On my last trip to Uganda in 2013, I spent my time in the town of Soroti. Our hosts were from the Deliverance Church. Every morning for 2 weeks, Pastor Robert Echeru would come and pick our team up and take us to the churches and villages where we would minister. During that time I got to know Robert and I met his wife, Lois and 4 children Joseph, Annah, Gloria and Joshua. At the time, Lois was expecting their 5th child and Robert would joke that I needed to catch up and have one more. Their youngest daughter Gloria, who was 3, became my best friend. She found me every morning and would sit on my lap whenever she could and go through my purse looking for candy. She stuck to me and found a special place in my heart. The church runs a compassion program and every day we would interact with the compassion kids.
When I returned home from Uganda I knew I wanted to sponsor a child from Soroti and to make a long story short I contacted compassion, a little girl was chosen and her picture was sent to me. When I looked at the picture I was in shock, the little girl was Gloria! Robert and I had no idea and we were so happy to discover that God had put our families together for life =) 3 years later, our families finally met. It was an afternoon of pure joy as I sat and watched our children play with each other. I can’t even describe the feelings to see our children finally meet the girl whose picture has been on our fridge. It was the first time, Joo-Meng met the family and it brought tears to his eyes to be able to hug them and meet the family I have been talking about for years. They got to see where they lived, the beds they sleep in, they got to skip and run and laugh together and I can’t wait to do it again!
1 Comment
In my previous post, I introduced you to the widows that taught me something about what living out the kingdom of God looks like. We’ve been home for 2 weeks now and as we find the time to process all that we experienced I think about many things. I think often about the widows we met in Rubongi. I think about how I was born in Canada and given many privileges and they were not and neither of us had a choice in the matter. We are different in many ways. Our skin colour is different. I have access to clean drinking water and electricity. My children have access to free education and medical care. My family has the basics necessities of life met and have extras like extra curricular activities, Christmas and birthday presents, a night out to the movies or dinner and we don’t think twice about buying meat for dinner. We have never witnessed war or have had to worry about disease like malaria or typhoid. And while I can sit and see all the things that make us different there are yet more things that make us glaringly the same. Things that seem to be more important than the things that make us different. When we went to visit the widows, we needed a translator. There was a language barrier but when I looked into their eyes I saw the very things that made me see they are no different than me. We shared a heart that cried out with the desire to give our children the best, to provide for them in every way and make sure they are cared for and safe. We never want to see them hurt or suffer. We want to give a roof under their heads, a warm meal to fill their tummies and clean clothes to wear. And we want to be loved. We want to have worth and purpose and we want to know that we are not forgotten. As we sat together, two people from two different worlds we held hands. One offering hope and the other offering inspiration from the strength and perseverance of their journey. We left both praising God for the work of His hand and His faithfulness in our lives. I came home with a new understanding of sacrifice, faith and love.
