God of this city

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're Lord Of this nation
You are

You're the light in this darkness
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the peace to the restless
You are

For there is no one like our God

There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come

Great things are still to be done
In this city

Greater things are still to come

And greater things are still to be done here

You're the Lord of Creation

The Creator of all things

You're the King above all Kings

You Are


You're the strength in our weakness

You're the love to the broken

You're the joy in the sadness

You Are

Greater things have yet to come

Great things are still to be done 
In this city

Where glory shines from hearts alive

With praise for you and love for you

In this city



Greater things have yet to come

Great things are still to be done

In this city

Greater things are still to come

And greater things are still to be done here

Burn Us Up

the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (or rack, shack, & benny according to Veggie Tales) is one of my favorites. And we talked a lot about their story on DTS. "You are able to deliver from the fire of affliction... but even if You don't.... we will burn..." (burn us up- Shane &Shane)

But as we read the story in church today I saw it with new eyes.

"16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."- Daniel 3:16-18

There are so many good things here.. but one stands out to me. verse 17. the God we serve is able to save us from it. Rack, Shack, and Benny knew the strength of God. And they believed He would save them. and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But here's the kicker. God is able, but he doesn't always rescue us from situations. Sometimes He does not intervene. And they knew that. And were willing to take that risk, to have that faith and to still trust and serve their God knowing that they very well might be charred to a crisp. But even if he does not, How often do I simply assume that I won't burn. That God will protect not only my soul but my "earthsuit" (thanks Gary for that term!) as well. WRONG.


Rack, Shack and Benny weren't angry at God for allowing them for them to actually get thrown in. Though they emerged complete, not even smelling like smoke. BUt what if God hadn't protected them entirely? What if He had indeed spared their lives but they had some minor burns and some singes on their clothes? Or consider the story of Daniel in the lion's den. What if God had not actually shut the mouths of the lions. What would have happened if God had allowed a lion to take one bite out of Daniel .. granted the spectacle would have been lessened. And God would kind of look like weak sauce. Could you imagine what the crowds who were watching would say "Come on. All powerful? Your God couldn't shut the mouths of lions or quench the flames. All He did was spare your life. And not without some damage to your person." And they would be right. When God doesn't fully intervene, when He doesn't fully rescue us from evil, He looks weak. We wonder... what happened to this all-powerful God who loves us?

And, if that hypothetical situation had occurred, minor burns and a lion snack. How would they have reacted? How would Rack, Shack, and Benny have felt treating their wounds? Or how would Daniel feel getting his wound sewn up? Would they have felt betrayed by God? Let down and abandoned? Looking at the text, I would say no. They had all firmly resolved to follow their God no matter what the cost and had already faced much testing of that choice. They had made their choice to follow no matter what the cost. And I know that I have said that many times. So what's wrong with me? Why am I angry about a lion bite when I am still alive?

So many times we.. ok, I assume that when I read those verses in the Bible where God says He will protect us and save us, I read that as physically. That God will protect my body and spare my physical life. Well, that's not true. God will not always spare me, because let's face it, we all do die eventually. The point is that He will always protect my SOUL, which is really the only part that matters. My soul is the only part of me that is eternal. And so, sometimes, for purposes and reasons unknown to me, He will not always spare my physical body. Sometimes, He'll spare my life.. but.. allow other things to befall me. I mean look at Job. He lost everything. His children, his possessions, his livelihood and income, his health, his wife, his friends, and his reputation. And yet... he still trusted God with it all. God was able to intervene in each of those situations, and He chose not to. Job couldn't see why as he cried out over and over to God. But eventually he did see that God's aim was to draw Job into a deeper relationship with Him. That may not have been all of God's motivation or reason to allow Job to suffer, but that was His desired result. It all comes down to how God chooses to limit Himself to allowing us to have free will.
All that for love.... What an amazing God!

And that's the thing. We find ourselves disappointed and disillusioned with God when bad things happen and we feel He's let us down. In reality, it was just our wrong perceptions that let us down. I think in North America we have subscribed at least to a degree in prosperity gospel. That if we follow Jesus bad or hard things won't happen to us. So we are totally surprised when things do happen to us. And shocked. And wondering what's wrong with God. Perhaps that's part of the curse of affluence and comfort. In other places in the world, hardship and suffering is common place. It happens to everyone. a lot. And we don't see that here. Suffering and sorrow aren't so common place. Our culture doesn't know how to deal with pain (not that many cultures do) we just bury it and go on pretending that life is fine.. to put on a happy face. And I think that's the root behind so many problems in society. Instead of being shocked when bad things happen, we have to entrust our hearts to God and bring our pain to Him. And when we get there, we find Him already weeping over it.. and yet ready to heal us.. over time. I am not claiming to have this all figured out, it's something I'm walking through. Wrong beliefs and misplaced trust that God is exposing through all of this. And, drawing me closer once more. I am so thankful for a relentless God! "For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal." -Job 5:18

still my hope is found in You

"My soul is weak

My heart is numb

I cannot see

But still my hope is found in You

I’ll hold on tightly

You will never let me go


For Jesus, You will never fail

Jesus, You will never fail



Simply to the cross i cling

Letting go of all earthly things

I'm clinging to the cross

Mercy’s found a way for me

Hope is here as i am free

Jesus, You are all i need

I'm clinging to the cross



Even darkness is as light to You, my Lord

So light the way and lead me home

To that place where every tear is wiped away


For Jesus, You will never fail

Jesus, You will never fail


Simply to the cross i cling

Letting go of all earthly things

I'm clinging to the cross

Mercy’s found a way for me

Hope is here as i am free

Jesus, You are all i need

I'm clinging to the cross



What a Saviour, what a story

You were crucified but now You are alive

So amazing, such a mystery

You were crucified but now You are alive" - Clinging to the Cross - Tim Hughes

DRC- you are not forgotten

The people in the eastern DRC are living a nightmare. In the north, the LRA is still raiding villages and abducting women and children. And in the south, there is a three way fight that continues between the government troops, Hutu forces who fled there following the Rwandan genocide, a rebel band of Tutsis who fear genocide once more. All sides have committed atrocities. And now their refugee camps have been burned. They have no food. no shelter. no safety. The NGOs have stopped operating. Please, keep the people of the DRC in your prayers. You can read more news articles in this link: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7702099.stm] Justice seems far away. But my heart is trying to rest in the fact that our God is a god of justice and love, and one day He will make all things right!




"I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.


I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.



The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.


The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because He was angry. Smoke rose from His nostrils; consuming fire came from His mouth, burning coals blazed out of it


He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.



He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.



The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,
great bolts of lightning and routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.



He reached down from on high and took hold of me; He drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.



They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me."



Psalm 18:1-19 NIV.
Photos from BBC News.

tides of goodness

"think i'll wait for the tide
seems it's all i can do right now
there must be a reason
i've run aground

and i know the waves
will come
by the moon and the tide
like a man and his bride
i will wait
on You, Lord
and we will run so far from here
to Your...

safety in the storm
there is courage for the simple man
to the holders of secrets and scars
learning to stand with reaching arms
we'll wait till the very last
no matter what will be
you're always good
always good
to me" - Newsboys "The Tide"

Hosea: a lesson in God's faithfulness!

God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. Ouch. That just might suck. The good news, maybe, is that Hosea (might have) picked her out. He might have even truly loved her from the beginning. Which would have made her betrayal even more painful. However, God had warned.. well rather even commanded, that she would be unfaithful. Hosea saw it coming. The thing was, that in his pain, Hosea had to trust, rest & walk in the faithfulness of God. He had to believe that God was who He said He was, and that He would make things good at some point. And what an example of surrender. It doesn't say that Hosea argued with God about this (though he may have) but even if he did, God's word won out, and Hosea obeyed.

Hosea is the story of one man & his wife. It is the story of the nation of Israel. Is is the story of my life. Over and over again in the Bible, the people of God are unfaithful, they chase after "less-wild lovers" and forsake the unfailingly faithful and merciful Lover. Over and over I do that to God. I pursue other lovers and leave the only One who is good behind. I deserve nothing less than death... the punishment for adultery. But my Lord is extravagantly gracious and merciful. He loves unconditionally far beyond the bounds of humanity. Over and over He takes me back into His arms, cleans me up, clothes me in the garments of His house, and loves me again. And so many times I sneak out again, chasing anything shiny that has caught my eye. I don't understand this: the relentless, gracious, tender love of Jesus.

