope you have a great day... Thanks for looking along and playing with me. Love to hear or see what you are doing, what you are thinking, maybe even a question for me?
I love hearing from people.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Prayer
So I am heading to Sipi Falls this weekend. Suppose to be a truly beautiful place. I am very blessed to go there and see more of Uganda, but I guess you can be praying for my safety as we (all the interns) travel. Unfortunately, the internet died so I didn't get to finish writing this before I left for Sipi Falls, so I am already back safely.
But I thought I would share just a little something real quick on something God has been revealing to me and hammering home to me in the past few months. This whole concept of Prayer.
It is a kind of strange thing sometimes and there is a lot in the Bible about prayer and I take so for granted sometimes. I don't bother talking to God in a meaningful way some days, I don't feel like it or I am tired or so many excuses always come to mind. Especially, those times where I don't feel God's presence as I come to pray. I feel like the only one is hearing me is the dogs outside my window here. God doesn't feel like He is there like He does sometimes. Am I doing something wrong?
Well, here is one thing that God just revealed to me in James 1:5-8
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
So these verses I feel like basically are speaking of praying and asking God for things, but following that with Faith that God will actually answer those prayers. I so often pray for things because I feel like I should pray for this or that, but don't really care about it that much or really think God cares enough to really want to do that usually just with small things you know? Like I am feeling sick God please take this away heal me, but it is not accompanied by any faith. I feel like oh God is too busy to want to take away this He is doing so many other things and my sickness isn't really a big deal or I lost my sweatshirt (again) God doesn't want to help me find it though....
But I would argue that is completely false. Are we not talking still about the same God that didn't even spare His own Son just so I could be adopted, all of us could be adopted into His family. He cares about all of us and everything. This leads me also to Matthew 7:7-11:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
So God does want us to ask him for anything and everything. Jesus goes so far to say here that even though we are evil or wicked give good gifts to our children, somehow God our Father in Heaven doesn't want to give us good gifts. Where did we get this misconception? As we read in James above, God gives generously. So God wants to give to us and give generously to us. Don't misunderstand or confuse this with some sort of prosperity Gospel that God wants to bless you and make you healthy and wealthy because that is False. But God is Good and wants to give to us generously.
So God wants to be generous why doesn't He just give to us what we want in our prayers like it says here... What I feel like God showed me through James was that He wants us to expect Him to work and give what we need so we see Him work and provide and answer prayers. How often I look back and see WOW God was so in that and provided there and in that way, but totally missed it because I didn't expect to see Him. Darn it, but thank you James for showing me to look for God. Obviously, we still can see that God is Good and answers prayers even when we don't expect it because God is Good.
Anyways, last little bit I thought was insightful from James 4:2b.. starts off talking about not having because we do not ask. Oops, don't forget to ask God.
Lastly, I guess I don't want to end that if we ask and expect God to work that He has to do it and another insight from the following verse James 4:3 talks about asking and not receiving... Wait what I thought Jesus just said ask and He will give me, what the Heck?! Jesus tricked me... No He didn't. Finish the verse and it says it because we ask wrongly to spend it on our own passions... WOW... So not only is God good because He gives generously to us for asking and expecting, but He is also so good that He sees some things we ask for actually aren't good for us. God is above and beyond time so knows the future for us and how this certain answer to prayer might lead us into sin. How merciful is our God? To do this and Not give us sometimes. So this is where that other aspect of faith comes in... Expect God to work and answer prayers, but if He doesn't it is because He has looked into that option for us and knows it isn't what is best for us.... whether it is a better job, more money, a girlfriend/boyfriend, kids to get on track, or whatever.... Though we don't understand why He won't answer... We throw our hands and cries up to the Father expecting Him to work, but fully trusting His Goodness.
One other little add on, if you want to learn about an amazing man of prayer, read about George Muller, a missionary from the 1830's, I just started his autobiography. It is killer. He prays and expects God to provide and He does in miraculous ways. Just the basic premise is that George refuses to ask people for money. He only asks God and at the end of the last chapter he says he has now gone 4 years without asking anyone for a temporal need such as food and money and God has provided everything as well as excess for him to begin 5 orphanages, 3 schools for the poor, distribute 6,000 bibles and support other missionaries in south East Asia. Incredible. I recommend it. I also just finished Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Bershears. Also, a great book to address a lot of challenging questions...
Love to all and always love to hear from people.
In faithful service to the Lord empowered by His Spirit hopefully showing people Jesus along the way!
