My times are in HIS hands

"I trust you, O Lord; I say 'You are my God.' My times are in your hand" ~Psalm 31:14-15

This verse is currently on a picture as the background of my computer. I read it every day as I open my laptop. It's on my desk at school, and it's on the wall of my room. Two years ago I saw it displayed in the kitchen of a family I babysat for, and am now friends with, and ever since then, it has become one of my favorite verses. I see it and read it multiple times daily, yet sometimes I still find myself questioning the truth in it and doubting it. Such was the case in recent days. I let discouragement get the best of me. Retreat with the students was AMAZING, and after having the two worst days of teaching ever last week, I grew very discouraged when thinking about teaching again. On Monday, teaching didn't go well, the kids didn't listen, and a few other events occurred that made it a discouraging day. God always shows up, though, and when I arrived at home, I checked the blog of the same friends in whose home I discovered the verse. Sure enough, their latest entry included this verse, and talked about God's faithfulness and His redemption. They pointed out that God ALWAYS redeems our situations and brings light to our darkness. God gently reminded me to be confident that He will eventually bring light to the "darkness" I'm experiencing right now. Ok, so struggling to teach is not exactly a huge conflict, but so far I'm honestly waking up each day struggling to find any desire whatsoever to go to school and teach. Psalm 31:14-15 reminds me, though, that my times are in HIS hands, and I am confident He brought me here. I LOVE living in Uganda, and I'm 100% confident I'm where I'm supposed to be at this point in life. And because I can be confident of that, I can also look forward to the day that He redeems this situation. I can try to remain confident in knowing and believing that He has a plan, that He's taking care of me, and my times--even discouraging and frustrating times--are in HIS hands!

That all took place on Monday. Tuesday morning I dreaded going to school again, and had a rough start, but ended up having one of my classes go wonderfully. The kids behaved, participated, and cooperated and it was awesome. One good class changed everything. I didn't care what happened throughout the rest of the day--and the rest of the day didn't end up going so well--but one great class was enough to convince me to keep persevering. And today, I woke up with a new sense of joy, not because teaching has been wonderful lately, because clearly it hasn't, but because I have been reminded that joy does not depend on our circumstances. Joy comes from within, and joy comes from knowing that God is in this battle with me. He's called me here, and He has a reason for doing so. He will provide, and my times are in HIS hands. I pray I'll remember that when times are tough.

Week highlights

It's 11:45pm on Saturday night, and after a three day retreat, I'm exhausted. As is typical during any retreat, the number of hours designated for sleeping decreased significantly. Unfortunately, instead of being in bed, sound asleep right now as I should be, I'm sitting in the living room downstairs, listening to the guard's music outside, as a result of not being able to sleep at all! Such is life.

Since I can't seem to sleep, I figured I'd update the blog by sharing a list of highlights from the past week. It's been an eventful and incredible week.

- An unexpected hug coming at just the right moment
- An unexpected lunch invitation from an amazing woman on one of the worst days of school so far
- Retreat: it came at exactly the right time!
- Hearing students cheer/clap loudly when my name was called
- Growing relationships among friends (other counselors on retreat)
- Using the slip-n-slide, which consisted of rubbing soap all over myself and flying down a huge piece of plastic, as my excuse not to shower
- Listening to the 9th grade girls talk about the high schooler's "love circle" and knowing that they were ok with me listening
- Watching Lisa Fish and students use a water balloon launcher to launch live frogs hundreds of feet through the air
- Hanging out with awesome students, and getting to know them on a level outside of the classroom
- Hearing students sing worship songs--in school, they NEVER sing during chapel, but on retreat, they were loud, and amazing!
- Listening to the girls in my banda make prank calls, laughing with them, and remembering the days in college, not so long ago, that my friends were doing the same thing
- Finding Old El Paso salsa and applesauce in the grocery store--two very unusual finds here in Uganda!
- Eating roasted corn on the side of the road next to the broken down van (so the broken down van part was not such a highlight, but since it resulted in being able to eat roasted corn, it can make the list)
-Being reminded that God is not the God of America, or of Africa, but the God of the whole universe. He is everywhere, taking care of everything, here, back home, and all over the world.

