The last couple of weeks have been busy with traveling, plans changing and fun experiences. Our squad met in Kampala, Uganda, Saturday the 21st, and we were supposed to help with a youth conference there. However, for some unknown reason to us, the conference was canceled at the last minute. So, we ended up with a few free days in Kampala. It turns out that's exactly what we all needed. God could see we were tired and drained, so the free days were a great time to rest and be refreshed before more traveling.

We also had a great time of worship together Tuesday night. I was not really excited to go, but it ended up being a huge blessing. Many times you don't realize how much you miss something until you have it again. That's the way it was with worship. We've had some great African worship, but we really needed a chance to do worship the way we're used to with songs we know. We spent a good two hours just singing, praying and worshiping God. It was so good!

Wednesday, we traveled from Kampala to Nairobi, Kenya. It was a very long trip (16 hours including 2 hours spent at the border crossing waiting on transit visas), but we made it safely. Thursday night we flew out to Dublin, Ireland. My group had layovers in Dubai and London on our way here. We flew on Emirates airlines, and it was awesome! We each had our own TV screen with hundreds of movies to watch, including new ones. It was awesome! I I should have tried to sleep but instead I stayed up to watch movies! It was definitely not World Race style.

We arrived in Dublin Friday evening. We had a couple days for debrief, and today the Awakening conference began. I'm camping out with about 300 current World Racers. Some are about to return to the States while others are just in their first few months. This is the second annual conference for all current and past World Racers. We have worship, speakers, breakout sessions and other fun activities.

I've had some time for site-seeing in Dublin, and I love this city! It's so nice and clean, and the people are super friendly and helpful. I definitely experienced some culture shock coming from Africa, but it's so nice to be back in the western world. We ate at Subway for lunch yesterday and have enjoyed other delicious food. Finally a break from beans and rice!

In September, my team will be working with an orphanage in Romania, near Bucharest I believe. Then the next month, we now have the chance to ask the Lord where we should go and what we should do. Our team gets to choose our own ministry in one of these six countries: Hungary, Czech Republic, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia. So, we've started praying for God to show us where to go. Our last month will still be Ukraine.

So, there's an update of changes and what I've been doing the past two weeks. Africa has been challenging as well as rewarding. Ireland comes at the perfect time to refresh us, and I'm looking forward to what eastern Europe will bring for our last three months.

(Side note: I wanted to post a picture or two with this, but with all of us using Internet, it's taking too long to load. I'll try to add one later.)

It's been another eventful week in Uganda. I decided to provide several pictures to give you a recap of the week's activities.

We visited a memorial site where 121 civilians were killed by rebels during the time of unrest in northern Uganda. Thousands fled to camps where they hoped to be protected. We went to another village later that used to be a camp for 70,000 people in a relatively small area.

We visited some schools and did programs for the kids. One school was out in the middle of nowhere down a bumpy dirt road. The kids were so cute, and they sang many songs for us.

I went to the village of Aloi with Jedediah, Tash and Charity. We did an outdoor crusade one day, and the next day we did some teaching in the church. I was so encouraged by the enthusiasm of the people to hear God's word. For the crusade, we got there late because of problems with our transportation. Many of the people had been waiting there since 9 in the morning, and we didn't arrive until nearly 4! It was just amazing to see their excitement and love for the Lord.

We went to another village called Apac where we did more outdoor crusades and teachings, as well as preaching in churches. I enjoyed the traditional instruments they use in the church services. I preached in two services at this church in Owang area.

We got to do some manual labor while in Apac. They are building a new church so we helped mix concrete for the foundation. It felt so good to do some manual work again. We were sweating and dirty; it was great!

I'm a backup dancer for an African singer named Charles! We've joined his choir of backup dancers at several events. Now, we have it down, and he even asked us to be part of a music video, which we worked on yesterday. I definitely would have never thought I'd be doing this!

I celebrated my birthday a couple weeks late. My birthday was August 2 on a travel day, so we didn't have an opportunity to celebrate that day. The rest of our time here has been planned or we've been unable to go anywhere. However, my awesome teammates worked it out Monday to spend the afternoon at a nearby American cafe we discovered. The woman who started it is from Oregon and very nice. I got a real birthday cake, probably the only real cake I've had all year, and ice cream! It was so good!

The past week has been full of activities. I've traveled to some different areas and done a number of things. I've met political leaders, church leaders, agriculturalists, designers and entrepreneurs. I've visited a hospital, HIV/Aids clinic, disability rehabilitation center, agricultural research center, schools and churches. I've preached, prayed, encouraged and been blessed in return. I've signed a lot of guest books, drank a lot of sodas and eaten a lot of sweet potatoes and bananas. I was able to pick my own pineapple and eat it a few days later - so good! Even though I majored in agriculture in college, I've seen more different crops and plants than I've ever seen in one place. I've prayed for mothers, babies, school kids, teachers and children with HIV.

Uganda is still recovering from civil war that has plagued the country for the past 30 years. Just in the last few years has there been peace. The northern part of Uganda (where we are) is where most of the violence took place. The most visible signs left from the war that we've seen have been the people. They are still recovering. They've been through hard times and need hope.

