I never thought that less than one year after leaving Uganda I would be making plans to return.
I can't grasp the fact that I will be there in a few short months. I am still searching to find the best plane ticket possible, but I plan to leave around July 10th.
The past 10 months back in the United States have not been easy for me. They've come with a lot of ups and downs, struggling to re-grasp even the most mundane of Americanisms. Just this past week I noticed that I am still saying "Morning" to people. My first year in Uganda it drove me crazy that people didn't say the "good" part before the common greeting. I realize that it's the British way, and I just picked it up after a while. Now I struggle to get myself to say it the American way, the British being second nature now.
There are many other examples that I could go on with, but I'll spare you the gory details. The fact is that my heart has ached ever since leaving the place where I've lived most of my adult life. It was a hard choice to make to return there this coming summer for 6 weeks. I kept wondering if my heart could take the break of having to reacclimatize myself to American society again after parting with a place I love so dearly. But alas, I am looking into buying tickets and working out my ministry schedule while there already.
In the next 4 weeks I will be continuing with a Tutor Training for the Literacy Volunteers of America. Little did I know how much homework I was getting myself in for! I wanted to finish this training before I left for Uganda however because I hope to be able to use the techniques I learn to further teach Susan (click here to see this story) and other adults there as well.
I'll also be helping out around Heritage- getting them ready for the new school year, tutoring kids in English, etc. I am hoping and very excited to get to work alongside some of my KIU friends again.
This coming week I am honored to have been asked to speak and sing at a friends church. I will be speaking on the sacrifices that I have had to make to follow Christ. My mom my made a good point the other day while discussing the topic of sacrifice. "With God there is no such thing as sacrifice, only exchanges." Though hard to comprehend, I'm learning to believe that it's true. All of the times I yearned to be back in America while I was living in Africa there was something else that God gave me in the midst of pain. There were so many things that God gave me. I look back in awe and treasure each memory.
On Sunday I've decided to sing a Tim Hughes song entitled "May the words of my mouth". Find the lyrics below.
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus
Chorus
For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You
Verse 2
Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart
I can't grasp the fact that I will be there in a few short months. I am still searching to find the best plane ticket possible, but I plan to leave around July 10th.
The past 10 months back in the United States have not been easy for me. They've come with a lot of ups and downs, struggling to re-grasp even the most mundane of Americanisms. Just this past week I noticed that I am still saying "Morning" to people. My first year in Uganda it drove me crazy that people didn't say the "good" part before the common greeting. I realize that it's the British way, and I just picked it up after a while. Now I struggle to get myself to say it the American way, the British being second nature now.
There are many other examples that I could go on with, but I'll spare you the gory details. The fact is that my heart has ached ever since leaving the place where I've lived most of my adult life. It was a hard choice to make to return there this coming summer for 6 weeks. I kept wondering if my heart could take the break of having to reacclimatize myself to American society again after parting with a place I love so dearly. But alas, I am looking into buying tickets and working out my ministry schedule while there already.
In the next 4 weeks I will be continuing with a Tutor Training for the Literacy Volunteers of America. Little did I know how much homework I was getting myself in for! I wanted to finish this training before I left for Uganda however because I hope to be able to use the techniques I learn to further teach Susan (click here to see this story) and other adults there as well.
I'll also be helping out around Heritage- getting them ready for the new school year, tutoring kids in English, etc. I am hoping and very excited to get to work alongside some of my KIU friends again.
This coming week I am honored to have been asked to speak and sing at a friends church. I will be speaking on the sacrifices that I have had to make to follow Christ. My mom my made a good point the other day while discussing the topic of sacrifice. "With God there is no such thing as sacrifice, only exchanges." Though hard to comprehend, I'm learning to believe that it's true. All of the times I yearned to be back in America while I was living in Africa there was something else that God gave me in the midst of pain. There were so many things that God gave me. I look back in awe and treasure each memory.
On Sunday I've decided to sing a Tim Hughes song entitled "May the words of my mouth". Find the lyrics below.
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus
Chorus
For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You
Verse 2
Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart
Once we are willing to surrender our lives to Christ, there is so much that he wants to give us in return!
I pray that you will find yourself praying this song for yourself as I do myself. I long to live a life that pleases God. I fall over and over again, but need to surrender all of my ups, downs, successes and failures to Christ so that I can fully follow Him.
I will be making a real effort to keep up my blog in the next few months with stories, pictures and prayer requests, so check back every once in a while for updates! As always, I want to pray for you! Don't hesitate to help me pray for you by telling me how.
Continuing on with my joyful journey,
Jean