Now, as I sit at home in my “mansion” I think about the things that make us similar and believe that everyone deserves to have those things and the very things that make us different is what should cause us to act and close the gap so one day our worlds would be closer to the same than different. The second and greatest commandment in the Bible is to love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than this, besides the first greatest commandment of course =). When we think about our neighbors we often think about the person who lives next door, the person that sits beside us at church or the one down the street but we don’t often think about Alice, or Margaret, Phoebe, Jennifer, Solima or Tedi. They are our neighbors too. No matter where we are, whether we live in Canada or Uganda there will always be a person in need. There is always someone that needs to be loved and hear that Jesus loves them. There is always someone who we can help to close the gap. We are living in a nation where I think we have more that live in want than in need and I am challenged to think we are given a great privilege and responsibility to steward what the Lord has given us. The poor, the sick, the needy and marginalized are as much God’s children as we are and when one member of the family suffers we also suffer and so He asks me again “How will you love the one?”. He doesn’t ask us to save the world, but He asks us to love. When you think about all the people in the world that are suffering and all that need love it can be overwhelming so He tells me again just love one. And when you have done that you love another. We’re sorry we haven’t been able to update you sooner. We had been difficulty getting access to our website while in Africa. I sent this update through email to many of you but thought I'd post this in case I missed anyone. More posts and pictures to come =)
There are so many things God has taught and shown us, it would take months to process but until we can express all that is in our hearts we wanted to share with you what the Lord has done. Since our last post we have returned from the village of Rubongi and Nairobi, Kenya. It was a busy time but the Lord sustained us through it all. A slight Detour to JINJA: For those that know Katie Daves and the desire of Abby’s heart to meet her, we wanted to let you all know that we made it to Jinja to visit her ministry. What an amazing thing she has built for the community. We heard the wonderful news that Katie gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Noah in June so to Abby’s great disappointment she wasn’t able to meet Katie that day. She was reconciled to meet the next best thing, her husband Benji and see a picture of Noah on his cell phone. She put on a brave face when she heard the news Katie wasn’t coming and I watched as she tried to hide her tears but she was happy to walk the grounds and see the wonderful things Katie is doing. RUBONGI, UGANDA: As a parent, it brought such pride and joy to see our children play and interact with the children in the village. Through the eyes of a child, they didn’t see colour, tattered clothes, dirty faces, or snotty noses but they saw friends. Friends they could play tag, kickball, climb trees and laugh with. Everyday, they visited classrooms and shared on God’s forgiveness and the fruit of the Spirit. They were stretched and taken out of their comfort zones but they served with confidence and if someone forgot their part, Jacob stepped up and lead the team! These international preachers lead over 50 children to Christ. While the children preached in the classrooms, Joo-Meng and I taught in the Amecet training school. It was a week of teaching leaders and pastors in financial management, sonship, character, identity and spiritual parenting. It was a privilege watching hearts and minds being transformed as we imparted kingdom principles and kingdom culture. As we spent the week with these pastors and leaders we witnessed how changing one pastor can change a congregation, a congregation can change a community, a community can change a region and dream with them how a nation can be changed. At the end of every day, our family had the honor to visit the widows in their homes. I think this was the favourite part of my week as we met women who gave so much to raise their children. We met Alice. She is the 2nd wife of a man who abandoned her leaving her with their 4 children and 5 children from his 1st wife. She raised these 9 children on her own only to be abandoned by them all when they grew older. Despite this, she continues to be a pillar of strength for her village and the church. She shared a heart that did not harbour any ill will towards her husband and her children and all she had was praise for God who provided for her all these years. Margaret lost her husband over 15 years ago. She raised her children and put her children through school by plowing fields. This amazing women controlled 2 yoked oxen and could plow an acre field in one day to receive the equivalent of $10 CDN in wages. Saloma has 3 children. Her husband left her (in Rubongi), went to Kampala and never returned. Because of a medical condition, she is unable to walk and moves around on her hands and knees. And then there was Jennifer, Teddy and Phoebe. All with their own story of grief