K2
But I thought I would share just a little something real quick on something God has been revealing to me and hammering home to me in the past few months. This whole concept of Prayer.
It is a kind of strange thing sometimes and there is a lot in the Bible about prayer and I take so for granted sometimes. I don't bother talking to God in a meaningful way some days, I don't feel like it or I am tired or so many excuses always come to mind. Especially, those times where I don't feel God's presence as I come to pray. I feel like the only one is hearing me is the dogs outside my window here. God doesn't feel like He is there like He does sometimes. Am I doing something wrong?
Well, here is one thing that God just revealed to me in James 1:5-8
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
So these verses I feel like basically are speaking of praying and asking God for things, but following that with Faith that God will actually answer those prayers. I so often pray for things because I feel like I should pray for this or that, but don't really care about it that much or really think God cares enough to really want to do that usually just with small things you know? Like I am feeling sick God please take this away heal me, but it is not accompanied by any faith. I feel like oh God is too busy to want to take away this He is doing so many other things and my sickness isn't really a big deal or I lost my sweatshirt (again) God doesn't want to help me find it though....
But I would argue that is completely false. Are we not talking still about the same God that didn't even spare His own Son just so I could be adopted, all of us could be adopted into His family. He cares about all of us and everything. This leads me also to Matthew 7:7-11:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"
So God does want us to ask him for anything and everything. Jesus goes so far to say here that even though we are evil or wicked give good gifts to our children, somehow God our Father in Heaven doesn't want to give us good gifts. Where did we get this misconception? As we read in James above, God gives generously. So God wants to give to us and give generously to us. Don't misunderstand or confuse this with some sort of prosperity Gospel that God wants to bless you and make you healthy and wealthy because that is False. But God is Good and wants to give to us generously.
So God wants to be generous why doesn't He just give to us what we want in our prayers like it says here... What I feel like God showed me through James was that He wants us to expect Him to work and give what we need so we see Him work and provide and answer prayers. How often I look back and see WOW God was so in that and provided there and in that way, but totally missed it because I didn't expect to see Him. Darn it, but thank you James for showing me to look for God. Obviously, we still can see that God is Good and answers prayers even when we don't expect it because God is Good.
Anyways, last little bit I thought was insightful from James 4:2b.. starts off talking about not having because we do not ask. Oops, don't forget to ask God.
Lastly, I guess I don't want to end that if we ask and expect God to work that He has to do it and another insight from the following verse James 4:3 talks about asking and not receiving... Wait what I thought Jesus just said ask and He will give me, what the Heck?! Jesus tricked me... No He didn't. Finish the verse and it says it because we ask wrongly to spend it on our own passions... WOW... So not only is God good because He gives generously to us for asking and expecting, but He is also so good that He sees some things we ask for actually aren't good for us. God is above and beyond time so knows the future for us and how this certain answer to prayer might lead us into sin. How merciful is our God? To do this and Not give us sometimes. So this is where that other aspect of faith comes in... Expect God to work and answer prayers, but if He doesn't it is because He has looked into that option for us and knows it isn't what is best for us.... whether it is a better job, more money, a girlfriend/boyfriend, kids to get on track, or whatever.... Though we don't understand why He won't answer... We throw our hands and cries up to the Father expecting Him to work, but fully trusting His Goodness.
One other little add on, if you want to learn about an amazing man of prayer, read about George Muller, a missionary from the 1830's, I just started his autobiography. It is killer. He prays and expects God to provide and He does in miraculous ways. Just the basic premise is that George refuses to ask people for money. He only asks God and at the end of the last chapter he says he has now gone 4 years without asking anyone for a temporal need such as food and money and God has provided everything as well as excess for him to begin 5 orphanages, 3 schools for the poor, distribute 6,000 bibles and support other missionaries in south East Asia. Incredible. I recommend it. I also just finished Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Bershears. Also, a great book to address a lot of challenging questions...
Love to all and always love to hear from people.
In faithful service to the Lord empowered by His Spirit hopefully showing people Jesus along the way!
K2
Saturday, April 2, 2011
RESTORED
Last night, I was so blessed to get the opportunity to go to see Watoto's Restored Tour, which is there incredibly children's choir integrated with dancing and story telling by all these children from Gulu.
