So I am. Or at least I'll try. In all honesty, this is probably something that I'll start and do very well with at the beginning, but then I'll get slack and let the whole thing just fall apart. But until that happens... here goes.
If you haven't heard lately, I spent 4 days at the end of July and beginning of August (July 29-August 1, to be exact) in Richmond, Virginia at the International Learning Center. In the course of these 4 VERY intense days, the Lord took me through the gamut of emotions. I have never cried so early in the day or so often, I have never been so overwhelmed, I have never had my heart broken so many times as I did that week. It was so amazingly clear that there is so much work to do, so many people who need to hear, so many wounded hearts that need to know there is a Great Physician and a Savior. And I don't think I've ever been so torn between a job that I knew I was called to do and the desire to allow my flesh to be a little more comfortable... Ok, so a city in southern Sudan or Tanzania is still in Africa and not comfortable or easy by American standards, but it's a lot better than a remote village in the Ugandan bush where the electricity is on for no more than 18 hours a day (if you're lucky!).
My last task for the week was to request my top 3 jobs, anywhere in the world, in order. Two hours before my request was due, I was still uncertain about where I was supposed to go. God, like He had been doing all week, put people in my path who confirmed yet again where my heart was being called. So unless I got it all messed up and the Lord fixes it (which is entirely possible!), I will more than likely be going to Uganda. My partner, Kelly, and I will be living in the town of Arua. Each day we will bike to the villages that surround Arua (usually 5-10 miles away) to teach True Love Waits curriculum in the secondary schools there. 50% of the Ugandan population is under 15 years old, and these students desperately need to know and understand the AIDS crisis and how they can protect themselves from this disease that has decimated Uganda. As we build relationships with our students, we will begin having Bible studies and discipling the students we work with. Amazing how I'll be able to do in Uganda what I can't do in the US!
Right now, I'm waiting for everything to be finalized within the International Mission Board (IMB). I should have clearance by August 20, if not before. In October, I'll go back to Richmond to begin 8 weeks field orientation and training, which will end the week before Christmas. I'll be home for a couple of weeks, and should leave around the first week in January. Please pray for me as I try to get all my many ducks in a row (pesky ducks... they just can't seem to stay lined up!) and get my mind wrapped around the fact that in 5 months I'll be living in AFRICA!
...And I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you. I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong-- that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among other Gentiles. Romans 1:10-13
No comments:
Post a Comment