African Muzungu

"The Lord works in mysterious ways...." Definitely not something I would expect to hear from the lips of a stranger in a gas station in Castle Rock. But let me start at the beginning..... Sunday morning I was scheduled to speak at Fellowship Bible Church in Edgewater (just outside Dever). As I was driving from the Springs to Denver, my car started overheating, the windshield fogged up, and the cab was filled with steam/fumes. I "just happened" to be right near a Castle Rock exit, so I quickly pulled over into the nearest gas station. Distraught, I asked the attendant for help, and as we popped the hood, a man walked over and told me that he just "happened" to be a mechanic and exactly what the problem was. He and his wife then asked me where I was headed and it "just happened" that they were headed to Denver as well to pick up their daughter. DJ and Tesha kindly offered me a ride to the church, as they didn't have to be there until 2:00 (...

If only it were that simple! Unfortunately just an apple a day hasn't seemed to stave off the slew of doctors I've been seeing these past couple weeks. A couple weeks ago, my dad's job ended. (yes, that is a whole prayer request in itself!) That meant that at the end of April, I would no longer have health insurance under my Dad, and it became imperative that I have all my "issues" checked out immediately. As many of you know, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in 2008 and have been working to control, and hopefully reverse my diabetes. However, when I went in for this whole round of appointments my lab work revealed that my A1C test (a diagnosis tool for diabetes) was a bit worse than before, not better. It was decided then to treat me as a full diabetic, even though technically I'm still just pre. That meant a whole round of appointments with a diabetic nurse and dietitian, and new medication as well. I'm now on a strict diabetic diet, exercise, testing, an...

I think this must be a record...2 posts in 1 week! But I was just thinking about how often when we ask God to do something in our lives... He sure does work quickly! As I was driving home from Parachute on Sunday I was thinking about the way that I tend to take myself too seriously, and how too often I'm most concerned about what others are thinking of me. So I asked God to help me learn to laugh at myself...when I make mistakes I'm prone to worry about them excessively and think about how those mistakes might affect someone else's opinion of me. Instead, I wanted to be able to laugh at myself, realizing that I'm an ordinary girl fraught with imperfections, and use the opportunity to praise God for using such a weak vessel as I am. So..... Before I left this past weekend, I uploaded a file of my trifold brochure to a local copy center for reproduction. Earlier on I found a couple typos in the text and had fixed them, but for some reason the file I uploaded didn't c...

Wow. That's all I can say after an incredible day! (Isn't it funny how often after people say that, they go on to say so much more?? :) ) I can definitely say that while this deputation trail can be intense, exhausting, and at times intimidating, it is incredibly rewarding! I was warmly welcomed into the home of Pastor Charlie and Sue Hornick last evening, and spent most of the day ministering, and mostly *being* ministered to at Grace Bible Church of Parachute. I was so incredibly blessed to share with the congregation the love and passion the Lord has given me for Uganda, and then was so blessed to hear their response and receive the encouragement and affirmation of so many people. All of this was topped off by an incredible afternoon with the youth group which included the *best* scavenger hunt ever, sharing some of my testimony with them, and amazing pizza :) So you can see the blessings just kept piling on throughout the day! I was reading back through some of my earl...

I've been looking at pictures of Uganda. I know that probably doesn't surprise you, but what might is that I don't really look at them too often. While I was at school, I didn't reminisce too much since I was way too busy. Now, I'm so busy talking about Uganda, it is rare that I get a moment to really remember my time there. This time, I've been going through my pictures choosing ones to use in my presentations at churches and for my display board. Wow, those were some incredible trips!!! So many faces with so many stories stared at me as I clicked through those pictures again and again. Rose, my translator of several years and African Sister. Justine, my school team partner and singing buddy. Joseph, another favorite translator and fellow keyboardist. All of my muzungu team members through the years. Face after face of people who professed faith in Jesus for the first time with me. It's overwhelming. The Lord has poured His blessing out on me year after yea...

My budget's a go!!! This is a big piece that is finally in place so now I can start contacting pastors and mission boards to set up meetings. I've finished designing my prayer cards and trifolds, and I'm working on finishing up my introductory letter that I'll send out by email and snail-mail. Basically I can throw myself full-time into deputation now! I'm a little bit nervous, but a LOT bit excited! :) I can't wait to see what the Lord will do with me and through me! Right now, I'm at the missions conference at Frontier School of the Bible, and was blessed to lead a workshop on single woman missionaries. Least to say, I've been stretched a bit beyond my comfort zone, but it has also been a tremendous blessing. The girls here have been so encouraging, and the Spirit has been working! I've had some wonderful conversations about deep and at times difficult subjects. I have been reminded over and over again how hard this life can be, but at the same tim...

Ok, here's the personal post :) After my ministry trips, my family and I took our annual trip to Vail, CO for a family vacation. Our family has gone up to Vail every year for as long as I can remember, and I was finally able to join them for the first time in 4 years. Mom did end up getting sick near the beginning of the trip, and was sick for most of it. Partially because of that, we ended up mostly just staying around the condo and resting. It was wonderful. :) I got a whole week just hanging out with my family and recovering from the travel the previous weeks. On the trip back, I started feeling bad myself and ended up with a full blown sickness. I think I must have caught something else on top of my original cold, because I ended up in bed for 7 days. I haven't been that sick since last fall semester, but it didn't seem nearly as bad with my wonderful mother close by to take care of me. There is absolutely no comparison between being sick at school and being sick at hom...