It is a truly amazing show about Love & Forgiveness and the source of it all, JESUS. Jesus has redeemed these children, shown them love and forgiveness as well as given them hope for their future. The child performers are all from Gulu district where the majority of the atrocities of the LRA took place. All the performers have been affected by the LRA. Most of the boys in the show had been abducted by the LRA and forced to become child soldiers some younger than 10 when they were abducted and forced to kill. Majority of the girls were abducted by the LRA as slaves and captives, often raped by many of the soldiers as well as given to the commanders as one of their many wives. Some of the girls were even forced to become soldiers as well.
You wanna know the amazing thing? We didn't learn this by someone telling us about these tragedies who is an expert or historian from the area. We heard it straight from the victims. All those things mentioned above we heard straight from the children as they told their stories. Some had been raped and seen their whole families killed right before their eyes before the age of 10. Some had done the killing and the raping on stage... TOGETHER. In between songs they would take turns standing up and sharing pieces of their stories throughout, ending with them sharing of how some of the boys had killed the family of a girl on stage with them. Think you would want to stand on stage with someone who killed your family and relive the story, I sure wouldn't. Here's what is more amazing, they finished their story saying to them, with tears in their eyes, so heart felt,
I FORGIVE YOU!
Child after child stepped forward to say who they forgave... all the commanders, soldiers and even them forgiving the leader, Joseph Kony, who by the way I learned he is literally possessed by a "spirit" most definitely demonic and possibly Satan. They shared he could perform these signs and predict things and claims to be sent by God. Sounds like Satan to me.... But they FORGAVE him. HOW?
Every single child said One Name, the Name above all names, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords,
JESUS CHRIST...
that is how you spell forgiveness. Because of Jesus these children have been given life and hope and been forgiven and redeemed.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." ~ 1 Peter 1:3
Wow that verse is just packed full of so many things. Did you catch it though? How this ties into what I was talking about? So many things in there.
God's Great mercy... what did He do in His great mercy? God in His mercy forgave us. He crushed his son with our sins in His great mercy (Isa 53:5). He forgave us on the cross. So that we may be as it says born again. These children have been born again because they were forgiven. Because of the great forgiveness they have received and love that has overwhelmed them in Jesus, they cannot help but forgive others. They understand that God the Father loves them too and wants them to be born again like they have... But to What?
This verse answers this to.... HOPE... and what kind of hope? A Living Hope. Jesus is not dead. The Tomb was empty. He is alive. He has given them a living hope. The children's hope had been dashed... there hope was dead. Dead hope is no good... Is this what all other religions trust in though? A dead hope? Abraham & David (Judiaism) are dead and tombs worshipped, great men of God after His heart, Muhammed (Islam) is dead and his tomb worshipped where his bones remain, Buddha's tomb worshipped where his bones remain, dead hope, ... Is there a temple at Jesus's tomb to be worshipped? NO!
The Tomb was empty and Jesus is alive giving children like this and people like you and me and EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
A LIVING HOPE!
This living hope will change lives and change the world if we understand the Gospel and let it change us. It will...
"...These men (Early Christians) have turned the world upside down..." ~ Acts 17:6
That is what real faith in the Living Hope does. It turns the world upside down.
Let's turn it upside down with guidance by the Holy Spirit with the Living Hope on our lips all for the Glory of God the Father!
In Faithful service to the Living Hope Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
K2
It is a truly amazing show about Love & Forgiveness and the source of it all, JESUS. Jesus has redeemed these children, shown them love and forgiveness as well as given them hope for their future. The child performers are all from Gulu district where the majority of the atrocities of the LRA took place. All the performers have been affected by the LRA. Most of the boys in the show had been abducted by the LRA and forced to become child soldiers some younger than 10 when they were abducted and forced to kill. Majority of the girls were abducted by the LRA as slaves and captives, often raped by many of the soldiers as well as given to the commanders as one of their many wives. Some of the girls were even forced to become soldiers as well.
You wanna know the amazing thing? We didn't learn this by someone telling us about these tragedies who is an expert or historian from the area. We heard it straight from the victims. All those things mentioned above we heard straight from the children as they told their stories. Some had been raped and seen their whole families killed right before their eyes before the age of 10. Some had done the killing and the raping on stage... TOGETHER. In between songs they would take turns standing up and sharing pieces of their stories throughout, ending with them sharing of how some of the boys had killed the family of a girl on stage with them. Think you would want to stand on stage with someone who killed your family and relive the story, I sure wouldn't. Here's what is more amazing, they finished their story saying to them, with tears in their eyes, so heart felt,
I FORGIVE YOU!
