Huge Challenges and Small Victories
Huge challenges and small victories. That is the best way to sum up the last week. I know I know, "when life gives you lemons make lemonade," but what if you can't buy sugar? Then I guess you have to find something sweet, like honey! This last week has been full of testimonies of how a little bit of "honey" can go a long way... Whether there are a bunch of challenges or only one, they are much easier to handle when you give them over to God. Lesson 1. Ministry wise, this has been a slow moving week. One of our translators was still recovering from malaria, which caused many difficulties trying to make our appointments, or some had to go with no translator. One such day, Laurie and I were out, with no translator, and we were greeted by a very friendly lady and invited to sit with her. We greeted her back (the only words we know in Luganda), and tried to start chatting with her. We very quickly found out that she had no English. Laurie and I had the brilliant idea to use google translate -technology is amazing- so we typed in what we wanted to ask and had it play out loud. When the lady heard the weird computer voice coming out of the phone she was very confused and understood nothing (technology isn't so amazing after all huh). But God is good and we were able to go back with a real, live translator and had a great time with her. Lesson 2, count every small victory because they add up fast! This was only one of the many small victories through the week. Another small victory was, being able to find super glue and fix a hole in my (blow up) pillow! Being able to get a goodnights rest for the first time in awhile, man that's a game changer! I'm pretty sure that superglue is from heaven, not only was I able to fix my pillow but also my old and faithful water bottle! These aren't the only small victories that made life better, we also found a way to fry eggs (for 7 people) in less then an hour! Big accomplishment considering we cook with charcoal. Hand washing clothes can be a challenge for us westerners, but after five weeks of doing it I finally feel like I actually get them clean! The latest big challenge was needing to get some where to meet people, and the car breaks down in the worse possible place on a side road in Kampala. This caused us to be ever so late to the meeting, but once again God was faithful and we had an amazing time fellowshipping and teaching believers. (When we finally got there..) See, God uses these huge, human challenges, to show us His strength. Looking back over the week, every time we were at the end of our abilities God stepped in and took over. My team was reminded of all the people we have been able to meet in our time here and we were encouraged by the many people open to hearing about God's love for them. A week that seemed so slow, ended up going by so quickly with more fruit than ever thought possible. Even though the victories are small, they are very powerful, and can be very "sweet." The lemons this week were pretty sour, but enough added honey, even a small amount, can make pretty good lemonade.