God is Working

Eek!  In only 20 days from today, I will be spending my first day in Uganda!  The spring has sped by, and now there are only two and a half weeks left before my departure date.  I am now in the midst of shopping for travel necessities, packing, and praying for peace in Uganda.

I want to share with you how God has been working and providing for The Galileo School and for this trip over the past few months. 

A couple months ago, Scott Noel (the director of The Galileo School) asked me to check out a medical supply company called MedShare.  I researched the company and found out about the really cool mission they have!  MedShare collects surplus medical supplies that would otherwise become trash.  They collect and process supply donations from hospital systems and medical manufacturers.  MedShare then ships 40 foot medical containers to clinics and hospitals in countries where supplies are desperately needed.  They also provide smaller donations for short term medical mission trips…that’s us!  So I went through the application process The Galileo School was approved for a donation!  We received a 100 pound donation (about 2 suitcases worth) of dressing supplies, bandaids, thermometers, gloves, and other items.  We will use these items in medical clinics in several towns in Northern Uganda.  Thank you MedShare! 

On top of the medical supplies, Scott and Georgianna also received a donation of medicines such as ibuprofen, Tylenol, allergy medicine, and vitamins.  Another couple who will be going on the trip, Nick and Jaklin, ran a school supply drive at SMU and collected crayons, notebooks, and other supplies to take to the children attending the Galileo School in Bul Kur.  God is providing!

We have another fundraising opportunity this week.  If you know my family, you know how I was brought up to love playing board games.  Well, those games are going to be put to good use this Friday night!  I am hosting a game night with my church group.  It’s a social event with purpose: instead of going out and spending money on dinner and a movie or concert, come have fun with friends and donate whatever you would have spent to The Galileo School!  I would appreciate your prayers for this event.

God has also provided time and wisdom in planning for the medical component of our trip.  Last week I took a day off and got to spend it forming a medical lesson plan.  We’re going to have the opportunity to do some health teaching with the people in Bul Kur and Apac.  I have a very helpful book called Where There Is No Doctor, written specifically for health workers in remote villages.  We will be teaching on topics such as germs (what are they, how do they affect us), personal hygiene, clean water, latrines, and HIV.  Thank you for praying for me as I worked on this lesson plan.  Please continue to pray that we would be able to communicate in a way that the people of Uganda would understand.  Pray that the information we share would be useful and health would improve because of what we taught.

"The Africans"

When I decided I was going to Uganda, I realized that I know very little about Africa. I don’t remember studying much about Africa in school. I started to wonder about its history and culture, and how it has come to the place it is today. I love to read, so I figured the best place to start was Half Price Books! Sure enough, I found a wonderful book for $1 in the clearance section! I read The Africans by David Lamb.


I would definitely recommend this book if you want to learn more about Africa. Although not the most up to date (it was published in 1984), it is written from the first-hand experiences of a reporter who traveled all over Africa for 8 years, experienced life on the continent, met many of Africa’s leaders, and gained insight into the African culture. The book is like a collection of essays on different topics such as Africa’s history, culture, economy, wars, journalism, and health care (my favourite).

The concept that stuck out most to me from this book is the African’s outlook on life. They have a phrase, “Shauri ya Mungu” which means “It’s God’s will.” The author calls this attitude fatalism- whatever will be will be. And in one sense, this is an appropriate name because sometimes this attitude keeps the African people from accepting positive change (i.e. vaccinations, clean water). However, I think fatalism is a harsh name for an outlook that helps people go on in a very uncertain life. Africans have so much instability and suffering in their lives- so much that I have a hard time imagining myself in their position. My suffering is a drop in the bucket compared to theirs- and yet I find myself questioning God as if I have a right to escape all disappointment and pain. The agony of emotions that goes along with such questioning can seem crippling. The Africans suffer beyond what I can imagine, and yet they are able to accept their suffering and go on without blame and with gratefulness for life. That is quite amazing. I look forward to seeing what this is like in real life.

The chapter on healthcare in Africa stirred both excitement and sadness in me. Sadness because there’s so much need and so much suffering. Excitement because I get to go and help, if God wills. We’ll be holding clinics in two or three locations in northern Uganda. We’ll also be holding health education classes. I believe that health education is the most impactful way that I can attempt to help the people we will see. I hope that I can communicate the basics of health and disease in a way that the people will both understand and accept. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and guidance as I do research and formulate a health curriculum. Thanks for your prayers!

Maps of Uganda

Whenever I am getting ready to travel, I love looking at maps and getting a perspective of where I'm going in the world in relation to the continent, other countries, and how far I will be traveling while I'm there.  So if you're maps-oriented, you'll enjoy this post.

