How Was Your Trip?

Imagine it- You hear the airplane pilot's calm voice over the speaker system declare that you are only 20 minutes from your final destination, a brief weather update, and current time.  A few things might be going through your mind right about now… Will my family be on time to pick me up?  Should I stop at the Starbucks in the airport or just wait until tomorrow?  What do I want for dinner tonight?!  The possibilities are endless…  I'll be in a real bed tonight…

Truth is, you're actually too jet lagged and overwhelmed to make any sound decision, whether it be latte choice or food choice.

You have just arrived home from your _______ (insert time- days, months, years) in ____________ (insert country).

Many of you who read this blog and follow Doors Ministries have lived and worked with us. You also understand these above thoughts and emotions quite well.  Let's be real, most people who have stepped through the front door of our house in Uganda have had to step out and get on a plane back to America.  In fact, the largest population of missionaries are ex-missionaries (I know I know, you are never really out of the mission field, but for the sake of this conversation, I'm making a distinction.)

I came back to America on December 28th, 2013.  I had been living and breathing life in Uganda for about 2 1/2 years, and at that moment I found myself landing back in America for an undetermined amount of time.  If you would have asked me to imagine my past 2 1/2 years in Uganda, it wouldn't even come close to the reality of it all.  Traveling their with Mallory and two other good friends, realizing after 3 months that God was stirring in our hearts to walk in the impossible task He was putting before us, being scared out of our minds, looking up return flights to America just in case we totally bombed, extending our plane tickets a year, starting the boys home, starting the school, starting the women's ministry, opening the nurses office…. In the path of all this we meet friends that we will be forever bonded with in soul, we almost fail in all areas of ministry multiple times, Mallory and I almost lose our friendship, we lose sight of Jesus as the forefront of our ministry and lives. It has all been glorious, and gloriously hard.  But, as 22 year olds, fresh out of university, we had it coming.  Those mistakes and trials do not stop the incredible growth of our boys and Doors volunteers, our faults do not hinder the growth of the school, and the women's ministry is literally bursting at the seams of the building.  We experienced and understood why God truly does call the small to do the great and impossible things- It's easier for Him to take over.

So here I am, on this plane, about to land in Nashville, TN.  Amazed by the grace, love, and power of God in every part of Doors Ministries, in every facet of my life, in every trial that we faced, in every mountain top and valley we ever walked through.

If you have lived overseas, you have your God story, your trials, your mistakes, your path, your lessons, your people.  It has all been very real and now as you land in your familiar, now not-so-familiar home, you aren't sure how any thing, any place, any people, any circumstance could ever compare with the past _________ of your life in ________.

You're home for a few weeks stumbling through your every day, trying to figure out how Walmart works again, and why there are so many choices of EVERYTHING, you keep having to remind yourself to drive on the RIGHT side of the road, you have accidentally spoken in Luganda to a few of your black friends, and if you're anything like me you have spent some significant time weeping.

And then it happens.  You run into that friend or family member in a store or at church and they commit the most unspeakable atrocity against you… they ask- "How was your trip?" You aren't sure what to do or say at this point… do you run out of the room crying, do you stand up on a chair and exclaim to everyone around how amazing and hard and deep the past ________ of your life has actually been, do you let this person have it and shove a Shane Claiborne book down their throat, or do you just say- "it was awesome" and walk away.

This is just one example of what I have seen "ex-missionaries" go bonkers about.  We could go on and on about our opinions on mega churches, Starbucks, upper-middle class society, AMERICA, etc… I'm not judging you, seriously, the only reason I am able to write about this stuff is because I've been the worst of the worst.  Your emotions and thought provoking questions about how to live life as a Christ follower are REAL and they should be asked.  These are things that we should WRESTLE with once we have spent time with the poor and the hurting.  That "trip" you went on should forever change YOU.

Did that person who asked how your trip was really commit a horrible crime against you?

NO.

Are your friends and family shallow when they can't fully comprehend the life you just lived?

NO.

Will community ever be the same as it was for you on the "mission field?"

Maybe not.

Are you being shallow, close minded, and high maintenance when you judge others?

YES.

I wasn't sure how to write on the Doors blog anymore.  I wasn't sure how the stories of street kids or single moms could still be propelled from my American point of view.  But I think I know now.  I think that Satan doesn't give a flip that we lived in _________ for ________.  I don't think he is too concerned with our experiences and the hard lessons learned.  You know what he is afraid of?  He is afraid that the light will get out in your current position in your current location.  He is afraid that instead of being bitter and distraught over your relocation back home that you will dive deeper into God's plan over your life.  The enemy wants judgement and bitterness and sympathy for yourself to overtake the joy, and passion, and forgiveness.

I can't forget what I've seen, what I've tasted and heard in Uganda.  I'm not the same and I never will be.  I don't compare America to Uganda anymore.  It's not the same place, and the people here are different, with different experiences.  The thing is, Jesus is the same.

  Jesus is the same.  

He has the same power, the same love, and the same passion for His children to know and believe and experience Him.  Don't waste another second on judgement or bitterness or comparison.

Each of us has an adventure before us today.  Whether you are on a dirt road in Uganda or whether you are in front of a computer screen in America with a picture on your desk of that child who forever wrecked your life.  Your adventure yesterday can't be the adventure of today.

The question still stands-

How was your trip?

Did your trip paralyze you or did your trip set your heart so on fire that with every new step the world burns with passion for Jesus and His Kingdom come?

Irene

For the 2014 school year Doors was very fortunate to find Irene Lwanga.  Irene is a graduate of Africa Renewal University with a degree in Social Work and Counseling.  Each week she combines her degree and gifts from the Lord to counseling and encourages our students, women’s ministry, and parents.  As a young wife and mother she is able to relate, connect, and disciple all aspects of the schools clients.  We have all been blessed by Irene’s passion to serve and commitment and care that she shows to all.

