Week 16, 23-29/04/13- "Jesus, is that you?"

Week 16, 23-29/04/13

Tuesday 23/04/13

Today we had meetings with our leaders to see how we were going and to just let us know where they think we can improve, if we are on track etc. I was one of the last students to be interviewed, with Peter. I won’t go into detail, but I did get a lot of positive feedback and just shared about what I was learning. So I defiantly left WC that day in a very happy and self confidence mood; and unknown to me at the time God had a nice big needle to pop my nice big head the following day and thus the sharp change in how I thought I was going gave me quite a shock.

Wednesday 24/04/13

Well today was a very interesting day with a lot of intense discipleship straight from God himself. Today myself and some of the other students got into some trouble because we were talking and it came as a bit of a shock for me because I didn’t realise e were meant to be quiet. Anyway the circumstances were basically a sudden change in the normal schedule of expecting someone to come and open the day, however we were apparently meant to start on our own but instead we were talking. So we were sent out for a timeout and then as a part of our punishment we watered the church gardens.

So from this as you could imagine I didn’t feel guilty and was also very mad and angry; but in the back of my mind and in the bottom of my heart was that small little voice saying, there’s something to learn here. Even though the punishment may not have specifically taught me to shut up (even though I can tell you I try not to make a peep anymore in class) I did learn a few things from this experience and looking back I learnt more in those two hours then I would have in a whole week or maybe even more. Firstly I think there was this giant stack of wood in me that had been growing over the months and this was just the match that lit her up and I decided to let it burn out so for the next two days I was basically fuming furious to say the least. However I did eventually come down and I had a lot of other thoughts and feelings in between; and looking back even though we weren’t aware of it, we were in the wrong and were just being loud at the wrong place and wrong time and were made an example of, nothing more and nothing less than that. I think the hardest thing was to just trying to figure out how do you accept rebuke, I mean it creates an awkward tension between two people and you feel like you have to hate each other but you don’t want it to be that way.

And so this is where I learnt about loving people for better or for worse. I thought about it and made my own definition of what love is; ‘Loving someone is caring for the without necessarily liking them. And so through this I learnt that even though I might not like some people at the moment I did still love them and knew that my anger would soon pass in due time.

I learnt that people older and who have authority over you have bad days too. That as kids you always just take for granted or are too naive to realise the mistakes of grownups, but as you start to become one you realise that everyone has faults no matter their position. So I learnt to have compassion for people and to be eagerly willing to forgive people above me in the same way that they do for me. I think before that I was very selfish in that way and if someone wronged me (not that I was necessarily wronged in the situation this time) I would just write them off and just pity myself and how I had been hurt. But this has awoken me to the fact that I don’t know what someone might be going through and here I am judging and accusing them straight away without a second thought. Imagine how many people wronged Jesus yet every time all the way to the cross and beyond, forgave with no catch; that is true love. I mean how many times do we stuff up in a day and carry on likes it Gods fault or the devils fault and then we get to that stage were the thing we blew way out of proportion was really something quite simple and then God is like ‘so can we move on yet?’.

I also learnt that I may actually have an anger problem. I learnt that before I end up with this giant pile of wood waiting to be lit on fire, I should be giving each twig, stick, branch and log to God as they come instead of letting it build up until it just explodes. I have in my past done some nasty and stupid things because of my anger, but I am thankful to God he kept my concealed so that I didn’t repeat previous mistakes. It’s no fun to mad at someone you love and in the end weather your right or wrong the best thing is to apologise for what you did or allegedly did wrong and to find closure to the problem. And so that is what I did, I sought reconciliation with people and thus I now feel at peace and can look back and see the mega lessons I have learnt in a week that some people take their whole lives to learn, and I am thus thankful to God for that. If Ii hadn’t been rowdy and sent out, chances are I would have been a snob to those kicked out and what good would have that done; even though it was tough to be kicked out as ‘bad person’ it was tough love from God and my leaders and I defiantly am not the same person as I was last Monday and that is something to be extremely thankful to God for.