Child after child stepped forward to say who they forgave... all the commanders, soldiers and even them forgiving the leader, Joseph Kony, who by the way I learned he is literally possessed by a "spirit" most definitely demonic and possibly Satan. They shared he could perform these signs and predict things and claims to be sent by God. Sounds like Satan to me.... But they FORGAVE him. HOW?
Every single child said One Name, the Name above all names, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords,
JESUS CHRIST...
that is how you spell forgiveness. Because of Jesus these children have been given life and hope and been forgiven and redeemed.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." ~ 1 Peter 1:3
Wow that verse is just packed full of so many things. Did you catch it though? How this ties into what I was talking about? So many things in there.
God's Great mercy... what did He do in His great mercy? God in His mercy forgave us. He crushed his son with our sins in His great mercy (Isa 53:5). He forgave us on the cross. So that we may be as it says born again. These children have been born again because they were forgiven. Because of the great forgiveness they have received and love that has overwhelmed them in Jesus, they cannot help but forgive others. They understand that God the Father loves them too and wants them to be born again like they have... But to What?
This verse answers this to.... HOPE... and what kind of hope? A Living Hope. Jesus is not dead. The Tomb was empty. He is alive. He has given them a living hope. The children's hope had been dashed... there hope was dead. Dead hope is no good... Is this what all other religions trust in though? A dead hope? Abraham & David (Judiaism) are dead and tombs worshipped, great men of God after His heart, Muhammed (Islam) is dead and his tomb worshipped where his bones remain, Buddha's tomb worshipped where his bones remain, dead hope, ... Is there a temple at Jesus's tomb to be worshipped? NO!
The Tomb was empty and Jesus is alive giving children like this and people like you and me and EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
A LIVING HOPE!
This living hope will change lives and change the world if we understand the Gospel and let it change us. It will...
"...These men (Early Christians) have turned the world upside down..." ~ Acts 17:6
That is what real faith in the Living Hope does. It turns the world upside down.
Let's turn it upside down with guidance by the Holy Spirit with the Living Hope on our lips all for the Glory of God the Father!
In Faithful service to the Living Hope Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
K2
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Watoto Advancement for the Kingdom
Alright,
So I made it safely back from Gulu about 10 days ago now and unfortunately just getting around to writing about my trip. Sorry about that.
But so I left for Gulu in Northern Uganda on March 7th arriving late that evening at the Watoto Guesthouse, which I have to say was quite comfortable and really nice. We were treated very well. If anyone ever wants to come help Watoto here in Uganda, I would recommend it. They take great care of you.
Our welcoming at 10 PM they all were out to greet us.
Where to start, so maybe a little background on the area of Gulu. Gulu is where all the rebel wars, fighting and just atrocities took place. Children were abducted and forced to kill their families in order to be in the rebel group. Gulu is just an incredibly heart breaking war torn part of Uganda where the hub of much rebel activity was, led by Joseph Koni and the LRA, but there were also other rebel groups including the current president was actually a leader of one of the rebel groups and that is how he came into power was through the fighting. So then Gulu became the center of where this civil war started between the Ugandan army and the LRA, both corrupt and killing anyone and anything standing in their way of one another. Neither was really "good" or trying to help. The Ugandan army would kidnap children and train them to be soldiers as well because if they didnt the LRA would take them and train them. Just this awful vicious cycle that destroyed so much.
This forced many people into Internally Displaced People (IDP) Camps. Essentially all of Northen Uganda were forced into these becoming refugees in their own country. I kind of wish we would've got to see an IDP camp because many still remain and all the remnants do. Picture 8 to 10 huts with a family of 6 in each one living on one tennis court, now multiply it by one thousand tennis courts or maybe picture all those huts on one football field. Like 6,000 people living on a football field. That is an IDP camp. The even sadder thing is that though the war ended 5 years ago, a lot of those camps are still 50% full because the people are too scared to go home and if they do go home their land has been taken because Uganda has Squatter's Rights so if someone started living on their land while they were in these IDP camps it became that persons after 5 years. And these people were stuck in these camps for almost 25 years with war and destruction all around them. Truly, atrocious and heart wrenching. Sorry that is probably enough about that, but if you are interested research it or there are good books about it. So sad.
Enter Watoto. So 25 years ago a young Canadian couple came to plant a church in Kampala which now has turned into a 5 campus church all over Uganda and now expanding to South Africa with over 30,000 people consistently attending and people finding Jesus and forgiveness left and right. Just an incredible ministry that is amazing and HUGE now. Watoto has built 3 Children's Villages (New better orphanages) that house over 2500 orphans throughout Uganda with many more they are looking to build.
