The day I met Jesus through a little girl...

I have been back from Uganda month now and the ache to go back hasn't faded a bit!  But, since I can't ho back right this minute I have been trying to keep it fresh in my mind by looking at pictures and recalling all the wonderful memories and experiences! I want to share one of those experiences with you today.

It was October 14th, exactly one year ton the day since I had first stepped foot in Uganda! It was sort of a bittersweet day for me because we had driven right by the home Rose is at and I was so sad I was so close and couldn't see her again. I was also missing Bobby because our time there had ended the day before and I knew I wouldn't be able to see him again.  That day my team went and visited the Home Again Ministry's Bethel School which is in the Karamajong village. Home again was a ministry my previous team actually visited and worked with, but I had not been there because it was the day I was flat in bed all day with a back injury and unable to go with the team. But I had heard great things and was excited to see it for myself! Just as some background, the Karamajong tribe is a group of people that were nomadic refugees from other parts of Uganda and East Africa and have been very isolated because of ethnic reasons. They are poorest of poor, and many families are single moms with many children and little to no income to support them. Hope Grafted In, the organization I went with this time, had helped raise funds and provide a grant for Home Again Ministries to build this school, so we went to see the new school and hear more about its progress. While we were there we had about an hour to just play and interact with the school children. These kids don't see many muzugus (white people) and they swarmed us!! They wanted to touch our white skin, and feel our hair. They loved just holding on to a finger or hand or just having their arm on ours. At on point the kids were all distracted by candy, so I decided to walk across the school yard to find a shady spot to stand for a few minutes. As i was walking, I felt a little hand grab ahold of mine and gently tug. I looked down and there stood the sweetest little girl of about 6 or 7 years old with a front teeth missing smile looking up at me! She motioned for me to bend down so I knelt to her level and in the sweetest voice she introduced herself and asked me my name. Honestly, here is the hard part, to this day I still don't know her name because I never understood quite what she was saying. I so wish I did though! I told her my name and she sweetly looked up to me and said "I love you Auntie Kristin! Sank you for coming to visit me!" (And no that's not a typo, she said thank you with a lisp because of her front teeth missing). I can still hear that sweet, soft voice now! We walked over to the shade hand in hand and as if that wasn't enough to melt my heart she turned to face me, took both my hands in hers and asked if she could pray for ME!  I nearly burst into tears right then!!  But, I held it together and listened to this little girl pray the sweetest, most heart felt prayer of blessing and thanksgiving over me I have ever heard!!  Right there in that moment I knew I was meeting Jesus in the flesh of a little girl with a toothless smile and cute little lisp!! It brings me to tears right now even thinking about it!!  I was humbled to the core, and my heart burst wide open right there in the middle of a school yard!!  The love I experienced and felt at that moment is like none I've experienced before.  It was truly and completely unconditional love!! This little girl had no idea who I was, she was just grateful that we came to see her and her school, and knew we had a small part in her being able to even go to school.  Any sadness about not seeing Rose, or missing Bobby was gone!!  This little girl had been Jesus to me and opened my eyes to what it really means to love and be Jesus to others!!  I then prayed for her as well, not nearly as eloquently I'm sure, and we spent the rest of my time there side by side. I think about that little girl often and wonder what sort of impact she will have in her village.  I wonder if she will ever have any idea how much she impacted my life that day!  And I pray she continues to grow and learn, and know Jesus well!! Here are a couple pictures of her.

Do you see it? Do you see Jesus in her eyes? Because I do! Every time I see her face I see the His Love looking back at me!!

Being "Home"...

So, finally, here is an update after my recent trip back to Uganda.  I wish I could put into words what this trip was for me, and "how" this trip was.  That's the simple question most people ask, and yet I rarely have much more of an answer besides "great", or "amazing".  There are times I truly cannot find the words to describe how amazing this trip was, or the things that God did.  God showed up in some pretty amazing ways, and I will share more in some individual posts, but to say that God went before our team, and with our time there would be an understatement!  Being in that country again with those beautiful people again was, just as I imagined, like being home!  The moment the plane started the approach into the Entebbe airport and I looked out the window and saw those beautiful red dirt roads I immediately felt like I was back home!  Leaving that place and coming back home to the U.S. was even harder than I could have imagined!  I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and left behind!  Coming home and being home has been pretty difficult for me.  I will be completely honest and say that boarding that plane to come back to the U.S. this time was one of the most difficult things I have ever done!  I felt like I was leaving the place I'm meant to be!  I know that must sound crazy to a lot of you, and that I may have officially gone off the deep end, but everything about Uganda feels so normal and comfortable to me!  God made some things pretty clear to me while I was in Uganda, and one of those things is that He just confirmed even more that my heart is in that country and with those beautiful people, and I will go back!  There is no doubt about that in my mind at all!  That may be pretty hard for some people to understand.  Some may question "Kristin, how can your heart be there, when your friends and family are here? Do you love those people and that place more than you love your own family and being near those you love?"  And the answer to that is No...absolutely not!  I love my family and friends here more than I can put into words!!  What I can tell you is God has placed Uganda and the people there on my heart for a reason!  The comfort I feel there, the love I have experienced there, and the joy I have there is certainly God given!  When you have the opportunity to bless an elderly couple and their family with just a small gift of food, and then see complete joy and gratitude exude from their faces it stays with you!  When you meet people who have absolutely nothing of monetary value, but can teach you what it truly means to be Rich it blesses your soul in a way I can't describe.  Being there with those amazing people and giving back even just a little of what they give me is what makes that place so amazing!  I think this quote states it pretty well!  "You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere.  That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."  I realize unless you have experienced falling completely in love with a completely foreign place like I have you will probably never understand how torn your heart can feel even when you are in your home town with the family and people you love.  I feel really blessed that God has grown my heart so much to allow two completely different places with completely different people to completely fill it!  I am humbled that He choose me to go to that beautiful country not once, but twice now, and more I'm am certain in the future!  It really is humbling and amazing to think that God picked me...this city slicker of a girl who will barely use a port-a-potty and can't stand bugs, to fall in love and feel so completely at home and comfortable in a place SO far out of my comfort zone!!  People who know me well, will understand how true that statement is!!  But, it just proves how God can take anyone, anywhere to places only He can imagine!  When you are willing to take a leap of faith, and step out of your own little world God can take you places you never dreamed!!  I am so glad I listened to His calling a year ago and let Him take me to places I never could have dreamed!!  If you would have asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I would be completely in love and feel at home in a country in Africa I would have said you were a crazy person!!  But now, Uganda truly is my second home!!