Gomas

Last week was full of new experiences. The Gomas was my favorite. I asked all the moms to come wearing Gomas on Wednesday so that we could take pictures and have a fun day. Gomas is the traditional dress around here. There is something regal about a Gomas. It is beautiful! I'm sure you can imagine how happy I was to find that one of the Jajas had brought a Gomas for me!!! 

They helped me put it on and made me look very smart!!! Everyone yelled and clapped and danced for me in my Gomas. It was such a sweet experience. Then we took pictures all afternoon. Oh my. There is just no way to describe how much fun we had! The moms LOVED having their pictures taken. They loved seeing each other having their pictures taken. They loved everything about it! I loved it more. I could have jumped right out of my skin from all of the excitement! I got to take a few of the moms to Mt. Elgon hotel and we took some more pictures and just enjoyed being together. Some friends had ordered too much pizza and they shared it with us so the moms got to try pizza for the first time! At one point in the day Medina grabbed my arm and Grace's arm (because she knows English) and started talking really fast. When she was done Grace translated, "She said this is her first time here, it is my first time too. She said she has never seen a swimming pool, I have not either. She is very happy you brought us here. We all are very happy you brought us here! Thank you!"

I could have died. It was so sweet and they were so happy. The day was perfect. :-) 

New experiences

As many of you know, we had a minor earthquake last night! It wasn't even strong enough to knock anything over so it was kind of fun! We were having evening prayers and the couch started shaking. At first I thought the kid sitting next to me was shaking the couch, then I realized the whole house was shaking. Mama Aidah stopped singing, said "earthquake!" and started singing again as if it were completely normal! That was definitely a new experience. 

Yesterday I was asked if I wanted to help kill the chicken. I said no. I sort of regret saying no, but sort of don't. (<--That one was free.)

Today it rained. I know I'm from Texas but rain isn't THAT foreign to me. What was foreign was the fact that you could see and hear the rain coming toward you. People were terrified and running away from it. It was hilarious! I wish I had a video. It was literally a wall of rain that was white and LOUD. At first I thought the people were overreacting a bit, but then it got closer and I joined the crowd running for cover. It was insane. I literally had JUST made it home when it reached me. It poured so hard you couldn't see anything but rain and the lake it was forming in the courtyard. It was crazy. 

Well, those are my new experiences lately. Hope you are as entertained as I was! 

He held my hand...

He held my hand and everyone cried. It was the right thing to do for him, but we had to leave 4 other children alone in a home with no parents, not even an adult. The oldest is 13 and the youngest is 7. As we drove away we all were hating ourselves for just walking away, but we didn't have another option. 

His father died before we met him and his mother died last month. When he went home for the burial he never came back. He didn't want to leave his siblings alone and I don't blame him. He also doesn't have a very good living environment here and was afraid of coming back. After talking with relatives and family friends we all decided that bringing him back was best, but it wasn't easy. We weren't aware of how many children were there living alone. Or that they were honestly living completely alone. Sometimes a friend of their mother comes to check on them, but she has her own family and can't be there all the time. 

So yesterday we drove away from 4 children under the age of 13 living completely alone to bring their brother to a place that offers education and a future but for the moment, an unstable living environment. He held my hand and we cried. He tried not to cry in front of us, but he was hurting. Eventually I got him to talk to me a little. We stopped and got cokes and snacks and I let him listen to my music with me. But when we reached his village here, he tensed up and held my hand as tight as he could. I knew he didn't want to go back. I knew I would do everything I could to move him somewhere safe and comfortable, but he had to go. Every turn we made he gripped my hand a little tighter until finally the van stopped. He looked at me in hesitation and then got out and said goodbye. I don't know what will happen to those sweet children but I do know that God is good and that he will make a way. Pray with me for these kids please. They need a home. 

Two Homes And One Eternity

It turns out that my heart really is in two places. So now I have two homes here on earth, unfortunately I can only be in one at a time. One home is in Texas with my American friends and family, and one is here in Mbale, Uganda with my Ugandan friends and family. I don't know if you have ever experienced this feeling, but having two homes so far from each other is wonderful and miserable all at the same time. Sometimes I have to stop and praise The Lord for the life He is allowing me to live, and other times I cry out asking "why me?!" I don't understand why The Lord has entrusted me with this burden-blessing but He has. I don't feel worthy of the blessing or strong enough to carry the burden. The only thing I do know is that no matter where my home is here on earth there is one eternity. In eternity I won't be torn between two homes like I am now. In eternity I will be with my savior and all of this will be so worth it! 