What started off as a terrible couple of days turned in to an amazing week that produced some amazing memories. I can't say I'm looking forward to going back to school and teaching on Monday, but I can say retreat came at exactly the right time, and provided exactly what I needed at that moment in time!

"Better Days Ahead"

Well, it's only Tuesday, but I think it would be safe to say it's been one of the most overwhelming weeks since I've been here. Teaching this week has felt somewhat like a disaster, and life has just been overwhelming. The good news is that God always sends the right amount of blessings at just the right time, and just the right amount of encouragement to remind me He knows what He's doing, and I just need to keep persevering. "Better days ahead" as my grandpa always says...

Some of those better days, I hope, will begin tomorrow when we head to Jinja for youth retreat! Besides the awesome fact that I don't have to teach anymore this week, I have been looking forward to retreat since I found out I'd be helping out with youth group. Wednesday through Friday the 7-12 grade students and all of the youth group volunteers will be staying in Jinja, having small devotional sessions, playing tons of fun and crazy games (in which I fully intend to participate, not just watch), and hanging out together. We've been praying about this for weeks, and I am so excited for what God could do! For me personally, I am really praying these days would be opportunity for me to get to know the students outside of the math classroom. I'm hoping to interact with them in a way that helps me get to know them and start forming relationships with them. In general, I'm praying for the hearts of the students, that they would be open to whatever God might want to do in them, and for the staff members going, that we'd be willing to let God work in and through us. With some students practicing other religions, some claiming no religion at all, and some being Christians, it will be exciting to watch God at work! Please join us in prayer this exciting retreat!

Mukono, how I love and miss thee!

Saturday I traveled to Mukono to visit my host family, the Jembas. Walking down the steep hill to their house brought back so many memories, and they greeted me with such love and genuine care. It was wonderful to be back in their home again, even if it meant sitting in silence for a couple of hours in their sitting room....just like old times :) They were incredibly excited to see me, as I was to see them. I'm still amazed when I think back to the experiences I had here last year, an the incredible turn-around and answer to prayer midway through the semester. Godfrey, my host dad, was not around because he recently got a job in Kampala (wonderful news for the family). Matilda, the middle sister, was also not around due to work. The others in the picture are all family members I remember, and talked with yesterday, except for the boy in the upper right corner. I have no idea where he came from. I didn't see him in the house at all yesterday (or last year), and I didn't notice him until I looked back at the picture today. Who knows who he is, but he showed up for the family photo!

Aside from the ridiculously crazy journey back home, it was a wonderful experience, and I'm so thankful I was able to reunite with my family! Being back at the house reminded me of the simplicity I enjoyed while living there, and somewhat made me desire to live that lifestyle again, rather than being so modern and American as I am now. I still miss the simplicity of the semester I spent with them, and the complete daily dependence upon the Lord. I was reminded yesterday of those who don't have all that I do, who don't always have food to put on the table, and who don't have medicines available around the corner when they need them. Those needs are what cause them to pray daily, not routine prayers like I sometimes fall into the habit of doing, but prayers of genuine urgency and prayers of faith that God WILL provide. I pray I will live a life of faith and prayer as my host family modeled for me last year.

Sidenote: Yesterday was the opening game for Ohio State football, and while I LOVE living here in Uganda, it's going to be tough to miss the entire season. Staying updated on ESPN.com by watching little football helmets move across the screen every five minutes just wasn't quite the same :) GO BUCKEYES!!!

Who I walked home with today:

This afternoon my walk home from school took longer than usual. By the time I thought to get my camera out, most of the cows had already turned the corner, but for a good five minutes of my walk home, I followed closely behind this crowd, silently laughing and thinking "Only in Africa...." I enjoy moments like those, as they remind me where I am.

This herd of cattle wasn't the only excitement of the afternoon walk, though. Soon after I passed the cows, I heard the familiar music of the ice cream man! Yes, even in Uganda, there is such a thing as the ice cream man. This one was a man on a boda with a giant cooler tied to the back of it. As is typical for ice cream men in America, this one drove around the streets playing loud music. Today's song was "happy Birthday," and as is typical, one note each time was ridiculously off key. It's never the same note, though, so you never know when it's coming. I didn't buy any ice cream, because I've heard it might be a little sketchy, but I did have a typical African conversation with the guy that consisted of the seemingly never-ending cycle of "How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine....."

I love living here :-)