Here's a map of Uganda in relation to the world and Africa:

Here's a map I made in Google maps of my flight path:

We'll be flying from Dallas to Chicago, to Brussells in Belgium, and then to Entebbe in Uganda.  If you want to play with the map in Google, click here for the link.

Here's another map I made of where we will be traveling within Uganda:

The airplane symbol in Entebbe is where we will land.  We will then visit a church in Kampala, the capital.  The two medical symbols are at Gulu and Apac, where we will be holding medical clinics and doing health education, among other activities.  The Galileo School, which is in the process of construction, is located outside of Gulu in Bul Kur (but I couldn't locate Bul Kur on the map).  The camera icon is Murchison Falls, where we will be doing some sight-seeing.  Again, if you want to see the map in Google, click here.

I hope to add more details to these maps during my travels, so stay posted!

Uganda

Considering God’s work around the world brings such joy to my heart! I am amazed by the scope of His love- from personal to universal. Over the past year, God has been going deeper with me into how personal His love is for me. But God’s personal love is not only for me…it is for people of all cultures in all countries! I am continually delighted by updates on how His love is being shared by friends in America, Canada, China, the Ukraine, Mexico, India, Germany, and now Uganda. This year, God has given me a new opportunity to share His love in Uganda.


Just to give you an idea of how this started….I have been on several mission trips in the past, and had the opportunity to do medical missions twice in college. When I went to India in 2009, we did one day of medical missions and I was reminded of how much I love to minister to people through nursing. So last summer, I started to have a desire to do another medical mission trip. After casually mentioning to my Dad that I needed to make Africa my next travel destination, Scott and Georgianna Noel came to my church to talk about their upcoming mission trip to Uganda.

Scott and Georgianna Noel started an organization called The Galileo School in 2008. They are currently building a school in the village of Bul Kur in Northern Uganda. Uganda is suffering from the after-effects of a 20 year civil war in which almost the whole population of Northern Uganda was displaced from their homes. Refugees in their own country, these people were forced to live in displaced people camps for years. Conditions in and out of the camps were terrible. Inside the camps the people suffered disease, starvation, and poverty. Many people were murdered and many children were kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers. The civil war is now over and the people have been forced to return “home”, but their homes have been destroyed and their country ravaged. The vision of The Galileo School is to help provide a future for the people of Uganda by providing an education for their children.

I will be joining the Noels and several others on a trip to Uganda in May. The school that is currently being built in Bul Kur will be finished in May, so we will be there for the dedication. We will be visiting with and encouraging believers in Kampala, Gulu, Apac, and Bul Kur. The part of the trip that I’m most excited about is the medical part! We will be serving the community by providing health education and medical clinics in several locations. We will also get to do some sight-seeing, including a trip to the source of the Nile and Murchison Falls.

I would love it if you would join me in this through your prayers! Here’s what you can pray for:

• Pray for the people of Uganda, for physical and spiritual peace in their lives

• Pray for the building of The Galileo School in Bul Kur

• Pray that God would provide for the needs of the many orphans attending the school in Bul Kur

• Pray that God would direct our trip and work out all the details

• Pray that God would give me wisdom in developing a health curriculum and preparing for the medical clinics

• Pray that my heart would be open to learning about who God is and what He wants to do in my life through this trip

I will continue to update this blog with more details about the trip (a taste of what’s to come: prayer request updates, maps, video links, Uganda history, more about The Galileo School). I hope you enjoy the updates!

Day 17

I have a little devotional book I love called “31 Days of Praise” by Ruth Myers. This book is simple and easy to use each day. It is also powerful in the truths it contains, and it invites the reader into personal fellowship with God and a delving deeper into who He is.

Today I read Day 17 and thought it worth sharing. These are truths for every day that can take our “just normal” lives and fill them with joy.

Thank You that You have me in the place You want me just now…that even if I got here through wrong choices or indifference or even rebellion, yet You knew my mistakes and sins before I ever existed, and You worked them into Your plan to draw me to Yourself, to mold and bless me, and to bless others through me. Thank You that, even if I’m here through the ill will or poor judgment of other people, all is well; for in Your sovereign wisdom You are at work to bring about good results from all those past decisions, those past events beyond my control- good results both for me and for others. Thank You again that You meant for good the terrible things that happened to Joseph, who was sold into slavery, exiled to a distant country, and later sent to prison on false accusations…and that through all this You had him in the right place at the right time, for highly important reasons. I’m glad, Lord, that You are the same today- well able to work things out for us, to turn evil into good. I stand amazed at the complexity and mystery of Your wisdom. How safe it is for me to trust Your reasons for acting (or not acting) and Your methods of working!