and loss as they husbands passed away due to illness. They each shared their struggles as they try to raise their children. Our children were exposed to a life that they have never seen. Homes the size of their own living room made out of mud, roofs made from straw, ceilings of cardboard that hopefully will keep the rain out. They saw a living area with no furniture, rooms separated by bed sheets, no electricity, no running water and the kitchen outside in another hut. But the kitchen is just a room with charcoal and a pot to cook their meals. They witnessed women who have suffered and experienced so much pain beam with pride as a mzungu (white) family came to visit. These wonderful women ran around pulling out chairs, asking us to sit while they chose to sit on a mat beside us. I broke as I heard their stories and my heart was challenged when women who seemingly had nothing would share generously with us the first fruits of their land. Mangoes from their tree, ground nuts, vegetables from their garden and the most expensive gift of all, a chicken. It’s not easy to catch a chicken I have to say. A chicken is the highest and most expensive honor they can give to a guest. A chicken is something they would only eat at Christmas, something that could cost them a year of wages to buy and yet they did not hesitate to give to us freely with hearts trusting God will continue to provide. We left Rubongi with 3 chickens, a rooster and hearts inspired by the strength, humility and love of these women. Women who many would think have nothing yet have everything. Despite all their challenges, their hearts were full of praises to God for all He has done in their lives. NAIROBI, KENYA: From Rubongi, we travelled 12 hours to Nairobi, Kenya. We entered the 2nd most corrupt country in the world, Uganda being 3rd and yet 70% of this country is Christian. As we entered our 5th week in Africa we began to understand the culture and contradictions in their culture. We began to understand why Adrian and Sherene came here to start Amecet with the purpose of equipping leaders in kingdom principles so that the culture and mindsets of the nation can be realigned with God’s principles. We began to understand that principles that seem very simple and what many westerners may take for granted are actually very foreign to Ugandans and Kenyans because of the way they grew up. Things like integrity, honesty, leadership, relationship building, and trust seemed like fresh bread to many as we taught. Every morning we travelled an hour to teach in a slum area called Ongata Rongai. I thought I had seen poverty but Ongata Rongai brought poverty to another level. In this place of extreme poverty, we met 25 pastors and leaders who are hungry and desperate to change their community and eager to learn how. We came with Adrian and his local team to give a sampling of the training school to see if they wanted to partner with us in the future and begin a full school. By the end of the week, they were so impacted they gave us a unanimous yes to moving forward in 2017. We loved watching these leaders soak up all the teaching like sponges but it was our greatest joy when we witnessed these leaders realizing that the God they serve is not an angry God but a loving God that chose them and plucked them out of the miry clay into His beautiful light. We were honored to cry with these men and women as God met them in their place of pain and began healing hearts and speaking into their identity as sons and daughters of a living God. We have heard so many testimonies of how these teachings have changed their lives, their marriages, their families and how they lead their congregations. Since we’ve been here we have heard of calls from more pastors and other denominations who want to enroll in the school next year and yet another nation, Rwanda is asking for Amecet to train their pastors. As we begin our transition home we see the work is many but the workers are few. Manpower and finances prevent Amecet from expanding to meet the demand. We leave asking ourselves how do we help? As we wind down, I think about all the friends we have met. Mike, who was hired to be our driver, is now Uncle Mike to our children. How do we leave a man who tirelessly watched and protected our children knowing his seed business was taken from him by theft 2 years ago and he is now burdened on how he will take care of his family. Joseph, Christine and their daughter Faith, welcomed our family into their home and church in Rubongi. They trusted us to teach their leaders and cheered the children on when they taught at their school. The girls fell in love with Faith, and Joseph and Christine hugged us like we were old friends. How do we leave this family knowing Christine’s is experiencing some health issues but they can’t afford the test to see what is wrong or they can’t afford to pay for their daughter’s school fees. Then there is Cyrus, Harriett, Jimmy, Belinda and Arcade who every day and night gave 100% to make sure our daily needs were met and guarded the compound where we stayed. How do you leave when they have now become a part of our family and they struggle to pay for things we would take for granted. There’s Robert from Soroti, I met his family 3 years ago. His daughter, Gloria is our compassion child. How do you leave after