Sabbatical Send Off

It was a typical Friday in the office at LCH. Friday fellowship had ended and I had a few loose ends to tie up before I left for my long sabbatical. Tomorrow was Tr. Francis’ wedding at the church behind LCH, so there was some noise in the main hall. I could hear tables moving and chairs being stacked, I assumed in preparation for his big day.  Earlier that week I had received a school notice of the next weeks plans for testing (and therefore schedule changes). On it included a “Prayer send off for the coordinator” on Monday.

While I was busy in the office, Head Master William walked in proclaiming with a big smile, 

“Na-talie, I want to give you a stern warning. Are you ready?” A bit confused I said yes. “You may not leave this office under any circumstance until someone comes to get you,” he warned me.

Hmm. Maybe all the racket in the hall was not for what I had anticipated it for…

About 1.5 hours later I heard Jerad on the PA system welcoming people in and the announcement for the special team to gather me from my office. In typical African style, I was escorted out of my office with a procession of dancing staff members and the timeless African shrill.

(Gulp) The whole of Lulwanda was there- all the school children, all the teachers, all the home staff. (Ok Nat, keep it together and don’t let the tears start yet).

They had set up the main hall in pure party fashion, including a high table. Auntie Christine even gave up her regular tall chair for the seat of honor, decorated with pretty lace doilies. Different classes had prepared presentations and dances. And the staff had very graciously collected money to buy gifts. Not only did they send me off with a beautiful kitange outfit, they also thought of each of my family members and wanted to send their love to them through gifts as well. HOW SWEET IS THAT!

In Ugandan tradition, the person of honor is the one to serve each of their guests a piece of cake.

It was a beautiful and honoring send off to remember. I appreciate all the heartfelt prayers of protection, rest, and blessing.

Enjoy this video that captured the day. 

(Photo credit and videography credit to a number of LCH children)

The little pieces that make up AWESOME stories...

SO you know how sometimes God pieces together stories over a long period of time, sometimes unknowingly that this piece matches with that one? Well I have one of those stories (of many) to tell…

Piece 1:

Right after university I had the great blessing of being part of TBarM’s Timothy Team. As a discipleship program, we went on an evangelical mission trip at the beginning of the year. Our trip to Nigeria/Cameroon was one of the greatest adventures I will ever have in my life (that is a whole other super crazy story). But the curriculum changed after my year and all the following Tim Teams after ours now go to Israel instead of an evangelical trip like we took. Throughout the years my teammates and I have discussed whether, if possible, we would have traded our trip to Africa for a trip to Israel. Both being super awesome, we have all concluded that our experience in Cameroon was once in a life-time so we wouldn’t trade it. But we would really love to go to Israel one day.

Piece 2:

One furlough Janece and I borrowed some CDs of Ray Vanderlann’s teaching. As we listened, we started discussing how we would love to go to Israel together. Much discussion and dreaming later we said, “Ok, 2014.” But 2014 came and went and Dad wasn’t very enthusiastic about us going over there due to safety issues. So we didn’t go and Israel remained on my life bucket-list.

Piece 3:

Last year during one of my calls with my parents (while I was in Uganda) they told me they opened an interesting piece of mail on my behalf.

Piece 4:

Throughout my childhood my grandparents and aunt would send me CD bonds for Christmas and birthdays. These went into an account to pay for University. And when I graduated in 2005 I paid off my student loans with the CD bonds and part of my inheritance from my mom’s house. Finished. Done deal. Debt free. Amen.

Back to piece 3:

They told me I received a letter from a certain company. The name rang a bell but I had to go into the deep recesses of my brain to piece together why it sounded familiar… it was the account where I had my CD bonds. Apparently I had some money remaining in that account.

WHAT?!?!! I thought I spent it all to pay for school. Why haven’t we received anything from them all these years? How did they even know my address anymore since we had moved? What in the world?!

I remember thinking that I would love to use it to take a memory-making trip.