"Jesus gained the power to love harlots, bullies, and ruffians.. He was able to do this only because He saw through the filth and crust of degeneration, because His eye caught the divine original which is hidden in every way - in every man ... First and foremost He gives us new eyes. When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, He saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom His Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong, He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be and therefore He saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which He would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because He loved them right through the layer of mud." - Helmut Thielicke

Jesus looks at me this way, He sees through the muck and mire of my sin.. into the soul He deeply desires. This is the "reward of His suffering". Intimate fellowship with me. With all men, individually. So... what can I do about it? What can I do to ensure that Jesus receive His reward? By telling the world about this crazy love. By sharing, even with just one person, how amazingly pursued they are. That a high price was paid for them (Isaiah 43: 4 & 53:1-6) and that God desperately desires fellowship with them. That this God, does not care what they have done, He has seen it all, and still extends grace. He offers justification and forgiveness. A fresh start, to be pure and clean as snow (Isaiah 1:18).


the above was found in some of my DTS lecture phase notes... and in a time in my life when I sometimes have some serious doubts about the faithfulness of God, here, a precious beautiful reminder of just how faithful He is! And then in the light of all of that, how much richer His GRACE is! wow. awesome. there are just no more words... :)

Last Day in Uganda!

Wow. I can't believe it's here already. Yesterday was my last full day on Hopeland. In a couple of hours we leave for Entebbe. Catherine, Kendra, Tim & Ryan all fly out tonight. Then my amazing friend & awesome staffer, Rachel, is spending the night with me in Entebbe. And tomorrow morning I get on a plane and fly to London. And by tomorrow night, I'll be back in Whatcom County! I still can't believe it!

We spent our last few days here seeing God do something awesome. Friday & Saturday we hosted a conference for the youth about HIV/ AIDS. Uganda has made some awesome progress in reducing the rate of HIV infections in the last 20 years. It has become a model for many other African countries for how to help bring cases of infection down. Sadly, though, the most recent statistics show that the infection rate is beginning to rise again. So we got to encourage this generation that it is in their hands - only through lifestyle changes, especially brought about by loving Jesus and living the way He commands us to (being faithful), can HIV/AIDS stop from being spread and eventually be eradicated. The conference was a great success. Friday night we had 95 students and Saturday there were around 140. They were mostly boys, which is awesome, because in many ways, they are the ones who can make the biggest impact with their choices. We had a good number of girls too, which was awesome... because at the moment in Uganda, women represent 57% of the people infected with AIDS, and young women are 9X more likely to contract HIV than young men due to many not so great cultural practices.

So... here is my last update from Uganda. I still can't wrap my brain around that. Please pray for journey mercies... my layover in London is only 1hr & 15 min, so if my flight is delayed at all, I could quite possibly miss my connecting flight and then be stuck in Heathrow for 24 hrs (that's the next flight out to Seattle on the airline I'm flying).

wohoo! What an amazing, crazy, hard, wonderful, perplexing, growing time the last 6 months have been! There have been so many good things... and not so good things... but all in all.. God has done some amazing works in my life, and I've seen Him in so many new ways! Yahoo!

so... all my love.. from Uganda... one more time!
-Kati Rose

Blessed Be Your Name...

hello everyone.
well.... things have been..... not going according to plan. Well, my plan that is.

If you haven't heard already, our trip to Kenya did not go well. However, we have gotten to see the amazing goodness, faithfulness, protection & provision of God in a truly amazing way.

We stopped in a city called Kisumu for lunch on our bus ride, and someone there got ahold of my pin # somehow & stole a substantial amount out of my bank account. Then our first day in Mombassa we were mugged at knifepoint & assaulted. This is where the God-miracle work begins. Through a long and complicated process of communication we were introduced to an amazing man and his wife who work with YWAM Mombassa. They took the most amazing care of us that I have ever received. This family embodied hospitality in such a way that was as if the love of God was just spilling over through them in all they did. They dropped everything that they were doing to care for us, drive us places & deal with the police. We were fed amazing meals, and just truly experienced the care of the body of Christ in motion. They also arranged flights for us, so we wouldn't have to take another 21+ hour bus ride back, and just loved us.

And also People's Bank is amazing, and if you don't already bank there, you should. They are going to restore the $ stolen out of my account back! Yahoo. Not to mention they have the most amazing customer service anywhere!

we are now back at the base. We're (the girls) staying with Dr. Tim & Jackie (the base leader & his wife) and the boys are in a house next door. It has been so great to be back home at Hopeland, and just in Uganda in general. I don't blame all Kenyans for the stupidity of a few, and in fact, most of my favorite people on DTS were all Kenyans. However, just the general atmosphere of Kenya vs. Uganda leads me to prefer Uganda.

After much prayer, we also feel that it is not God's best timing for us to be going to Pader at this time. I still truly feel called to go at some point, but I have complete peace about not going at this time. Though I am sad, because I was really looking forward to ministry in the camp. No team is going at all at this time, partially also due to the increased movement & activity of the LRA in the North again.

Another change that has been made to my plan, also after much prayer, is that I will be returning to whatcom county at the end of July instead of the end of August.

Here's the thing, yes, something terrible happened to us. But we have seen the absolutely amazing grace of God and seen the body of Christ in motion in the most incredible way. We feel so loved & taken care of, and see the sovereign hand of God in all these things. I trust completely that through all of this God will be glorified and that good things will come. And I have gotten to see Jesus in a new way once again. What an amazing Savior King we serve!

"Through many dangers, toils, & snares I have already come. 'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."

"Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power & love. Our God is an awesome God. "

"Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise, when the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name."

thank you all for keeping us in your prayers.

Praise & Glory to our Father,
-Kati Rose

GRADUATION!

Hey everyone! I know i promised a long update with more information about outreach and all that jazz, but that's because we thought our debrief week would be more just relaxing.. it's has actually been insanely busy... and we've had several power outages this week (surprise surprise). So... today is Graduation. Yep, we're done. 5 months of DTS finishes today! WOHOO! What a crazy adventure it has been!! There have been ups and downs.. and yes, I will post a more descriptive blog all about DTS as a whole at some point. It's just that graduation eats up pretty much all of today, and tomorrow I have to do tons of laundry, pack, & quite possibly move into a new room.. as well as go to town to pick up some stuff, because Monday morning we leave for Mombassa!! Yahoo! So, we'll be in Mombassa for a week, come back Tuesday morning... do lots of laundry & repack, because Wednesday we leave for Pader for two weeks (which, by the way, I will be incommunicado for those 2 weeks, no cell reception (I think) and definitely no power or internet (it is a refugee camp for goodness sake!) We should be back around the 23rd or 24th.

Yesterday was spent in a cleaning frenzy beautifying the base for all the visitors and setting up & decorating for graduation. Thursday we went rafting on the NIle! It was INCREDIBLE!! SO amazing (class 5 rapids! Our boat flipped in one, so we all "swam" through the rapid! We also took our 5m long boat down a waterfall that was 5m high (so we were vertical for a little while!!!). It was one of the scariest things I've ever done, but also so much fun. I'm a little sore, bruised & sunburnt... but throughly thrilled I did it. Also, they are building another dam on the NIle so in the next two years, most of the 11 rapids will be non existent.
This week we've also just gone to town, had a lecture, monday morning devotions, a massive homework assignment (a huge evaluation of DTS & Staff & ourselves... where we got to express all of our displeasure in many things, as well as answer very vague questions like "are you open?" with answers like: "Open to what?" or "Well, I'm not closed." etc. One student on our DTS wrote 13 pages about everything that had gone wrong, her husband wrote 8! Let's say that this DTS was a challenge, not what we expected at all... but still many good things have come of it. I am still very happy I came, and I still totally believe that it was God who directed my steps to come here, and intended for me to have this experience.

anywho... time to do some organizing and packing & cleaning, then eventually some getting ready. Grad starts at "10" which actually means it will start between 11 & 12. It should be interesting.. both DTS & SBS (School of BIblical Studies) are graduating today... that means with our 36 +7 there are 43 diplomas to hand out. And like a million guest speakers. We'll also have lots of LOUD music (some people have developed the technique of wearing earplugs to save their sanity & their hearing for things like parties & church services were the volume is pumped to the absolute loudest level possible.) Our dorm is also turning into madness comparable to a wedding or prom.. girls have been planning their grad outfits for months now. All of the african girls went out and got really fancy weaves done too. The sad thing is that i have to say goodbye to some of my awesome friends who are leaving today! The good news is that I will no longer have 16 roommates!

ok... well.. peace out for now!
love you all!!
-KatiRose

week 3 in FP!

hey everyone! we're all safe and sound.. PTL Persis is all better! things are going awesome.. only one week left! so crazy.. time flies!! Jesus is amazing as usual!
well, gotta run!
love you!

malaria strikes again..

hey everyone just a quick update... a girl on our team, Persis, has malaria. Apparently it's pretty bad, but she is refusing to stay at the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers! As well as just general health for our whole team, a bunch more jiggers made their appearance yesterday.
love you!

A week in FP...