My friend that I made at one of the Children's Villages, Dad killed by the LRA and Mom died of HIV as did ALL his brothers and sisters (6 of them), but God healed and saved him.. Guess what he wants to do?
Be a Pastor and preach the Word of Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior!
We also hear another story of 13 year old that had been abducted by the LRA forced to kill his family and cousin, but wouldnt. So he was beaten within inches of his life, then taken captive by the LRA for years until he was rescued by a helicopter because he would just pray to God asking for help and the Lord hears prayers! He knew he would be fine... Guess what he wants to be?
A lawyer because he wants to fight for Justice because God is just. So Just that He crushed His own Son for our iniquities so that we may be His sons and daughters.
In addition they have two babies homes with about 30 babies in each.
Come on in to Baby Watoto :)
It was lunch time when we went :) They still there until they are 18 months then moved to the Children's Village
This little guy had HIV : (
Little Bonnie really liked me and I got to feed him, if you look on my pant leg you can see how much liked his food. I thought I was doing so good getting to feed a baby for my first time and he opened his mouth perfectly and I was like oh ya look how good I am, I am going to be a great dad first try feeding no problem, But the Lord is quick to humble as he spit it out time after time on my pants :)
About 75% have HIV which is so sad. Many of the babies have been found on the side of the road or many places just abandoned with no chance of living without Watoto. Often some of them are fished out of Pit Latrines as parents cannot take care of them try to get rid of them in a Pit Latrine (if you dont know what a pit latrine is, it is a deep pit with concrete slab placed over it with a hole to go to the bathroom, so picture a 30 foot deep hole filled with...). Many are very malnourished. Without Watoto, these babies would have no chance just like many of the orphans, who are also malnourished until Watoto cam along.
My other friend I made, you can see there big malnourished bellies :(
They also have a program for trauma rehabilitation in these IDP camps that we got to hear the director speak about while we were in Gulu. He has been in Uganda 2 years and his goal is to go one IDP camp a month until he goes to all of them with a team of counselors and do two week intensive psychological help and he has been to 25 IDP camps and isn't stopping until he goes to them all and then he just wants to go back and follow up with how people are doing. People are finding forgiveness and truly being helped and though the goal isn't to get them to be a Christian but to psychologically help them. Ninety percent of the IDP camps are meeting JESUS because that is where they find forgiveness and HOPE. He is the only true Hope. Amazing.
So I guess with that kind of segways into our project and purpose for being there. So each of the Children's Villages have a school on site, but where do they go after that.... That is where we come in to design there new Agricultural College and Technical School.
My job entailed a lot of water testing and calculating how much water they will need for the site, where it will come from and what to do with the wastewater on site and as always some surveying...
Oh and some on site water testing of existing springs and wells, which consists here really of just drinking some of it and seeing if I get sick...
Just Kidding :)
So we planned a 435 acre site for 400 students with on site housing and 100 staff with housing including 100 acres of agriculture to provide food for those on site and some of the orphanages and 100 acres for livestock for the site, a reservoir for fish, soccer pitch, a retreat center for the trauma rehab folks to do seminars and things for those affected by the war, and of course complete with 1000 person church because it is all about Jesus and the Glory of God.
So we had a unique and awesome partnership with a Australian architecture firm that had 3 employees there including the CEO and the other two staff were the two non believers.
They are the three sitting on the rock next to me, Angus next to me just graduated high school, Andrew next to him is 28 and has had a neat life living all over the world including Angel's Camp California not far from me and had been to Cal Poly, and next to him is there leader Tony. An amazing man of God who humbly and faithfully leads that team with such an amazing heart to serve. This was his 5th time to Gulu. He met with the mayor and Tony has master planned the future of Gulu and what it could look like and wants to be instrumental in rehabilitating Gulu with the hope that other cities will follow that example. Brittany our one girl on the trip is next to him, a new staff member to EMI and Chad our structural/seismic engineer from San Diego born and raised, crazy.
We also tested their local well and some locals came out to talk to us about what we were doing including one sadly I think was drunk and claimed to be the Governor of the well as well as a general in the army or something... kind strange
So after many 12 hour days of planning and working on every aspect of the project
The rest of us working in the other half of the room
All leading to the presentation to many of the Watoto ministry as well as the Mayor of Gulu came to our presentation. Crazy
Tony our leader presenting.