Piece 5:

As you know, I am on my sabbatical. This has been a journey to get to this place and the Lord has kindly gifted me with this time. This is the longest amount of time I have ever been back in the States since 2007 when I moved to Uganda.

Piece 6:

Back in July 2015, Janece sends me this email:

And my response:

Janece had read about the trip in the church bulletin and it obviously caught her eye, especially that it coincided with when I would be in America on sabbatical. Another time at church, the leader of the trip walked up to where my parent were so she mentioned wanting to go but Dad’s concern about security. The leader’s answer settled Dad’s worries and he gave the go ahead to pursue it.

Piece 7:

So in 14 days Janece and I are headed to the Holy Land. We are beyond excited to see the places we have read about in the Bible all these years and to walk the paths that Jesus walked. Please be praying for us and the other 32 people in our group as we depart January 26. Pray for unity and safety among the group. And pray that the eye of our heart would be enlightened and that the Word would become alive as we gain deeper understanding.

Drawing from one of the LCH boys during a summer team activity.

(I also want to acknowledge the generosity of my parents for my Christmas and Birthday "gifts" going towards this trip.)

As Keith, the Tim Team “boss” always says, “God writes some pretty amazing stories.”

Scripture Memory Challenge 2016

As the new year has begun, I have challenged myself to try an memorize a new scripture each week of the year. Some of these are one sentence, some a few verses long.

Being one who loves a friendly "competition," I would love to have a few others join me to help hold one another accountable. Please let me know if you do.

I have left one week each month open for you to place a scripture of your choice, possible something that the Lord is teaching you.

And I am taking suggestions for scripture to fill into the second and third quarters of the year.

May we hide God's Word in our heart together.


LINK to Scripture Memory Challenge 2016

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens… 

...these are a few of my favorite things (about being back in America)

-       - a washing machine and dryer- no longer does it take at least a 3 day planning process. I can have my clothes washed, dried, folded, and put away in a matter of 3 hours!

                                         

-      -  Fast internet- all the time- at any hour of the day. Believe it or not, November was the first time I have ever used Netflix.

-       - No more smoothie pressure- the power won’t be going out. I can take all the time I want to make my smoothie. (and I don’t have to peel and chop the fruit as step one of the process- everything is done for me already in nice bite size frozen pieces)

-       - Amazon- what used to have to be planned at least a month in advance to get to whoever was kind enough to hand deliver it to me in Mbale can now be at my doorstep in 2 days! TWO DAYS people. That is wonderful! (and a bit dangerous)

-       - This view. Everyday. And the water just keeps coming up. Not to mention the breathtaking sunsets. 

-       - $1.67 fuel per GALLON! Hello!!! What a deal compared to $1+ per liter (about $4 per gallon)

-       - Christmas decorations in all its glimmering, classy, beauty. (We would joke in Uganda about embracing the “tacky” decorations since tinsel is the main decorating item)

     

     

-       - Ice cream. Creamy, fully frozen (and never been unfrozen and refrozen), mouthwatering ice cream.

-       - And I can’t forget cheese (which makes its way into at least one of my daily meals)

-       - And while I am on a food role… Mexican food. (It is the "thing" I miss the most while in Uganda)

In 8 years, there has only been one time that Chuy's has not been my first meal back on Texas soil. 

  

-       - A new favorite is Zumba at the local YMCA. Since I live in a small town with many retired people the class has people my age up to around 70. It brings a big smile to my face seeing these grandmas try to do a booty roll or the “sexy walk.” Ha. Awesome!

-       - Usually having no agenda for the day. I know it is only for this season and it took a little bit of adjusting to no be so busy or feel guilty for not being busy. But I am really enjoying the freedom and rest of this sabbatical!

Exploring childhood sites of Austin.
360 Bridge

Austin Skyline

-       - Getting to spend time with family and friends that I greatly miss when I am with my Ugandan family and friends. Moments with these dear ones have definitely been the best part of my time back in America.

  

Merry Christmas! 

May the joy of the Lord be your strength and delight!

