Hello everyone!
I'll give you a little outline of the past week
*Sunday evening CityLife Church commissioned me. My family and several close friends were able to come and support me that Sunday. I was so thankful the church was able to rally around me in prayer and send me off. That evening I said my last goodbyes to friends and some of my family. I was sad, but excited for what was to come.
*Early Monday morning my parents took me to the airport where I then headed out to NY where AIM headquarters is located. My flight went smoothly and all my luggage arrived. Myself and 7 other short termers had orientation together. We had seminars on the Biblical basis of missions, culture, travel, finances, and spiritual warfare. It was very brief, but content filled.
*Wednesday afternoon all 8 of us headed to the airport to begin our journey to Africa. We all flew together for the first leg to London. Seven of us had a 12 hour layover so we were able to leave the airport and do some sight seeing. That evening we headed back to the airport and 4 or the short termers headed to Namibia and three of us headed to Uganda. Thankfully I was able to sleep a couple hours on the flight to Entebbe, Uganda as I didn't have any sleep the night before. My teammate Sarah, another short termer Heather, and I all arrived Friday morning along with our luggage. We were picked up at the airport and brought to the guest house in Kampala called Matoke Inn. We had a small bit of orientation, but not much as we were all quite jet lagged (I am 8 hours ahead of central time) and exhausted from our over night flights.
*Saturday we celebrated the national day of prayer with other missionaries in the area by gathering all day and lifting up praises and prayer requests of people serving in all different places in the world.
*I will head out of Kampala Tuesday and make the trek to Good Shepherd's Fold orphanage. I'm very eager to see what my days will look like there. I'll keep you posted once I find out!
Thank you all for praying for safe travels and hard goodbyes to go well. God has been good and showed Sarah and I much grace with how smoothly things have gone thus far.
*An ongoing prayer request will be safety traveling around the city. If I die in Africa, it would probably be from a car accident. The driving here gets pretty crazy.
*Please pray that I would adapt quickly to the culture here (food, concept of time, language, social norms). Most of the people speak English, but speak Luganda to each other. I'd like to pick up some of that up.
*Pray that God would give me wisdom beyond my experience. Pray that I learn quickly and care for the children and GSF safely. Pray that God would give me wisdom as to how to meet the kids spiritual and emotional needs. I will have more specifics on that once I meet the kids.
I've only been here 2 days, but I love it thus far. The people are very friendly and the country is beautiful. The poverty and way of living is quite eye opening though. I'm very eager to begin working with and along side the people and build relationships with them.
I plan on updating my blog weekly just for your information.
meredith
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
My new address
Some of you were asking what my address will be in Uganda. Here it is!
Meredith Lee
Good Shepherd's Fold
P. O. Box 1281
Jinja, Uganda
One of the staff at GSF said this about sending packages:
*Padded envelopes are delivered much faster then boxes and typically get through customs faster
*Padded envelopes take 2-4 weeks to arrive, boxes take 3-8 weeks
*Around Christmas time, all packages are delayed. Typically, if it is not sent by the end of October, the package will not be received by Christmas.
Meredith Lee
Good Shepherd's Fold
P. O. Box 1281
Jinja, Uganda
One of the staff at GSF said this about sending packages:
*Padded envelopes are delivered much faster then boxes and typically get through customs faster
*Padded envelopes take 2-4 weeks to arrive, boxes take 3-8 weeks
*Around Christmas time, all packages are delayed. Typically, if it is not sent by the end of October, the package will not be received by Christmas.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Today, I become a blogger
Hello everyone! It's due time that I start writing in my blog seeing that I leave in six days!
Here are some of the things I've been up to recently.
*Speaking at churches. I had the privilege to speak at Autumn Ridge Church (where I attended youth group in high school), Trinity Presbyterian Church (where I grew up going to church) and CityLife Church (where I attend church in the twin cities). It has been such a blessing sharing my story with so many people. I was so encouraged by the number of people that came up to me after the services telling me they'd be praying for me.
* Support raising. God has continued to show his faithfulness to me through working in the hearts of many people. By his grace and the generosity of friends, family, and even strangers, I have reached my financial goal and am 100% supportered! Thank you to everyone who prayed that God would provide and thank you to those who gave so sacrificially.
* Reading. I was encouraged to get the book Where There Is No Doctor. It's a very helpful reference book that talks about rural village health care. I have been flipping through it and becoming familiar with things I may encounter in rural Uganda.
