Last night, a friend asked me how this trip was different from my first two trips with the Park Place teams.  I heard myself say something like what follows and it occurred to me, "Hey!  This is what I need to post as my blog reflection!"  So here goes...

I went to Uganda for the first time in 2008.  I can now look back and say my experiences were primarily physical in nature, with all the senses barraged by new things.  There was so much to take in with my eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin.  To list all of those sensations is content for another post:)

Missions trip #2  in 2010 was more emotional.  I kept asking myself Why?  Why am I here?  How can I help?  Why does such poverty and disease continue?  What is God saying to/ asking of me?

This trip felt more spiritual for me.  Physically, not that I wouldn't have new sensations, I went more familiar with what I might encounter.  Emotionally, I was more at peace with the questions of the two previous trips.  I didn't necessarily have specific answers , but I was more OK with NOT knowing exactly  why I was going or what it all meant.

Prior to this year's journey, our team could be seen wearing t-shirts that read, "Shaped by the Moment" with the shape of Africa in place of the A in "Shaped."  With this frame of mind, I went into this trip looking for God, paying more attention to what He wanted me to see, hear, and do.  At least three experiences spring to mind where I really noticed God at work.

          1)  In the various times we shared a testimony, scripture or Bible study.
          I should not be amazed that God was in these experiences because we and MANY others
          prayed for them.  I just smile at how scriptures rose to the surface that had something
          significant to say in THAT place, in THAT moment.  I know I was touched and I trust that
          those with whom we shared were, also. ( Exodus 4: 10-17, esp. v17  God said to Moses,
          "Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.")

2)  At the dedication of Jja Jja Maria's new home near Entebbe.  We had visited Maria at her former home located in a Kampala low-land.  Whenever there was a heavy rain, Maria's home often flooded, sometimes bringing bugs and snakes, and always damaging her few material possessions.  The day we dedicated her new home, we were preparing to pray and cut the red ribbon when the rain we’d observed building in the clouds began to fall.  We quickly crowded into her new 2 room brick structure with a corrugated tin roof.  It was hard to hear, but we listened intently to the jja jja and members of her family express their joy and gratitude for their new home.  It did not go unnoticed by many of us that perhaps God sent the rain to remind us all of His faithfulness.  “All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided.  Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”  (Lamentations 3:23)

     3)    The noticeable absence of anxiety in my heart and mind.

On the past two trips to Uganda, I struggled to determine what gifts I had to offer this team and the people with whom we would serve.  As I said before, I don’t necessarily have specific answers to the questions that weighed on me in 2008-2010.  What I do know is that God gave me a peace, peace of mind and heart, a lack of anxiety or worry regarding His plan for me in Uganda.  I simply knew I was to go and make myself available to love and be used by God.  “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.  The Lord be with all of you.”  2 Thessalonians 3:16

I will end my reflections by highlighting a couple of themes that surfaced for the 2012 Uganda Missions Team.

HOPE.  Several months prior to leaving, Deb Breeden gave each member a Mudlove bracelet inscribed with the word HOPE.  One reason this word is so special to us is because of the relationships we build with people in TAPP, the Tumaini AIDS Prevention Program.  Tumaini is the Swahili word for hope.  Some may think we go to share hope with these friends living positively with HIV/AIDS.  What we find is that they personify the Hope we all find in Jesus Christ.  May the God of HOPE fill US with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that We may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 15:13)

JESUS MESSIAH.  Our team prepared several songs for the trip, anticipating that we might be asked to share in various settings.  One of the songs, “Jesus Messiah”, seemed to become our Team Song, as we shared it repeatedly.  Several phrases from the song played over and over in my mind as we traveled throughout Uganda:

·         Love so amazing, LOVE SO AMAZING!

·         EMMANUEL (God with us)

·         LORD OF ALL

·         All our HOPE is in YOU; All our HOPE is in YOU;

·         All the GLORY to You, God, The Light of the world

Perhaps you may never travel to Uganda or to anywhere outside of where you live.  It will be my prayer that no matter where any of us may be, we will all know this HOPE that is in JESUS MESSIAH, and that we will be unable to keep it to ourselves!

Sandra Overstreet