Hello everyone!!
we've been here in Fort Portal for just over a week now.. and what a crazy week it has been. It turns out that as I was on the internet this time last week, they were taking Catherine to the hospital... she had +4 Malaria.. which is about as bad as it gets. I spent 2 nights with her in the hospital, but by the grace of God, she is totally better now! YAHOO! We've also been working with schools, basically doing a crusade for them. We went to a school for nurses and I got to "preach" to them.. we found out when we got there that they were actually all born again, so it was just fellowship. We spent all day at church yesterday, attending service and then putting on one of our own. As for what this week holds, I am not sure. Last night we went to this little place in a back alley way and watched the first 1/2 of Poland vs Germany in the Euro cup. Tonight the plan is to go back and see Italy vs the Netherlands. We'll see about that. We've also started doing a prayer chain at night instead of praying at 5 am. We pray in hour long shifts, usually one guy & one girl. and we each take 2 shifts a night. so we can pray from 6pm to 6am. We've also been on a sweet prayer walk. God sure has a lot to say! We're asking for boldness and for God to capture the hearts of this generation. Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
love you!
miss you!

welcome to Fort Portal!

Hey Everyone!!
I am in Fort Portal now!!
We had 3 awesome weeks in Mityana district in a village called Kalyankoko(which translated from Luganda means "asks chicken" (it comes from a witch doctor woman who used to ask for a chicken in payment for her services). We had such an awesome time! The church there was incredible, the pastor so humble & the church members so devoted & hungry for more of Jesus! Our work was definitely Spirit led which was amazing. We were all crammed in a little tiny house (no doors or even curtains between rooms.. so we got to know eachother REALLY well!!) and the boys slept shoulder to shoulder.. it was on dirt floors and we had no running water (but the water was clean & clear & amazing people were always fetching water for us!)We all got sick too (barfing in the banana trees!Or sick in other ways.. it was all intestinal to be sure).. and there was a jigger epidemic (I had two in one toe!) We did some crusades & some door to door. then the last week we did seminars & tim & I did kids ministry (mark & ryan each helped one day too) while the parents were in seminars in the church. 10 kids gave their lives to Jesus! It was so cool! We played a lot of soccer with the kids & the adults in the town. They all laughed at me, a muzungu girl who is not too good a soccer.. but tried anyway! We also built a house out of mud in one day (and had a huge mud fight with each other!!) I can't say much more than it was amazing and a huge blessing! Now were here in FP in a huge house... that has some weird western features to it.. so we all had culture shock the first night we got here. Catherine is sick.. please pray for her.. she has been sick since Tuesday afternoon with a fever & chills... she plans to go to the clinic tomorrow. we don't exactly have a church to work with here yet. the first one backed out on us, but it sounds like we may have one now. Msaki & Millie met with a pastor today, and we'll find out tonight what's going on. Internet is expensive & i'm almost out of time.. I'll try to be back on next monday. Pray that GOd will guide us to the right ministries & the right people & just work mightily through us. FP is HUGE.. seems bigger than Jinja. Hard to say though, this is the first time I've left the house. OK.. blessings on all of you!
love you!
miss you!
Happy JUNE!!

ch-ch- changes...

Hey everyone!
So, here's the deal.. I wanted to wait until I got pictures to post, but that doesn't appear to be happening... but we've had a change in our team. Pastor George will no longer be going with us.. and instead, our friend Jared from Kenya will be coming! Very exciting! Also, it appears that the phone number I posted before was wrong. So here is the correct one: 011 (0 or +) 256775571802. It has been officially decided that we leave Monday morning, though the time has yet to be decided. Ummm... I don't know what else. Passion is still up in the air... so please keep that in your prayers. I still can't believe that we leave on Monday and that we are now finished with lecture phase!

I know I said I'd post and update about the last 2 weeks soon, and I hopefully will... but we're at Fast Net right now in Jinja and it's just too hard to concentrate on things like that with so many people everywhere! So.. for now..
love you all!!

Outreach!!

Fort Portal / Mityana Outreach Team 2008
Back Row (L-R) Me, Mark, Bernard, Brenda, Mercy, Catherine, Sandra, Steve, Millie, Pastor George.
Front Row (L-R) Tim, Ryan, Msaki, Persis.


Hello fantastic friends and family!
I have a lot of information to give you in a very short amount of time.. life here can change pace quite rapidly... and we are often informed of things at the last minute.

Outreach is here. nearly.
we are on our last week (it may not be a whole week, we're not sure!) of Lecture phase. Originally we were told we would leave .. well, it doesn't matter, but the last thing we were told was that we would leave Monday May 12th. (our time, not WA) Our team will be going to Mityana & Fort Portal (yes, where I went for Mini Outreach in March.) We will be in both places 3 weeks each. I will not have internet access at all during those 6 weeks. (We are scheduled to arrive back at Hopeland June 22nd or 23rd.)

The good news is, that we have an AWESOME team! We are 12 students & 2 leaders making a grand total of 14. 6 guys and 6 girls. 6 Africans & 6 Muzungus. Well balanced!
Here's who we are:
Ladies:
Catherine Bules (Canton, OH; USA)
Brenda (Kenya)
Mercy Ogalla (Kenya)
Persis Tusubira (Kampala, Uganda)
Sandra (Jinja, Uganda)
KatiRose Johnston (Laurel, WA; USA)
Guys:
Mark Pouteaux (Swift Current, SK; Canada)
Bernard Edwards (Capetown, South Africa)
Ryan Pauls (Saskatoon SK; Canada)
Tim Falk (Saskatoon SK; Canada/ Peru)
Steven Honest (Jinja, Uganda)
Pastor George Solo (Jinja, Uganda)
Leaders:
Emma Msaki (Arusha,Tanzania)
Millie (Uganda?)


So, more about outreach. We'll go to Mityana first. I don't know too much about it, other than we will probably stay in the village. Mityana has a major problem with witchcraft, is what we have been told, and that's about all we have to pray into. We stopped to get "fast food" there on our way to FP last time (fast food African style is meat on a stick or chapati or matoke shoved through your window.) Then after 3 weeks, so approx. June 2nd? We'll head on to FP.

Fort Portal. So far we have heard that we will not necessarily (meaning unless God tells us to, which we really hope He does...) be going back to Kijura & Kahuna to do any follow up on the ministry we did in March. The plan is to stay in the town of Fort Portal. Drunkenness & hopelessness are going to be our big enemies there.

We also have an awesome opportunity, which at the moment is still a huge maybe (Mugaya is still praying into it.. ) that would be absolutely amazing. Here's the deal, May 30 & 31 in Kampala there will be a Passion Conference. (http://www.268generation.com/worldtour/lowbandwidth/index.php?filename=kampala-english.xml) And we have the opportunity to staff it. 30,000 university-aged students are expected to attend from all over Uganda and East Africa. And we could have the opportunity to go and minister to them.. to pray with them and share the awesome hope of Jesus with all of them! It would be AMAZING!

Outreach Prayer Requests:
* health for the whole team (this seems to be the enemy's favorite tactic of attack at the moment... )
* hearing God's voice & discerning it well
* LEADERSHIP
* Unity among the team
* That God would fill our hearts with His COMPASSION & GRACE
* unity among our team & the pastors/ translators/ bishop we will work with
* God's creativity in reaching these people
* Physical, Spiritual, & Emotional Strength
* that we would rest in the peace of God, especially about situations with family & friends at home (the other favorite tactic of the enemy for now!)

[Here's a request: would someone be amazing, and please take this info and make it into prayer cards & pass them out. I have no way of doing it from here... thanks! You're awesome!!]

Ready for some more good news?
For my birthday, my amazing friend Penny, is loaning me her spare cell phone, and she got me a sim card, which means... that while I won't have any internet access, you could call me while I am on outreach! This is a great website (which I do not have at the moment, but will post asap) that Catherine's mom found, and has been using to call her for the last 3 months, where one can purchase international calling cards online quite cheaply! My phone # is +2567775571802... I can receive text messages and send them, but it is a bit more expensive and I can't really afford too many. All incoming calls for me are free... so, if you really miss me and want to chat sometime in the next month & 1/2, you can give me a call! I'd love to hear from you!

And, for those of you who were wondering, here is an overview of what the next 4 months of my life look like (as in, the whole rest of the time I am in Uganda!)

So, then, after outreach, we have debrief week. Hopefully, we'll go rafting on the Nile that week! (23 June-27 June). Then on the 28th is our Graduation. 30 June we leave for Kenya. A bunch of us (Catherine, Kendra, Meg, Penny, Ryan, Mark, Tim, Kristine & I ) are going to Mombassa for a week to relax, and hang out. We will "hopefully" get to visit some of our friends in Kenya while we are there too. We should be back on 7 June.

