To give two weeks of one lifetime does not seem much in the grand scheme of things. But within that short time span God can do so much, use you to help and change others, and use others to help and change you. Two weeks can pave the way for a transformed future.
If you’d have said to me a few years ago that I’d be heading out on a 14 hour journey to Africa on a mission trip in the summer of 2008, I probably would have laughed. I’d believe someone else may go, but not me. But July 30th 2008 I found myself standing in the check-in queue in Heathrow Terminal 3 along with 12 other blessed individuals, about to embark on a life-changing experience, heading out to Uganda to a small community called Makhai. God called, and we responded, just like in Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”). As a team we made the decision to say “here we are, send us”. And He did.
The two weeks that the small team from the UK spent in Uganda was incredible, meeting amazing people and seeing a side of life, that is how we should all be living. If I was to recount the whole trip we’d be well into next week so I’ll try and just highlight the main key points of my trip to you.
The most striking thing when you first enter a developing country is the sheer poverty under which the majority live.
We take so much for granted; believe that what we see daily is “normal”. The reality is that the poverty that the team saw upon entrance to Uganda: the slums, the homeless; that is normal for about 2/3 of the world. Actually we, living in places such as the UK, are in the minority. Yet during our stay in the community, when we made home visits, we received the greatest welcome. Back home, being welcomed is sometimes not always a big custom, and we don’t appreciate each other as I have come believe we should. But there, where they don’t know us, they have nothing, and can offer us nothing, they welcome us. They thanked us for coming; they praised God for His bringing us safely to them; they loved us. The sincerity of these amazing, God-fearing people is just so touching; you almost sometimes just want to cry.
Lesson #1 – Learn to appreciate what I have. God has blessed me with so many gifts!Thinking back, the moment that most stands out in my memory as something I must share was during the church service on the first Sunday. Part way through the service the head of the church called for the tithe to be brought forward to the alter (below).
Firstly I’ll say in this country, where we have plenty in comparison, we can often be reluctant to tithe, and where we feel we “must” we often keep to the 10% mentioned in the Bible. This purely is a guideline and does not include gifts either. Yet we grudgingly give only that. These people, who have nothing, give everything. They give of their first fruits, harvest that could be used to sell for money to feed their family, or even food to feed themselves, they give to the church in recognition that the harvest is only there through the provision of our gracious God. Not only this, but as they came to the front, children and adults alike had smiles on their faces, chattering, laughing. God loves a cheerful giver, and I truly believe that as they give back to God, He will continue to pour out His grace and blessings upon them, with good harvests like they have had this season (below). But though you were not there, and did not see this along side me, God allowed me to see and be touched, so I could come back and now I am telling you, as we can all learn from them.
Lesson #2 – Learn to be a cheerful giver. God will bless me as I give back to Him!Another major thing that I will always cherish from the experience, was the remarkable love and appreciation that the community has for family. The community itself is almost one big extended family, which the team was immediately accepted into, but also the individual families no matter how many members they contained. The most touching thing I could tell you about family is from our first day in the community. FH (the charity we went out with) has placed field staff within the community, to work with them and help them. One of these staff members was called Paul. He took us on a tour of the community and at one point called the team together and said, “I want to introduce my son,”. Now you wouldn’t think this as unusual, at least none of us did. Until he continued, “he is not my son by blood…” It was not this that caught my heart however, but the next sentence where Paul (below, right) said, “…But I love him very, very much”.
In this country we have a tendency, especially the younger generations, of not wanting to have any connection to our families, often not even wanting them to meet our friends etc. Yet here, where Kenneth (above, left) was not even his biological son, Paul introduced him as the son he loved “very, very much”. There is no way I can put into words what this did to me. I can’t get out on paper the emotions and feelings that I had, and still have even thinking back to it.Lesson #3 – Learn to appreciate my family. God put me in it for a reason!
Every morning we spent time in worship, lead by David (below, left) and Ian (below, right) and also prayer as a team and with the staff members. Growing together, teaching each other, doing daily devotions and just in general spending time in God’s presence. Through this I have a greater hunger for the word, a spiritual need to take in daily the bread of the word, much more then I used to. During the stay each team member had time to themselves as well as the fellowship together, and through this I have learnt a lot and brought so much back with me, including a better spiritual ear to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the voice of my heavenly Father.
The FH field staff were simply marvellous, always watching out for us, ensuring we had enough to eat, were in good health and were well rested. We had fresh fruit with every meal and never ran out of safe, bottled drinking water. I thank God for each of them and continue to pray even as they begin to prepare for the departure from the community next year that He will pour his blessing into their lives as they sacrificed so much to bless us.There is so many stories that I could tell you, so much that I want to be able to express that would take a lifetime to get down into words. For someone to truly understand, I think you’d have to have a similar experience yourself but I hope that the above has given you a glimpse into the awesome time that I had during my stay in Makhai. I learnt so much, and grew so much and just… it was simply the best experience I have ever had.
Finally I simply want to say WANYALA NAABI!! That is, I want to thank each of you who will be reading this, for your support both financially and also in prayer. It was your support that helped make this wonderful trip a reality, and I think I speak not only for myself in saying that the memories that were made out there will be cherished in our hearts and theirs for the rest of our lives.
My prayer is that as you blessed us, that God may continue to pour out His mercy, love and blessings upon your lives. May his glory and power be continually evident in everything you do, and in everyday of your lives’.
“May the Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”
- Numbers 6:24-26
Amina (Amen).
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