Please pray with me for peace about what home is, but I'm also asking you to pray with me for the people that I encounter that don't have the assurance of a home in eternity with Jesus. I would be completely lost and hopeless without Him. I can't imagine living this life without the hope of the next one with The God that loves me enough to take on my sin and die on a cross for me. I have made some new friends here that don't yet know our Father's love, and my heart is breaking for them. Pray with me that my new friends that don't know The Lord would come to know him, trust him, and love him.

Thank you!

I got my eyebrows threaded today!

I did it. I was a little nervous, but I did it. I got my eyebrows threaded today! A new friend of mine told me she goes to a sweet Indian woman that lives near me and I decided to give it a try. My eyebrows look great! Finding her was interesting but once I did it was a great experience. I'll definitely be going back! 

Please forgive me for taking so long to write a blog post. I've been overwhelmed and honestly I just didn't know where to start! The team left a few weeks ago and I've been here on my own getting used to every day life in Uganda. Last week I took my first day off (not counting sick days) since I've been here! That was much needed. I met up with some new friends and we went to the pool at Mt. Elgon hotel. The next day after church they invited me over to play games and talk. I was so thankful for that blessing from The Lord!!! He knew I needed to make friends and he brought them to me at just the right time. 

My first week and a half on my own were a little strange. I was having a hard time organizing people and schedules so I wasn't quite doing what I thought I had come here to do. I had to fight to keep from getting discouraged about that but The Lord is faithful and he brought so much good from those weeks. As I'm sure most of you know by now I got malaria at the end of my second week on my own. I am so thankful for the doctor that stayed late to see me and for the people that took care of me. I am 100% better now! This week has been a great week. I am finally starting to feel at home here in Uganda and I have started doing the work that I came here to do! Working with the sewing club moms has been an amazing experience so far and I am so very excited to see what The Lord has for us in this new season. Tutoring the children has been challenging but so sweet. When they come, we have a blast and they enjoy receiving help and love. Now if I could just get them to start coming consistently! 

Teko Brian is number one in his class, so he doesn't get to come to the homework club. It makes me so sad to have to turn kids away but I would have 50 children in my room every evening if I didn't! It sure is bittersweet. I am so proud of my baby boy for working so hard to be excellent in his studies! (He would be so mad if he knew I just called him that! Haha sorry Brian. Like my mama always says to me, you will always be my baby!) 

Chede is cute and sweet as ever. She goes to school! She is in the baby class at Child of Hope Primary School. Her little personality is hilarious. She has learned to say a few adorable things in English and she has learned what to do when I say "give me a kiss!" Or "can I have a kiss?!" It's ADORABLE. The other day I was with her waiting for our little burn patient to arrive so I could check on her. I started singing "You Are My Sunshine" and about the third time through she started trying to sing along with me! She sure knows how to tug at my heart strings :-). 

I can't make any promises but I am really going to try to be better about posting blogs. I know a lot of you have been asking! Please continue praying with me that The Lord would bless and guide my time here in Uganda. I am comforted every time I think about my family and friends covering me in prayer all the way from home. Thank you! 

More soon,

Callie

The Peace of God Passes All Understanding

I had a very hard time leaving home as many of you know. I am so blessed by all of my friends and family that love me so well that saying goodbye was NOT easy. To be honest the first few days here were just as difficult if not worse. There were a couple moments when I wasn't sure what I was doing here or if I was even needed. Praise God that He is faithful and He never leaves us alone. I know that many of you at home are praying for me constantly and I am so thankful for that. My prayer for myself has been that God would reignite a passion in my heart for his work here and that I would be able to see purpose in my being here. 

Praise God for his faithfulness! Over the past week I have been shown many glimpses of his purposes for me here and I am being filled with new passion for what The Lord is doing here through ichooseyou ministries. The peace of God really does pass all understanding. 

At some point I hope to fill you in on what we have been doing everyday but for now I just have one special day to tell you about. 