After that, as in, 8 or 9 July, we head up to Pader for a two week outreach in the IDP camp. In case you were wondering what the story is there, I'll tell you! IDP stands for Internally Displaced Persons camp. They are the result of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) and all the havoc they have wreaked on Northern Uganda for the last 20 years or so. They have been in exile in Sudan for the last two years or so, but there is SO much of the mess that they have left behind. They would raid villages, kill people, rape women, and abduct the children and brainwash them (as well as involve them in witchcraft) and then force them into being child soldiers. The people in these camps are squished in (houses are ridiculously close together, and FULL of people) scared, and hopeless. They have lost everything, their houses, farms, businesses and communities. They have nearly no future. The camps are government "sponsored" which means that the soldiers guard them from possible attacks from a new tribe who is taking over and inflicting terror, the Karamajong, but most of the food (one meal a day) comes from relief organizations. The people have nothing to do.. nearly no jobs, and there is no return to their "homes" or what's left of them in the foreseeable future either. These camps are places of great spiritual darkness and many are demonic strongholds.

Apparently, most of Hopeland's work there in the last 2 years or so has been very discouraging and spiritually depressive, but with the last team that went, things changed. They had been praying for the joy of the Lord to invade that place and all the people there. (An outreach team from Scotland and another from South Africa had been there for 3 weeks before the team from our base headed up) (Hopeland has been going up and showing the Jesus film as well as building a school!!) And the joy of the Lord came! Apparently, before the children that lived there wouldn't even play, they would all just sit there. This time though, the kids were playing! They had planned to show the Jesus film, but God had other plans and broke all of their equipment so they ended up doing dramas about the life of Christ and many came forward and were saved and there were many who were healed. Anywho, they really want to send up more teams to support the new baby Christians and disciple them. So, lots of us want to go up to the camp and work there... hearing about these camps was a big part of what God used to break my heart for Uganda.

our work in Pader will be...? Well, it's up to God to show us what He wants us to do. We plan to work with the kids, do some sports ministry, help with the school building, do some AIDS presentations, and also some discipleship classes/seminars, as well as..? all sorts of other things. We'll see where God leads. It's a 1.5 day drive up to Pader (the roads are not so good, and we'll have to stop in Kampala for supplies & such.) We plan on coming back around 22 or 23 July.

After that, sometime between 28 July - 3 August, I'll start my work with Spring of Hope. [http://www.springofhope.org.uk/].

Ok... well, that's enough about outreach. I'll toss up another update about the last week or so soon.. before I leave!
love you all!!
-Ket Rose

Week 12- Update

Week 12: (Thus Far)

Well, the rain has made a difference. The average temp in the morning & evenings has dropped to mid-low 70's. Which, is COLD.. considering our average temp before that was mid-low 90's. Nearly all this week I've been wearing jeans under my skirt, and a thick sweatshirt. This morning was the first sunny morning in like a week, which was really nice for quiet times.

Oh Outreach. I don't really want to write about this now, because nothing is for sure, but I also know that time is in a big crunch, and I don't know how much I will be able to update this. On Monday, outreach locations were posted. We also discovered, that the schedule has been wrong (for the 5th time now?) and that we aren't leaving May 19th, but May 10th. Which is just over two weeks from now! So, outreach will be six weeks instead of 5. (we come back June 19th). This whole thing has been a mess thus far... the way it was posted was really really dumb. So. I won't go into it. But, it does look like I will be going back to Fort Portal for 3 weeks and then to another place called Mitanya also for 3 weeks. (None of the outreach locations were outside of Uganda. And Pader was not on the list. However, that might change, with fervent prayer, so I am not giving up that one yet.) I will say, that so far we have an excellent team, and outreach looks like it will be a lot of fun, and that God will do amazing things. It's funny how much of a difference having a unified team makes!

Yesterday, Catherine, Penny and I went to town to pick up some stuff, like foil, for our Bible Verse Rap (so we can make some bling bling and possibly even grills.. hahaha) I also had my first boda boda ride, it was scary but fun too!

Oh, class this week... well, it has been on worldviews. Sort of. Only the last 35 minutes or so..(this is 2nd 1/2 of lecture on Wednesday!) so we've been keeping ourselves entertained in lots of ways. We've had more problems with completely crazy teaching. Yesterday our speaker went off on this tangent about Israel, and said that God will protect the country of Israel or He is not God. And basically stating that the existence of God is directly tied to the existence of the political country of Israel. Then he also said that the US will become a Muslim country if Israel is attacked by the muslims. WHAT?! I know. [oh, and speaking of the US and all sorts of political stuff... I just want the world to know... if Hillary Clinton becomes president of the United States, I am moving to Canada.]

Then we also spent a good 45 min-an hour arguing about weather or not it is sinful for women to wear trousers. This morning we had a 30 minute discussion on gender roles. And now... as usual... we are hearing the evils of homosexuality and lesbians (those are always two different things here.) (By the way, there is a HUGE preoccupation with sex here... every sin we hear about, every week, is always sexual sin. And many people here believe that all other sins are a result of / stem from sexual sin!! We're all just sick of hearing it.)

Thus far, this week has just been exhausting. With class full of not so good teaching, all the hysteria over outreach, and an emotionally taxing email from home, I am just drained.

Oh, and on Monday, while slashing, Tim, David & I got bitten by Safari Ants. (Think Lenningen & the Ants but not quite so large or scary, though if you don't pull them off, and you get enough of them, they will eat you alive.) They sting, but you just have to pull them off quickly, though they climb fast. So hope you discover them quickly.

On a lighter note, my feet are much much much much much, like a 1,000,000x better! My toe is basically healed, and the big sore has completely scabbed over and is just healing. I've finished my anti-biotics.. and things are going well.

Ok, are you ready for the most exciting news ever?

I just found out that... In July, we get to go with a team to do a 2 week outreach in Pader! YAHOOO. Talk about a dream come true, and the entire reason I wanted to come to Uganda for DTS. I just can't stop grinning! :D

Week 11- Update

Week 11:

Last week, was by far the best week of DTS thus far, and definitely one of the best weeks of my life. Our speaker was Gary Killingsworth, the leader of YWAM Scotland (he's an american) speaking on the Holy Spirit. His teaching style is so refreshing- Spirit led.. and focusing on how awesome, powerful, victorious, and just beyond our comprehension God is. it's just that here the whole christian culture is occupied with SIN,and how bad we are. To illustrate the point perfectly, this week (week 12) our memory verse is Galatians 5:19-23. It begins with a list of 16 (15 +1 etc) sins and then goes onto say that people who do this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then finally we get the 9 fruits of the Spirit. And we have to make it into a song. So our group has turned it into a quite impressive rap. hahaha. But that week it was just so refreshing to just be able to get lost in how awesome and amazing God is. instead of just focusing on how much sinful man sucks. Friday was an awesome day, we had the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Then they treated us to a DTS fun day, and paid for us all to go to Kingfisher and swim and have an amazing meal. We had a blast.Then we got back and there was this whole big who-ha about supper, because they were supposed to save us some (it was chapati night after all) and Alex, our amazing guardian angel/fairy godmother/ amazing staffer from england had saved us some, but the person in charge of the kitchen didn't want us to have them and wouldn't give up the keys. Finally, we sent a hostage negotiation delegation, and they were able to persuade him to give up the keys. Yum. Chapat for supper!

Saturday, the boys & Catherine & I all went to town. We went shopping and hit up Fast Net, and some supermarkets. We ate at The Source (well french fries aka "chips" and soda) and had an all together amazing day. Sunday was another chill day. We spent the morning reading & doing laundry and composing our memory verse rap. Then we walked to Wairaka to buy chapatis and right after we had purchased our tasty sunday afternoon snack, it began to rain. So we started our walk back, through the MASSIVE amounts of mud. And, God rained down His grace upon us. As we walked, a man in a taxi passed us and offered us a free ride back to YWAM Hopeland. Wahoo. The rest of the day we just ate chapat & chilled in the common room.

That reminds me, Rainy Season is here. Which means that the average temperature has dropped, and it rains a lot. We get massive thunderstorms. Saturday night the thunderstorm was INSANE. It broke the windows of one house here! The thunder was SO LOUD it shook the building! Thus, it makes all of the dirt roads around here (so, all the roads but one) complete massive piles of mud. So our walk to Wairaka on Sunday was VERY VERY muddy... This week we also switched work duty again, so I'm back on grounds, pulling weeds and slashing.

Also, there was quite a tragedy that happened this weekend. I don't know if you heard or not (someone told me it made the international news) but Wednesday night there was a fire set in a school in Kampala. One of the staff of Discovery Centre, on base here, his daughter went to that school. Thursday morning we found out she was missing. They couldn't find her in the hospital, nor among the dead. (The doors of the school were locked, and so the kids were trapped inside. I don't know how many people died.) Word finally got to us (students anyway) on Sunday that they had found her, she was dead. Apparently 95% of her body was burned, but she died of suffocation. Her funeral was on Sunday. She was 10. Please keep her family (Parents & 3 younger brothers) in your prayers, her father's name is Dixon.

Updates!!