Lulwanda Monthly Prayer Calendar

There are no bells and whistles here, but I have been wanting to create a monthly prayer calendar for Lulwanda for a long time. Here it is.

The intention is that it can be used over and over each month, so although it is in calendar format focus on the NUMBER that corresponds with that month's date (rather than the day of the week position). Sorry if that is too much of an obvious statement.

Here is the link. (Let me know if it doesn't work)

LCH Monthly Prayer Calendar

(I put mine in a ziploc bag and taped it to the inside of my shower so I can be praying for specific children each morning)

A Bridal Party Hijacking

It is hard to really describe life in Uganda sometimes. A few words might be friendly, slow (we call this African time), relationship focused, last minute and definitely random. It is the daily random events that are hard to fully explain and over time, despite the intensity of the randomness, events happen and you are not thrown off guard or really all that surprised. Where most people would say, “I can’t believe this happened!” or “I can’t believe I saw this or that!”, here it is more of “I can’t believe this, but actually, I kinda can. This is Africa.” TIA

So today was a full day. We celebrated the wedding of one of our teachers at Lulwanda Primary School. After the wedding they had announced that the bridal party would take group photos with each side of the family. Since I always have my camera, I went over there to snap some shots. But as I looked around I saw that all arms were extended and taking photos with phones. There was not a single real camera around. (The phone paparazzi at any event is really out of control- nothing like boundaries that are at weddings in America). 

Even the officiant's translator took a chance to capture the bride and groom up close :)

I asked who the official photographer was and the MC said, “I thought you were.” Ok- from merry wedding witness to official wedding photographer. They then told me to get into the cars with all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen to go for the nice photos.

We drove to town (20 minutes each direction) and I stood in the drizzling rain for about 45 minutes as I organized some attempt at nice bridal party photos. Then, with the rest of the guests (and the whole village near LCH) waiting for us at the church, we loaded back into the cars.

The bride and grooms car left. The groomsman’s car left. The car I rode in was filled with the people I came with. But there was no driver. And then I look behind to see all of the bridesmaids huddled under the veranda. Knowing that we needed to go, I honked the horn to signal the driver to come. Nothing. Since local language was being spoken back and forth with increasing volume, I interjected the simple question, “Where is our driver? And the car for the bridesmaids?”

You will never guess where they went!! To the clinic to check on their sick patient. What?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! I thought you were being paid to be the bridal party’s driver. TIA.

My car-mates’ voices were getting increasingly louder and distressed. “Banange! (literally translated- you people) Where is the driver?!! I wish he would have left the keys if he was going!” That is when I noticed and announced that the keys to our car were still in the ignition. It was a unanimous decision that the current passengers should vacate the vehicle to allow the bridesmaids to enter (since even if the bride and groom reach the reception, they will be waiting on the bridesmaids before they “march” in). So, all 6 bridesmaids piled in and then the vacated passengers followed the ever-true motto “There is always room for one more.” So with about 12 people in the back, I We hijacked the small van.

I am so glad I learned to drive stick-shift on the big vans in Uganda. With a little bumpy start we were off, back to Bulolelo village to meet up with the rest of the bridal party so that the reception could officially begin. But remember how I said it was drizzling during photos? Well, it was still drizzling. And vehicles here are always decorated with fancy ribbon and bows during any major event. 

Though I debated whether I could drive without the wipers to preserve the fancy ribbon that covered our car, I decided that seeing properly was a better choice and turned on the wipers.

THEY DIDN’T WORK!!

So, now I had no option but to drive my high-jacked, overloaded, manual, fuel-light-warning-on, non-working-wiper vehicle back to the reception, while shifting my head/eye position to try and find the least drizzly spot to look through. Oh Uganda!

The comments in the car were great. “Eh Na-talie. From photographer to driver. You are multi-purpose.”

We reached the reception and someone came up to me and asked, “What happen to the driver?!” “We left him in town” was all I could say. Ha. Talk about a random days events!

But overall the day was wonderful and colorful and the groom (one of our teachers) was so so happy.