Yes I presented too
So this is us relaxing playing cards, which I felt like putting on here with a little story, but we also just need time to relax because working 10 straigh 12 hour days gets tiring. So at the closing time we go around and share our highs and lows from the trip as well as why we thought God had us on the trip then John our leader gives some encouragement or affirmation. So mine were that I had passion for what we were doing, but more so for devotions and sharing about Jesus and being passionate about that, which is awesome, what a compliment so I am thankful for that, but then my other trait was I was the comic relief for the trip and keeping people at ease by joking around or playing cards :) so I thought that was really nice.
So after each EMI trip, we get to do something fun, which this time included going on SAFARI! So here are some pictures from that.
The first animal we saw...
And thousands more, literally thousands of all different kinds of deer, then we drive another 2 minutes and what do we see....
oh hello heard of Giraffes, and we saw probably like 100 of those as well....
So from there we saw quite a few more animals including some huge water buffalo, lots of wart hogs, and more and more deer then we drove down to the lake and saw....
A herd of elephants
This isnt zoomed in we were literally probably like 20 feet from this heard of 20 elephants in our cars....
Our sweet ride to see all the animals :) I am sitting on the back.... This was acutally as we are chasing the elephants... There were also probably like 50 Hippoes in the lake right behind us.
A monkey and baby
So ya we continued around still bummed not to see a lion but we had heard that this national park isnt where you see lions very often so that was a bummer, we might go to Kenya to go on safari thats where the lions are, then all the sudden our driven veers off the road and starts driving out in the bush even more so than the picture above, he thinks there might be a lion judging by the antelopes so we turn this corner and....NOTHING... bummer so then we looked the other way and thought we saw one in the distance in the tall grass so we start creeping towards it and we ask Tim if it is one because he has zoom lens on his camera and he says oh ya I can see its head moving, YES this is it....we get a little closer and.....
Its a termite hill... dang it strike two....
So once again our driver veers off randoms and goes around into these bushes and turn and....
Boom the King and Queen of the plains...
Mama lion didnt even care we were there, probably like 10 feet away from these two... AWESOME!!!
Thats as were leaving, we were even closer than that...
YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
We saw a LION, mission accomplished, we are pumped. Thats Dan my fellow intern next to me and Chad from San Diego on the other side.
Well I am tired, time to go to sleep after seeing the lion... wait whats this we get to wake up to the noise of right outside our camp right on the Nile...
Oh hello, Hippo on my deck... ha ha isnt that crazy
Then in the morning...
Pumba the Warthog and other warthogs wonder the camp... he he..
Yep well the next day we went on a boat ride to see Murchison Falls and saw a bunch more hippoes, Elephants, and Crocs... Unfortunately, we didnt get good pictures of Crocs, but Nile Crocs are known to be 20 feet long and can jump out of the water near 15 feet... so maybe it was a blessing we didnt get too close to them to take pictures.
The Falls, pretty amazing
well lets see hopefully I can write more later, but the trip was amazing. God is so clearly present here and moving and advancing His Kingdom. I feel so blessed to be here. I see more and more the potential of wanting to do this always. So blessed to see what God is doing here I love it!
All for the Glory of God the Father. Jesus is alive and moving, We are His hands and feet, Show somebody His grace, love, joy, and passion today.
I love you all!
K2
So I made it safely back from Gulu about 10 days ago now and unfortunately just getting around to writing about my trip. Sorry about that.
But so I left for Gulu in Northern Uganda on March 7th arriving late that evening at the Watoto Guesthouse, which I have to say was quite comfortable and really nice. We were treated very well. If anyone ever wants to come help Watoto here in Uganda, I would recommend it. They take great care of you.
Our welcoming at 10 PM they all were out to greet us.
Where to start, so maybe a little background on the area of Gulu. Gulu is where all the rebel wars, fighting and just atrocities took place. Children were abducted and forced to kill their families in order to be in the rebel group. Gulu is just an incredibly heart breaking war torn part of Uganda where the hub of much rebel activity was, led by Joseph Koni and the LRA, but there were also other rebel groups including the current president was actually a leader of one of the rebel groups and that is how he came into power was through the fighting. So then Gulu became the center of where this civil war started between the Ugandan army and the LRA, both corrupt and killing anyone and anything standing in their way of one another. Neither was really "good" or trying to help. The Ugandan army would kidnap children and train them to be soldiers as well because if they didnt the LRA would take them and train them. Just this awful vicious cycle that destroyed so much.