Thank You that I can safely commit my location and situation to You. I can “be willing for You to shift me anywhere on life’s checkerboard, or bury me anywhere in life’s garden, gladly yielding myself for You to please Yourself with, anywhere and anyway You choose.” Thank You that I can trust You with my future places- ready to go, ready to stay.

So I rest in the fact that You have me in this place for this day, and I praise You that You will faithfully guide me throughout life to just where You want me to be, as I seek to do Your will.

And most important of all is my place in You. How delighted I am to have You as my dwelling place where I can settle down, feel secure and be content anywhere on earth….You are my blessed home, “where I can enter and be at rest even when all around and above is a sea of trouble” (Andrew Murray). How my soul delights to hide in the secret of Your presence…to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings, to eat at Your table, to drink my fill of the river of Your delights. How blessed I am, my King and my God, for You have chosen me, and brought me near, to live in Your presence, to behold You delightfulness, to seek Your counsel….And to think that I will dwell in Your house forever!

Same Lake, Different Boat

Ah, summertime! Every summer, as I was growing up, my parents had my siblings and I set summer goals. There were several categories of goals, and one of them was reading. I now associate summer with reading projects, among other things. This summer my reading project is to get ahead for my fall classes by reading four books about suffering and disability. This fall, I will be taking a class called “A Biblical Theology of Suffering, Disability, and the Church.” I’ve been wanting to take this class for a couple semesters now, so I am excited both about taking it this fall and doing the reading this summer.

I just finished reading my second book for this class, titled Same Lake, Different Boat by Stephanie O. Hubach. The one-line description for the book is “coming alongside people touched by disability.” This was an excellent read. I personally found this book to be interesting because I face disability every day in nursing. Many of the patients I know suffer with disability. This book is very helpful in highlighting the needs, challenges, and value of those touched by disability. It was also greatly informative of how the church can develop a mindset that both includes people with disabilities in the body of Christ while ministering to their needs.

What I found most interesting and most personal in Same Lake, Different Boat were Hubach’s insights on grace, brokenness, suffering, and relationships. I was fascinated by her ability to take her experience with disability (her son Timmy has Down syndrome) and shed light on much of theology. She begins by reminding her readers that because of the fall we live in an abnormal world- not as God intended it to be. Because of that, brokenness is a normal part of life that we all experience. Disability is simply a more noticeable form of brokenness- a more obvious reminder of our desperate need for grace.

We are the ones with desperate needs, and God, who is rich in grace, has met us in our need. He alone is the one operating from a position of strength. He is the one who is active in our lives- preaching, proclaiming, recovering, and releasing. The beauty of the gospel, if we truly understand it, is that each of us faces a complete barrier to participation in the kingdom of God due to the profoundly disabled condition of our hearts. The good news is that Christ’s perfect sacrifice applied to us makes our full participation in the life of God a reality.

I found chapter 7, “On Negotiating a Path to Acceptance,” to be personally challenging and helpful. Hubach is speaking specifically about how to come to a place of acceptance when realizing that disability will be a permanent part of your life. I think these truths can easily be applied to anyone facing a difficulty in their life, whether it is a disability or not. In this sense, acceptance could be defined as developing peace about the presence of a difficulty in your life. Here is the process Hubach suggests for gaining peace: release expectations, redirect by building a new life that incorporates the difficulty, incorporate new responsibilities, relinquish control to God, and realize the benefits of the place where God has taken you.

There are many more jewels I could share, but maybe you would enjoy reading them for yourself!

Mansfield Park

I just finished reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen.  The following is one of the interesting quotes I came across.  The thoughts are of a father reflecting on how he brought up his daughters, who, although they received an excellent education, came to moral ruin.

"Here had been grievous mismanagement; but, bad as it was, he gradually grew to feel that it had not been the most direful mistake in his plan of education. Something must have been wanting within, or time would have worn away much of its ill effect. He feared that principle, active principle, had been wanting; that they had never been properly taught to govern their inclinations and tempers by that sense of duty which can alone suffice. They had been instructed theoretically in their religion, but never required to bring it into daily practice. To be distinguished for elegance and accomplishments- the authorised object of their youth- could have had no useful influence that way, no moral effect on the mind. He had meant them to be good, but his cares had been directed to the understanding and manner, not the disposition; and of the necessity of self-denial and humility he feared they had never heard from any lips that could profit them."