It takes time

This process takes time, and I knew it would, but its hard when you just don't hear anything. I wrote to the Diocese in N. Uganda in October, and I haven't heard anything back. I wrote my pastor and email, and his reponse was, "its Africa, things move slower there and they may not have access". So, I need to continue being patient.

In other news, one of the ministries I had been looking into going with, WorldVenture, recently updated their website for a Uganda based ministry, Hope Alive!. I previously had thought this was not a good fit, but after learning more, it seems to be very close to what I want to do. they would have an opening for me to go in the summer of 2010, which really isn't that far off, and would give me time to raise support. Check out what they are up to, hopealiveafrica.org

I really want to go to Uganda. I feel very called to go there, but now I have met somebody here, and they so far, are not feeling called to go. I don't know what God will do, or what He is asking of me, and I don't know enough about the future to know if and how this person will be a factor in the future. But only God and time will tell what the future holds for all of these questions and wonderings. Its funny how when your life changes, even a little bit, how you start to question other things you were sure of. Pray for me, that God will show me what He desires, that I would know His thoughts about the future, and not waiver from that, regardless of the cost. He is Lord, not me.

Go ahead...

I am so excited! Last week, Rev. Ken wrote to the Diocese in Northern Uganda (DNU) and I wrote to Willy Akena, who has a blog for the DNU, and both said that I could come!! They did say that they don't have any money to support me, which I figured, honestly, I didn't even think that would have been a possibility. So they said we could start getting to know each other better.

Rev. Ken said that he would introduce me to a couple who was on the mission field in Africa for a lot of years to get information from them about what kinds of questions to be asking and information to look for.

I was praying that God would open a door, just so that I knew I was still on the right track, and He was faithful as always to answer my prayer. I'm so grateful to be in service of this mighty God who knows my name, and sees the plight of the poor and needy and holds the whole universe together without loosing track of anything. Thank you all for your prayers! Keep it up!!

What's up with Uganda you ask?

Just as an update, I met a Ugandan Bishop a couple of weeks ago, and he gave me his contact information. I emailed him and he invited me to come and work with his organization,(which is not working with the kids affected by the war) and said I could stay with him, and even offered to take me to Northern Uganda to meet the Anglican Bishops there. Somewhat exciting, except that he seemed to really want me to work with his mission more than help me get to the place I feel led to.

I have been working with my Pastor, who is a priest in the Anglican church actually, to try to get to Northern Uganda. He has sent an email to a bishop there, and may even know someone else there.

I resent some emails I mentioned before in the "irons in the fire" post, but haven't heard back from any of them yet. Time to keep praying!

waiting in the wings

This is all so new and different for me. It's an interesting thing having a call and a passion in your heart, but no visible way yet seen into the future to live it out. But, I guess the living it out part isn't really true, I can always live out the passion God has given me. I can continue to pray for the Acholi and others affected by the war, I can serve my community here, I can continue putting irons in the fire, and I can wait with a heart full of faith instead of fear. That feels like a much better use of my mental energy instead of pining away for the future. (can you tell I am just letting my mind run here??!!??) That of course is all much easier said than done. I understand this is a time of preparation, of waiting on the Lord, of looking only to Him to accomplish what I cannot. I can't help but get excited and nervous and anxious even, wanting go, wanting to know what's next, wanting to see how God is going to bring it all about. And, after that subsides for the moment, there is the wating again. It's odd though, as much as I want to see things come together quickly, I feel this odd peace, a peace that passes understanding, if you will :), and it is so great. Its this great peace from the Lord that says, "You are called, and it is coming, just continue to wait on me, peace, you are doing what I ask at this time." And so I wait with a full heart, not impatient, but axiously (the good kind) awaiting God's revalation. Ahh, how sweet it is. God, you are so truely good. I love you.

Talking with the folks

Well, I just shared with my folks the entirety of the situation in Uganda, and so now they know why I want to go (not sure they completly understand why I would want to do that...). Its kind of a hard thing, preparing your folks for something they would never want you to do, but it is also really cool to realize that you have the kind of parents who want you to do what God wants, even if it isn't easy, and that you have the kind of parents who raised you to care deeply about the things that God cares about. They didn't discourage me from going, neither did they say that I absolutely should go, but they agreed to pray for me, and since this is all still new to them, I think that is quite a lot. I'm so grateful to know that I have parents who will pray for me every day while I'm gone, and will support me in any way they possibly can, despite any fears they may have. I wish everyone had parents like mine.