Hey!
sorry that this update is so late, but... better late than never right?! So to start where I left off..

week 9: (the weekend)
Saturday we had breakfast at Ginger in Jinja (name of restaurant) on the Nile River. Then we went to Bujugali Falls, which was amazingly gorgeous, and went swimming in the Nile! It was so much fun! We plan to go back and go rafting there later (during debrief week)! It should be lots of fun. Sunday was good also. I can't remember exactly what we did.. just stayed home and chilled, doing laundry, listening to a podcast or two.. and just relaxing.

Week 10- Update

Week 10:

this week was interesting. Our first speaker was speaking on "rejection and acceptance" but it was pretty much more on demons and strongholds than anything else. Wednesday- Friday was supposed to be on Deliverance.. but our speaker's theology was way out of whack and we all started challenging him and asking a lot of questions. He was intimidated and would not let us even finish our questions, he'd just start talking over us. (that was Wednesday) Thursday, was actually one of my favorite days of DTS. Our speaker was "sick" and couldn't come. It was raining so we all just hung out while they set up an alternate plan. I sat on my bed, listened to Simon & Garfunkel and played solitaire. Then we had Break Tea, and sat in the classroom and watched a tape of old soccer games. Then we got to watch video teaching by Floyd Mclung on the Father Heart of God. It was AMAZING. And so wonderful to have "western" teaching. The next day our speaker was still "sick" so we watched Derek Prince videos on deliverance. Which was also with a very heavy emphasis on demons. To give example, with the amount of demons he described, Mary Magdelene was really lucky to only have seven!

Saturday I was cooking.. which was not too bad... we've had major problems with people not showing up to cook when they are supposed to, especially the leaders. For breakfast we had no leader, but Jared is awesome and lead well. Cooking was long.. but not too bad. Sunday was horrible. Tim was cooking, and I felt so sorry for him. The staff person who was supposed to cook with him basically refused, and he was the only one there for quite some time. Then when they made the tea they forgot to put in the sugar, and the tea tasted like charcoal. THen no one showed up for wash up either. Needless to say, we were all up in arms over the whole situation.. because the situation had finally come to a boiling point. We are all sick of having lame leaders... people who say "do as I say, not as I do." and do not lead by example. It has been so frustrating.. but.. God will use even this to refine my (and everyone else's) character.. not by fire.. but with sandpaper.

We also spent the weekend watching Lord of the Rings. Yes, in four evenings, we watched all three extended edition movies! It was quite delightful. And we found a new place to hang out, in the dining hall, since we are no longer allowed to go down to the basketball court after supper... and there is no way to watch a movie in the class room or common room.. and since we are mixed company, we can't watch in a dorm either. Yay for the Kwap House.

Beautiful Feet!

God is so funny sometimes. The way He uses my life as an object lesson is just crazy.

let me bring you up to speed.. my feet are disgusting.. and have had a million problems since I got here. It all started with millions of mosquito bites covering my feet and my unconscious compulsion to scratch them. My scabs seldom stayed on my feet for long, because any little nudge would send them flying off. I was frustrated and so sick of bleeding all the time. But our mini outreach did at least one positive thing, as it provided my feet a refuge, because there were no mosquitos there. My feet healed and were looking so much better when I returned. However, there were many woes in Fort Portal, the least of which was not, Jiggers. They are little parasitic bugs that enter through one's toenails and are nearly impossible to spot at first. Then then grow in a circular pattern, turn black, and build a little house in one's toe. The process to remove these lovely creatures is less than fun, and I won't gross you out by describing it here. I was fortunate to receive two of these lovely guests in my toes. I found one the last day in FP and Bira graciously removed it. Then a few days after we got back, I discovered another one. A few days after that, it too came out.. in front of a large crowd who gathered to watch the excitement.

If you didn't think that those were bad enough, this week has been the kicker. I had an itch. Just a normal itch. So I scratched it. And then later.. the skin fell off... and turned into a huge scab. I put some ointment on it. And it appeared to be helping. Then I went running so I put a band-aid on it. A day later the band-aid fell off, and the scab was gone. Great. Then the sore started pussing everywhere. Even better. So I had Rachel, who is a nurse, look at it, and then clean it. She told me it was infected and that i needed to get some antibiotics for it. So, I went back to my room, cleaned my feet, and as per instructions, put on socks and crocs and proceeeded with my evening. As I returned, several hours later, I discovered a HUGE blister on the 2nd toe of my other foot. Funny? I wonder how that happened. I went to sleep. The next day my toe hurt a lot.. and the blister was just chilling. But by the end of the night my toe had swollen up to be HUGE and it hurt to bend it. I thought I might have broken it or something! Monday was even better. The blister popped.. and pussed everywhere. I couldn't walk normally. Tuesday morning I woke up and the blister had reformed, but it was a blood blister this time. Then, that afternoon, it popped. We prayed for my feet in class, a couple of times, and the last time, I really felt God say that He would heal my feet. In His timing. Let me just tell you, that my feet were disgusting. I got accused, mostly jokingly, a few times of having leprosy!! In fact, I found a verse in Isaiah that described perfectly the condition of my feet: "From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it. But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment." -Isaiah 1:5b Ok. Finally, Dr. Tim, the base leader, and yes, a MD, looked at my feet. He explained the reason for all of this... it all starts with the bites. Things here get easily infected, and my body is having an allergic reaction to the mosquito bites. He told me what i need to do is to 1) do my absolute best to not get bitten, 2) don't scratch!, & 3) get some antibiotics from a pharmacy in town.

Now, I'm sure that those are pretty obvious things to do, and if you have managed to read this far through all the nastiness you are really searching for the object lesson in all of this. Today, in class we learned about shame.. because nearly our whole class was struggling with it. And here it is. It all starts with a bite. Shame begins with the bite.. the lie planted in your mind by the enemy. Sometimes it comes from our own sin. Other times it's from the sin of others. Sometimes it's just low self-esteem caused by the media or the world around you. But that's the bite. And it has a small amount of poison, but by itself, it's not enough to cause any real damage. Nevertheless, lies like mosquito bites itch.And they are hard to leave alone. So you begin to scratch... you entertain that thought... you let it linger. Before you know it... sin is there to stay, and your mosquito bite has begun to bleed. The problem is that when you suffer an allergic reaction, your skin has a hard time holding onto the scabs.. so they bleed more.. and then more bacteria (lies) climb in. Before you know it, your wound is infected.. and what was once a small bite has now become a gaping, pussing, open sore. GROSS. The lie in your life becomes something you operate out of, a stronghold, some thing you, in a twisted perception of reality, now see as truth. That's how we end up believing that we are worthless, useless, ugly, unlovable, unforgivable. That is how shame becomes part of our life. And God is a healer, and He wants to hear us of our shame... just like He wants to heal my feet. The thing is, the wounds on my feet are crippling me, I walk with a limp. Shame makes me walk with a limp too.. I limp along in life, thinking and feeling like I am not good enough.. that I am worthless. So just as God can set you free by telling the Truth... He can heal your soul by telling you the Truth about who you are in Him. A beloved, beautiful/ handsome child of the King. YOu are redeemed, set free, victorious in Him, and He loves you and longs to bless you and to know you. So all you have to do is recieve your healing. And then: 1) try your absolute best to not get bitten, 2) don't scratch! & 3) if you do, put on the antibiotic ointment of His word!


So, here is the final update on my feet... for now. The healing has begun! The swelling in my toe is gone.. and my open sore is definitely on the mend. I can now walk without paining, and the girls brought me back anitbiotics from the pharmacy in town today! Whaoo! So.. God is giving me all sorts of tesimonies about things He is doing.

Just a quick sidenote-- life here is awesome! Our speaker is amazing, and it's Holy Spirit week. we should find out outreach locations tommorrow. I promise a long update this weekend, I had to cook last weekend, so that's why it's late! Love you all, miss you all.
JESUS IS AMAZING!

Back Into the Swing of Things...

Week 9- Hopeland!

Welcome back to the weekly routine of Hopeland life. It was so great to get to play volleyball again, though the games haven't really been hard core this week. We learned about Spiritual Warfare.. which was cool. There has been more dealing with issues and many many meetings... where it takes forever to do anything because each point must be reiterated by at least 4 other people in their own words... and with 37 students and usually at least 4 or 5 staff... it takes quite a while.

Thursday was prayer and fasting... and then I cooked supper on Thursday. It was quite tasty- pork, rice, cabbage, and pineapple. (No sweet potato & g-nut). Then last night, Ryan & I led worship. Bernie & Bulous (NIgeria) helped too. It was amazing. God moved so much. I really felt that it unified us as a body, which is SO necessary. Today all the girls are going out for breakfast and then we are all going to Bujugali Falls. Oh, and on Saturday (3/29) Guy's girlfriend, MJ, came from England. She is here for another week, and is amazing! Right now, it's 5:26 am.. but I haven't been to bed. I tried to sleep and couldn't, so I went up to the office and used the internet until my computer battery died.. then headed back to the room to plug in and type this whole massive update. Then I'll head back... upload it, and some more pictures.. and then get ready to go to breakfast.

