Where is the SOLDIER in me

So as many of you know I had my friends and family write to me in a daily journal so I had words of encouragement for every day I was gone.  The following was todays entry… written incidentally by my amazing mom.

Are you being a soldier?
Soldier's get hot!
Soldier's get dirty!
Soldier's get hungry!
Soldier's get homesick!
Soldier's WIN WARS!
I love you Mom

You would think this being my 4^th trip to Africa in the last year I would have learned a few things.. Well in hindsight, I had learned a lot but this trip I feel that God decided that my faith and courage needed to be tested in much more dramatic ways.

I can handle the mosquito’s, though they are at times almost unbearable, I have started crying a lot less at the sight of enormous cockroaches (thankful for my roommate who has no qualms about killing them for me), I have learned to live without a stove and microwave, I have learned to deal with frequent power outages, and learned to keep my “technology” fully charged at all times just in case.  I have learned to survive with very few showers, even when I do bathe, the water pressure is so low and cold but at least for a few minutes I feel somewhat “clean”. I am thankful that although Uganda is SO hot, it is not humid and makes the days seem more tolerable.  I am thankful for when it rains (torrential downpours) because after the rain the weather is so beautiful with cool temperatures.  I have learned that pedestrians NEVER have the right of way and have learned to look both ways frequently when trying to cross a busy street.  I travel by boda (motorbike) almost always, and have learned to hold on and pray knowing that when going up a hill, the driver can and will push you off the back without warning in order to “climb” the hill.  I have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when I walk into a store where the “spirits” are not good.  I plead the blood of Jesus more times in a day than I ever thought I would need to.  Nicole (my roommate) and I frequently plead the blood after coming in contact with people who clearly don’t love Jesus.  We recently went into a shop and upon entering the back room we immediately felt so overwhelmed with a demonic presence we quickly exited the store pleading the blood while doing so and stopped outside to pray and ask for a thick hedge of protection.  There are many Islamic mosques in our village and several times a day they pray on loud speakers for the whole village to hear.  Nicole and I pray WITHOUT ceasing and again plead the blood.  I have no idea what they are saying as the words are not in English but I have enough of a discernment of Spirits to know it is not good.  

When we visit Ben and Susan (the 3 and 5 year old that we reunited with their mom) I see the conditions they live in. Literally a 10X10 brick house which is one room, complete with a mattress for mom and her 4 children, a charcoal stove, a blanket dividing their “home” into 2 rooms..  They have 2 plates, a few cups and a huge jug of dirty water to drink.  It never ceases to amaze me that this is the way most of the children here live and are so happy; the children follow us as we walk around town in “herds” the little girls take our hands and kneel at our feet to greet us.  When we walk through town the children literally flock to us, so happy just to touch a mzungu (white person).  I have to admit at times I feel like a bit of a celebrity.  To see the smiles on their little faces just because we wave and say hello makes all the “negativity” here completely worthwhile.

Ben and Susan's home

I was beyond blessed to meet some new friends here who have helped us to reunite some of the children in our baby home with their families.  We were blessed with an incredible Sunday worship service…. It was much needed… Nicole and I do devotions together daily, I spend frequent time in prayer. 

I have to say I am homesick, not for the comforts of North America (like air conditioning), but I miss my parents,

I pray that this does not come across as me complaining after all as my mom kindly reminded me I am a SOLIDER!  AND:::

Soldier's get hot!
Soldier's get dirty!
Soldier's get hungry!
Soldier's get homesick!
Soldier's WIN WARS!

I AM WINNING THE WAR!

Please click the following link to my roommates blog we posted separate as to not repeat stories.

africanblessings.blogspot.com

the sun shines through the storm