God is FAITHFUL!!

Team from United Dayspring that came to work at the children's villages!

Opening of Suubi Babies Home! Babies all dressed in Watoto shirts!!

Kayla and I at Grand Opening!

All babies currently at Suubi Babies home!

It doesn't matter what trials I am going thru God always reminds me that He is right beside me! These past few weeks have had many challenges! My emotions have been all over the place. I will recap my life a little since it has been a couple of weeks since I have blogged!

The team from Dayspring Church arrived safe and sound and had a wonderful 10 days here in Uganda! It was quite different sharing a little bit of my world with people from home because at times it feels as though we live in two totally different worlds! And what they find to be so new and a crazy style of living I have become adapted to and call this the "norm." I was very happy that Linda had time to reconnect with her family during that time. It was an excellent opportunity for her to share with them what she has been involved with and to show them where she lives etc. But with all good things there must come an end, which meant sending them back to snowy Ohio!

Speaking of which I cannot believe I am missing history at home! From what my family tells me there has been crazy amounts of snow. And as happy as I was to miss out on the whole winter season this year, just hearing about it makes me at least want to be home for 1 day to enjoy the beauty of it! I do miss home on and off! There are def days when I feel like packing everything up and flying away. But that would be taking the easy way out, and I know God is not yet finished with me here in Uganda!
Hard to believe that tomorrow marks 4 months that I have been here! What an incredible journey! Like the anticipation to go home and share with everyone all the great things that God has been doing in me and thru me sometimes keeps me up at nite! In the last month God has been teaching me so much about my speach and how to love people! And even better about not holding back about how the Holy Spirit has been working in me! The power of our testimony is beyond amazing and can impact the lives of so many! The other week during our cell group here at the apartment had a wonderful time of sharing about how God turned our lives upside down and how we got saved! There is no doubt God can take the weak, the cold hearted, the ones that you would think are so far into sin and He refines them and today they are something so beautiful!! Like words cannot describe it until you here about it!

Other challenges that were brought my way include the illness of my Uncle Gregg! He still stands in great need of prayer! A volunteer that I work with shared a passage from Mark 5 with me that renewed my confidence in the healing power of God! Gregg has been hospitalized for close to 2 weeks now with numerous problems! As soon as I think he is getting better I recieve a text saying that he is ill again! I was so happy I got to call him and talk with him and Aunt Irene for awhile! Made me feel like I was able to "visit" him. I am sure he would covet your prayers!

For the last week I was living our at Suubi babies home with some other volunteers! Living in the village def has a different feel than living in the city! :) On Monday we celebrated the grand opening of the new babies home! Pictures are featured above!

There is a possibility of me going to Gulu, which is in northern Uganda for a couple weeks! It is very up in the air but excited about the possibility to see the work that Watoto is doing in other parts of Uganda! I will keep you posted on that though!

Just a word of encouragement to those reading this to fully rely on God! It sounds simple but we so often forget to do so! He is our Rock and our Fortress! Our strength comes from Him! He deserves every part of us! Don't wait to make Him first in your life! Today can be the turning point for YOU!!

I love each and everyone of you deeply! But remember most importantly God loves you!!!!

For the children, Kara

Greater Things Are Yet To Come!

Amidst everything that happened in the last week or two I always know God has greater things in store for me! The last several days have been filled with lots of positives for me! The Saturday evening service I think was exactly the thing I needed to restart the fire within me! This month at Watoto Church Dr. Katrina Keiser and other speakers are sharing information about Understanding Islam! Very powerful testimony she shared with us at church about how she was a Christian and slowly fell into the Islamic faith and how the power of the Holy Spirit brought her out of it and she is now traveling worldwide teaching about the Muslims and their beliefs and practices and just helping up to understand them better! My views have changed a lot towards them as a people group. The Muslims have a vision for themselves and I realized we as Christians need to have a vision as well to stand our ground!!!!!!! My desire to dig deeper with God and His Word keeps on increasing as well! The power of people's prayers are def being felt! There is power in prayer! I am not sure what the next step of the journey God has for me, but I want to be ready!!

This week is my first week leading our cell as a leader! Pray that God will work thru me and give me words to speak and be able to be open with the other volunteers in my cell group!

Tomorrow a team from United Dayspring Church from my hometown is flying into Uganda in the evening! Linda's parents and sister are on the team along with other church members. So we are anticipating their arrival! Will be so nice to have a piece of home here for a couple weeks! And to top it all off they are bringing a whole bunch of fun stuff from my family and friends! So excited about that! If you could breath a prayer on the team's behalf that God would grant them safety traveling to and from Uganda I am sure it would be appreciated! Excited to see how God is going to use their time here in Uganda to futher His Kingdom!

Until next time may the love of the Father fill your mind, soul, and spirit in the week ahead! Never forget that we have the power to love because He first loved us!

For the children, Kara

**Featured in the pictures above are: Oscar, Chris and I, Linda with David Blake and Obama on the swing, Rose, and Patience

Chris

John

Chris and I right before we left!

I sit here and ask God what am I supposed to learn from this? Why now?

This week has had plenty of ups and downs for me. I have reached the middle mark of my time here in Uganda. Wow what a journey God has taken me on already! But now it seems rough...I am starting to feel homesick at times and then realize if I go home I have to leave Uganda and all the wonderful parts of it! Cannot believe I have lived here for 3 months! This week has had its challenges and it is not over yet. Friday, January 29, John went to be with Jesus. I would never ask for him back because I know he has no pain and it is sitting with Jesus, but it is hard. John was between the age of 18-24 months old and was welcomed at Baby Watoto two weeks ago with severe burns all over his back along with a whole list of other problems. He was such a brave soul though. Each day I would go into the clinic and talk to him and had the honor of taking him to surgery one day as well! I look back at those times and realize that God gave me those moments while John was still here on Earth to love him the way God loves his children. After years of neglect and living in a cold emotionless world John got to get a taste of heaven here on earth! John's funeral was probably the hardest thing I ever had to attend. I had never been to a funeral for a child before. But it was a beautiful day and I know God sent the sunshine and the birds to sing their song for us as we remembered that time that we got to spend with John. John you will forever be missed!

Other happenings this week include my "son" Chris returning to live with his birth mom and dad! Today I traveled with Chris to start his new life in the village. Very bittersweet but really trying to embrace the fact that he still has a mom and a dad and how much progress he has made since entering the babies home as a VERY sick preemie baby! Chris has taught me so much! But the one thing I learned the most from him is patience! Please pray that this transition time for Chris will go smooth and that God will intervene and make the bond between Chris and his mum Betty!

My roommate Kathy will be leaving this week as well! Yes that is 3 important people leaving me in less than one week! Ugh hope to never have a week like this again! But I have been so blessed by Kathy's time here and the many great chats we have had! God has truly blessed me with so many great women from all around the world. Even though we all come from such different cultures we all have one thing in common and that is to serve the Lord!! He has brought us to Uganda for such a time as this!

Please continue to pray for me that I can accept the things I cannot change! I want to learn from each situation that I encounter! God has been so good to me and for that I want to give Him all my praise!

For the children, Kara