All about Fort Portal (Part 2- Kahuna)

Week 8- Kahuna

In Kahuna we stayed at the house of the Bishop. It was much bigger, but the hospitality was less, I always felt like an intruder and in the way. The water situation there was much worse.. it too was about 1/4 of a mile away, but this was just a nasty pool of water coming out of the ground, and the water was so bad that even if we boiled it, we couldn't drink it. Water had to be fetched from a different, farther waterhole for drinking... and it wasn't often. We had two jerry cans of drinking water per day.. for 24 people. It suffices to say that it was nowhere near enough and we all got dehydrated.

For Easter, I went to Pastor Willie's church (we stayed at his house the first week) where I was not only the only white person there, but the only person who did not speak Luganda or Lutoro (the local language) and there was no translator. The two people I was with did their best to translate, but they didn't translate too much of it. [INSERT REST OF STORY FROM EMAIL HERE]

what can I say, Kahuna was difficult, we were all already worn out from the week of ministry in Kijura... and tensions were running high in our group. Finally, near the end of the week, a meeting was called, and we all sat around and talked about what our problems with each other were. Then we asked for forgiveness... and finally at 12:30 am we finished by sharing hugs with everyone and heading to bed. From that point on, we were finally unified as a team! Praise the Lord!

Our prayer and fasting day was really cool. We went for a prayer walk... which was also just so cool, God spoke so much to me! Kahuna is home to the largest tea plantation in Uganda, and quite possibly all of east africa. It's huge and GORGEOUS. there are rolling green hills everywhere covered in tea bushes! So we walked down to the tea plantation and prayed there. Both Kahuna & Kijura have a major problem with drinking. There were these little packets of alcohol everywhere in the streets (the size of those ketchup packets from fast food restaurants) but they are 40% alcohol and there are thousands of them just all over the street. So after our prayer walk, we spent about 45 minutes picking up trash. Then as we walked back to the house we kept picking up trash until we could literally hold no more in our hands... and there was still tons left.

our last night in Kahuna we were invited to the house of the Engineer of the tea company for dinner. It was very late 10:30 by the time I ate... but an amazing feast! Then the roads were muddy and the bus & two taxis got stuck in the mud.. but the Engineer lent us his pickup so we didn't have to walk & carry our things 2k in the mud. Thank you Lord! Then the boys used the truck to get the taxis out of the mud.

Finally, we were on our way back to Hopeland! We left at 7am. We were all SO excited to head back home. To me it was just about as good as going home to America.... or as close as it could come.. the whole going back to America is still 5 months away. The excitement mounted when we reached Jinja. The taxi couldn't drive fast enough. Soon we were back at Hopeland... screaming.. and shouting for joy! The team from Wairaka was back already and they greeted us all with joy. We got all reorganized and then the Iganga team came back. WE could hear them shouting too. WE ran out and waited for their taxi.. and then we all began to share our stories, after many hugs and shouting! The DTS family was finally back together again. I don't know what main outreach will be like. Hopefully some of my closest friends will be on that team.. though I did get to know the other American girls on my team more.. and they would also be great to have for main outreach.

And then, as a happy family, we all ate chapattis together!

More good news about fort portal... there were no mosquitos.. so my feet began to heal!! And we didn't have to sleep with nets either! YAHOO!

Saturday and Sunday were long days... but good. We watched Coneheads and MIB II. Both funny alien movies. The boys (Tim & Ryan) and I went to town.. and I bought some shampoo & Teddy Grams. We also had rolexs (chapatti with scrambled egg (that had onion, carrots & cabbage mixed in) rolled up inside, which one can purchase for 600 shillings.. which is the equivalent of $0.36 us. So tasty!

all about Fort Portal (Part 1- Kijura)

Hello everyone! Sorry, that as usual, it has taken a million years for an update, but once resuming to the swing of things here at Hopeland, free time with internet, and Mac in my possession was once again nonexistent!

so... Mini- Outreach!

WEEK 7 - Kijura
We left for outreach on Saturday morning, around 8am. The leaving was hard... we had just spent the last 6 weeks trying so hard to become a family, and now here we were being torn apart. They sent us off in style, though, taking pictures, putting us on the bus and even chasing it down the road a ways. It was bittersweet. The whole bus trip took 8 hours! We went to "Fort Portal" which was more like the general area. Instead we stayed in two small villages, Kijura the first week and Kahuna the second.

In our first house in Kijura, we had dirt floors, no power, and the water was about 1/4 mile away and then down a steep, muddy slope. We did get power in the evenings by running our generator and then later on, borrowing from a neighboring shop. Our room was TINY. We fit 3 twin mattresses side by side, and then had two feet at the end of them for our bags, and that was the entire room. There were 7 of us. Yes, that means at least two per twin mattress. It was more "DTS Bonding Time". The whole house was tiny, and we were very squished (24 of us, plus the family who lived there, who, by the way, were AMAZING people- Willie & Josephine and their kids) Each day we did door to door evangelism in the morning and then a crusade in the early evening. It was exhausting. But good. Door to Door was challenging, considering I had never done it before, but God came through. My favorite Door to Door story comes from a day when we went to the Police Station. We went and talked to the "prisioners" there - 5 young men. They took time to share their stories with us, each was very different, but all were great. In the end, one guy was already saved, and the other four wanted to be born again. So we got to pray with them! It was so cool. We were also able to bless them practically, by giving them food (they had mentioned to us that there wasn't enough food to go around).

The other cool day in Kijura was the day we skipped door to door. Instead we went down to the bore hole (where you pump water from) and slashed the grass and cleaned the hole. Then we got to spend an hour at one of the local primary schools ministering to the kids. Msaki came up to me and said, "In 5 minutes I want you to tell a Bible story to these kids." (there were several hundred of them!!) So, I ended up sharing about the 5 loaves & 2 fishes (and was able to mix in the Gospel too!) and then asked the kids who wanted to be friends with God? They all raised their hands, and then we prayed. I don't know how many, if any, were real decisions for Christ, but at least I got to sow some seeds

We also played with the kids a lot during the crusades, and did our best to share the love of Jesus despite the language barrier. It was the hardest children's ministry I've ever done- I had no words to use! The only way I could share the love of Christ was through my smile and my hugs. It was frustrating at times.

Crusades were also really hard. Basically, you take this huge wooden platform, get a sound system and set up. Then you throw a bunch of people on the platform and sing about 15 songs and dance all crazy. Then you invite people to come and sing "special songs". After that, someone gets up and shares the gospel by shouting as LOUDLY as possible that you need to get saved. After that, they invite people up to come pray and get saved, and many come. So we pray with them, and write down their names. And then we ask if there are other people who need prayer for healing. They come forward. We pray for them. Then we sing a few more songs, and then pack up for the day. SO far out of my comfort zone, and gifting! Not only was it spiritually exhausting, it was physically too.

this is a typical outreach day:
5-6 Morning Prayer time
6-8 sleep
8-8:30 Breakfast
8:30-9:45-sleep
9:45-10:15 get ready for door to door
10:15-12:30 Door to Door
12:30-1:00 - Sleep
1:00-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:00 -Sleep
3:00-6:30 or 7 Crusade
6:30-7:15ish - Sleep
7-7:30- Supper
8:00-9:30 -"Short" evening meeting
9:30-10:30-attempt sleep
10:30-on - Sleep. sort of. with other people on top of you!

we were always tired... and the sleep was more like resting... lying on your sleeping bag. (Speaking of sleeping bags, Thank You SO much Mom, my sleeping bag is INCREDIBLE! So wonderful, none of that nylon and fake plaid flannel junk. It's like a big comfy blanket. The whole first night I slept in it, it was like one big cozy hug from home! I am sleeping on it now, at Hopeland, it's so wonderful!!) Not actually sleeping. The radio blared all night. We learned some great jingles from it though.. "Mirinda- Pineapple." and " I Love you, Gold Fry!" etc.

however, though many of us were completely out of our element, God blessed the work of our hands, or rather the work of our tongues, since we did not do much with our hands.