*Packing. I typically find packing very easy as I throw things in my room into a duffel bag and call it good. Looking at my sports bag, it was pretty obvious it would not make the cut for this trip, nor would my summer above the knee skirts as they are considered immodest. So, packing for 9 months to a place I've never been has been more of a challenage than packing for a trip up north. All in all, I've found all the things I need and am for the most part done. I have also been packing medical supplies I received from the Mayo Clinic warehouse as well as from my doctor friend Kate. I was able to buy over the counter medications the orphanage said they needed such as hemorrhoid ointment and stool softeners (what I have to look forward to:) ) with cash several people had given me.
*Getting technologized. Yes, I now have itunes and skype on my computer. My computer is pretty slow in the U.S. so I'm hoping these things work while I'm in Uganda. Regardless, I'm now welcomed into the 21st century.
*Seeing people and saying goodbyes. I've already said goodbye to Rochester people and now the process begins with twin cities people. It's hard to think about not seeing friends and family for 9 months, but then I remind myself of where I'm going, who I'll be serving, and why I'm going. I'm so excited to meet the kids at GSF and love on them. I'm excited to be there nurse, friend, and Sunday school teacher. I'm excited to meet my teammate Sarah and then other staff at GSF and serve alongside them. This keeps me positive and upbeat in a time where many tears are shed.
So, that's about where I am now. Friday, my housemates are throwing a going away party for me, Sunday I commission from CityLife Church at 4:00pm , and Monday I leave for New York for orientation and from there take off the 20th to Uganda. Time keeps flying and before I know it, I will be too :).
Prayer requests:
*That some difficult goodbyes will go smoothly
*That I would rely on God's truths when I am fearful about this next step
*Safety in traveling
I am so thankful to know I'm not going alone and I have a strong support group who will be praying for me. You all are great!
With love,
meredith
Here are some of the things I've been up to recently.
*Speaking at churches. I had the privilege to speak at Autumn Ridge Church (where I attended youth group in high school), Trinity Presbyterian Church (where I grew up going to church) and CityLife Church (where I attend church in the twin cities). It has been such a blessing sharing my story with so many people. I was so encouraged by the number of people that came up to me after the services telling me they'd be praying for me.
* Support raising. God has continued to show his faithfulness to me through working in the hearts of many people. By his grace and the generosity of friends, family, and even strangers, I have reached my financial goal and am 100% supportered! Thank you to everyone who prayed that God would provide and thank you to those who gave so sacrificially.
* Reading. I was encouraged to get the book Where There Is No Doctor. It's a very helpful reference book that talks about rural village health care. I have been flipping through it and becoming familiar with things I may encounter in rural Uganda.
*Packing. I typically find packing very easy as I throw things in my room into a duffel bag and call it good. Looking at my sports bag, it was pretty obvious it would not make the cut for this trip, nor would my summer above the knee skirts as they are considered immodest. So, packing for 9 months to a place I've never been has been more of a challenage than packing for a trip up north. All in all, I've found all the things I need and am for the most part done. I have also been packing medical supplies I received from the Mayo Clinic warehouse as well as from my doctor friend Kate. I was able to buy over the counter medications the orphanage said they needed such as hemorrhoid ointment and stool softeners (what I have to look forward to:) ) with cash several people had given me.
*Getting technologized. Yes, I now have itunes and skype on my computer. My computer is pretty slow in the U.S. so I'm hoping these things work while I'm in Uganda. Regardless, I'm now welcomed into the 21st century.
*Seeing people and saying goodbyes. I've already said goodbye to Rochester people and now the process begins with twin cities people. It's hard to think about not seeing friends and family for 9 months, but then I remind myself of where I'm going, who I'll be serving, and why I'm going. I'm so excited to meet the kids at GSF and love on them. I'm excited to be there nurse, friend, and Sunday school teacher. I'm excited to meet my teammate Sarah and then other staff at GSF and serve alongside them. This keeps me positive and upbeat in a time where many tears are shed.
So, that's about where I am now. Friday, my housemates are throwing a going away party for me, Sunday I commission from CityLife Church at 4:00pm , and Monday I leave for New York for orientation and from there take off the 20th to Uganda. Time keeps flying and before I know it, I will be too :).
Prayer requests:
*That some difficult goodbyes will go smoothly
*That I would rely on God's truths when I am fearful about this next step
*Safety in traveling
I am so thankful to know I'm not going alone and I have a strong support group who will be praying for me. You all are great!
With love,
meredith
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