The good part about my being absent from writing on the blog
is the fact that it was left in the very capable hands of Dr. Gilbert!!!!!! He has done a great job of taking over for me
in my absence and I appreciate his help!!! I may have been out of sight, but the blog
was NOT absent from my mind, nor my heart!!! As a
matter of fact, it was a REAL discipline for me not to write on it!!!
We returned home Saturday, October 6th and I have spent the past week downloading
pictures and putting together online picture albums for the individuals being sponsored and their
sponsors and also for the medical team and a couple of pastors. They say a picture is worth a thousand words
and I think that is true, because as I looked back over the pictures I
downloaded/albums I have put together, it brings back a lot of good memories
and puts a big smile on my face!!! I am
not going to say there weren’t any challenges, but what kind of a mission trip
would it be without challenges, right?!!!
Challenges should cause us to grow!!! It is all to help refine our
character and it is character that God is interested in!!! Our character matters to God!!!
For me going back again to Uganda again this year was a win-win
situation!!! I had become friends with some fellow brothers and sisters in
Christ there last year, so for me, it was like homecoming!!! Even as I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya and was
getting ready to board another plane for Entebbe, Uganda, I found myself
feeling like I was home and kept looking for familiar faces such as Dr. Gilbert,
Rashid & Janet, Shamiim, and Pastor Julius!!! I really began to realize how much I had
grown to love them over the past year and how God had knit our hearts
together!!!!! Several days after we had
arrived in Uganda, I turned to Jena (friend of mine who went along on the trip
with us) and said, “Do you smell the air?”
Of course she said yes and then I went on to say, “That is EXACTLY the same smell I have smelled the whole past year that
I have been gone!!!” The unique thing is
that the smell was EXACTLY the same smell and there was NO ANY VARIATION IN IT
AT ALL!!!! I think that is only
something that God could have done!!!!! I
am not sure what to do with all that yet, but I am sure that the Lord will show
me!!!
It blessed me that Dr. Gilbert had worked so diligently to bring
Denanvensi and her Pastor to his church so I could meet them and hear
first-hand the testimony of Denanvensi’s life being saved by someone who did
not even know her. What a testimony it
was that the whole village and the government officials came to know Jesus as Lord
and Savior because of it. I know that God has good plans and a purpose
for Denanvensi’s life!!!
I was very blessed
that I got to meet some of the other individuals who have been sponsored, such
as Andrew, Monic, and Brenda!!! I see a
bright future for them and am so proud of them for studying hard and doing well
in school, and for their awesome testimony and walk with the Lord!!!
I also got to catch
up with Shamiim who is sponsored by Julie & Dan DeYoung and some of the
people in their Bible Study Group. She
is a business administration major in college and has come such a very far way
this past year!!! Her face just beamed
with joy and enthusiasm!!!!
Also, I was very blessed to get to work with Sam, Doreen,
and Dr. Gilbert again in the medical clinics!!!
I bonded well with them last year and have worked a lot with Dr. Gilbert
over the past year, so that part was easy this year. Most of them seem to call me Momma there, and
you know, I think that name seems to fit me well!!! With that being said, I picked up 2 more sons
this year named Alex & Elijah, who now call themselves my twin sons. They are quite hilarious and I love their
sense of humor!! It kept the air light
and kept us laughing!!! Alex is the
dentist who worked in the medical clinics with us!!! We should all ask him about Jena working as
his dental assistant!!!! Isn’t that
right, Alex? He sure did try to make
Jena his dental assistant, but she graciously declined!!! The joke was that he was going to have her
giving shots and extracting teeth!!!
LOL!! Jena ran for her life and
it made for a lot of good laughs!!! We
ended up nicknaming Alex “Trouble” because of all the pain he causes his
patients. He said he thought we should name him “Troubleless” because by the
time he is finished with his patients, they have less trouble. LOL!!! Elijah
also had a sense of humor and did a great deal of joking!! I really liked his hunger for the things of
God and feel he wears the hat of an evangelist very well!!! In one of the medical clinics in Kampala,
because of the language barrier, he helped me bring a young Moslem man to
salvation.
Now on a more serious note, the medical clinics went
well! As Dr. Gilbert stated in his
follow up, we saw a total of 1,670 patients in our one 3-day medical and two
2-day clinics. Because of the extreme
poverty in Uganda, medical clinics really help serve the needs of the community,
but more importantly, according to Matthew 25: 25-41 we will be judged by how we
take care of the poor and the needy. We
will not be judged by how many sermons we preach or how many books we write
(even though those things are important), but we will be judged by how we take
care of the poor and the needy!!!!
Thanks to all the
doctors, the pharmacists, and the dentist for their willingness to donate their time to
care for the poor and the needy!!! They
did a great job and their works of service do not go unnoticed by our great God,
nor by me!!!
Also, a special
thanks to all of you who donated money, dental supplies, and medical supplies/equipment
for the medical clinics and those who donated money for the Women’s Conference!!! We could not have done it without you!!! God brought a great group of people together to
help us get the job accomplished!!!!
We all have need of each other, as one person cannot do it alone. I like something Max Lucado said in his book
“Outlive Your Life” that everything works better when you do it as a team!!! 1 Corinthians 12:21 says “the eye cannot say
to the hand “I have no need of you” nor can the head say to the feet “I have
not need of you.” We ALL have need of
each other!!! God has put all of us on
earth to help each other!! NOT ONE OF US
POSSESSES ALL THE GIFTS THAT WE DO NOT NEED OTHERS TO HELP US
ACCOMPLISH!!! There is strength and
accountability in numbers!!!
Blessed to be a blessing,
Mary