I also got sick the first week.. a cold.. not fun. But God used it in some amazing ways... I read another book that changed my life... "Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival" by Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, & Adam Shapiro. God used it to confirm some things, firstly that He has given me a heart for East Africa, and secondly that He has called me to ministry of reconciliation and restoration. I know that I am not ready to go yet... I still need more knowledge and experience... but a desire for someday in the future. God has created in me such a hunger and thirst for knowledge, I can't wait to go back to the US and raid the local library and just devour so many of the things I don't know. And, incredibly, I find myself seriously considering and praying about going to a four year university after I finish my last class at Whatcom! I know, I know, we all never though that those words would come out of my mouth!

we're back!

ok... quickly... a longer update is coming! we are back and so thankful for running water, internet and power! As well as the warm Jinja weather! God did some amazing things... our team finally pulled together the last 3 days after a long late night meeting where we aired our grievances. I got to work with some awesome kids too!
ok.. full report to come!
love you!
Kati Rose

Week 6- update

WEEK 6:

Wow. Can't believe that it's been 6 weeks already! This week we are learning about Sin. Interesting. Sort of. I actually haven't paid tons of attention in class this week... I've been learning but more prompted by what the speaker has been saying in class.

We have had like a million outreach meetings... nearly 3 times a day. It has been frustrating.. with 20 people opinions abound and lets just say that our leaders are not the most organized people. But.. I still believe that God is going to use us, and do big things. However, we need LOTS of prayer.. we leave Saturday morning at 5 am.. and we are supposed to arrive in Fort Portal at 1pm.. and we have a crusade scheduled for 3pm! That's not a huge window for things.. so please please pray. OUr team is suffering from MAJOR disunity. The first 20 minutes of every meeting are spent arguing about how we should do things... and then we finally get things done. Ah. It's just frustrating. We are all exhausted.. after getting up at 5 every morning and not going to bed until 10 at the earliest. (we usually have meetings from 8-10 pm!) The leadership is also frustrating at this point... but... I was reminded this morning that "When the Lord is on the throne, things already better" (it's a song we sing in swahili! God is in control.. He is Lord and the leader over all. He can take care of things when men fail. PTL!

Tuesday night we had our first "social event" (a lot like funny night.. only for just DTS) we played some crazy games and all laughed a lot.

Yesterday, we offically innagurated our new base leader. DR. Tim. Woohoo. So we had a big "party" meaning LOTS of speeches... and demonstrations and pitches for each school/ ministry.[it started at noon and ended at 3:15!] The Tongans sang and then danced (and they invited lots of other people up with them.. it was SO cool.) Then we had a big meal.. YUM. We also had to help set up before the whole shebang and then clean up afterwards... and then we played volleyball and had leftovers for supper.

Today was pretty good. Just the ususal... mostly. I was cooking supper (Sweet potato & G-nut) and then it started to rain. Catherine & I played in the rain.. and then headed back to the dorm to change.. and instead got more people and we all went and played in the mud.. ok just Bernard & Cady & I. The boys & Meg played soccer in the rain with the Tongans.. all the people at Discovery Centere watched us and laughed. Then we served dinner... and then I went and attempted to wash all of the mud out of my clothes. I gave up and rinsed them.. and will let them dry.. and then tomorrow I will wash them properly. Yes.. So that's an update. Prolly the last for the next few weeks, unless by some miracle there is an internet cafe in FP and I have time to use it... (we won't have electricity where we are staying.. and prolly not water either.. I think we have to haul it. )

So.. have an amazing couple weeks.. Blessings on you, and PLEASE keep our team, as well as the other teams (Wairaka & Iganga) in your prayers!

Love you all,

KatiRose.

week 5 - Update part Dos

Week 5: Part Dos (that's 2 in Spanish, FYI)

WOW. What a crazy week. Friday morning began, as usual, with our 5 am prayer meeting. We were then supposed to present our memory verse skits (the verse was Hebrews 4:12 and our group had an interpretive dance) well, let me back up a bit. We have been having some issues in our dorms... the guys more so though. Anywho, Friday morning began with a quest to "remove the sin from the camp" because a lot of $ have gone missing from several of the guy's bags... This all began with the hope that whoever it was would confess and we would move on. Instead... no one confessed, and still hasn't.. and we spent the entire day being interviewed and such. So we had no class... and no teaching on the father heart of God (sad) But.... all was not lost. I read the most AMAZING book, "The Only Road North" by Erik Mirandette (Yes, I read the whole thing Friday afternoon!) So good... so amazing. And God really challenged me as to what kind of life I wanted to live. Do I want comfort, security and stability? Or do I want to "live on the edge" trusting Him for everything? Well, I made my choice. "my future decided I will praise Your name..." It's all up to God. This life is no longer my own (Galatians 2:20) and WHEREVER He leads I will follow, regardless of my own comfort. "Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause.."

Saturday the boys and Penny and I went to town. I bought some fake Tevas.. that are amazingly comfy. The boys all got "Pomas" - fake Pumas flip flops. I'm going to get some later... prolly after outreach. I also bought some Teddy Ghrams (so YUMMY!) and Bernard & I split a loaf of Cake Bread, a Jar of PB, and some margarine (pronounced marg-er-ene by Bernard) quite tasty. The bread lasted until Monday... and I still have my 1/2 of the PB. (I'm saving some for outreach). Umm.. oh yes, then we went to the internet cafe.. and Mac couldn't hook up to their 3rd laptop station ( a wire coming out of the wall) so I still haven't uploaded pictures.. sorry. but the post below this one has a link to Bernard's pics on facebook.. so that should give you some more!

Sunday, I went to Westside Church in Bend, OR. No, I did not make a secret trip back to the states... I listened to a 180 Podcast.. and Oh, it was gloriously amazing! Then... I can't remember... I did a massive load of laundry and reorganized all of my stuff. Yea, I think that's it. Oh, I was cooking that day. So I did breakfast and lunch (together) and then Supper.

Week 5 - Update part 1

week 5:

thus far, this week has been good. The teaching was a little funny.. kind of all stuff we already knew. We've been learning about the character & nature of God as well as the fear of God. (There have been some interesting cultural things that have come up this week, but with only 23 minutes of battery left, they will have to wait!) This week we also switched worka duty, I am now on housekeeping... which is really boring because we only have a few rooms to clean, lots of people, and nowhere near enough cleaning supplies. I have ended up just killing bugs & mopping floors these last three days. Oh how I long for weeding! Tuesday during break tea we found a Chameleon .. which of course we picked up. I pet it! (And I pet a bat yesterday during worka duty too! Don't worry Kelso, the bat was asleep... it was really soft though!) Today was prayer and fasting day.

Oh, quickly, I'd better tell you about mini outreach. I am going to Fort Portal. We leave march 15th an come back the 28th! It is a town in the West right on the border with Congo. (The Democratic Republic of Congo, actually, but here everyone just calls it Congo.) It is apparently in the Rwenzori mountains that are supposedly quite beautiful and made from volcanic ash! Our group is 20 people. The group to Iganga (60KM East?) is 9 people and the group to Wairaka is 8 people. We leave the 15th at about 5 am. Our leader told them that we would be there about 1pm and we have an open air crusade starting at 3pm!! This trip will be a HUGE stretch for me... we are mainly focusing on Crusades, Seminars (where we teach groups of people what we have been learning during lecture phase thus far (quite possibly with very little notice and we are required to select the topic!!), door to door evangelism, and preaching in churches. None of those are in my comfort zone as far as ministry goes. Give me dramas, or kids, or some kind of mercy ministry please! (though apparently in Uganda those are the main ministries used... so... time for more S T R E T C H I N G!!! Also, the three people I spend the most time with (all guys ironically) are going to Iganga. Not Fort Portal. (though I was kind of expecting that... ) And the girl I am probably closest to is going to Wairaka. So... time for more relationship building. (But it's ok, I am an "S" personality type... so I will enjoy it... eventually.) No, actually I am excited to get to know some of the other people on the DTS, especially getting to know the girls better (all 5 americans are going to Fort Portal, and we have no "muzungu" guys at all!) (the Iganga guys have no "muzungu" girls (and there are only 3 girls each on both of the other teams!!!) So God knows what He is doing. Please, please, keep us in your prayers!

So, to add to the busy-ness of the base, we are now getting up at 4:45 to pray at 5am every morning for outreach. Then we have meetings from about 8-10 pm going over outreach details. Small groups have been suspended and now we meet in our outreach groups to learn dramas & songs & plan the details for our trips! Not only that, we still have our 10 chapters a day, quiet time, & we had questions due for "Is that really You, God?" due tomorrow. Then there is still kitchen duty (I am cooking Sunday) and, oh, things like Laundry to do too... oh, yea, and then there is just time to chill and breathe... so, so sorry that i have been slow with the updates. I promise a long one Saturday!

Yahoo.. Supper is almost here.. and we are SO hungry, all I have eaten all day is two rolls, two cups of tea (one Peppermint.. :( ) and a banana.

Busy, busy, dreadfully busy....

