These experiences have shaped me. These people have taught me what it truly means to love each other and live out the gospel in everyday life. From these experiences, I have learned what it really means to fulfill a purpose and a dream. I will never let these memories fade, they will be my guiding light for all future obstacles and oppressions I may face in this life. Grace has never felt so alive before walking along side the beautiful people and ministries I came across while living in Uganda one summer that still feels like yesterday. For these foundational experiences, I am forever grateful. Thank you.

Getting Down and Dirty

Today looked different for us, in a good way. Pastor Moses asked us to help dig out and level the lot that he and his co-pastors want to build a primary school at.  

Digging and leveling is nothing new for us, we did the same thing on the roads of the church and school that we served at in Uganda. We love getting down to the grind and we're not afraid to get dirty.

Construction in Africa looks completely different than it does in America. Instead of having power tools and bulldozers we were equipped with simple shovels and hoes. Shoes are never required in African construction sites, so some of tried to fit in with the other workers by ditching our shoes but it didn't end great for the white people going barefoot.

We felt so blessed to be able to help Pastor Moses out with his dream and we went hard in the paint for the day with digging, hoeing, picking, and leveling. 

Life here in Kigali

Rwanda has been so amazing for my teammates and me. Ministry has been different every day considering we go door to door through the villages striking up conversations with whoever we come across.

It's crazy how the gospel speaks for itself . We just make sure we can share it with as many people as we can.

Our host, Pastor Moses, keeps inviting us to speak at his church and share our testimonies and the word of God. It's awesome that he trusts all of us to do a good enough job at his church, Gospel Center. 

I was able to speak to his congregation yesterday, I loved being an instrument for God's word! I spoke about how Jesus never told his disciples that it would be an easy road following in His footsteps and how the same goes for all of us, His followers, here on earth. It's so true though. Living in the world but not being of the world is one of the most difficult things to do, personally speaking, because it is so easy to get caught up in the earthly things like self-image, wealth accumulation, partying, addictions, etc. I felt so blessed to be able to encourage Pastor Moses' congregation to stay strong in God's word and to remember that absolutely nothing can separate us from God's love.

Hope all is well back in America! Thank you so much for checking in with me by reading this, love you all.

Romans 8

Me speaking yesterday, Sunday, at Gospel Center in Kigali.

Rwanda: living the good life

The view from the patio of our new home!

We have been upgraded once again, this time we have a toilet AND a shower! It's crazy how we have been going without these luxuries for 40 plus days and we didn't even realize we were going without until we moved into our huge new home which had such accommodations!

Ministry is awesome so far. Yesterday we were able to go door to door throughout the villages in Kigali, the nation's capital, and see if anyone needed prayer or wanted to accept Christ.

Our team is still very healthy! No one has malaria yet and we are all fully participating in every ministry opportunity our new pastor has set up for us. 

More information coming soon!

Summing Up Uganda

As we have our last couple of days here in Mukono, Uganda, I thought that our last few weeks here deserved a summary. It has not only been the most amazing time of my life here, but it also has been quite the adventure. So here we go.

Our stay here in Uganda has consisted of:

8 tattoos
2 hospital visits
11 stool samples given
9 finger pricks for malaria
3 blood draws
1 toenail in the Nile River
3 baptisms
3 rap performances
2 healings
2 backflips, 1 faceplant
6 bottles of BBQ sauce
5 jars of peanut butter
6 weave extensions
3 western union trips
5 cups of porrage per person
2 raft flips
2 of the most amazing pastors in the world
12 Mzungus (white people)

Our time in Uganda... PRICELESS. 

Sunday Funday

Today was awesome! At the Christ Ambassador's Service, the church our hosts established, we were able to lead the worship and do the Everything by Lifehouse skit (check it out on youtube). Doing the skit was so powerful because we weren't sure if the congregation would be able to receive the message of Jesus pursuing us through all of our flaws, sinning, and addictive tendencies but they understood what we were trying to convey (noted by the fact that they were going nuts by the end of it). I also had the opportunity to give a message to the congregation and I decided to talk to them about how God calls us to be bold in our faiths and how it is our responsibility to make sure that nobody misses His beautiful Grace.

I used the verse from Hebrews 12 to get my point across how we, as Christians, must make sure to spread the Love and Grace of God to everyone and not just our church and bible study friends.

Hebrews 12: 14-15

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

I am so happy that I had the chance to be an instrument for God's work and talk to the people of Mukono, Uganda about being  Bold in their faiths. I'm definitely not the perfect example for being the most bold, but I am always making efforts to grow in this aspect of my faith.  That's all for now! Love and miss you all! Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

Rafting the Nile River!

This Monday, we had the priceless opportunity of river rafting on the Nile River! It was our day off and we knew it would be worth the money and the drive to Jinja, where the rafting company launches from. The rapids were awesome! Class 5 and Class 6 rapids were what we were up against the entire day and it was definitely an experience I will never forget. Even when our raft was flipped after going down a waterfall, I was smiling the entire time. Our guide, Sedat, was what really saved us but we still were so stoked to be working together as a team to paddle our way through 9 ft tall rapids crashing down our raft. I'm officially hooked on rafting and I can't wait to get at it again back in the states!!