We would carry your love with us as we go

Our mission’s trip to Uganda is coming up very fast.  We are a small group of 5. We leave Germany August 25^th and are gone two weeks. We return to Germany on September 9^th.  At least this is the plan.  

 While we are in Kampala, we hope to do several small building projects.  We want to build a chicken coop, put up rain gutters and install a rain barrel for the vegetable garden, built pallet furniture, visit the farm where our cows (and perhaps goats) will be kept, teach how to make shampoo bars, and how to better wrap and market the soap, and so much more.  When I am in Kampala, I hope to interview each of the women in the group.  I am hoping to write a small group guide on learning from the poor, and how we can personally help people who live in poverty break free.  And we want to minister the love of God to each of the women in the Teen MOPS group, both the teen moms and the leaders.  I am already feeling overwhelmed as I prepare for this overly ambitious adventure.  I got my yellow fever vaccination about 4 days ago.  Today I am feeling very sick, with flu symptoms.  Perhaps it is just a coincidence?  But I am spending the day in bed, sweating and achy.  My guest room is full of stuff I intend to bring.  Practical stuff for the workshops.  Things that cost too much to ship.  But I imagine it will be like Christmas when we arrive there with so much at one time.  I’ve watched a lot of travel videos about Uganda.  But the tourists spend most of their days in 5-star hotels and do not see the slums.  And I know in my mind what the poverty is like, but I have never witnessed it with my eyes, or touched it, or smelled it.  I have a soft heart.  But I am trying very hard to focus, and preparing myself to say no a lot.  I cannot help a million and one needs I may see.  And I will say no over and over…so I can say yes to the few I come to serve.  If we do not focus, we will drown in this ocean of need.  I almost feel as if I must detach myself a little from my own self.  I would be an emotional wreck if I Allowed myself to be moved by all this pain.  But I know I will be moved.  I fully expect to laugh and cry.  And I am sure I will be changed.  It will be a celebration of what we have done in the past 18 months and a look at where we must go in the future.  And I hope to blog every day.  I hope you will be praying for us.  Pray everyone finishes raising the money to go, pray for our health and safety, and pray we are able to find the supplies we need to do the projects we hope to do.  Pray for our emotional and spiritual strength.  Please take the time to subscribe to my blog.  And take the time to leave comments.  We need to know we have a network of people who stand behind us as we go.  That we are not stepping out alone.  That we are carrying the love and hope of many around this world.