Last Saturday night around 10 p.m. when I was wondering what to preach about the next morning - God gave me the word hope. That's what these people need more than anything right now. They need hope that there's a brighter future, that there's a God who loves them, that one day there will be no more pain or suffering. Really that's what we all need - HOPE - and that hope only comes through Jesus Christ.

To start off month eight in Uganda, our squad met in Jinja to go whitewater rafting on the Nile River. It was so awesome! I've rafted a couple of times before on the Colorado River, but that was nothing compared to this. We were going on class five rapids, which is about the biggest you can get. There were some class six, but we had to get out and go around those since it's not safe to raft over them. Only the kayakers can handle class six, at least that's what our guide told us.

We had six in our raft - John, Rachael, Charity, Andrea, Emily and me - plus our guide, Paul. Paul was amazing. He kept us from flipping over. Most of the other boats flipped at least once, but Paul took care of us and kept us upright even though we had some close calls. He also made us work hard. We paddled a lot. The Nile has some really strong rapids in places, but in other places there's hardly a current, so we got a good arm workout.

The scenery along the river was beautiful - yet another chance to enjoy God's wonderful creation. Lunch was also great. We had sandwiches with wheat bread, ham and lots of fresh vegetables, including avocados. We also had fresh pineapple, which is my favorite! We were possibly just as excited about the lunch as we were the rafting. It was seriously some of the best food we've had in months. It's crazy how you can miss food as simple as a sandwich. At the end of the trip we also got steak kabobs, chapati and cold drinks - delicious!

Overall, it was a great day of rafting. No one got seriously hurt although there were plenty of bruises, scrapes and sore muscles to show for our efforts. Thankfully, God protected us and allowed us to have an enjoyable time. I would definitely do it again!

I have just a short time on the Internet so will quickly update you on where I am and what I'm doing. We are now on month eight in Uganda. We started the month off by whitewater rafting on the Nile River. That was awesome! I'll try to get some photos up when I have more time. For now, I'll tell you about our ministry. All the teams on our squad plus N squad are working with the Anglican Church of Uganda. Right now we are all separated around the country to work with different churches, but at the end of the month we will meet back together in Kampala to help with a youth conference hosting students from all over Africa.

My team is in the city of Lira, which is in the north central part of Uganda. We just arrived yesterday so haven't yet begun with ministry. From what they tell us, we will be traveling to different cities in the region and doing outdoor crusades, street preaching, teaching and visiting of prisons and schools. It sounds like we will have a busy few weeks here, but we are excited.

So far, Uganda has been great. They speak more English here than in Kenya or Tanzania. It's kind of disappointing since we were finally getting better at Kiswahili. However, they have many other tribal languages. Where we are they speak Lango (I think?).

Once again we have a nice place to stay. We have a small house to ourselves. All five of us girls sleep here, while the boys have a room in another house nearby. It's really refreshing since we are a few miles outside of town. It feels like we're in the country - so peaceful! We are thanking the Lord for a quiet place to stay.

I'll try to post some pictures and let you know more soon!

We have finished our time of ministry in Tanzania. As always, it's sad to go but exciting to know what God has for us in the next place. I really enjoyed Nyamwilolelwa. The village church we worked with was great, and we really developed relationships with the people there even though most of them can't speak English. The people living in the village are very poor. Most of them can't even afford a Bible, but they were a huge blessing to us. They did a love offering for us Sunday, which was a humbling experience. Here were these people who have so little, and they wanted to bless us.

The church building

In return we provided many Bibles for the village and church. We presented each person who had been helping us during the month with a Bible in Kiswahili. We also handed out Bibles to many new Christians in the village. It was so encouraging to see the new believers reading God's word and asking questions.

This is Bulobi who accepted Christ and started reading his Bible as soon as we gave it to him.

We did come across another challenge. Many of the people can't read and write, and some only know their tribal language, which is Kisukuma. The good news is one of our translators has been teaching people to read and write at the church. We encouraged him to keep doing that and use it as a way to witness to others in the village. While teaching them to read and write, he can also teach them about Jesus.

Standing with Pastor Faustine (to my left) along with some villagers we encouraged and told more about Jesus.

The pastor and church members have started a great work in the village, and we encouraged them to continue following up with people and showing Jesus' love to everyone. It's been a good month of ministry. This has definitely been one of my favorites so far.

Some ladies from the church who went with us to visit homes.

How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Psalm 104:24

Our past week in the village has been very interesting. We've gone out in groups every morning and afternoon to evangelize. Some of us have been a little hesitant about it, since we don't just want people to accept Christ, but we want them to really understand what a relationship with Jesus is like. We've really pushed follow-up with the church because we want to see these people being discipled. Thankfully, they have agreed, and it's been a good balance of visiting new homes and evangelizing then going back to visit homes again and provide encouragement and more Bible teaching.

At first I thought this would get to be really tiring, and it has at times, but it's also very refreshing. One thing I can't get over is how open they are to the gospel. The people here are so friendly and inviting. We walk up to their house uninvited, and they pull up some chairs in the shade outside and sit down to listen to us. At many houses, we stay for more than an hour. Many of them have never heard of Jesus. Many more are Roman Catholics, so they know about Jesus but they don't understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Him.

