Future Plans

It’s another bright and sunshiney day here in Nairobi. It’s getting hotter by the day it seems, but that’s what always happens in January.

This week our team has been going through a series of meetings to prepare for the year. We have a lot to plan on and figure out. We are going to soon have 6 MSTs for a couple month span of time. That is a huge number, larger than we have ever had in the past. In addition, we are trying to set the foundation for our child sponsorship program so that it can launch within the next few months. We were also given a donation by a previous MST to build more classrooms at the primary school in Kibera we work with, paving the way to begin planning for our first building project. We are trying to revamp and reorganize our English lessons with the juvenile boys so that our time with them is more effective than is has ever been before. We are still searching for a house and still have a lot of administrative issues to reorganize. Then during March, Athena, Emma and I hope to join Rocky Peak’s mission team to Ethiopia.

On top of all this, I am starting to give more and more leadership and decision making over to our Kenyan staff. It is time for them to take ownership of this ministry. By September, they will have to fully be in charge of the ministry because by September, I need to leave Kenya. I never like the idea of leaving places. I always fight it at first and eventually have to accept it. This time especially. I will be leaving a large part of my heart behind me. But sometimes endings are necessary before you can have new beginnings.

Ivan and I have been starting the US visa process and developing plans for our wedding and future life together. There is a lot to think about and prepare for. Our first big event is May 28th in Kampala where we will be having our big engagement party (traditionally called the ‘introduction ceremony’). This is the big event before the actual wedding where both families are supposed to meet for the first time, the man gives the dowry, and before the whole congregation, the couple are blessed by the family and given permission to wed. After that ceremony, we aren’t married yet, just given permission to marry.
We are going to edit and alter ours a little (since I’m American and we do things a little different) but we are still excited to have our friends and family on this side of the world give our marriage their blessing (not to mention have an awesome dance party!) If any of you would like to come to Uganda in May and attend, you are most welcome!

After the introduction ceremony, I will be back to Kenya for my last marathon of EAC Kenya work. The summers are our busiest times and very important for training our team here to handle things on their own in future. Ivan, too, will be busy as he tries to finish up his final project to complete his BA in Social Work and Administration. The beginning of September, we hope to come to the US and prepare for a wedding in Los Angeles within a month or two after. We are looking forward to spending time with family and friends in the US very much.

After our wedding, we will have to spend a long time, up to 3 years, in the US sorting out the long, complex US visa process. Both of our hearts and callings lie in Africa. Ivan knows that his passion and calling is to continue in ministry in Uganda and so back to Uganda, we will both go. However, we also want to finish up all the US government red tape so that we have no issues in future. We are going to use those transition years to work and save money so we can be more established when we return to Uganda later. In addition, I am looking into pursuing my master’s in anthropology so I can possibly find jobs teaching anthropology at universities in Uganda. I genuinely loved the teaching I was able to do at the Bible institute and hope that more opportunities of such work will open up in future. We will see where else God leads us.

Now, as I have been discussing these plans with people, the most commonly asked questions I receive are:

-who will take your place as the leader of EAC Kenya?
-where will you live when you come back to the states?
-where will you work and how will you support yourselves?
-is it a for sure thing that Ivan will be able to get his visa?

To all these questions, I have to give the same answer: I don’t know. I don’t know, but God feeds the sparrows and knows the number of hairs on my head…He knows the answer to these questions too and I just have to trust Him. I wish I knew all the answers right now, but I don’t and I won’t for awhile. But I remember when I was preparing to coming to Africa in the summer of 2008, I had no idea what I would be doing, what organization I would be working with, or how I would be able to support myself. The answer was the same…God had a plan that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. He still does and I have to trust Him (which is what I can say after many tears and sleepless nights and times of crying out in prayer). Trust is a journey and not an easy one at that and it’s one that God has especially been working on me lately. I am not good at peacefully and trustingly having my plans changed. I freak out first and really complain and make a lot of noise. Eventually God reminds me who is God and who my life belongs to…and my life is not my own. I was bought at a price and I now belong to the One who gave it all for me. That is what I have to constantly remind myself.

I am excited for this year and excited to see how God continues to grow and develop EAC Kenya. This is His ministry, not mine and He is the one to sustain it and grow it, not me. In so many areas of my life, God has been working on me to surrender and that is a tough process, but so necessary. His plans are bigger than mine and so I have to keep relying on Him and not myself.

So, dear friends, now you know the plans and goals that I have for the year 2011. I beg you to continue to keep EAC Kenya, EAC Uganda, our teams, our kids, and all of us in your prayers. Please pray for God to train my team to be able to manage on their own and that He would raise up a leader to take over in my place. Pray for a strong foundation to be established in this ministry. Pray for us to find a house, office, and develop the sponsorship program. Pray for Ivan’s visa process and our wedding plans. Pray for God to guide us and provide places for us to live and work in the US when we come and that these upcoming years would be great preparation for our future life in ministry together.

Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers for us. I have been so blessed to be a part of what I have been a part of this past year and it has only been made possible because of all of you. May God bless you a thousand times over for the many ways you have blessed me!