your families spend an afternoon together, you laugh with them and share the joy of family together. How do you leave knowing the little contribution you give them sends their daughter to school and yet they struggle to provide. These are the daily struggles of so many here and yet I have never met a more joyful, gracious and humble group of people. These are only a few names, there are hundreds of people we met and I leave wanting to just sweep them all up and bring them home. These last six weeks we have witnessed extreme poverty against a backdrop of greenery and lush beauty. We have enjoyed every moment, seeing the hearts of our children moved when their simple gift of flour, jewelry or a tie brought such joy to the hearts of the local men, women and children. We have loved listening to the kids excitement as they saw the goats and cows strolling and grazing on the side of the road, the baboons and monkeys in the trees as we drive by and their laughter watching the the donkey walking beside our car. We have loved sharing this experience with our children as they helped children carry their 20 lb water jugs back home, witness 6 year olds swing their baby sister on their back, and shared with them the sadness in their eyes when they heard the stories of their new friends. As a family we were able to take in the beauty of the land and the people. My heart is full of gratitude for all of you who have made it possible for us to be here. For the clothes you donated, the financial support and the prayer covering that has kept us, sustained us and helped make this mission a success. My heart is full and empty at the same time. I make my journey home with so many feelings and thoughts yet to be processed but I know that we are in a dangerous yet exciting place - when we begin to care, when the nameless faces that we used to watch on TV or hear about in the news have now become our friends, our family. When their stories have now become a part of our story and the Lord calls us not to forget asking how will you love the one, for what you do for the least of your brothers and sisters you also do for me. For everyone needs compassion, love that’s never failing, and the kindness of a Saviour. So our mission trip may be over but our story is not yet finished. Keep following us on our blog as we come home and continue to share about our trip and the emotions we are feeling. Follow us as we wait in anticipation for what the Lord will do with us next. when we get home we will post more pictures =) Joo-Meng’s update: Adrian always asks me what are the most memorable or favourite moments of our trip. I cannot begin to tell which ones are, because there are so many! I have truly enjoyed the fellowship we have had with the Wi family, experiencing all that we did in their company. Our kids had an incredible time playing with the Wi’s, and much of that time wasn’t even in front of a screen! I’ll highlight a couple of moments that have really tugged at my heart. The first is our experience visiting the widows. Hearing the strength and determination of these women to carry on despite the loss of their husband and raise all of their children (and sometimes even children who were not their own biological children) really was something to behold. And to hear the ministry of Joseph and his church members ministering to the needs of the widows was to watch the Kingdom of God truly in action. (“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27) What really touched my heart was to see how these women who have so few possessions, could so easily and without hesitation give up their prized possession (a chicken) to us who already have so much. It makes me wonder - if we in North America could be as generous with our possessions as these women were, then poverty could easily be a thing of the past. After eating dinner in the mall one evening, we met a woman and her 3 year old son asking for food or money in the parking lot. Elianna was carrying a bag of leftover french fries and salad and I asked her if she’d be willing to give it to the woman. Without hesitation she ran up to her and gave the bag to her. As we walked back to our van, we watched as she and her son quickly ate the food up - I left heart-broken, thinking what must it feel like not knowing where you are going to get the next meal to feed your own child. As our family prepares to leave Uganda, I leave with many questions in my mind. What does God have in store for our family in the future? How can we as a family, or we as a nation better help those who are in need? How can we be even more generous with our possessions like the widows were with theirs? However, I leave Uganda more convinced than ever of this thought - that our comfort/material possessions/”stuff” in North America very easily and quickly lulls us into complacency and can make us ineffective in the Kingdom of God. (Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Luke 12:15). So as we return to North America, the challenge we face is this - how do we not allow ourselves to be lulled into complacency and comfort, living in the society we live in? As Rosanna said, it was truly an honour to come to Uganda knowing that we were supported by so many people and prayed over by so many as well. We came to serve the people of Uganda and Kenya but return to