The last 4 days have been a whirlwind of emotions. God has moved more in my heart in the past 4 days than He has in the past 3 months. Training camp has been an amazing learning experience and a great time to bond with my team mates. This journey started with a 2 hour bus ride with a 50 pound bag in my lap for half the journey with complete strangers. After we arrived at our camp we were told to pick 3 items out of our bags and that's all we would have til the morning. We then made a shelter out of 2 tarps and spent the night under the Tennesse night sky.  It showed me early on...

Deep in the heart of Lira's main hospital lives a pre-teen boy named Ivan. Entering the tuberculosis ward, Ivan resembles nothing more than a pile of bones stacked neatly up on the floor. In fact, at first glance Ivan is so small, you probably wouldn't even notice he was in the room. Ivan is now succumbing to tuberculosis, HIV, and meningitis. A two month hospital stay is all that divides him from his former life of happiness and health; of running and kicking balls, playing in the mud, and helping around the house. His withered grandmother hoists him up onto the bed so I can get a...

We made it to Lira and have been in ministry for two weeks now. When we met our contact, Pastor Johnson Ogema, he told us about ten different ministries we could get involved in. We were excited to hear how busy we would be. So for the past two weeks we have been “working” with these different ministries. The thing is that in African culture, they see us as guests and want to serve us. Therefore we don’t feel like we are serving much. But here’s the thing… we have the option of how we want to look at the situation. We can say we really don’t have a...

Darkness hovering over me. Lightning illuminating the depths of the clouds. Bats being enticed by the gloom, Flying into the abyss to get a closer look. Should I fear what I see? Should I fear the shadows lurking all around me?   I stare into the face of the storm, and I see beauty. I see hands that created such splendor.  The lightning shows me Glory sitting on a throne,  looking down on me with love-sick eyes. He is a safe place…a refuge.   In the midst of adversity, my heart beats uncontrollably for the King. Darkness has no hold on...

Ephesians 6:12-13 – “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand.”               In Africa, you can hear the Muslim prayers over the loud speaker throughout the day. It’s always such an eerie thing to...

There are many things about spending time in Kenya that have been great, but I would be remiss if I only shared about the unexpected adventures, the encouraging words, and the inspiring stories that come with living in a foreign country.  This past week, we spent some time in Matayos, a village about twenty minutes by matatu (a taxi van, sort of) from our house in Busia.  Our team did some house to house evangelism with pastors as translators, and on Sunday a group of four of us (Hope, Ashlee, Melina, and myself) went to a Sunday morning service at their church.  They...