When asked why she likes working for Doors, her contribution was a bit more than we expected.... 

Why do you like working with Doors Ministries?

Ø  It is a ministry. Doors has given me a chance to serve the DOORS Community and God. All the work I do puts God first.

Ø  Doors is a family. I look at it as a big family bringing us all together, pupils, teachers, and women. A family that cares for each and everybody. I entered into this big family where everyone is known by name from the youngest to the eldest. Everybody knows where the everybody lives.  Teacher Angela knows where each child stays and every detail of their family. To me, I feel this is where I belong. I felt loved and cared for when I recently gave birth, DOORS visited me and made me a card with lovely messages. It encouraged and gave me joy that I belong somewhere.

Ø  It is a transformation centre where people are transformed, so I want to be part of the group that is transforming society.

Ø  I love working at DOORS because children are supported in education, health and spiritual matters, which moves me to support them in psychological matters, career guidance, hygiene, adolescent counseling, help them make smart choices, spiritual counseling and others. Doors know that education alone cannot create good citizens but also counseling. That is why I like working with them, other schools in Uganda have not realized the need for counseling

Ø  I like working at DOORS because it has challenged me spiritually. It has put me on fire again for Christ. The different prayer requests I receive from the women’s ministry have made me re-organize my prayer time and Bible study time  I now pray more and study the Bible more, because I have to teach every Thursday and to counsel those with spiritual and psycho social issues.

Ø  I like working at Doors because my counseling services, with education and prayer will produce good performance.

Ø  My work at Doors is a fulfillment of what God has called me to do. I received a prophetic message from God calling me to be a counselor for the youths, married couples, and women. It took me 10 years to prepare for this. Soon I am going for a masters degree. 

Ø  DOORS pays me so am able to help my family somehow, thus I love working at Doors.

What are you passionate about? 

-Helping people make right decisions. I do this by creating a relationships with them. Through this I can know what they believe in and help them make right decisions.

Ø  I am passionate about seeing people live a happy, peaceful life. I know that people struggle to get essentials in life, but there is a chance to struggle with a peaceful heart knowing that the situation there in will change for the better. I have practically decided to sponsor a child in Gulu for two years under ARMS sponsorship program.

Ø  I am passionate about letting people know we are powerless, everything is about Christ. There is nothing we can do without Him. Everything begins and ends with God.

Ø  I love comedy. I love to be happy and to be with happy people. I feel so bad when a group of people around me are sad, have tough faces, or do not want to smile or laugh. I feel comfortable when someone smiles at me.

Ø  I want to be a caring friend.

Ø  I am passionate about my marriage/family. I want my home to be the safest, peaceful place for everyone. I am unfriendly to anyone who disrespects this.

Ø  I love cooking good food

Ø  I like adventuring

Sponsorship Qualms

I’m having a battle with sponsorship. And I share all of this not desiring to start a war…  

The battle has been ongoing for awhile. I’ve been a sponsor. I’ve seen the beauty in having a name and face posted on your refrigerator that signifies where your monthly check is going to. It makes it personal. You see where your X amount of dollars each month is going to help feed, educate, clothe, and provide medical care a child who really needs it. You sow each month and you get to see the fruit being grown. None of that is my issue. I totally relate and agree with sponsors that sponsorship is affirming and has many beneficial points to it. We have reaped greatly from sponsorship as an organization. Sponsors have shared with me how they see and respond to God as they give, and the children share about how they see God in each stranger who they begin to consider as family that sponsors them. 

My battle just epitomized as I sit here working on Doors’ July newsletter. We’re changing things up a bit in our style and monthly communication. I’ve been valiantly attempting to write a short one paragraph blurb for many days now, about a child in our home who doesn’t have any of his sponsorships currently filled. I rewrote it too many times to count, because each time I wrote it, I sounded like I was trying to sell this child. 

I finally sat back and I prayed, “God, I want Your words to be my words. I don’t think you want me to try and sell this child.” 

My next thought quickly followed my prayer, ‘Selling children is human trafficking.’ I do not want to exploit (derive benefit from) any child. 

Children make difficult products. If I were to write a blurb saying how this child is the most passionate and fearless child I’ve ever met, and that everything that he puts his hand to, he excels greatly….that would be accurate. However, every parent in the world knows that in between those sentences there should also be: “This child doesn’t sit still for more then four minutes, occasionally back-talks the people who care for him, always refuses to the dishes, and is more stubborn than a mule.” 

I’m thankful that sponsorship isn’t merely a call to buy a good and perfect product. It can not be a part of your paycheck that we merely need to sustain what we are doing and so we put cute faces on pamphlets to try and get your money.  

Sponsorship is a call to come and build with us. 

The truth is that all of the children in our home and in our school have issues. But let’s face it…who doesn’t? Our heart behind sponsorship is that we don’t have to advertise to any person how perfect are children are, or how desperately in need our children are.  Our hope is that beyond a face, you will see a multi-faceted God who takes more care and ownership over that child than we ever could. A God who is sowing seeds in and all around that child, because His greatest desire is to love him or her. We serve a God of redemption, and I am blessed to look upon His redemption in my own life and in the many others around me, every day. 

We pray that our sponsors see that we are building alongside the greatest Maker. We pray that our sponsors’ hearts don’t break over a child who used to be hungry, homeless, or needy - but rejoice alongside of ours, and alongside the Almighty’s about His love for that child. We pray that a song of praise can’t help but burst out of all of us as we look upon the work of our Maker, and we eagerly long to join Him in the redemptive process.