The Visa is in and I have BIG news

 

Reunited and it feels so good! I wish I could truly put into words the happiness in my heart at this point. My visa had expired in January while all of the paperwork for the work permit was being processed. Porsche and I have walked a long journey together of countless hours of stress and tears. Times where the devil was clearly trying to convince us that Uganda was not the place for us. Other times of just laughter so we wouldn’t go insane. While there were truly moments where I was ready to give up and walk away from that internal affairs office full of corruption and bribery- I am so thankful I got to do it alongside the most patient and humble Godly woman I have ever met. (for those that know me you know I don’t do so well with being patient). I am happy to say that I am an official volunteer at Empower A Child Uganda and have a valid work permit for a whole year. Thank you for all of your prayers and support you have no idea how much peace it brought into my life.

Round two comes next July- mark your calendars! J

Like I talked about in my last blog post- this summer was a crazy adventure. I am so thankful I have been here in the busy season to see all of the passion, talent, and energy that short term volunteers really bring into this organization.  I have been currently working as the MST (or volunteer) coordinator on ground as well as a communications intern. Communications has been a journey of keeping stories up to date  and posting content on Facebook. As far as the volunteers go- I act as a middle man in between staff and volunteers, share insight/personal experiences, and just answer questions as they come up. My bed is an office 24/7 open for encouragement or just someone to talk to for many volunteers that have come through. God has taught me so much about what good leadership looks like and, unfortunately, what it doesn’t look like. That a good leader is one who is the first to do the work. A good leader gives Godly insight in a humble way. Correction comes with a gentle word. And patience above all else is a must. At 20 years old I have seen so much of God’s hand so clearly move in my life. When I arrived last summer I missed a great team that came through but thankfully this summer was a lot of repeats from summer 2014 and I got to connect with the rest of the family.

 Every volunteer that comes through sees what I get to see every day and every month in and out. That this place is more than a mission field, more than a destination for someone seeking some adventure. It is the very place that Gods kingdom is being built and grown. It is a place where people find peace where they think they are going to fulfill some humanitarian desire. In the end they find that this place draws people closer to the Lord. It strips down every fear and every comfort zone. It pulls you into a place of unknown territory. Languages you can’t speak.  Food that you may not recognize. Spiritual warfare that goes far beyond our reach and scope from the state side.

Last week we visited Pastor Fred and his family at their home. It is a beautiful 25 minute walk away from the church through the bush and through pineapple gardens. The hot sun beating down and little footprints left in the dust on the travelled road in front of you. Fred’s wife and children have been suffering from being sick from Malaria to measles and everything in between for the past 3 months. As a projects team we wanted to go pray with them and just let them know that we are thinking of them and that we miss seeing them around. Freds wife (Ruth) works in our women women empowerment program as well as acting as the church treasurer. They have 9 children so they are very close to my heart as I am from a family of 8 children. A few of them are sponsored while others are not yet on the sponsorship list. Anyway when we arrived Ruth was very open with us about her story and just had shared how the doctors tried to inject her with meds or pull blood but were not able to do either. They couldn’t explain why she was sick. When they got back a home a pastor from Kampala came out to pray over her and her family. It is assumed that there is an older woman in the community not too far from Pastor Fred’s home that is heavily involved in witchcraft in hopes of being rich has brought some demonic spirits into the area. Ruth has had several manifestations where she was told that her children would fail exams and that it would kill her and her family. This being a God fearing home committed to praying for one another. Her children all fell very sick but after lots of prayer they are on the mend. This is one testimony of what our children and families here in the community of Zirobwe endure on a daily basis. Living in complete fear of what the devil is a part of. Something that our eyes are so shielded from in the states has such a heavy a saturated presence here.

SOOO….FOR THE BIG NEWS!

I am moving into a completely new season here at Empower A Child. I will be moving away from working with the international volunteers and focusing on the media aspect. We are starting up a Media and Marketing Department. Our purpose is to find local market within Uganda to be able to boost EAC and gain supporters. We will be working primarily on branding Empower as a whole and really bringing out the name of EAC for the community to recognize. We will also be working with external organizations to fundraise for our department- making documentaries and taking photos for them. This is a small department with BIG dreams and I am very confident that the Lord is going to big things through this department. I am looking forward to learning new things and gaining some new experiences. As many of you know our hope is to be relocating to the village as an organization and that will be coming up in the next few months. I will not be moving to the village and will reside in Kampala and work to build our name in the city. As this is a big change to what I had thought I am so excited and really looking forward to this new season. If you have any advice or encouragement as far as marketing goes I will take anything I can get. With this being said I would love to be able to get some new equipment and update my own personal software to be able to work on personal projects in a more professional way. I would like to update my camera and be able to present more quality work. I am looking for $3,000 to update everything. If you feel led or know someone who would be interested in helping me reach my goal I would be so grateful. Please share this on Facebook and pass it along to those via email that may want to give towards this goal. If you would like to give a one time donation please follow this link or scroll to the top of the page and click on the DONATE NOW button:

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