the day of the boda bodas

so today we went to our very first African church service. It was AMAZING! The worship was incredibly moving. I loved singing the words YES LORD, YES LORD, YES YES LORD! with so much singing and dancing and clapping! the passion was incredible. i was so uplifted and i could barely keep still! it was awesome. These people are seriously so precious to me. Peter came a got me and said they needed help in the nursery. i was SO excited since i haven't gotten to work with the kids much yet. i went into the little baby room and we sang a song that went "things are better already when jesus is on my side!" it was so cute. i loved hugging on them and playing with them today. they are so much fun and so sweet.

Tommy got really sick today and he has some bad virus. He has been throwing up all day and resting and he didn't get to go with us this afternoon, so keep him in your prayers. Jake started feeling bad too, so we are hoping he doesn't have it too. Pray that it doesn't spread to all of us and that Tommy and Jake start feeling better soon.

After church we came home and a a little lunch and took a quick nap. Then we decided to head back to the BLRC to meet up with Peter. It was the first time the interns took public transportation and made it to the BLRC without a Ugandan or a past intern named Dusty. I was DEFINITELY nervous about that, because the entire process takes about 50 minutes. We walk down the hill from our house, get on a van packed with strangers, and basically hope it takes you to the taxi park. You get out at the taxi park and walk for another 20 minutes through crowds of people and major traffic before finally getting to the BLRC. i am still not used to them driving of the right side of the road! I was really proud of us for making it there on our own though. 

Once we got to the BLRC, we dropped Mandy off and met up with Peter and Jemir. Jake and Jarron wanted to play soccer with some Ugandans and Hannah and i decided to tag along. we walked a lot of the way, but then it became necessary to take the boda bodas again. I was pretty excited because they are SO much fun! plus, Hannah and i shared one so it was really great to experience it together. The boys played soccer and Hannah and i watched which was fun, and then we jumped on another boda boda and headed back to the BLRC for bible study.

Once we got there, we had group bible study. We sang songs together and Seth was our leader. He is the most contagiously joyful person i have ever seen. he laughs out loud before every sentence and he smiles nonstop. He is one of my favorite people i have met. He's wonderful. We sang and had an awesome discussion about some passages in Mark and in Joshua, and i was so challenged by what they had to say. This one guy, Steve, says some really awesome stuff and i have been so blessed in hearing what he has to say. I wasn't as shy today, and i was able to make a few comments which was better than yesterday for sure. We had some great chai tea and break and then we prayed together and held hands as we sang "Bind Us Together, Lord." (its one of their favorites!). It was so amazing to me to see both of my white hands holding onto the dark brown hands of my wonderful new friends on either side of me. God's  love already binds us together in an extremely deep way. i already can't imagine leaving them. They have been such a light to me.

After bible study we hopped back on public transportation and then took bodas back to the house. we watched a movie with darla, and had some sugar G nuts, one of my favorites here :) now i am off to sleep, and getting ready for a great day tomorrow! i LOVE kampala!

For His Glory,

heidi alise

BLRC saturdays

saturdays are known for being very busy around here. We woke up this morning and went to the BLRC for some Lugandan language lessons with Peter. We learned a TON of new words, i definitely wont be able to memorize them all, but i am starting to get the spelling down, and the greetings are coming to me easier. Its just funny that i can speak an African tribal language. 

After that, the boys went into town with Peter, and us girls went to the women's Life Care small group. Singing "Amazing Grace" with 6 African women is something everyone should experience. It rocked me to my core. I can't even describe it, but i had chills all over. We studied 2 John and that was interesting. It was very cool to see what the women contributed to the study. Many of them are challenging and thought provoking in their ideas. After this we took prayer requests. It was REALLY eye opening and it touched me very deeply. These women didn't pray for themselves. Not at all. They prayed for their country, for the children in the boarding schools who are at risk for sexual violence,  and things like that. I think about how often i pray for me. Dear God, help me with this, Dear God, please give me safe travels, Dear God, please take care of me. Its always all about me. Hearing these women pray is completely different. I was very convicted by their prayers that see a much bigger picture than i do. There was a woman sitting next to me holding a baby probably about a year old. She couldn't have been much older than i am. I shared my Bible and song book with her since she came in late. Her sweet baby looked at me, and i was just dying to hold onto him when he fell asleep. When it came time for prayer requests, this woman spoke up. She told us that she is a refugee from Rwanda and her little boy is all she has. She lives behind a refugee project and her and her son sleep outside every night. She prayed for their safety as they are very in danger of sexual abuse living out on the street like they were. When the women asked her name again, she told them and they all smiled. Turns out that her name means God is Here and God is Real in this Place. This is when i started tearing up. I looked across the room to see Hannah's expression matching mine exactly. I wept through the prayer as Darla was saying that this woman and her baby are children of God who are precious and valuable in His sight. It was very hard to not want to promise her the world and offer her a home, but i am starting to learn that praying for these people can be the very best i can do sometimes.