Thursday 25/04/13

Well today was again a very interesting and confusing day. As the students of Watoto 360 we brainstormed and donated money to achieve a list of things that we believed an orphanage called Gods grace could benefit from. Again I ‘m not going to go into to full detail about everything because it is overwhelming for me to try and even think about explaining the extent of God’s Grace orphanage etc. So after culling a lot of things that were defiantly not necessities we had a list including food stiffs, mosquito nets and tooth brushes. I personally don’t believe that the tooth brushes are a wise investment because at the moment just feeding the kids is a problem for the orphanage and in reality as much as we feel that tooth brushes are a necessity they are not as I’m not sure they would even be aware of hygiene of tooth brushes etc. So in our meeting there was a lot of arguing about what was necessity and was not, for example shoe polish was on our list, for goodness sakes these kids don’t even have shoes. But none the less it was interesting to see the different opinions in relation to the different lives that people have lived. So after a lot of tiring arguing and succumbing to some not so wise decisions in my opinion we had our list and a budget that would just cover the food. I can happily say that the budget to meet all our items actually has been reached and this Wednesday the items will have been purchased and we will all go to deliver them.  So I was very happy to be home after a late night with bible study, the stress from Wednesday and the exhaustion from today.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday 26-28/04/13

So these days all just blend together and it was a big God moment basically with all our lessons applying to what I had gone through this week and quiet often I found myself really seeing Gods humour and asking the ceiling “Jesus, is that you?”. One of our speakers taught us about the journey of an experience and the different milestones that you generally meet. In simplified terms he said that you might go somewhere (like 360) and have this huge expectations and the experience rises with the optimism. Then you will reach a reality check were you have ups and downs and you see something for what it actually is. Then the experience will level out and you will really get into a routine and life will go on with understanding of where you are and where you’re vaguely going. Then towards the end you will meet ‘The Big Test’ which is something that gives you an actual excuse to throw the bucket in and quiet something will happen that really test who you are,  and from there you will either fail or succeed and rise to the challenge. For me this week has been my big test and the deciding factor to if I would start walking the end of my race or sprint the last 100 meters.

Then one night I had a dream about the end of Watoto 30 after listening to a sermon about living in the moment. Anyway I was struck with the fear of God about how attached I have come to our house, the people I live with and just the routine I have gotten into. I had a dream about the last day when Peter has come to take us to the airport and were all standing in the doorway with our bags and just staring at each other and the house and the daunting fact that we will never be in this situation ever again. And it will be awful and a real dose of grief as we look back and remember all the things we did and everything we have done. And then when we get home I will step off that plane and feel like it was only yesterday that I got onto it and it will feel like I have been in another whole dimension for the last six months. It’s gonna be crazy and I am sure that I will defiantly cry on that last day, that last night, the last everything you know. I mean we only have six weeks left and then this whole thing is over. I think the dream was just a real revelation to how incredible this whole thing is, like living in Africa for six months especially when the longest time away from my family has been two weeks, just how much I have changed and all the incredible things I have actually done; things that you read about or see on TV I can say I have actually done. And the people, I feel like I have known these people all my life and can’t imagine my life without have knowing them. I just can’t. It must just have been a mile stone for me because something has just clicked over and I am starting to fear the end, which is very funny when for the last four months even though I have enjoyed my time I have also been looking forward to going home. But now I understand what everyone has been meaning about being sad to leave this life, this season of life that has brang people from totally different backgrounds, nationalities, to a totally new world and under one roof. I think such extraordinary circumstances have to extraordinary effects on the people involved.

I have also really learnt to be in the moment and to stop be alway looking forward to the next thing. I know personally as a person ounce I get somewhere I am always looking forward to the next thing and I forget to take in everything that the day has to offer. So I have really learnt that where you look forward to something or just focus on where you are the future will come at the same speed either way. You just have to be in the moment because ounce it’s gone you never get it back. I will never get a second chance to be in Watoto 360 and although I have defiantly been enjoying it I haven’t been totally mentally here. However I can assure you, myself and God I will be totally here for the next short six weeks that will be over before I know it and I don’t want to get home and wish I was back here because I regret not doing things, I want to wish I was back because I am missing the incredible moments I had here, the people I me and the experiences only some get in their life.

  It will be strange stepping back into my same old place at home and then just that strange feeling standing in my house and remembering I have just been in flipping Africa for six months but that feeling that you never left. And it is so easy to just snap back into that same routine and not really change, but I think it is that moment of feeling like you never left that you decide that you’re going to start making a difference in your life, the lives of others and you community. At least that’s the way I feel about the reason behind this whole adventure. And in some ways I could ramble on forever about this revelation I have had but in the end unless you experience it for yourself you will never know what I have done and what I think. When I get home I don’t want people to ask me what I have learn or ask how it was in some ways, I want them to see the dramatic changes and maybe just be inspired to do things like this that are challenging, but boy oh boy do they make you grow so fast and you either rise to the occasion or stay where you are. So that’s a little something of how I have been feeling this week and yes it has defiantly been a week of asking one question over and over “Jesus, is that you?”.

