Desire to be changed

It's unreal to me that I have been home for just over a month. It was so good to be in Africa. God truly blessed our team- we instantly fell in love with each other. As I have tried to process what I learned and saw there, I have come up with a few things....

*I learned what true joy and contentment in the Lord looks like.

*I saw how much I have, and don't actually need

*I realized how selfish I am, and how I base my joy on instant gratification

*It became clear how I try to substitute this world for Jesus

I wish that I could say my actions have magically changed since being home. Sadly, I feel that I have been consumed by the world more. For instance, I want Starbucks, McDonalds coke, date nights, new dresses, new decorations for our apartment, more organizational tools for our place, and a better washer/dryer, a huge tub, etc...

Then I was just sitting in our living room, looking around, and remembering Africa. Communities of people with so little yet so much joy. I felt guilty for craving the world and material things and things that would bring me temporary joy... There is nothing wrong with going and getting a fun drink or buying a pretty outfit to go on a date with my husband. BUT, I do think I am wrong in trying to find my contentment in those things, and those things alone.

I think this will be a long process, it will take a lot for me to change. My prayer is that as I seek the Lord more, he changes my heart. I don't want those two weeks to have a small imprint on my heart, I want them to forever etched in my mind and on my heart to the point where they call me to action. I would love for God to show me a way that I can still be involved with Africa, bringing glory to Him, and helping rescue those kids from the dumps.

If any of you feel called to help, there is some ways as of now...

**GO!!! Visiting Orphans (and other organizations) are constantly going overseas. If you feel called, go! I promise, you will not regret it. Those kids and people will capture your heart, and you will feel more blessed and loved than ever before. By tangibly loving on them, it will impact them forever, they won't forget you.

**Sponsor a kid to go to school...

--> Project 61- sending a child from the dumps to boarding school. For only $750 (I know that's a lot, but not compared to the cost of their life for a year), you can send them to boarding school, give them a bed to sleep on (Most have never had that), 3 meals a day, clothes, and education. This is a commitment usually for longer than a year...

If either of these opportunities interests you, I would love to talk to you about it. I know we have all seen commercials for sponsoring kids, but I promise you this is legit. All money raised goes straight to the organization. It's an incredible organization.

1 Samuel 2:7-8

"The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the Lord's, and he has set the world in order."

It's good to be home...

I am happy to say that my team has arrived safely home. It was the longest few travel days ever, we left Uganda at 8am EST on Thursday morning and I didn't get back to Florida until 2pm on Friday. It was so good to see Jon again, and be home. My body has struggled with the time change, but thankfully the Lord kept me healthy while there. My heart is still in Africa. It forever changed my world, I can't even begin to put into words what we saw and got to experience. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support, without you, this trip would not have been possible. As you know my camera broke, but I do have access to the teams photos, I will get some up as soon as I can. For now, here are a few...

Here is one of me with Shalohm, she was a little girl from East Africa. One of the women that had gone on a trip to Africa with Visiting Orphans in January is back to do work with East Africa, and she's a professional photographer. This is one of the pictures she took of me. These kids have stolen my heart. They are the sweetest, most compassionate, generous, joyous, content kids I have ever met. My hope is to convey to you even a glimpse of what I experienced there...

This is of some of our team on the truck. This was our other vehicle while in Uganda- not the safest, but more comfortable than the bus. I got to ride on this on the way to Policia, laying out watching the stars. Loved it.

This one is with Bosa, a little boy that I met our last day, in Uganda. We spent the day with Pastor Samuel (they are all named Samuel it seems), and served his ministry. His goal is to get all these orphans into homes and school. We sang and danced and played all afternoon. Bosa was my dance partner- he would mirror anything that I did. I absolutely loved him, if I could have brought him home with me, I would have. His smile and laughter were contagious.

I will be posting more in the next few weeks...

Days 2 & 3

Things are going so great here. It's unbelievable the things that my eyes have seen... We spent yesterday in this town called Kore (pronounced Kora), and basically it's a village that is way outside the city. It was founded for people with leprosy and has been around for over 50 years. Before that, it was (and still kinda is) viewed as a curse so people that got it were killed. About 50 years ago, a doctor from America came to the king in Ethiopia and said that people don't have to be killed bc there is medicine that can help them. The king gave this doctor land far away from the city and built a church for the people and sent them there. He then placed the trash dump (a landfill) right next to it. This was better than being murdered but still they were treated poorly and outcast. Since then, their families have been born there and most will never get out. There is a vision to get them out and we got to be a part of it. One of the guys Sammy grew up in East Africa and lived at the dump for seven years until one day God provided a miracle and created dreams hat he never had. Literally, he lived in the dump, searched and fought for food, and slept there. One day (12 years ago) a group of Young Life kids from the States were there and ministered to them. With the help of translators they loved on them and shared the gospel with them. It was then that Sammy and his friends surrendered their life to Christ and became Christians. He said his life was forever changed. One of the leaders from Young Life gave Sammy hope by providing him the funds to have clothes, food, and the chance to go to school. He paid for it all. Now Sammy dedicates his life to providing the same opportunity for the kids at the dump. The goal is that all the ones that are double orphaned (no parents) will be sponsored to go to boarding school. For only $700 American dollars it would pay for a child to go to boarding school (3 hrs away), their bed, clothes, and 3 meals a day (more than they have ever had). I was amazed. So our role was to help out with their summer program (preparing them for school). God is so good. As much as they think they did for us, they taught us a lot. These kids are the most joyous, respectful, loving, and generous people I have ever met. A couple quick stories...

