I made it to Uganda!

I'm officially in Africa! Finally!
I am all moved into my dorm room with my roommate from Tennessee! Right when we arrived here, we saw all the red dirt and beautiful landscapes! God's majesty is all over this country! I still don't think it has hit me yet. that i'm here to stay. for four months. We had our first day of classes today and right when our professor started going over the syllabus, we saw tons of monkeys just running outside of the window. I guess that's going to take some getting used to!

As much as i would love to write out a huge long blog right now, i have to go get going on homework already. so i will keep it short and give you all a list of things i have compiled that i can already say i love about being here

Reasons why I love Uganda...

• Monkeys!
• Driving on the left
• chapatis!
• i dont have to shave my legs
• beautiful mountains
• black babies!
• washing clothes by hand is kinda fun
• red dirt
• balancing things on your head
• "you get it?"
• mosquito nets
• passion fruits, avocados, and endless other fruits
• bartering in the markets
• baby sacs... carrying them on your back
• the exchange rate makes you feel rich!
• the random surprise of spontaneous power outages

five days to go

that's right, you didn't read the number wrong. i only have five days left til i leave! i am experiencing the most emotions i have ever felt all at once. my excitement and nerves keep going back and forth, one minute im dancing around listening to waka waka and the next minute i'm freaking out that i cant fit everything in my suitcase. gahh! I know this is not the normal place that people go to study abroad, i get that. Most people look for the places with the prettiest landscape or the most tropical climate, or even to a place where they speak the english language. i love telling people im studying abroad and watching their reaction when i tell them that im going to uganda. its quite hilarious actually. but quite honestly, even though i have never been there before, i love africa. i know my heart is for the impoverished and downhearted. my one friend who is going with me this semester put it this way,  "God has a different plan for me. God has sleepless nights, red dirt, endless servings of rice and beans, coffee bean colored kids, white smiles, cold showers, and a constant need and desire for Him, in my future. Normal will never be enough for me anymore."  I want this trip to be something that makes me completely dependent on God. that way i take the risks and reach out to people and leave it up to Him to pull through and make things happen. every day that i am over there will be a journey, one that will undeniably stretch me.

on a side note, I'm sure some of you guys have heard of the deadly ebola virus that is spreading right now. there is no cause pointed out as to why people have been getting it and there is no cure or medication that can help to stop it from spreading or killing more. after reading tons of articles and watching some documentaries about it, it is hard for me to say that im not scared, but i have to hold on to the fact that God is going to be keeping me and the others going out of harms way. He has called us all there for a reason for these next four months and he wont let something as small as a virus stop Him from fulfilling his plans. God is bigger than this and i am believing that i will come back free of any kind of sickness! here's a link to a short ten minute news report about the outbreak if you want to learn more about what is going on..

http://abcnews.go.com/watch/nightline/SH5584743/VD55225101/nightline-87-ebola-outbreak-in-uganda

Waka Waka!

For those of you who don't know, i will be STUDYING ABROAD in UGANDA this fall. I am leaving August 19 and staying over there until December 12 (12/12/12 - isn't that cool?) - a whole four months in AFRICA! I will have the chance to do an internship with an orphanage over there and also be taking classes like religion, justice, social work and Swahili! :) along with that, two weeks out of the semester i will be doing a rural homestay with a family that lives over there and get to experience what life outside of my dorm room is like. Also, we will travel to Rwanda, where the genocide happened and i am pretty sure i will get to do traveling within Uganda while i'm over there. It will be an awesome experience and definitely one that i will never forget! and i would love it if i had a support team back home praying for me and keeping up with what i'm doing - and that's what this blog is for. I'll try my best to update it with cool pictures or things that blow my mind that God is doing over there in me and others. Because i don't just view this opportunity as going to school over there, i am really expecting and praying that God uses me in the places i am at to even spread something as small as a smile to the people over there. and im sure that i will be forever changed by the people i meet and places i go! so thanks, in advance, for all the support. you guys are awesome! :D

here's a link of the program i'll be in - they are called BESTSEMESTER. =  http://www.bestsemester.com/usp/

God-sized hugs

do you ever wonder what you would do if you were God?

would you be so gracious with humanity as He is?

i mean, He gave us free will. which is a big thing in itself.

he could have just created us as robots,

with the program in our heads to do as we are told.

yet, as homosapiens, we disappoint God constantly.

we cannot even make it through one day without sinning.

what a frustrating concept if you were the one who created all of that.

I know i would not have that much patience to watch my hand-crafted creations disobey me right in front of my eyes.

to put it in the words of one of my best friends at school

"If i were God, lightening would be my hobby!"

how many times a day do we have to go crawling back to Him for forgiveness and to say our apologies, just to screw up again in the future.

im getting upset at myself just talking about it.

if only we would be more appreciative for the second, third, fourth, even eightieth tries God grants us!

boy am i glad God loves me!

dim lighting.

so i know i have talked about living with questions before.

but i would like to take that topic and expand on it.

back home, my home church that i grew up in has grown to over 3 or 4 thousand people!

i try to podcast the sermons as much as possible.

here's the link if anyone is interested...  christian life assembly podcasts

this past week, i had the time and the pastor talked about taking leaps of faith and looking for God's direction in our lives.

even amongst confusion and uncertainty.

he brought up three points, with multiple Bible verses to back them up:

1) Put God first

2) Take leaps of faith

3) The destination will be worth it all.

afterwords, he explained Psalm 119:105

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path."

A lantern is not very bright. but yet, that's what He says He uses to guide us.

this means that we can't see a mile down the road, but only a step.

we need to be able to trust God that where He is leading us is where is best for us.

that the destination will be worth all the leaping, trusting, and not knowing.

so, yes questions are good. but we will always be living by faith, and not by sight.