Monday 29/04/13

Today was very relaxed with watching movies and painting and eating and skyping. I have really grown to loving skyping my family and I think being away has taught me to appreciate them in such a whole new way that I can’t even describe and you probably don’t want to after seeing how Sunday Friday to Sunday was. As you can see this week has taught me heaps of stuff and I can only hope this new energy to take in every moment for what it is and be in the moment stays and helps me finish this race sprinting so fast you don’t even see me cross the finish line.

Week 15- Jesus is Indescribable, so seize the moment.

Week 15 15/04/13-21/04/13

Monday

Week 15 is our week off so we had a lot of fun things planned for this week. We visited Ginger and went on safari which allowed us to see a lot of new things in Uganda.

On Monday we travelled to Ginger so that Thomas could go white water rafting and the rest of us could go horse riding along the Nile; yes very awesome indeed. On our way I realised I had forgotten my memory card; oh well it would give me a good chance to just relax and enjoy the time instead of feeling like I should be taking pictures of everything and I was able to get pictures from everyone else anyway. When we got to ginger we had some time to kill so we walked to the markets which were fantastic. I purchased two African shirts that were very colourful and we discovered an incredible painting shop so we all pulled out our bartering skills and we were able to decrease the prices quite a lot. I bought a very nice painting of a village of kids playing with a sunset, it is very basic style but its business just captured me so I bought it for 40’000 UGX which is about $16; which was an awesome price considering they were asking 80’000UGX which is about $32. We then walked back and jumped on the back of a Ute that transported us to our luxury resort overlooking the Nile. Ok so it wasn’t a resort in the least more equivalent to a one star back packers hostel, but it was clean, great food and was in one of the most beautiful places in the world, plus it had free Wi-Fi.

We then took a boat ride to the other side which was in this cool large wooden blue canoe; it was a very cool boat. We then hiked up what seemed the largest hill (probably because we had just had lunch) and made it to the horse place. We had planned to do a 3 hour ride but were advised to do a 2 hour instead and thank God we did because whoa by the end of it I was sore to say the least. It was really nice as I got to ride a black horse through the a very simple farming village and was privileged to see Hannah’s horse stumble and see the fear on her face as she hung onto the horses neck for dear life. We also rode along the Nile for a while; my horse was very slow and I had to kick it so hard to make it move that I even felt pain, but I did what I had to. We then went back across the river were we hung out at the bar using the Wi-Fi and eating tea on the veranda that overlooked the Nile. Then as we were sitting Callie looked over and said wow that looks like Peters car, then the guy hoped out and Callie said wow that looks a lot like Peter. Buy this time we are all looking and then bam their is Esther and Joseph getting out of the car. The three of them had all driven down to Ginger just to say hi. It was really cool and then using my Ipad we looked at everyone’s face book photos.  We then went to Bed and I had a really good sleep.

Tuesday

In the morning at Ginger I was given the knowledge that there were monkeys outside, so I grabbed Callie’s camera and spent the morning stalking red tailed monkeys (no that is not a an actual name) and even got one cleaning another’s butt; a very successful morning indeed. We then went out of the hostel place and bought Chapatti and had a look at some craft stores. We then spent that rest of the morning using the Wi-Fi and then our van arrived to take us home, we then slept and packed for the next part of this week’s adventure.

Wednesday

The morning of the long waited safari awaited and thus we were not bummed to be waking up for a 4:00am departure with the Andrew the man who would be taking us on safari whom we had only briefly met. As it was so early it was interesting to see Kampala at night and as the morning awoke we in the presence of an incredible sunset exploding with the warm richness of a volcanos reds, oranges, yellows and pinks. We arrived at around 11 or 12 maybe so we had some time to settle in before lunch. It took about an hour to drive to the five star resort that we actually stayed in so we got to see a lot of baboons and jungle foliage. Lunch  was a three course meal in which we had to choose what we wanted and in simple terms was a new experience for me. We then had a swim in a beautiful looking pool that felt like acid. My skin did not like what was in the water so I felt like I was in a bath of slimy acidic lemon juice, if ya get meh. After that it was a shower and off on our first safari trip.