Canada even more blessed by the people and experiences here. We look forward to sharing our stories and pictures with all of you when we return! Yoga is "Hello" in Ateso, one of the dialects in Uganda! We are so sorry we haven't been able to update you all sooner but we are learning that things don't always work as planned in Africa =). We have been here 12 days and have already experienced so much! We want to give a heartfelt thanks to every single person who supported us on this journey here. We had so many suitcases loaded with items that were donated by all of you! The land here is beautiful and the people even more so! The irony is....it's cooler here than it is back in Oakville LOL!!! We are being well taken care of by our friends Adrian and Sherene. Their 3 boys (Luke, Ethan and Isaiah) were so happy to see Jacob, Ellie, Nathaniel, and Abby! There's so much to write about in the past two weeks so here goes! On the first Sunday, Joo-Meng preached at a church in the Kakeeka slums. Later in the week, the children served at Giving Tree Community Centre in Kansanga slums. There were close to 120 children there. It was chaos but wonderful chaos! Ellie and Abby performed their "dancing tambourines" for the children. The children taught them the "Power Shuffle", played with them, and did crafts with them. Rosanna taught lessons to the kids as well and many of them accepted Jesus as Lord that day. We also traveled to Soroti (6 hour drive) where we taught 27 pastors/overseers (who represented close to 60 churches) through the Amecet training school. The feedback has been positive as we shook their mindsets by teaching on identity and kingdom culture. We taught things they have never heard before and we are already hearing the teaching will change their family life and how they pastor. The children ministered to over 100 Compassion children and we also visited the Amecet orphanage and spent time with our dear friend Robert and his family. Ugandan life is very different! Flipping a switch down turns things on. Traffic is chaotic and crazy with very few traffic lights.....and even with traffic lights, not everyone follows them! We've already had two temporary power outages, and water has been cut off on two occasions. They have a phrase here....TIA, which means "This Is Africa" :) Can you believe that was only a summary of our first week! This week we are back in Kampala ministering at Giving Tree again and preparing for our trip to Rubongi and Nairobi. Thank-you so much for your continued prayers. It has kept us safe and enabled us to minister to the Ugandan people here! The book of psalms says this. "Out of the mouth of babes...You have ordained strength."
This past week has been just that. We started on this journey 10 months ago and now that we are 10 days away so many things have changed. Our itinerary has changed, our schedule has changed, our budget has changed. Its hard to keep updating everyone. Things started at a projected budget, it went down and then back up again. I decided to not update our website. I didn't feel it right to change it once again but it's funny how thoughts creep in. "If I don't let people know that our budget has increased then how are we going to reach our goal". I'm so thankful that God is such a patient God. He's probably saying "Oh Rosanna, how many times do I need to remind you that I am a God of more than enough" but at the same time I think, God just knows what I need because in a time when I am feeling so overwhelmed with planning and preparations He sends me children to bring me strength and peace. So this week God used children to remind me He is a God that will bless us abundantly and our needs will be met so we can go about His business. Abby has a friend who is celebrating her 9th birthday this month. I received an email and it said this friend doesn't want birthday presents and instead she would like to ask her friends to donate towards our trip. I shared this with Abby and she looked at me with a big smile and I could see the pride in her eyes. She is proud to have a friend like this. I am touched by her heart of generosity and the monies raised on her birthday will go towards the purchase of much needed diapers, wipes, formula and baby oil for the orphanage we will be visiting in Soroti. Throughout the months, I have shared with the children how our friends and family have sowed into our mission because they love us. I love to see their faces when I share the stories of support that comes in. Their eyes get bigger and their smiles light the room. They say things like "that's awesome" "wow" or "amazing". I see their faith rise as they see their God answer their prayers. We spoke to the kids about all the people that have invested in us and we asked them if they felt they should invest in themselves, invest in their trip to show God they are committed. One child was ready to empty his bank account, another was wavering between 2 different amounts and yet another said "Why give when God will provide". At first, I thought this comment was out of selfishness and this mama was ready to set this child straight. I started and then I looked and what I saw stopped me in my tracks. I saw the face of a child who without a doubt believed their God was so big they didn't need to give because His God will provide. And in that