“Mukama yebasibwe! (Praise God)….
I’m leaving on Wednesday, so I’d like to thank God for
allowing me to come here to Uganda, and to serve along side you all… attack
of the tears its been such a joyful time! And I wanted to encourage you all
to always continue to meet together worshipping God. I know I’ve come, not
understanding a word each time. But when I come, I am ALWAYS encouraged…
because I know that you guys are joining together for the purpose of knowing
God more, and to worship Him whole heartedly!
I wanted to share one of my favorite Psalms… Psalm 116.
I love you all.”
As I sit here, 4 hours away from returning “home”, I can’t
help myself from searching my mind, striving to cling on to all the memories I
made. I know it’ll be nearly impossible for me to remember everything, I just
don’t want them to go away! That farewell was given the night before I left,
the night of my last bible study! tears were ever on the rims of my eyes that
night, and whenever my mind would wander to the reality of my departure, those
tears would silently stream down my face. A big portion of my heart now belongs
to Uganda… and having to leave… the place, the culture, and the people broke my
heart! –of course—
The funny thing is…
About 4 months ago, during my first nights of being in
Africa, I was HORRIBLY homesick. I would survive throughout the day, and then
right when I would close the door to my room, when I was in the private, lets
just say there was MAJOR floodings! Hahaha! I wanted to go home so bad that I
even started a weekly countdown on my computer. (currently @ 0/16! Hahaha). I
was SO looking forward to this day that I’m experiencing now. Nevertheless,
despite my longing, I still kept asking God to give me a love for the people,
and the culture!
And things changed, I’m not sure when exactly… but my heart
definitely changed. God gave me wonderful relationships with the girls my age,
and with my “co-workers”! He also gave me such a joy, every day I would go to
baby class. Its not the easiest thing teaching and caring for these young kids,
and often times, I would get SO exhausted, yet I still had a joy! What an
answer to prayer that was!
And the bible studies with the girls… I am so overwhelmed
with thankfulness to God for allowing me to lead these precious girls! I know,
that God was there every time I would sit down to share with them, it was
obvious! They were always attentive, grasping onto every word I said! I just
hope that through those times, they will have a new vigor in knowing more of
who God is! And I was thinking about it, thinking of what I was gonna do when I
would return. I devoted my time and myself to these girls… I want to do the
same thing in the bay area… In fact, I want the rest of my life to be a
selfless service to God and the people I’m with, whether I’m in Africa,
America, or AUSTRALIA! “make my life a prayer to you, I want to do what you
want me to!” –keith green. (man, I love his lyrics!).
The truth is, I’m not a SUPER CHRISTIAN just because I went
to serve in Africa… I’m still a wretched, fearful, weak, sinner in need of His
grace, EVERY single morning. And let me tell you, I don’t know HOW many times
God had to remind me of this, because I would start to have an independent mind
set. In Paul’s word’s, “not that I have already obtained it or have already
become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I
was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.”. I pray and hope that People will glorify
Christ alone through hearing about my adventures… because it really wasn’t me
at all!
On my last day in Africa, I was sitting next to one of the
new muzungu girls that had come, grading and preparing books for all the kids
(yes, teachers have to manually prepare all the bookwork!), chatting about
everything possible as always… somehow getting to the subject of how we need to
live our lives for God alone! And kk said something that specifically stuck out
to me, “our lives need to be CONSUMED by Christ Jesus! We may lose special
people in our lives… but that ultimately won’t
matter, because we have all we need in Him, and He is all we
need!” man, I don’t know how many times I have had that preached to me, and it
still doesn’t get old!
That prayer should be on my lips, in my mind and in my heart
from the moment I wake to when I close my eyes in slumber.
Heres some lyrics to a song we sang in choir one time,
“I believe you’re my
healer, I believe you are all I need. I believe you’re my portion, I believe
your more than enough for me… Jesus your all I need.”
So, FINALLY, after all that rambling, yes… I am sad about
leaving Uganda, but I am looking forward to what God has for me in the future.
And again, as Paul says, “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to
what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of
God in Christ Jesus.”
Amina! And thank you for joining me on my adventures to
Africa.
Love hearing your heart, Tessara! Welcome back!
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