This forced many people into Internally Displaced People (IDP) Camps. Essentially all of Northen Uganda were forced into these becoming refugees in their own country. I kind of wish we would've got to see an IDP camp because many still remain and all the remnants do. Picture 8 to 10 huts with a family of 6 in each one living on one tennis court, now multiply it by one thousand tennis courts or maybe picture all those huts on one football field. Like 6,000 people living on a football field. That is an IDP camp. The even sadder thing is that though the war ended 5 years ago, a lot of those camps are still 50% full because the people are too scared to go home and if they do go home their land has been taken because Uganda has Squatter's Rights so if someone started living on their land while they were in these IDP camps it became that persons after 5 years. And these people were stuck in these camps for almost 25 years with war and destruction all around them. Truly, atrocious and heart wrenching. Sorry that is probably enough about that, but if you are interested research it or there are good books about it. So sad.
Enter Watoto. So 25 years ago a young Canadian couple came to plant a church in Kampala which now has turned into a 5 campus church all over Uganda and now expanding to South Africa with over 30,000 people consistently attending and people finding Jesus and forgiveness left and right. Just an incredible ministry that is amazing and HUGE now. Watoto has built 3 Children's Villages (New better orphanages) that house over 2500 orphans throughout Uganda with many more they are looking to build.
My friend that I made at one of the Children's Villages, Dad killed by the LRA and Mom died of HIV as did ALL his brothers and sisters (6 of them), but God healed and saved him.. Guess what he wants to do?
Be a Pastor and preach the Word of Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior!
We also hear another story of 13 year old that had been abducted by the LRA forced to kill his family and cousin, but wouldnt. So he was beaten within inches of his life, then taken captive by the LRA for years until he was rescued by a helicopter because he would just pray to God asking for help and the Lord hears prayers! He knew he would be fine... Guess what he wants to be?
A lawyer because he wants to fight for Justice because God is just. So Just that He crushed His own Son for our iniquities so that we may be His sons and daughters.
In addition they have two babies homes with about 30 babies in each.
Come on in to Baby Watoto :)
It was lunch time when we went :) They still there until they are 18 months then moved to the Children's Village
This little guy had HIV : (
Little Bonnie really liked me and I got to feed him, if you look on my pant leg you can see how much liked his food. I thought I was doing so good getting to feed a baby for my first time and he opened his mouth perfectly and I was like oh ya look how good I am, I am going to be a great dad first try feeding no problem, But the Lord is quick to humble as he spit it out time after time on my pants :)
About 75% have HIV which is so sad. Many of the babies have been found on the side of the road or many places just abandoned with no chance of living without Watoto. Often some of them are fished out of Pit Latrines as parents cannot take care of them try to get rid of them in a Pit Latrine (if you dont know what a pit latrine is, it is a deep pit with concrete slab placed over it with a hole to go to the bathroom, so picture a 30 foot deep hole filled with...). Many are very malnourished. Without Watoto, these babies would have no chance just like many of the orphans, who are also malnourished until Watoto cam along.
My other friend I made, you can see there big malnourished bellies :(
They also have a program for trauma rehabilitation in these IDP camps that we got to hear the director speak about while we were in Gulu. He has been in Uganda 2 years and his goal is to go one IDP camp a month until he goes to all of them with a team of counselors and do two week intensive psychological help and he has been to 25 IDP camps and isn't stopping until he goes to them all and then he just wants to go back and follow up with how people are doing. People are finding forgiveness and truly being helped and though the goal isn't to get them to be a Christian but to psychologically help them. Ninety percent of the IDP camps are meeting JESUS because that is where they find forgiveness and HOPE. He is the only true Hope. Amazing.
So I guess with that kind of segways into our project and purpose for being there. So each of the Children's Villages have a school on site, but where do they go after that.... That is where we come in to design there new Agricultural College and Technical School.
My job entailed a lot of water testing and calculating how much water they will need for the site, where it will come from and what to do with the wastewater on site and as always some surveying...
Oh and some on site water testing of existing springs and wells, which consists here really of just drinking some of it and seeing if I get sick...
Just Kidding :)
So we planned a 435 acre site for 400 students with on site housing and 100 staff with housing including 100 acres of agriculture to provide food for those on site and some of the orphanages and 100 acres for livestock for the site, a reservoir for fish, soccer pitch, a retreat center for the trauma rehab folks to do seminars and things for those affected by the war, and of course complete with 1000 person church because it is all about Jesus and the Glory of God.
So we had a unique and awesome partnership with a Australian architecture firm that had 3 employees there including the CEO and the other two staff were the two non believers.