moment he said "Why give to what we need, God will provide...I want to give in excess so we can get something we didn't budget for." So there you have it....out of the mouths of children. So many lessons I have learned on this journey and we haven't even stepped foot on the plane yet. WHO EVER HAS FOUND ONE HAS FOUND A TREASURE. Eccles 6:14 I'd like to introduce you to a group of ladies that worked tirelessly last Friday with me to bring to you 110 homemade gourmet candy apples and 50 chocolate covered marshmallow sticks. I couldn't get pictures of all of them but I am so thankful for the people God brings into my life and it is a privilege and honor to count these women as friends. Lauren, Wanda, Sandy, Jasmina, Neeta are the prayer warriors of John Knox Christian School. We meet every Monday morning in the war room to pray for our children, school, administration and teachers. Donna is a dear friend who I also met at John Knox, and Mrs. Stubbert (Alexis) is a beautiful lady I met just that morning who came to serve because she wanted to and still there were many who wanted to come and help that day but couldn't due to scheduling conflicts. Thank-you just doesn't seem enough for the 7 hours you worked, for the burns you endured and the time put in before Friday to prepare and get supplies. We raised over $800 from our candy apple fundraiser and the funds raised will help us bring 60 audio bibles from Galcom international to share the gospel to the unreached. Everyday I am reminded of God's faithfulness and Friday was just another moment where I was reminded of His unfailing love. Thank-you ladies for your friendship, for your servant hearts and your love. I will bring you with me to Uganda and may you be reminded of how your act of kindness has a hand in the work of the Kingdom. MUAH!!!! Sometimes when you answer the call you’re never really sure what that means. I heard someone the other day ask “What do you think the opposite of faith is?” The immediate thought that came to mind was “doubt”, but I was challenged to rethink this when he said “I believe it is certainty”. When you are certain of things there is no room for faith. Faith is the mystery of things unknown, things unseen. If you are certain of things how does your faith grow? There are 6 more weeks until we take our 4 children somewhere to do something unknown and since we’ve started this journey we have witnessed uncertainty turn to certainty and faith arise.
We were uncertain if we should answer the call. When we said yes it became certain we were going. We were uncertain if we would raise even 50% of our goal. Today we have raised 70%!!! We were uncertain of who would take care of the little things at home. Today we are certain and blessed with a family that will take care of our home, our dog and 5 gerbils. I see that when things are uncertain, God does something that makes it certain and our faith grows. However, I believe that we should never reach that place of 100% certainty and so our future continues to be unpredictable but it’s unpredictable with a God that never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. So it is in the uncertain, we can be certain of His unfailing love. And it is this love that gives us the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance of what we do not see. And so as the days ahead are still unclear, I am learning to find rest in my unchanging God. As a mother, I still think about the how the kids will do on the trip, I think about our safety, health and all the things that are still left to do but the one thing I know is the love of the Father and I wait in anticipation for the day when the Lord makes the uncertain, certain again and for my faith to rise to the next level. And rise it shall!!! It's not often that Joo-Meng takes me to work. He always takes the kids and they get to meet the beautiful people he works with. There's never a take your wife to work day, but today I was so blessed to meet some of the wonderful women on 3A for the first time. They have such big hearts. It is no wonder Joo-Meng loves to go to work. Today was the big 50/50 draw on the floor and they were all excited to see who the winner was. 96 people throughout the hospital contributed to the draw. Thank-you for your generosity, I was so touched by all of you. Meeting you was the highlight of my day. What a fun bunch! Thank-you for taking care of Joo-Meng when he's at work and being his family. We had another great night of Zumba to raise money for our trip! Thank-you to all for the support. Fun was had from the young to the old =) Doing some spring cleaning? Maybe you have some of these items hanging around looking for a home. We'd love to bring these items with us to Uganda.
1) medium - large size suitcases. We want to bring our things to give away and leave them the suitcases. They will use them for storage and as their chest of drawers =) 2) girls knee length - ankle length skirts (size 6, 8, 16 and women's small) 3) Women's t-shirt blouses (size S, M) 4) boys shorts - size 8, 10 5) girls and boys t-shirts 6) mens' ties and dress shirts Let us know if you have anything you'd like to donate and we'll come by and pick them up. |
AuthorJust someone who is excited to go to Africa with her family to do the work of the Kingdom! Archives
September 2016
Categories |