*So they absolutely LOVE having their picture and then getting to see it on your camera, so I had my picture taken with a few of the kids. As I crouched down to smile with them, I ended up loosing balance and falling back a little. I didn't end up in the mud, but my hand kinda did and got dirty. Immediately one of the little boys looked at me and said, "Come, come" and he pulled me to a place where there was water, He poured water over my hands allowing me to wash them. So precious. Then I picked up a little girl, no older than 3 and we smiled for a picture. She noticed that my hands were wet, and grabbed her skirt and began to dry them. I was so blown away at how they care so much.

*We sang songs and hung out. They sang to us and knew a couple songs in English so would sing with us. They smiled ear to ear, because people were there to love on them and spend time with them. They have never really felt important because their culture views them as outcasts. Our group was working with 8th graders, and when we sang the little ones came in and joined us. As they were leaving, I wanted to tell them thank you in their language, but butchered it. We all laughed, and then one tiny girl pulled at my arm to come near her, and started to sound it out for me... "Ama, say, ganalu" and continued until I could say it.

I know these may not mean much, but they touched my heart in a big way. I have loved getting to know them and talk to them. Thank God we have translators because they only know so much English and I don't know any Emarek.

The other part of yesterday was spending time doing home visits and meeting some of the community.We met moms that have recently lost their husbands and have four kids to care for, and no money. They live in homes that are literally the size of our walk in closets with no light. They sleep on hard dirty ground with hardly anything. It was heartbreaking. The worst part is that if they don't pay rent they get kicked out and have to sleep at the dump. They can go back when paid, but until then their door is locked. I understand that this is normal, but the cost of their monthly rent is $12 American dollars. I was shocked. It was truly an emotional day because I can't grasp or understand what they go through and what their lives are like. It was a blessing to spend the day with them and love on them. I will never forget my time in East Africa.

Today, is my birthday!! Yeah for that. We spent the morning in the country side and planned on painting a school building and serving lunch... but that didn't go as planned. The paint never showed up, and the kids never showed up for lunch. So, we ended up helping some women carry water to their homes. They carry 60 lbs of water on their back two times a day. They go to this river and there's a spot where the water goes slower and they can get clean water. They fill cup by cup, until they reach the capacity, then tie it on their back with what looks like a shawl. It was insane, definitely heavy. Then since the other plans fell through, we had the chance to go back to the village we were at yesterday. We were greeted with hugs and smiles, it was the coolest feeling. We taught them more English- math and some grammar. They taught us some Emarek, we served lunch and hung out. Other than that, hung out with my team tonight and played some games and had dinner.

It's so weird being here when I look at my phone to realize that you are still a half day behind me... it weirds me out, but my body has adapted well. I have been sleeping great, just not a ton because I'm up a lot. We are all still doing well, staying healthy and eating great. Thanks for praying for that. Please continue to pray for that as well as our travel to Uganda. Pray for the kids we are meeting and that our time spent with them, even though may be short, will bring them hope. Also our team, that we stay well connected and working well as a team, staying united and humbly serving. Thanks in advance for that...

I feel blessed to be here. Thank you to all of you for supporting me and giving me the privilege of being here. I can't wait to show you pictures and tell you more. Thank you for your prayers, I have been able to see emails every few days, and I love getting them. Thanks for sending notes. We leave for Uganda on Friday, and from there I'm not sure if we will have much access to internet... if I do, you will hear when we arrive, if not, you will hear when we arrive back in the States.

Thanks again for everything, I love each of you, and am grateful for you.

Kim

Travel and First Day!