After women's group we had lunch and when the boys got back, we got to see Arora, and Peter again, and we got to meet this precious little fireball of a Ugandan girl named Tasha. She is 20, and her and Peter are dating. I hung out with her most of the day and she taught me so much. She is the sweetest thing in the world and i  absolutely loved spending the day with her. We all hung out until it was time for the Life Care Group for youths. It was really cool to get to have a small group time with our awesome new friends, as  well as meeting others. We had some really good discussion time and Hannah, Jarron, Jake, and Tommy had a lot of great things to contribute to the conversation. It was very difficult for me, however. I just felt like a deer in the headlights when we were talking about money and whether or not it was a snare for us spiritually. I just really couldn't think of what i wanted to say,  so i didn't say anything. The rest of my group did so well though. I was very proud of them, and our Ugandan friends were listening very intently. We took prayer requests again and Jameel, the leader of the group, asked me to pray for Tasha in my spare time. It was a really cool way to do things, and I am so thrilled to get to be thinking of and praying for my great new friend. 

After group, we went walking around Kampala again with Peter, Arora, Tasha, Fred, and another new friend Tazo. It was a blast and we went and had juice. I am LOVING passion fruit juice and watermelon juice! I walked all over the city with Tasha and learned so much about her life, and what it is like to be a girl my age living here. I felt so comfortable asking her questions and i just feel really blessed to have met her today. She was such a blessing, and i am looking forward to becoming facebook friends :) 

We came back and had an awesome dinner, all 9 of us together. Then we sat around talking about our rafting experience coming up in a week or so. We laughed so hard we cried, and i looked around the table and felt so blessed to have these people in my life. It has been amazing so far, and i can't wait to wake up to another amazing day tomorrow! my first african church experience! YAY!

For His Glory,

heidi alise

touristy

today we had a bit of a tourist day. we went to the Kasabi Tombs and saw where 4 of the past kings were buried. Fred, Peter, Isaac, and the missionaries took  us there and we went on a tour. it was interesting. After that we went and had lunch at the BLRC which was much better today because i knew what foods to ask for, plus i have gotten a little better at my math skills! all the practice has helped.

after that we went to the Uganda museum and learned about all the different tribes and history of Uganda. This probably would have been very interesting if we would have been able to understand our tour guide. Basically everything i learned came from reading the displays. However, it was REALLY fun to get to hang out with the KCC (kampala  church of christ) guys. They are really wonderful people, and they have been taking such good care if us. 

When we finished there, Darla and Jamie dropped us off at the BLRC and went home. We stayed out there and watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was a fundraiser movie night and it was really cool to meet and hang out with more people. We got popcorn and i had the best chai tea i have ever had! it was great. Watching that movie in this place was really very different than the first time i saw it. I now know what a slum actually looks like. it was so hard to see that movie and attach names and faces to that kind of life story. It was definitely an eye opener.

When the movie was over, it was dark outside. Unlike many African cities, Kampala stays up late. Peter and Fred took us walking through the city to the taxi park so we could catch a taxi to our house. It was just like yesterday, scary, except now we were in the dark too. People all around and traffic flying by. Hannah almost got hit by a taxi van. it was literally blowing by her. No one has any respect for traffic laws here. There are no such thing as lanes and the pedestrian never has the right of way. Hannah and I concluded that it is not the driver's responsibility not to hit you, it is your responsibility not to be hit. Once we got on our taxi, we started heading to our house. The taxi only takes you so far, and it is a very far walk up the hill to our house. About a mile uphill. There are these motorcycles that drive through the city and weave in and out of traffic, and they work like taxis. They are called boda bodas and for 1000 shillings you can ride one. We are not allowed to ride them in the city because they can be VERY dangerous, because of their assertiveness. We are however, allowed to ride them up the hill to our house, so each of us boarded our very own boda boda and rode up to the house. Since the women wear skirts, you have to ride these things side saddle. it was SO much fun! a little bit scary but we all loved it. today was a great day! I love it here!