Mom and dad, when you read this, know that I love you, and I am so blessed to have two parents who love me like you do, I don't know what I'd do with out you, your the best. Your daughter, Jenny

Peace talks in Northern Uganda

Follow this link to the Invisible Children website to learn what is happeing now to end the conflict in Uganda, and then pray. Please

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/news&press/news/detail.php?pID=614458811

Irons in the fire

So here are some things to pray about for me. I have been diligently seeking how God will get me to Uganda, so I have put the following irons in the fire to see which one will be the one He wants to use to get me there.

A couple of weeks ago I spoke with a missons organization by the name of World Venture. They have missonaries in Nothern Uganda, but their focus seems to be working with Sudanese refugees.

I made contact with another missons organization, called Global Outreach, and they gave me the go ahead to contact their missionaries in Gulu, who have just opened a center for children.

I spoke with my pastor at IAC, Ken, not long ago and told him what God had put in my heart for Uganda, and he asked me to email him about that vision and he would see who to contact with the Anglican Church in Uganda and get back to me. I got an email from him this week, with a phone number of the person in charge of the diocese in that area.

After some searching on the net, I found the number of a man by the name of Willy Akena, who works with the Anglican Church in Gulu, and I am waiting to hear back from him.

So I have some phone calls to make to Uganda. Please pray for me that those conversations would go well, that God would make it apparent to me what it is that is His desire, timing, and means.

Thank you all for your support and prayers! I need your prayers most of all.

the beginning

It all started with a deep sorrow over the Holocaust in Germany. I have always felt such a deep pang of anger, sorrow, and helplessness when confronted with the atrocities committed against God's people there. It galvanized within me a desire to see evil confronted, and the innocent liberated. The horrors of what humans were capable of doing to each other, it still astounds me that we can depersonalize others to such a degree as that. Lord, please forgive us for every level of this we are each responsible for, because we have still not fully understood what it leads to.

Then I found out about Darfur and Sudan. I found out in very accidental ways about what was being perpetrated against people there, and I felt the same sorrow, rage, and desire to do something, but what? I prayed. I wrote the president (I reminded him of his words in a public address, when asked by Elie Wiessel what he would do, President Bush responded, "Not on my watch") I tried to find out what I could. I wanted to go. I still wouldn't mind, but Someone Else had another plan for me.

Summer of '07 I was attending Pierced Chapel, and there was an invitation to view a documentary about the Invisible Children in Uganda. I watched a video detailing the 20 years of war in Northern Uganda. I saw the very spiritual beginnings of this war, with the demon possession of a person named Alice Auma and a another man by the name of Joseph Kony. I saw millions of people displaced from their homes. I saw children commuting to safer places to sleep on a concrete floor shoulder to shoulder,to avoid being abducted as child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army. I saw an interview of a young boy named Jacob who reluctantly told his story of how he and his brother were abducted, and how his brother was killed. It was a pain that was so close to his little heart, that it was obviously excruciating to speak of, at all, let alone in detail. But he bravely went on, knowing that his tears would roll hotly down his cheeks, with no way to gain comfort from any external person, for no one could see what he was reliving, and no one could bring back his brother, his heart, or his childhood. My heart was broken. My heart was already so broken for all of the kids I have worked with in my career as a child abuse investigator, so I had a small taste of what he was feeling, but more than that, my heart was broken for the thousands like Jacob, and broken for the hundreth time over this world that is so dark, so broken, and so lonely, and so in need of the salvation of Jesus Christ. Only He can heal this, for Jacob, and for me, and the countless others trying to recover from this nightmare.

At first I believed that I would be heading to Sudan "someday" to work with the refugees there, but the more I thought and prayed over that, God kept bringing me back to the children of Northern Uganda, and what they were living on a daily basis. I now know that God has called me to go to Northern Uganda and live and work there for a period of 2-5 years. I have been studying Uganda's history, the history of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army), the amazing Christian martyr's that have sacrificed so much for the true Lord of all in Uganda, and the depth of the issues confronting the people there. I look forward to the day when God will send me there, and I look forward to that day with a joy that only the seriousness of the mission and the God who calls me can produce. So this blog is for all those that want to follow this journey, who want to know how to pray for Northern Uganda, and for me.

Please pray for the children and families of Nothern Uganda, pray that their children would heal, that they would be able to safely return to their homes, that the wounds of war would heal, that they would find that in Jesus, and they would know peace Pray for the AIDS epidemic that is killing so many as well at this same time this war is going on. Pray that Joseph Kony would come to know the real Lord of all, of the salvation and forgiveness that is available to him and his soldiers for all that has been committed. Pray that the peace talks would continue, and that justice would come for all that has happened, whatever God wants that to look like. Pray that God will lead me specifically through the things that will prepare me for this service and pray that He will show me which doors He wants me to walk through and when. Lord, let my heart be only Yours, and Your name praised through this. Lord, let Your love be known, let us all be healed. I'm Yours, please use me.