We then boarded our bus, picked up our tour guide Sarah (who is absolutely amazing and the only female ranger on the park) we headed off on the search of the magnificent African animals. Not far out we saw a herd of elephants. So we stopped and took a bazillion photos of them and apparently it was a very chance to even see elephants sometimes so to see some not even 15 minutes in was what we believe Jesus hand and a huge blessing from the king of kings (even king over the king of the jungle). I can’t even try to describe the safari because it something that can’t be described. I videoed some of it but at the same time, I mean what can I say it was simply being in the presence of the most beautiful creation of Jesus’ that I have ever seen. We did get to sit on the top of our bus roof rack which again isn’t usually allowed so again a huge blessing. The second safari was just as incredible so I will list the animals we saw and you can see some pictures on face book if you so wish. We got to see Elephants, baby Elephants, Giraffes, baby Giraffes, a heap of antelopes, one lion (which is again very rare), Hyenas, Jackals, (also both rarer to see than a lion), hippos, mongoose, some cool birds and my favourite strangely Wart Hogs. It honestly was the most beautiful place to be sitting on that bus rack with all these animals, a warm breeze and watching the sun set over the Nile with the blue mountains in the background, and the clouds saturated in the most amazing palate of colours...indescribable. A cool note though, on our way past the lion a second time as it lazily slept under an acacia bush the bus driver apparently was more unimpressed that it wasn’t doing anything more than us, so he jumped out of the bus and started provoking it which it worked and then it got up snarled, growled and then ran away in which I yelled out ‘Pussy’ (double meaning) and then everyone laughed. We then went home high on life and Jesus and were greeted by the world’s most delicious buffet and then slept on the worlds comfiest beds. And then all Gods people said yes and amen.

Thursday

Thursday was an early morning safari which again was just as great as the first one, but even though we actually got to see a lot more animals it didn’t have the same magical atmosphere as the afternoon one. We then went home for an incredible buffet breakfast which then ended in another trip to the soft heavenly bed. I then woke up for lunch which again was basically a feed lot moment for me again and after lunch I looked at some memes on face book (using the free Wi-Fi) before we headed off for our boat cruise. The boat cruise was amazing like the safaris except on water. We got to see hippos, baby hippos!!, crocodiles, some very pretty birds like finches and kingfishes, some baboons on the shore and a family of elephants on an outer crop of land having some fun which we also enjoyed. We then stopped about 100m of the falls as the water up closer was very choppy and got to see a community of finches on an island in the middle of the river, nest and all and got some selfies in front of the falls. We then headed back; the end of our safari basically and then again picked out at the gourmet feed lot. After dinner we had a debrief and went to bed.

Side note, as you walked to our rooms there were these things flying around so fast you couldn’t see them and the first night I thought they were just moths. The second night I took my camera and as they flew past I took a picture and found out they were tiny bats (probably chocked up rabies) flying all around us.

Friday

On Friday we had breakfast and headed home, taking the fairy to the other side in which we took a really cool video talking about how we all felt about the safari. On our way home we stopped at the top of the falls and stared in awe, took some selfies, took some group shots, took some videos and then boarded our bus ride for the long ride home. We stopped at Java’s on the way home as we had some left over money and Andrew left us which was really sad. Andrew was an awesome guy and I got some cool footage of him singing Hukoona Mutata. We then went home and slept after such a big adventure.

It was such an awesome experience and until you go on a safari yourself you cannot understand the indescribable awesomeness of God that I experienced out on hat savannah. All I can say is praise Jesus.

Saturday

Today we had our seed project which included cleaning up a market as a part of a bigger picture of cleaning up Kampala. I did some sweeping and with the many hands the work was very light and we got to go within in two hours. Then we went out for lunch and then Hannah and I (cool note every time I reference myself and some else, I always write Me and _____ but thanks to my friend Clare I always remember to write it _______ and I, so thanks Clare ha ha) went to get our Disney day supplies. We then went to church and ounce home Hannah and myself got to work with Disney day; until 1:30am.

Sunday

Today was the big day of Disney day, the idea behind it was simply that everyone has put together special days like Easter or valentine’s day so Hannah and I who hadn’t done anything decided to put the best together and choose our own Holiday Disney day; we also like to win.

We had previously made a giant Disney castle cut out, some awesome posters and a few other things. We started in the morning preparing food and then at lunch we kicked everyone out so we could set up our obstacle course and our mad Hatters tea party. I had made a top hat to be the mad Hatter but that didn’t work out so I became an Indian coinciding with Hannah who was Pocahontas.

When everyone came home we all got ready with their costumes that represented the movie they had been assigned. So Thomas and Emily dressed up as the beauty and the beast, Thomas being a busty and bouncy beauty and Emily the beast. The little mermaid Danielle who painted herself red as Sebastian and Natalie who was the little mermaid; I personally felt like they had the best costume. Jess and Esther were Cinderella, Esther was the god mother and Jess the slave Cinderella. Tangled was Callie being Repunzel and her mum Miss Dinette was the mother, we planned the day so that Miss Dinette could be here as this was her last full day.