For His Glory, 

heidi alise

ok so our internet situation is slightly unpredictable but i will keep trying to post as much as i can. thank you so much for all of the encouragement! you are all such blessings to me and i really appreciate you taking the time to read up on me.

i forgot to tell this story from the plane on my last post. it was CRAZY! ok, so Chris Tomlin used an African children's choir called Watoto on his CD for the song "Love" and when hannah and i went to his concert a little while back, he talked a lot about it, and we obviously got excited as we ALWAYS do when something comes up about africa. we then found out that Watoto is actually not only in Uganda, but specifically Kampala! we were so excited. We talked to Chris about getting involved there, and he directed us to the website, where i was disappointed to find that they only accepted short term workers for longer than 3 months. i was disappointed but knew God had plenty in store here in Kampala. so, on our flight from amsterdam, a lady sitting next to me started asking what i would be doing in Kampala as far as ministries go. i told her what i knew and then told me that she worked at a children's home called Watoto. i practically hugged her and started freaking out about how badly i wanted to work there but couldn't. she said that she would love to help get involved and take me all around, so she gave me her phone number and we are going to get to go visit Watoto next Monday most likely! God is so faithful!

yesterday we woke up and went to one of our church leader's houses. His name is Isaac and he is very kind. We had some DELICIOUS new york pizza (go figure!) and pineapple that is truly fresh on another level. we went around the city and got a better look in the day time and that was great. after that we went back to the house and relaxed , and had an awesome spaghetti dinner made by darla. we then had some great conversation and finished it up talking all about our Myers-Briggs personality types. It was really interesting! Darla is very interested in all of that too so i was so thrilled to talk about it.

Today we woke up and the missionaries decided it was time for us to learn how to navigate public transportation. this is a very interesting process, and kind of scary! we still don't quite have the hang of it but we're trying! we took a taxi bus to the taxi park and then walked from there to the BLRC (Better Living Resource Center) where we met up with Mark, Jamie, and Darla, who drove. We got our first language lesson in Lugandan which is the language of most people here. Peter, who is a 23 year old guy who works with the missionaries gave us some basic phrases and words to work on. Little did i know how much i would be using them later on! we then had lunch at the BLRC which was VERY traditional african food, which i am still getting used to. somehow i have become the group treasurer, and with my math skills, converting to shillings has been a little difficult. From there, Jake and Mandy went to go on a high school visit with Darla, and Jarron, Tommy, Hannah, and I went with Peter and his friend Aurora to go to Owino Market. I could use every single word i know to describe this place and you still couldn't possibly understand. culture shock hit me like a ton of bricks. i was in no way prepared to see what i saw. it is exactly what you would imagine a slum to be, except worse. the smell alone is enough to knock someone over. you see lame men crawling on the ground and begging and you wonder if they have ever walked higher than someone's knee. there are animal parts and raw meat with flies everywhere. small ditches run through the middle of the path and waste flows down them by your feet. foods i have never seen and used shoes and clothing are on sale everywhere. people shout out "Muzungu! Muzungu!" which is the word for white person. They will grab your arm and won't let go and you don't know whether you should be rude and forceful or kind a warm. i was scared. our group was the only group of white people i saw, and it was evident from the attention we drew. At one point, Peter stopped to look at some jeans and Hannah and i were completely surrounded by men shaking our hands and asking our names and rubbing up against up saying "hello how are you?!" One man asked Jarron if he could have one of "jarron's women." Jarron said no. and the man said, "Well there are two! are they both yours?" Jarron said yes thankfully, but he considered it funny to say that he would have sacrificed me first. haha thanks man. I was proposed to twice and men would grab me and say, "my wife?!" one even smacked me on the butt.  i almost had a breakdown at some points but it was definitely a good experience and i know how to handle myself better now. plus i got a lot of Lugandan language use in! We had a great dinner tonight with Darla, and now I am headed to sleep to see what tomorrow holds. Every day is an adventure! keep praying! i love you all!

For His Glory,

heidi alise 

at home in kampala!

hello hello!

i am so happy to say that i am now posting from my NEW HOME for 3 weeks here in kampala! all i have seen so far was dark but it was beautiful and i love it already! the driving is INSANE and i have to try and keep my backseat driving to a minimum, but its really scary! even though it was 9:30 PM, people were EVERYWHERE walking all in the streets and in huge crowds. it was totally crazy. i don't know what i was expecting but it definitely wasn't this. 

Everything with traveling went by without a single problem and i couldn't have asked for anything better. The luggage situation worked out really perfectly and i was so happy to have aunt ruthie there yesterday morning pointing out all the "God moments." She really has a keen eye for them :) 

While we were on our last twenty minutes of our flight to entebbe, i got super emotional because it was just all hitting me at once. I had some daraja going on my ipod plus i was just really praying about all the people i was about to meet and i was just really overwhelmed by it all. it was like it was finally hitting me. i really can't believe i am here. it just became so real and it really became a seriously important thing to me too. it has important to me all along, but it was like i suddenly realized that i am here to be completely selfless, to serve everyone in every way i can, and to make this trip all about the glory of God, not the glory of myself. those are all really REALLY important, and i just took a much more serious and less giggly silly approach to it. anyway if you know me you know i LOVE lyrics, and these lyrics have become my prayers tonight...

