Shelley’s Trip To Uganda
The trip last week was not only meaningful for Hope Grafted In, but for me personally it was BIG. It had been 2 years since that first trip to Uganda and Kenya changed everything for me. This trip was the first time that I was able to visit 2 of our partner ministries in person. After working with them for many months, being with them was so meaningful. Recognizing the real relationship that we have together and how God has ordained our partnerships helped to refocus me both personally and in ministry.
While there, God of course stole the show. As if our trip preparations and thoughts of how things would go could match up with His glory. Being a physical part of showing His faithfulness and love to others was humbling, but I am not going to lie I LOVE IT.
My personal highlights:
Being there to see God fill the pantries when there weren’t enough funds to get everything we bought.
Experiencing God balancing the trip budget as only He could even as we tried to make sense of the numbers that didn’t match up.
Watching the faces of our beloved friends as they receive gifts. Having the opportunity to worship and pray with them.
Listening and watching as God works in new lifelong friends as our team members experience Him in Africa.
Being the hands that delivered gifts from sponsors to their children. Seeing the love and joy in their faces as they recognize the photos, letters and names. Seeing them feel loved and valued in that way reaffirms HGI’s commitment to relational sponsorship.
Going to sleep sharing a financial need and waking up to that need being met in full.
Holding children that I have cropped the photos of, countlessly typed the names of, talked with sponsors about their relationship with them. Kissing their faces and knowing them by name was priceless.
Just breathing in Africa is exactly what I needed. The red dirt, the smells, the laid back TIA environment, the cold showers, the landscape of beauty juxtaposed with miles and miles of poverty, the squatty potties, the delicious food, the beautiful people and the sweet funny way they speak English. It all fills me up and drains me at the same time. Africa is hard. It wrecks you and puts you back together. God meets you there in a way that He can be hard to find here at home. I am so thankful for that gift.
Having family in Africa and family here is tough, but also wonderful. Saying goodbyes are bittersweet. They are really “just until next time”. The excitement and hope I have for all that God will accomplish in my friends lives and in their service to Him by the next time I am with them is great. Can’t wait for February and what God has in store for me in Kenya!
- See more at: http://hopegraftedin.org/shelleys-trip-to-uganda/#sthash.q76TNGy7.dpuf