They are the three sitting on the rock next to me, Angus next to me just graduated high school, Andrew next to him is 28 and has had a neat life living all over the world including Angel's Camp California not far from me and had been to Cal Poly, and next to him is there leader Tony. An amazing man of God who humbly and faithfully leads that team with such an amazing heart to serve. This was his 5th time to Gulu. He met with the mayor and Tony has master planned the future of Gulu and what it could look like and wants to be instrumental in rehabilitating Gulu with the hope that other cities will follow that example. Brittany our one girl on the trip is next to him, a new staff member to EMI and Chad our structural/seismic engineer from San Diego born and raised, crazy.
 |
Our team exploring the site Some more water we tested, good thing I actually didnt try this one because it had E Coli, but this is the quality of the water they use here often because water is hard to get.  |
So after many 12 hour days of planning and working on every aspect of the project
The rest of us working in the other half of the room
All leading to the presentation to many of the Watoto ministry as well as the Mayor of Gulu came to our presentation. Crazy
Tony our leader presenting.
Yes I presented too
So this is us relaxing playing cards, which I felt like putting on here with a little story, but we also just need time to relax because working 10 straigh 12 hour days gets tiring. So at the closing time we go around and share our highs and lows from the trip as well as why we thought God had us on the trip then John our leader gives some encouragement or affirmation. So mine were that I had passion for what we were doing, but more so for devotions and sharing about Jesus and being passionate about that, which is awesome, what a compliment so I am thankful for that, but then my other trait was I was the comic relief for the trip and keeping people at ease by joking around or playing cards :) so I thought that was really nice.
So after each EMI trip, we get to do something fun, which this time included going on SAFARI! So here are some pictures from that.
The first animal we saw...
And thousands more, literally thousands of all different kinds of deer, then we drive another 2 minutes and what do we see....
oh hello heard of Giraffes, and we saw probably like 100 of those as well....
So from there we saw quite a few more animals including some huge water buffalo, lots of wart hogs, and more and more deer then we drove down to the lake and saw....
A herd of elephants
This isnt zoomed in we were literally probably like 20 feet from this heard of 20 elephants in our cars....
Our sweet ride to see all the animals :) I am sitting on the back.... This was acutally as we are chasing the elephants... There were also probably like 50 Hippoes in the lake right behind us.
A monkey and baby
So ya we continued around still bummed not to see a lion but we had heard that this national park isnt where you see lions very often so that was a bummer, we might go to Kenya to go on safari thats where the lions are, then all the sudden our driven veers off the road and starts driving out in the bush even more so than the picture above, he thinks there might be a lion judging by the antelopes so we turn this corner and....NOTHING... bummer so then we looked the other way and thought we saw one in the distance in the tall grass so we start creeping towards it and we ask Tim if it is one because he has zoom lens on his camera and he says oh ya I can see its head moving, YES this is it....we get a little closer and.....
Its a termite hill... dang it strike two....
So once again our driver veers off randoms and goes around into these bushes and turn and....
Boom the King and Queen of the plains...
Mama lion didnt even care we were there, probably like 10 feet away from these two... AWESOME!!!
Thats as were leaving, we were even closer than that...
YAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
We saw a LION, mission accomplished, we are pumped. Thats Dan my fellow intern next to me and Chad from San Diego on the other side.
Well I am tired, time to go to sleep after seeing the lion... wait whats this we get to wake up to the noise of right outside our camp right on the Nile...
Oh hello, Hippo on my deck... ha ha isnt that crazy
Then in the morning...
Pumba the Warthog and other warthogs wonder the camp... he he..
Yep well the next day we went on a boat ride to see Murchison Falls and saw a bunch more hippoes, Elephants, and Crocs... Unfortunately, we didnt get good pictures of Crocs, but Nile Crocs are known to be 20 feet long and can jump out of the water near 15 feet... so maybe it was a blessing we didnt get too close to them to take pictures.
The Falls, pretty amazing
well lets see hopefully I can write more later, but the trip was amazing. God is so clearly present here and moving and advancing His Kingdom. I feel so blessed to be here. I see more and more the potential of wanting to do this always. So blessed to see what God is doing here I love it!
All for the Glory of God the Father. Jesus is alive and moving, We are His hands and feet, Show somebody His grace, love, joy, and passion today.
I love you all!
 |
God is Still so Good and I see Him so often everytime I look to the sky and see His Radiance Really? How can you not believe in God? That cannot be an accident. God is So Beautiful! |
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