Take my life and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice and let me sing
always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as You choose.

Here am I, all of me.
Take my life, it's all for Thee.

Take my will and make it Thine
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart it is Thine own
it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord I pour
at Your feet its treasure store
Take myself and I will be
ever, only, all for Thee.
Take myself and I will be
ever, only, all for Thee.

i love you and and miss you so much! keep praying!

For His Glory, 

heidi alise

amsterdam

hey y'all!

i am writing from the amsterdam airport! the flight here was GREAT! it was probably my best international flight ever. I have been trying to sleep according to uganda time, but i haven't gotten much. Jake, Mandy, and I sat together and I think i tried to sleep in every single possible position. When we first left, the pilot said that we were passing through Evansville, Indiana and it definitely made me sad! i am for sure missing the boyfriend. the food was actually really good and jake and i watched benjamin button which made the time go fast. The flight ended up being almost 9 hours! I just got to talk to my mom via skype and that was AWESOME! i felt pretty bad for waking her up at 3:20 AM but hearing her voice was so great. I miss my family already! 

i am SO excited to get to uganda! i still feel like this is totally surreal. even though i am currently sitting in a foreign airport, i can't believe it is really here. we are expected to arrive tonight around 8:30-9 which is around 1:30-2 in the afternoon your time. i can't wait to FINALLY be posting from africa, telling you what it's like. i love you all! thanks for wanting to know what is going on. you're support and prayers continues to amaze and encourage me. 

For His Glory,

heidi alise

2 weeks and counting!

I leave for Uganda in 2 WEEKS! I absolutely can't believe it. I feel like it was just about a week ago that Hannah and I decided to go to a informational meeting about internships announced in chapel. It didn't become real that I was actually going until about a month ago, even though I have been preparing for about 9 months. It was so amazing to go to Mark's office my last week of school and pick up my visa, malaria pills, and plane tickets. I feel like I have been talking about this internship for so long and it is finally here. I can't wait to see what God has in store.

So this is how it looks like things are going to go down: 

Mandy and I fly out of Atlanta on June 1 and go to Houston to meet up with Hannah, Jarron, Jake, and Tommy. Then we all fly together to Amsterdam, and on to Entebbe. Upon arrival in Kampala, we will be living with two missionary families on the same team. The boys will be living with Mark and Jamie Long, who are expecting their first child in September. Us girls will be living with Darla Bennett, a nurse who lives in the same duplex. For these first three weeks we will be getting involved with all of the ministries this team works with in and around Kampala. We will primarily be working with the youth, from babies up to teenagers. I am really excited about this part and I can't wait to connect with the young people of Kampala. After this we will begin traveling to some of the more rural villages in Jinja and Mbale located in eastern Uganda. I am thrilled to get to experience both urban and rural Uganda and look forward to connecting with the people and missionaries there as well. From there we will head toward Rwanda and make a pit stop in Mbarara on the 29th of June to meet Arinitwe Leya, who is the 7 year old little girl that I have sponsored through Compassion International for about a year now. This is one of the things I am most excited about. How many people get that kind of opportunity? I am very blessed. After that we will go to Rwanda to see all of the sites of the massive genocides. We get the opportunity to see the actual hotel from Hotel Rwanda, and though this is going to be extremely emotional, I know that it is something I need to see. We will do a survey trip while we are in Rwanda and see the incredible need for missionaries in that area. After that we will go back into Uganda and do some of the more touristy things like visiting a game park and rafting the Nile River. After we finish everything, we will fly out of Entebbe to Brussels, Belgium and then to Newark where we will part ways and I will come home to Atlanta on my birthday! July 10! My mom was very happy about that needless to say. 

I will be most likely updating my blog often and you can also follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/heidi_alise. I can't wait to share my experiences all along the way.

So there is the plan! I can't wait to begin this incredible adventure with God and I know He has lots of things to show me. He has already been so faithful in the preparation that I know He will continue to do so in the actual journey. How blessed I am to get to experience and show God's love in this way among the Ugandan people. Please continue to pray for safe travel and that God places people in our path that we can build relationships with and shower His love upon. Also pray for my family, friends, and boyfriend that they don't worry about me and that I don't get homesick missing them all too much. Though I get to be with my wonderful soulmate friend Hannah, I know I will be missing so many other important people in my life as well. 

I love you all and appreciate the prayers and support!

For His Glory, 

heidi alise

PS: i start taking my malaria medicine TOMORROW!