Yesterday we loaded all of the IChooseYou children onto a bus and we took them to the zoo! The zoo is about 5 hours from Mbale. (6.5 with a bus full of kids that need to go potty!) When we got to Entebbe we went to eat lunch on the beach (which is really lake Victoria) and everyone got chicken and chips (which are really french fries!) The kids LOVED it. After we were done eating the kids got to go look at the beach but they weren't allowed to get in. (Apparently we had to be dry to go to the zoo!) We took group pictures at the beach with all of our IChooseYou children and then we got back on the bus to go to the zoo. When we got to the zoo the children were completely silent! They had been told by mama Aidah that we wouldn't be allowed in the zoo if they were loud. Once we got inside and started seeing animals there was no way to keep them quiet! I have never seen so much joy in one place! Every child was smiling the entire time. My "son" Teko Brian was torn between being by my side and running around with his friends. I gave him my phone to take pictures and he would disappear for a while and then come back to show me what he had done and then disappear again. It was so special for me to get to make that memory with him! After the zoo we took the children by the airport to see the airplanes. That was the first time that most, if not all of our kids had seen a real airplane. After that we went to where all of us were staying for the night. The kids washed up, we had dinner, and then they sang for us. I always love it when the kids sing for us. It is always so beautiful and they sing straight from the heart. Mama Aidah told us the words to one of the songs and explained that ichooseyou has completely changed the lives of all of the children. As she spoke I sat there with Teko Brian in my lap and just held him tight and thanked God for being the wonderful father that he is. I am still in awe that the maker of the universe had all of this planned from before we were even alive. He knew that Brian would be the first child I took a picture with in Namatala that first year, and he knew that I would be his "mama." Thank you Lord! God knew when I was little that a silly name for my first pet was so much more than just a silly name. It was the name of the child God had planned for me to love and care for as my own and send to school through the ministry of ichooseyou. How great is our God?! Once again, the peace of God passes all understanding. I hope to be able to write more soon! Thank you all for your love and support. I'll leave you with a few little treasures from our zoo trip! 

Teko Brian on the bus ready to begin our journey!

Teko Brian with his chicken and chips and orange Fanta! He loved it and even finished some of the other kids food! 

On the beach at Lake Victoria with my "son" as happy as can be!!! 

Teko Brian and an ostrich! 

You can't see them but we were enjoying a lovely show from some chimpanzee's here. Teko Brian thought it was hilarious! 

Our view from where we stayed in Entebbe. God is good. 

2 Months!

It's been a long time since I have given an update about what's going on in my world of preparing for Uganda. I had to go read my previous posts to find out what I had already said!
On January 4 I wrote about how my fundraising was coming along. (If you haven't read it you should.) At that point in time I had $9,500 in my Uganda account, a couple days later I had reached $10,000 and I was ecstatic! About a week or two after that my mom came home from church with a check from some friends in her sunday school class for $1,500! About a week later I was there, $12,000. Just in case this hasn't quite hit you, God provided the $12,000 in less than two months! This is amazing, wonderful, and far beyond what I am worthy of! But God...two words I always love to see...but God didn't stop there. As of yesterday I have $14,375 in my account!!! God is so SO good!!!

There is no way this could have happened if it weren't for my God. I'm not that talented. God did this to bring glory to His name! So stop what you're doing for a minute and praise Him with me please!!! Thank you Lord!

(If you still want to give please do. We never know what our God is up to!)

As far as the rest of my preparation goes I have to be honest... Where do I start?! I know that once I'm not working anymore I will have a clearer mind to process exactly what I need to get done before I go, but right now it's a jumble and it feels overwhelming! The good news is that all of the major travel details have been sorted out. I have my plane ticket, Visa, (or so I am told...I'm still praying like crazy over that one) and I know where I'm going to stay until I find my own place. Thank you Jesus for that! I would be a wreck if I didn't at least know that much was taken care of. Now it's just odds and ends to wrap up in the states and the oh so dreaded packing! If anyone has experience packing for 6 months please give me advice!! I have never done this before.

If you don't mind, I have a few prayer requests.
Please pray with me that:
1) The Lord would continuously renew a passion in my heart for HIM. Not Uganda, not missions, but Him. If there is passion in my heart for my God then there will be passion in my heart for those other things as well.
2) I would hold on to The Lord in this new season when things are hard. To be honest, things are already getting hard. I find myself slowly pulling away from people and things to try to defend my heart but I know that isn't what God wants. My heart will hurt when I leave the states. I will miss my family, friends, and ice. (No ice in Uganda. Sad I know. This is serious.) But my heart will be joyful to be in the place it has hurt for in the last year! So this won't always be easy, and that's fine. Just pray with me that I would go straight to The Lord first when times get rough.
3) That God would do such a mighty work in Namatala that there would be no choice but to praise the name of the One true God! I know God is moving and it is going to be amazing but please pray with me that God moves through Namatala, Mbale, and the rest of Uganda like fire!!!

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me! I'm sure I will begin to post more as it gets closer to May. When you have free time check out www.ichooseyou.net and take a look around! (If you get re-directed hit the back button. We are working on this. Sorry!!)

Also, check out our Facebook page, IChooseYou Ministries, and follow us on twitter @ichooseyouminis for more frequent updates about ICY.