Hello One and All! How is life not in Uganda?! Life here has been wonderful! So to finish up where I left off...
Week 4 (part two):
We were supposed to have Coffee Night on Wednesday to fundraise/ raise awareness of the Pader/ Kottomor work, but we lost power, so it happened on Thursday instead. Friday night we had worship night.. it was lots of fun... there were some good songs. Tim & Ryan taught us motions to "Days of Elijah" and they are hilarious!! Saturday afternoon we (10 of us) had planned to walk down to "the Lake" (Victoria) but Emma told us that we couldn't go with out a Staff (there are crocodiles in the lake & he didn't want us to get eaten!) so instead we hiked up the hill.. in 104 degree heat! (now, that may not be entirely accurate... but I'd say it was pretty close to that.. ) the view was spectacular and we got to go through a boarding school and walk around. Then as we were leaving, some guy came and talked to Steve (from Uganda) and we waited for him. Bernard, Ryan & Judith started walking back down the hill because Bernard was cooking supper and needed to be back. Steve came back and told us that the guy he had talked to had had a dream that people from YWAM would come and preach to them. Then they wanted us to come and preach the next morning! We were all a little unsure.. (we had nothing prepared..) but we said we would pray about it. (later steve received a call that this Sunday would not work... so maybe we could come back another time. ) that said we were all relived. Then it rained and several people went out and played in the mud on the volleyball courts.. ( I missed out, but have vowed that next time it rains.. I will SO be there!)

Sunday was the most amazing day ever!! I went to the most amazing church. There are two guys on our DTS who are orphans who grew up in an orphanage just outside of Jinja, Steve & John Mark. They invited us to come to the church that they have at their orphanage.. and boy was it AMAZING! Steve & John Mark basically run most of the service, and so we were invited to go to church with them. OH my GOODNESS. How amazing! I had missed playing with kids so much.. and here were tons of them! We all piled in the car (8 of us!) and drove to church. The minute I got out, I was hugged by like 5 people and heard "muzungu!!" (white person). It was so much fun. Then we went inside (the building wasn't entirely "finished" the walls were mostly open.. but it serves it's purpose!) and prayed and then the service started. Jesus opened my eyes... THIS was why I had come to the other side of the planet.. THIS was why I was in Uganda... THESE kids. THESE Orphans. Wahoo! I was just so overcome with JOY.. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear.. my face actually started to hurt! And then I was just overwhelmed.. to tears... so many orphans... so in need of God's love... and I just wanted to pour out His heart on to each child.. I wanted to take each one, hold them in my arms and declare the love and promises of God over them. I wanted to give them each a big kiss.. and tell them that they have a Father who loves them and has great plans for their lives! Then we went on a tour of the orphanage.. there are a lot of kids there. It's usually about 16-17 kids a room! Oh how amazing. Steve has asked me if I would work with them after DTS, and I am definitely praying about it. The kids were so sweet, they grabbed on to us (Tim & I were the only Muzungus, and thus ridiculously popular) and wouldn't let go. Oh, how precious are these children. (I took lots of photos and will upload them Saturday (we are going to an internet cafe in town with fast internet!) It was the best day in Africa so far!

quick a minute..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98745&l=1f2bc&id=821100507

more photos! these are my friend Bernard's. BUt, there you go!
I gotta run..
long update coming
my last one got eaten..

LOVE YOU ALL!

Week 4

week 4 (So far):

This week our Speaker is a guy named James. He is great...very animated and interesting. We have been learning about relationships. Monday was spent talking about personality types and figuring out which ones we were and how to relate to people of other types. We used the DISC test.. I am an S CI. Sweet! Tuesday we talked more about the different types and Special relationships. Today we learned about communication and dating. All interesting stuff. Tomorrow we start Praise & Worship. sweet! This week also we have had to learn a long memory verse (Romans 12:1-2 NIV) and then be in groups of 6 and make a song out of it! So last night our group got together and wrote our song. (I offered the God Rocks version of the song.. but they decided to "take it in a different direction") we are doing it in a really funny way. Verse 1 we sing in a traditional hymn style.. then we bust into "in the jungle the mighty jungle.." tune for verse two!! I will try and get someone to video tape it!! They told us we could pick our own groups, but to "choose wisely" meaning (not all girls or not all Ugandans or whatever) So in our group we are representing 5 different nations (Holland, Uganda, Kenya, Canada & the US) woot woot.

Yesterday they also announced to us that the locations for mini outreach have been chosen and we need to pray about where God wants us to go. We are supposed to have the answer by Friday. A little scary... but they are all good locations.. so I really don't have a preference as to where. Besides, it doesn't matter where I want to go.. it is all about where God wants me to go. We will be either going to Fort Portal (in the West of Uganda) Wairaka (a small town on the way to Jinja) or.. one other town I can't remember the name of that's about 20km east of here. Please pray that I will find where God wants me to go.. and for our teams!

One of the biggest struggles we have been having here is disunity. With so many cultures and backgrounds.. it has just been hard. So today for intercession we prayed for ourselves... asking the Lord to remove any cultural barriers and to pray for our cultures themselves. As I was praying God really opened my eyes to cultural biases I have had for many years at home. It is rather popular while living in Whatcom County to scorn the Canadians... and living in Lynden (or close enough) what matters is weather or not you are Dutch. God has a really funny sense of humor, considering that on my DTS are two Dutch people and three Canadians!!! And in getting to know these people, they are all wonderful and have awesome hearts... and are nothing like the sterotypes! (I knew that already.. but getting that from my head down to my heart took some time!) So.. the moral of the story is... God loves ALL of His children, no matter what country they come from, and he wants us to look at them with His eyes. So as far as practical application goes.. no more Canada jokes.. and no more flaunting the "i'm proud to not be dutch" card. Who cares?! I challenge you to consider what stigmas you are holding on to... take them to the cross... it's amazing how liberating it is!

Tonight we are having coffee night to raise funds & prayers for Kottomore. And Friday I get to learn to make Chapattis! WOHOO! Ok, time to go. Worka duty is calling!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Miss you so much!

Week 3- Recap

week 3 recap:

This was a hard week. I was feeling sick.. still am a little (my digestive system is all out of whack.. quite possibly from the water being funny and the lack of fiber in our diets) and class was hard. We were learning about Prayer & intercession, a topic I was excited about. However, the first 3 days were really boring (they were mostly basics but apparently compared to here, we in the West get a LOT of basic teaching & discipleship) and then the last two days were hard, when we finally got to intercession because our teacher had some FUNKY doctrine that most of us disagreed with. His points were all valid, but the logic he used to get to them was totally wrong and had us all up in arms. Combining that with lack of sleep (my stomach pain wakes me up in the middle of the night) personality clashes and miscommunication in the dorms.. made us all VERY eager for Friday afternoon to arrive. And it came, PTL! Saturday was the FCD (Foundations in Community Development school)'s graduation.. so we went to graduation, which was supposed to start at 10 and actually started at noon!! And then we had a FEAST! Goat (which is AMAZINGLY fabulous tasting!!!) Pig, rice, carrot rice, and greens.. and Soda! SOOO SOOO good. We were all stuffed (lunch wasn't until 3pm.. so we were starving when it was served) and so for dinner we had the same fare as breakfast (two rolls and a cup of tea). My dear friend Judith also was amazing and braided my hair! It has been so much cooler and much more managable, It took several hours.. but has been great! Then on Sunday.. Kristine (Michigan) got really sick. They took her to the clinic. We found out that she has a bad bacterial infection and was dehydrated. We had been planning, and Kristine was keen to come, but obviously couldn't... to go to Kingfisher, a resort outside of Jinja on Lake Victoria for a day of rest and relaxation and bonding. So we went.. and it was AMAZING! First we all walked down to the main road and caught two taxis.. (Mirijam, Mathijs, Bernard & I squished into the back seat of this funny van taxi) and then met up with the girls (who took a different taxi) in Jinja. On the way to town, we ran out of gas, by the grace of Jesus, RIGHT in front of the petrol station!! Our driver, instead of making us get out and push, used the starter motor to drive the car off the road and next to the pump. Didn't know you could do that with a vehicle... but now I do (don't worry Dad, if I ever run out of gas, I promise not to do that!!) Anywho.. so we met up with the girls (Cady, Catherine, Kendra, Meg, Katy Saunders, & Penny) in town. Then we caught a private car to Kingfisher. (There were 7 of us, plus the driver crammed into the car.) 3 of us sat in the back and Cady & Bernard sat on our laps. Then we stopped for gas and the driver told us that we were going to go through a traffic checkpoint and apparently it is illegal to have more than 1 passenger in the front seat, but it doesn't matter how many are in the back seat. So Catherine ended up on our laps too.. it was quite hilarious. Kingfisher was GORGEOUS! I had never been to a resort before.. and let me just say.. wow! The swimming pool was amazing!! So wonderful! SO nice to cool off! We met and played with some kids from England who had been in Uganda for a year and 1/2! We also ate some AMAZING food and had time to just relax. Then we were waiting for the taxi to take back and we found a jackfruit tree!! (So cool!!)) and a play ground with SWINGS! (that right there was enough to make my day!) we took a million pictures so I'll upload some of them someday!