We've had some easy conversations where people are open to hearing and accepting Jesus. Then we've had some more challenging ones where they have many questions or confusion. Both are rewarding. It's exciting to see someone accept Jesus as their Savior, but it's also a joy to see people seeking the truth and really wanting to understand.

View of Lake Victoria while walking to another area of the village.

One interesting encounter has been with the village witch doctor. First of all, he's nothing like any of us would imagine a witch doctor would look or act like. He's a middle-aged man who wears normal clothes and loves to laugh. We first met with some of his family members when he was not home. We shared with them, and the witch doctor's wife as well as some other members of his family accepted Christ. We've gone back a couple other times to encourage them and to visit with the witch doctor. He's very open to listening; however, he still is blinded to the gospel. He doesn't believe the things he does as a witch doctor are wrong. He thinks since he is healing people, it's good. We are slowly trying to explain that working with evil spirits is not pleasing to God, no matter how it's being used. So, we are praying for God to soften his heart and open his eyes. He has invited us to come back again, so we will definitely be doing that.

The thing that saddens us most about sharing Jesus in the village is the lack of Bibles. The church itself does not have many Bibles, and very few people living in the village have a Bible. Most who have come to Jesus really want a Bible, so we are looking into a way to get some for them. We know that is the best way for them to grow is to read the word of God. So, that is our main mission for our time here is to get Bibles into the hands of those who are new Christians, and also to find a way for the church to get more Bibles that they can distribute.

God has been teaching me a lot during this time of door-to-door evangelism. I've really enjoyed the times of follow-up where we just share Bible stories and truths from the scriptures as well as open it for them to ask questions. Some of their questions are difficult and hard to answer, but it really stretches my faith and understanding. It's so cool to have them ask a question and then look up scriptures in the Bible to provide an answer. Those times are always challenging for me to remember where things are in the Bible. I'm good at remembering concepts, but ask me where it's found in the Bible, and I don't have the best memory. So, I'm working on that. I believe God is teaching me just as much in this time of evangelism and discipleship as the new believers are learning.

We are now in Tanzania. My team arrived in Mwanza on Monday after a long and rough overnight bus ride. We made it safely and are thanking God for that. Mwanza is the second largest city in Tanzania, and it's right by Lake Victoria. It's beautiful. We are staying in a house with two other teams. Our team is working with a church in a village. It's about a 30-minute drive out of town. The village is called Nyamwilolelwa - yep, it's a tricky one. We are doing mainly door-to-door visits and evangelism. Door-to-door in the village takes on a whole new meaning. It's not just a few steps to the next house, it's more like half a mile or more walking through fields. We are getting our exercise, that's for sure, but I like it! I'm very excited to be working in the village. I feel we get the best of both worlds - we have a nice place to stay with electricity and running water close to town, but we still get to work with people in the village. It's really strange how they can be so close to the city, yet live so differently. I think it will be a good experience for our team. Please pray for health, endurance and for wisdom and discernment while visiting with people.

Walking through the fields.

Some women and children from the village we visited.

Let me introduce you to Esther and Chalis. This is a couple we met while evangelizing. John and Tash met them first and led Esther to the Lord. The next day I went out with John to give Esther a Bible. Chalis is blind and also has a problem with his leg making it difficult to walk. After their first meeting, John and Tash prayed for him, and that same day he received papers from the Kenya government to apply for disability. He had been waiting for awhile to receive that. He needed to fill out some paperwork, submit two passport photos and pay 500 Kenya shillings (about $6.50) for the application. Esther and Chalis live on Esther's small business of selling food. They live in a tiny room with walls made of mud and sticks. So, the money for the application process would be difficult. We told them we could help out.

John took a photo of Chalis and went to town that afternoon to print his passport photos. We went back the next day with those as well as the money they needed for the application process. Chalis had a neighbor help him fill out the paperwork. When we gave them the money and photos, they were so grateful. They would have to go to town to submit the application. We asked if they had money for the transport needed to get into town. They didn't, so we gave them another 120 shillings for transport.

Again, they were so grateful. We visited more with them. While talking more with Chalis, we began to realize he knew Jesus in his mind but not with his heart. He had told the others earlier that he was a Christian, but after talking more about it, we realized he didn't really have a relationship with Christ. So, we began to share some scriptures with him and explain more about being a Christian. He listened intently and then decided he wanted Jesus in his life too.

We prayed with him and he invited Jesus into his heart. It was a wonderful moment. After praying he pointed to our translator Phyllis and said he could see something white she was holding. She had a white handkerchief in her hand. God was opening his eyes! He still couldn't see much, but that was probably the most he's seen since he's been blind. We praised the Lord together and asked for continued healing for his vision. We told him even if God didn't fully restore his vision, he would see perfectly when in heaven some day.

A week later (today), we visited Esther and Chalis again. They turned in the disability forms. It will be about a three-month waiting process before it will be approved. We are praying for the process to go quickly so he can receive support. Chalis said his vision is slowly improving. He still can't see much, but I believe God is continuing to work in his life, both physically and spiritually.