My travels were nothing but exciting... My travel from Jacksonville, FL to DC was great and easy, Met my team, and so far love them. We spent the next hour getting our boarding passes and bags ready (Ethiopian airlines does it different), still easy. Then went to get dinner as a group, and let me tell you this airport is big. We got our dinner and then I headed back with two other girls because one girl had food for her Dad who was watching stuff by the gate. We got talking, and got lost. Before we knew it we ended up in baggage claim, not good. We had to go back through security which wasn't that bad because we still had an hour and a half before we took off, but one girl didn't have her boarding pass. We were so scared that we were going to miss our flight. Thankfully, we got in touch with our leader who ran to get the boarding pass to come meet us by security. The TSA people definitely took care of us and got us through fast. We ended up sprinting to our gate- because the airlines were trying to give our tickets to standby thinking we weren't coming. So thank God we made it on the plane!! 15 hour flight not too bad... long. I sat with a couple girls from my team and got to know them. We laughed a lot, and slept maybe 5 hours. I was so so tired. It's weird, I can sleep anywhere, but I wasn't tired. I was excited to watch a movie, but then my tv broke. Sad day, no tv, no music. Our plane stopped in Rome which was cool, we couldn't get off and didn't see much. We finally arrived in Ethiopia around 730pm. Luggage took forever to get, but thankfully all of my arrived. I think we are only short two bags outside of 120. Next problem, went to take some pictures and my camera is broke. WHAT?? I was so sad, this was the final straw considering I'm exhausted and it's been a long few days. So, I'm trusting that my team will take lots of pictures :) We got to our guest home that we are staying at, and the people here are awesome, so nice. Stayed up late hanging out with people, then finally crashed. I slept great.

Today was our first day getting to go out and meet kids. We went to Mother Theresa's aids orphanage. There are 400 kids and everyone wants to hang out with you. We did arts and crafts then played. I was with the boys, and loved it. This little boy became my best friend, I don't even know his name. He was prolly like 4 and just clung to me. He would hide and then run as fast as he could to catch me. He laughed all day, and wouldn't stay away from me. He held my hand and went wherever I went. I fell absolutely in love with him. Sadly, we aren't able to take any pictures in that orphanage so I can never show you how cute he is, but he will forever have a place in my heart.

The rest of today has been easy- it's been rainy. We are taking it easy, playing cards and reading. I may not be able to use email again, but thank God I was able to send one. Thanks for all your prayers. You guys are amazing. Please keep praying for our team for safety and for unity. Please also be praying for my heart... it was the hardest thing to leave these kiddos I can only imagine how hard it's going to get.

Love you all!

Leavin on a jet plane...

Wow!! The day has come, it's 1 am, and we are getting ready for bed. It's my last night home for the next few weeks, crazy. I'm so excited to go to Africa, I hope I can sleep tonight. I'm a little nervous because I don't know what to expect, but it's exciting nerves, so that's good.

I have a long day of traveling ahead... a flight out of Florida to DC... 4 hour layover... meet the team... then 15 hr flight to Ethiopia... then 3 hour bus ride. Pray for safe travel and for all flights to be on time, at least mine out of Florida. Hope to update you all soon, thanks again for everything!!

Only 5 days left!!

Team,

I want to again thank each and every one of you for joining my team. Without you guys, it would have been very difficult for me to go on this amazing adventure. I feel privileged to know you all, and can't show you enough gratitude. My heart in creating this blog is to update you as I prepare to leave, update you while I'm gone (potentially with the help of Jon), and share what happened when I return.

Thankfully, I am fully funded. WOW! God is so good that He didn't provide the exact amount I needed; rather He exceeded it through the generosity of you guys. The extra funds have been able to cover my medical shots and immunizations, sports equipment for the kiddos (potato sacks for races, parachutes, and baseball gloves), as well as there is some extra that I will be donating either to the orphanages there or to team members that were still short. It's so incredible to see how faithful you all were in giving. It was such a great experience raising support for Africa. Daily, I was blown away by people. Again, thank you.

This week I am finishing details of planning and preparing. I need to pack and get a few more supplies, and then Saturday Jon will be taking me to the airport. I still can't believe that it's almost here!! I am so pumped to get over there and see how God will use our team of 30 to do His work and serve these kids.

Prayer Requests:

*For safety and protection- Not only as we prepare to travel 15 hours across the world, but as we are there too. Pray for protection for our health- that our vaccinations work and we don't get sick. If we get really sick, we are somewhat useless ya know? I want to work hard while there, so I need to stay healthy!

*For our team to be unified- There are 30 of us, most of us will be meeting for the first time in Washington DC before we leave for Ethiopia. Pray that we have a tight bond and get along well.

*For my heart to be ready- I know that I am going to see things that I have never seen and haven't been able to comprehend till I arrive in this third world country. Pray for me to be open to what God is doing- and to have a heart of surrender. I want to follow where He is leading and to be used as He desires.

I know that we have some spots where we will have internet connection. I won't be taking a computer, so hopefully I can use someone else's. We will see how much I get to update.

Thank you in advance for praying, and for everything you have done already. I'm beyond blessed to have you all on my team.

Love,

Kim