African Muzungu

Wow! What a week! The past 9 days have definitely been the craziest I've had since leaving school! Recap: Drove for 2 days out to Kalamazoo, MI for the Independent Fundamental Churches of America convention. The purpose was not only to be refreshed by the preaching and teaching of God's Word, but also to make contacts and network with pastors who might allow me to come speak at their church about my upcoming mission in Uganda. Just before we arrived in MI, we received word that a dear, godly man in our church had died. We made plans to leave a day earlier than we had planned to get back to the Springs in time for the funeral. The conference was wonderful, albeit a bit draining. On Thursday my pastor, Jeff, his wife Nancy, and my two friends Catherine and Eric and I all drove through the night to arrive at 6:30 in the morning in the Springs. The family had been so good as to ask me to accompany for one of the granddaughters who was singing an arrangement of His Eye is on the Sp...

Tonight Robert Alderman spoke for the general session here at the conference. He was speaking on the need for greater personal involvement of the churches in their missionaries' lives. He challenged the current deputation system that we have where missionaries travel all over the country asking all different churches (most of whom don't have anyone they know at all) for money to support their ministry. In this system the personal knowledge of the churches and the missionaries is almost impossible. In addition to the ministry suffering, and a lack of accountability, the simple time and cost efficiency is positively impossible. Not only do the missionaries have to travel around initially, but then they must report back to all of those churches spread across America every 4-5 years to give a 40 min presentation that people may or may not remember and get involved in. The strain on the budget is not nearly as important as the strain on the missionaries and their families. Instead, ...

Just wanted to encourage you all to check out the Tentmakers Bible Mission website: tentmakersbiblemission.org... also, if you search for Uganda project under their missions projects you'll find my biography and mission.

What is vision? Many people have been spoken of as visionaries. Is it something to be aquired? Can it be learned? If you're not a person that simply spews forth vision, can you master the art anyway? Hmmm. The thoughts of Melanie's mind without sufficient sleep. I've been thinking about my vision for ministry. Being here at the conference I have ample opportunity to share my passion and heart for the people of Africa, but how do I pass on the vision of a ministry I don't even have yet? So, I have been crafting a short paragraph of the vision I have for my minstry in Africa. Do I know how it's going to be implemented yet? Nope. Do I even know how I DESIRE it to be implemented? Nope. But I do know that this is the burden the Lord has placed on me, and I pray that He will burden others with it as well. The Lord has given me a passion for evangelism and a longing to love and teach the children of Uganda. Too many times I have seen the children neglected because they mig...

I'm here at the IFCA (Independent Fundamental Churches of America) convention in Kalamazoo, MI. Over Saturday and Sunday I drove out here with 2 others from my church, Eric and my close friend Catherine. We had such a blast in the car! Long road trips are never quite as bad if you have fun people in the car. We shared our life stories, listened to the Bible on tape, read, slept, laughed, chuckled, and laughed some more. As most of you know, wherever Melanie goes, laughter will abound. :) Both Eric and Catherine have a love and desire for missions, (and both just happened to have gone to Uganda as well!!) and it was so refreshing to be in the company of ones who share my passion. Now here at the conference, I've gotten to talk to many people about that passion as well as hear the stories of like-minded men and women of God. I must say I'm a bit out of my comfort zone as I try to single out people to talk to among the teeming masses. I'd usually much rather a small group...

I have a new friend! We'll call him M, and he works at a coffee shop near my house. We have had a couple conversations, but the most notable was after my time at Garden of the Gods (see below). Our conversation was clearly God ordained, as he wasn't even supposed to be working at the time. We talked for a good hour and a half about a wide variety of spiritual things. M grew up in an at least nominally Christian household where his father was a preacher (even though he was abusive). M is very well learned in the Scriptures and has many memorized. He did the whole "Christian" thing most of his life; obeying his parents, trying to live a holy life and just do the right thing. In the process, he was utterly miserable. He has come to the conclusion that at the very least, God is not good, if He even exists at all. I can't keep the tears from my eyes even as I write this. I can't imagine living life without my good and gracious God who forgives without question and ...

Last night, through a comedy of errors I got to meet Jeff and Van Harding, a missionary couple with TBM that will be moving to Kisumu, Kenya in July. The Hardings, along with the Harrises will be my closest TBM neighbors. I won't bore you with all the details, but the night included silenced cell ringers, unknown cancelled rehearsals, and a lonely piano...all wrapped up with free rootbeer floats at Sonic! What fun. :) It really was wonderful to get to meet the Hardings and especially to talk with Van. She was so encouraging as we talked about our heart to reach these precious Africans. We also talked briefly about fundraising and the joys and challenges inherent in that looming task. I told her that I do approach this next season of life with trepidation, but also a bit of excitment as well. Ever since I went on my first trip to Uganda, I have not been able to talk about it enough. No one could ever have enough time and interest in the subject to suit me. However, for the next year...

I know that it has been quite a while since I last posted. This has been for several reasons, the main being that I was just not sure what to write. So much has been happening, and I have been waiting on so many more things to happen that I was unsure of how much to write/not write. But now, I find things settled enough to attempt communicating them to you! A couple of highlights from the past couple weeks: I performed my senior piano recital on May 1st, graduated from Moody Bible Institute on May 16th, and spent my last family vacation with all 6 of my family members in Chicago. The past couple of months have been some of the most interesting, and at times confusing, times of my life. For the past several months, I have been applying to missions agencies and planning a ministry in Uganda with Deywa. Choosing which missions board to go with is definitely one of the most important decisions of my life. This is a decision I have been thinking and praying about for many years, even before...