Early Summer Fun!

Wow! Time flies! Especially when you are having fun. : ) So I have been soo busy lately that I haven't written in a post - for about a week.

Here's what I have been busy with...

 Welcoming Leah home! (On Tuesday, June 14)

Visiting with family from southern California.

Spending time with friends

Celebrating Father's Day

 At church...

And with a trip to the coast...

"Super Dad"

My beautiful sister!

Waves crashing, pounding...what an incredible sight! A great reminder of God's awesome power!

I love the rugged beauty of the Oregon coast!

Tillamook Head Lighthouse

"Leah was here!"

 Daddy and Mommy

And finally, I am doing "Missionary Moments" at WCC's VBS this week...and having a lot of fun!

The music team at VBS.

Hope all of you are enjoying your summer thus far!

Voices from the Past

I stumbled on a neat page yesterday and found a treasure-load of missions quotes. I love quotes and love missions, too, so I thought I would share some of these with you. Hopefully you will be both inspired and challenged.

"God had an only son and he was a missionary. A poor, poor example of him I am. But in this work I now live.  And in this work, I wish to die." ~ David Livingstone, 1813-1873, missionary to Africa

"Remember, when you see a missionary coming home broken in body and weary in soul, it isn't the privations or dangers or things he's done that leave a deep hurt; it's the things he couldn't do that break his heart." ~ Anonymous Missionary

"I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which he made who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us." ~ David Livingstone, 1813-1873, missionary to Africa

"If we are going to wait until every possible hindrance has been removed before we do a work for the Lord, we will never attempt to do anything." ~ T.J. Bach, 1881-1963, Missionary to Venezuela

"It is remarkable that God began this work among the Indians at a time when I had the least hope, and to my apprehension the least rational prospect of success." ~ David Brainerd, 1718-1747, Missionary to North American Indians

"The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue.  It never needs a furlough and is never considered a foreigner." ~ William Cameron Townsend, 1896-1982, Missionary to Peru and Mexico and Founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators

"We are a bunch of nobodies trying to exalt Somebody." ~ Jim Elliot, 1927-1956, missionary martyr in Ecuador

"There are grave difficulties on every hand, and more are looming ahead - Therefore, we must go forward." ~ William Carey, 1761-1834, Missionary to India

  

"Every step in the progress of missions is directly traceable to prayer." ~ A.T. Pierson

"The harvest here is indeed great, and the laborers are few and imperfectly fitted, without much grace, for such a work.  And yet grace can make a few feeble instruments the means of accomplishing great things - things greater even than we can conceive." ~ Hudson Taylor, 1832-1905, Missionary to China

"We visited sixty-six islands and landed eighty-one times, wading, swimming (to shore).  Most of the people were friendly and delightful; only two arrows shot at us, and only one went near -- So much for savages!" ~ John Coleridge Patteson, 1827-1871, Melanesia

"One can't save and then pitchfork souls into heaven...Souls are more or less securely fastened to bodies... And as you can't get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together." ~ Amy Carmichael, 1867-1951, India 

"If you are ever inclined to pray for a missionary, do it at once, where ever you are.  Perhaps he may be in great peril at that moment." ~ Amy Carmichael, 1867-1951, India

"Unless there is the element of extreme risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith." ~ Hudson Taylor, 1832-1905, Missionary to China

Source: http://www.toeverytribe.org/missionquotes

"Through Christ...

"....strengthening us we can do all things, not otherwise; therefore He must have the glory of all we do, with our humble thanks for enabling us to do it, and for accepting the work of His hands in us." - Matthew Henry

Ponder this one for a bit.

A Videos Page

Hi All!

I have taken a lot of videos during my time in Uganda and I wanted a place for them on the blog, so I just created a "Videos" page. Many of them were "filmed" on Lingira Island in southern Uganda, where I am serving as a missionary.

Click the "Videos" tab above, grab some popcorn (just kidding!), enjoy and stay tuned for more! :)

Choices

Choices. We make them daily and daily they make us.

Lately I have been thinking about choices in light of seeing and catching up with people since being back home. The changes in their lives seem more evident to me - someone who has not seen them for a year and a half.

I rejoice over the "kids" who are graduating and entering college or the next "life" chapter God has opened up for them. It is amazing to see young people discovering and flourishing in their gifts and talents. I delight in the growth of friend's children and the little ones they have welcomed into their world while I was across the globe.

Some people and their professions or activities really haven't changed so much in these past months. But, perhaps they have grown, matured or expanded their vision in some way.

The evidence of some choices is difficult to discern. But over time choices and habits - good and bad - even if apparently small - can and usually do catch up to you.

I grieve over some dear to my heart who have chosen a path - away from God, away from family, and away from an amazing future in the center of God's will. Seeing how far they have continued down this proverbial "wide way" is very saddening.

I am proud of those who in their younger years chose such a "destructive" path, but now are doing their best to "make things right" and regain the life and relationships they lost. I have a cousin who is doing this and I am so proud of her.

For each of these groups of people, and those I haven't mentioned, their lives are and have been shaped by their choices. Some decisions were well thought out and some were rash and almost instaneous, but resulted in life-long consequences. Some have only earthly results, and others have both earthly and eternal repercussions.

I have and do regret the choices I made not to make certain choices, if that makes any sense. And, I am sorrowful over choices made that I would erase in an instant if possible.

During one of our weekly girls' Bible studies on the island, one girl asked me if God knew Adam and Eve would make the choice that they did in the garden why He didn't forewarn them. I am sure that is a question that has been asked everywhere from children's Sunday School classes to university campuses. I attempted to answer Agnes and explain the idea of a free will. After my feeble attempt, I concluded by telling her she could ask God when she got to heaven. : )

God did give us a free will. And I believe it was so that we would choose to love and serve Him, and not be robots that do what they are told because they don't have a choice.

Our days and our lives are filled with choices. And our choices most often determine the next step and our future - earthly and eternal. Our choices affect those around us and those who will come after us.

We do not have to be the product of our circumstances, environment, past, or relationships. God has given us free will and choice for a reason.

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?' No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." - Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (NIV)

Each day we are given a choice - to choose life or death, blessings or curses. We can choose to draw closer to God or walk away from Him. We have the option to recognize Him as "our life" as verse 20 says.

You may have already firmly set your feet on a path of life and blessings by determining to love and please God as He commanded in the above verses. But there are very likely people around you - older, younger or peers - who are struggling with such choices. Some may not realize they even have an option to choose life. Or perhaps do not really understand where their daily and life choices will eventually take them.

Will you choose today to not only pursue life yourself, but help others find that path as well?

A Button!

Wow! I just added my first-ever button to my blog (see right). It only took several hours of searching Blogger and other sites to figure out how to do it, but I learned some things along the way. : )

So, to help promote The Suubi Project, would you consider adding the button to your blog? All you have to do is click "Grab this Button," which means you don't even have to copy and paste a URL. Unfortunately, this only seems to work if you have a Blogger blog. For any of the rest of you, well, you're kinda on your own.  But, if you can figure out a way to do it, please share with me.

Don't forget to add the button! Thank you! : )

Uganda Prezi

As I have made various presentations on the ministry in Uganda in the past few weeks, I have been using a combination of photos and videos and Prezis. I love Prezis! They are like PowerPoint, but much easier to put together and I think they are more interesting, too.

Here is a Prezi I created about Uganda that has been modified several times. If you are interested in creating your own Prezi (up to 100MB for free), then go to www.prezi.com.

Uganda & Helping the Poor on Prezi

P.S. Advance the presentation by clicking the arrow below the screen or by using your right arrow key.