My Watoto360 Adventure: God is Good!!

Where do I begin?

God is so good! I guess that's a good place to start. :) Over the last few days I have felt sad, happy, overwhelmed, intimidated, exhausted, excited, refreshed, homesick, at home, compassion, inadequate, weak, strong, and through all the ups and downs I have felt His joy and peace filling me. From the craziness of meeting so many new brothers and sisters, to the quiet alone times in my room, He is always right beside me, giving me His strength. The experiences I have had have been so crazy. I tried to imagine what it would be like once I got here, but nothing could have prepared me for all that has happened so far. Even just driving through the streets of Kampala is so different in person. I watched videos before I came, but videos and photos just can't capture what it is really like. The sights, the smells, the sounds...it is overwhelming! In the same way, I had watched videos of the Watoto Church, but that was so different in person as well! On Saturday night we attended the service, at Watoto Church Central (there are several different "celebration points" throughout Kampala). The whole service was so encouraging to me. I felt at home right away as we worshiped, prayed, learned, and had fellowship together.

The biggest thing God is teaching me so far is the power of prayer. I feel so weak and inadequate, and I know it is only because of so many prayers that I have been filled with His joy as my strength. Sadness and homesickness are frequent feelings, but through them I still feel the roots of His joy inside me. So thank you all so much for your prayers and please know that they are working!

So now for some details about what I have actually been doing...

On Saturday we had orientation. We met with the leaders of the 360 program, Calvin and Shirley Oule, and talked about expectations, from them and us, and we also went through kind of an outline of the course. We will be doing classes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday is a ministry day in the community, Friday we will all be assigned to a specific area in the church that we will be involved in every week, Saturday is another ministry day, followed by attending service in the evening, Sunday we serve at one of the celebration points, and Monday we have off. So yesterday was our first day of serving, and it was so awesome! We were at Watoto Church East, where they were celebrating the opening of the new children's church building. We did all sort of things, including: welcoming, parking, ushering, helping in children's church, and anything else they needed us to do. There were three services, at 8, 10, and 12, so it was a very full and tiring day, but it was so much fun! I was helping with welcoming for most of the time and really enjoyed it. Serving with all the students has been really amazing. I have gotten to know a few of them and I know these will be great friendships! After we finished serving, us internationals went shopping for the afternoon. We all had some things we needed to get, and we had a very successful day. One of the places we went to was a mall, and surprisingly, it was very similar to malls back home! Overall, the last few days have been a lot of fun, but also exhausting, and I am so thankful for the day off today.

Thank you all again for your prayers! Please continue to pray for me to be filled with God's joy and strength. And also that my body will keep adjusting to this new life, with the schedule, the food, and just the whole different atmosphere.

Here are some pictures....

The streets of Kampala