The activities started with painting one member of the team in colours of the wind; Pocahontas. Then came an obstacle course, Elephants graveyard which was constructed of mattresses and bed frames; Lion king. Then came a maze in which one team member was blinded whilst the other lead them threw by voice commands; didn’t think of a movie for it but maybe Tarzan being like a maze in the jungle. Then came lady and the tramp in which one contestant had to eat spaghetti of the ground like a dog; however unfortunately the ants started the game early and cancelled that event. Then the last game was poison apples in which one team member had to choose a toffy apple and the one who got the poison apple would win; what was the poison apple you ask? It was a toffied onion and yes someone bit into it Muhahahahahahaha. Natalie was the lucky winner and the theme was snow white. After that we had our mad hatters tea party which we had a lot of food and all the cutlery was uneven, like some got a bowl while another had maybe five teacup saucers and another may have had two teacups so it was cool. I had made a mad Hatters hat which was really awesome and everyone just looked incredible. After that Calvin ad Sherly came just in time for Princess and the frog which coincidently was their movie. As we watched the movie we had jelly and ice cream and a yummy pineapple cake that Sherly made. It was really nice that they could be there; I don’t know they just added something cool to it.

So it was defiantly and awesome day and I am really thankful everyone put 100% into the day and their costumes. The winners were Callie and Miss Dinette with their quick times and they won two snickers bars, a bag of prized Australian beef Jerky and got to (had to) wear two Disney party hats. It worked really well and Hannah and I dare someone to take us on.

Week 14- Short n Sweet

Week 14 9/04/13-14/04/13

This week has been slower maybe then other weeks but still eventfully fun. Our ministry this week was visiting Gods Grace in which I got to teach ironically on God’s Grace. Then on Thursday we went to the hospital which I thought would be really shocking, but it wasn’t however was still a new experience and we got to lead a man to Christ. It was really interesting some of the things they had to say which you just wouldn’t hear in western culture. Anyway next week is our week off which should be simply amazing. Missing everyone so much and love everyone who is reading this.

Week 13- Be in the moment

Week 13 2/4/13 - 8/4/13

This week was verily flat action wise but I have learnt a lot of things and had many revelations about many things in relation to what I have learned. I have learnt a lot about my responsibility to my church and that I am in a spiritual war. The things you here about that you should be as a Christian like ‘Jesus loves you’ etc; have become real in my heart and ounce something becomes alive in your heart, that is when you are on fire and when nothing can stop you.

I am trying to think of everything but it seems to be a bit impossible at the moment so this week’s blog may be a bit delayed for another day. Sorry.

One of the major things I have learnt is how important it is to prepare the youth of a church to actually take over the rolls of the older generation. I know it probably sounds like I am hyped up on emotions and God and on a Jesus buzz, but I am just becoming aware of the fact that there are unsaved people who die every day and go to hell and here I am doing nothing about it. And it is good to get revelations like this in a new perspective (Africa) which allows you to have the courage, wisdom, urgency and more to act upon what you know you should do. Like I said it’s about the things you know in your head becoming known and fully acknowledged in your heart. I think it takes longer for the things of God to make their way into your heart in such a way because our hearts are naturally sinful and it takes time to remove sin to be replaced God. To replace the flesh with the spirit; the dog you feed will be the strongest as the Indian tale goes. I think as a young person I am realising the urgency that I need to step up to the plate and be really serving in my community, because in the end the only thing that will matter is not how much I got from everyone but how much I gave because the fact of the matter is that Jesus has and will given me so much and I need to be passing the favour on. I am really excited to get back to Longreach start serving my church like I see happening here in a mega church such as Watoto. Longreach Baptist church is a gold mind just waiting for an explosion to reveal the glory of Jesus and I feel it coming and hope I can be a part of it. Even though I sometimes feel like I am not growing as I write it down like this I realise how much I am learning. I was talking to a friend and we were saying how sometimes just being away from everything you know can really bring a change and I am sure when I get back people will be able to see it more than me, at least I hope so.

Another small thing I have learnt is to just really enjoy and seize the moment, because much too often I find myself looking forward to the next thing and once I get there I am looking forward to the next thing. And to learn that is a real blessing because so many things in life are one night events.

There is so much and it is literally impossible to tell everything but I guess one day you might just see it.