"I'm going to Uganda!"
I’m going to Uganda! It’s really happening…or it’s being actively planned, anyway. I always say “You’re not there ‘til you’re there”. Things can change at a moment’s notice (one thing we learned last year..) yet I see the faithful hand of God on this one. I decided to make it a joint effort, by raising money through some t-shirt sales. I partnered with Fund the Nations who helped me in designing some tees for this summertime trip to Uganda. And I keep saying it because maybe then it will feel more real.
If you know me or know parts of my story you’ll know I’ve had Uganda on my heart for quite some time. It started the year I first became acquainted with Jesus in a personal way. It was the same year I opened up His Word and His truth set me free. It was the year He opened the door for me to intern with a company called 31 Bits, a local OC small business that employs and partners with women in northern Uganda, selling their beautifully crafted hand-made jewelry stateside. I was on the events team. I would go out with product loaded up in the trunk of my car, set up the merch at a booth, and would tell the story of these women and this company. This led me to sponsor a little girl who lives in Uganda, and I’ve corresponded with her by letters over the last several years.
I’ve attempted to go in the past…one was an idea and a blogger type trip, one was a photography styled workshop set to be along the Nile River, another idea was tacking Uganda on to my South African adventure in 2019 but turns out traveling around Africa isn’t quite as feasible as it may seem. These were not the trips for me as they did not come to fruition. God tested my faith in these moments and I had to just be content with what He had given me. If I never got to Uganda that would be okay, I had been afforded so many beautiful opportunities to travel already. I would just keep it tucked in my heart and always wonder.
I connected with a sister-friend a few years back on Instagram whose cute little family, her husband and 4 kids, live in the Jinja area where they founded the Global Belief Project. I imagined going to them one day and recording with them for my podcast. I wanted to experience Ugandan culture for myself and getting to include The Marriage Project podcast seemed fitting. Especially sweet is what God did with a young woman’s story and book back in that pivotal 2013 year. I grew up anticipating book fairs, checking out library books (my mom would take me every week), I would fly through chapter books. Well, that love for books had extinguished over the years. I hadn’t picked up a book in years or been able to finish one. I had been through a lot. My mind, body, and spirit were tired. Yet Jesus was about to restore that. I was walking through Barnes and Noble that year and I was perusing the Christian Living section, curious to see if any caught my eye. This was a new category I was browsing after all. One cover did stand out to me. It was the cover of a young girl surrounded by children in what looked to be Africa. It was called Kisses From Katie. I bought it and I flew through the pages. Her story was so captivating, with so much life in one book. Her heart was on fire for Jesus and her call? To live and raise adoptive daughters in Uganda at a very young age. She moved away from friends and family to answer the call Jesus placed on her life. This stayed with me and yet one more piece of Uganda tucked especially in my heart.
So, why Uganda? I really don’t know beyond it’s been put in front of my eyes and been a part of my story the entirety of my journey with Jesus. It’s almost like I have to go to see what He has in store.
Well, it’s here. It’s happening. And it’s happening at a time where the world feels very unstable, and uncomfortable yet that’s what stepping out in faith looks like for me…trusting God every step of the day. Trusting Him for protection to cross oceans, against disease, against political unrest, pretty much against anything the devil might try to set us back with. I know God will pave the way, part the seas. I’ve seen Him do it and it’s why I can so confidently say “yes” to big things, somewhat nerve-wracking things like this. It’s also happening the same year I committed to run a half-marathon (yes, I am currently running and training for that in June) and am in the process of self-publishing my first book. I couldn’t make this up if I tried…it is absolutely wild but absolutely fun and with God, that’s what life is, wildly fun.
So, what’s the purpose of this trip and how is it finally happening this time? I got a call from my cousin in January. I thought it would be a check-in call, catching up on life chat. It was that but then she also said she had a question for me…” Do you still want to go to Uganda?!” After I’d somewhat resigned it in my heart, to hear her ask that was not what I was expecting. I said “Uh, YEAH"!” After the initial excitement at the thought…I wondered if it would really be the time for it. This was not a rash decision. I committed to pray about all the details because first, our busy schedules would have to sync up, sometimes that’s the miracle. We landed on a mid-August date and waited on and began watching flights. She called me one day, saying there was one that kept popping up that was the most ideal so we FaceTimed and went for it. We bought our tickets and I couldn’t believe it! I had an itinerary that said JFK > EBB (Entebbe).
Our purpose is one hard to pin down. I am talking with my friend who lives in Uganda to set up some interviews with couples for the podcast. We are going to visit one of my cousin’s friends who lives there and I am seeing about the possibility of meeting my sponsor child in person. At the heart of it all though, the mission is clear, to TELL OF HIS GLORY and to TESTIFY - the two shirts I’m selling declare these two things. It’s the heart of the podcast/project and the heart behind anything I do. Any money raised will be going toward things like medical fees (you need to take malaria pills and such to travel within Africa), travel insurance, money for our hosts, and really, just pouring it back into the podcast. Something I’ve never wanted to do was collect money or have sponsored ads on the podcast so everything that keeps the podcast up and running is an offering of mine to the Lord. This would be the opportunity to partner with me in testifying of His greatness, proclaiming the power of Jesus in our lives, get a cute shirt, and partnering in blessing the people of Uganda. Your dollar will send us, help aid us and we’re just the hands and feet, boots on the ground part. Yet giving toward it makes you equally a part of this mission to take the name of Jesus to all those we’ll encounter.
I’ll be sure to wear my tees to declare these things along the way! You can do so too.
TELL OF HIS GLORY TEE
TESTIFY TEE