Ramblings of a Ragamuffin

I got a package from my parents that included Velveeta, Queso dip, and even Kraft single slice cheese! We don't have good cheese here, so you can assume my high levels of excitement. If ever you want to shower love on me for no reason, I'd prefer it to be in cheese. :)

Betu loves flowers too!

We've “shifted” – the Ugandan term for moving – to our new place and have settled in quite comfortably. If you know me at all, you could probably recall how much I hate change. I was talking with Sarah on the day I moved and started tearing up, and she thought I was crazy that I didn't cry when I moved to AFRICA but I will cry when I move two streets down. I know, I am ridiculous. But God is good, the house is amazing (I have bay windows and a balcony over the lake...yeah...) and the couple that own the house – Peter and Val from Australia – are just great! I truly hate change, but God is still faithful. He even gave me a rainbow this week as a reminder. Our God is good!

Meet baby Kate! Born November 2nd

My friend Sarah just gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Saturday night – Courtney's birthday! She was named after me; what an honor. I truly love the Karamajong women. And I love having three small babes in Masese now to visit and hold and love all day. I love that even though Masese is known amongst my friends there as "a place of problems", God is working. People are starving, sick, hurting, dying every day there, but God knows. And He's not silent or choosing to ignore the problems of His people. I told Sarah last week that I felt like I needed to be superwoman to go to Masese, and she smiled and said, "No Kate, God already saved them. Just tell them about Him." I don't need to save the world, God already did.

That's right. I did that. 

My friend Maureen from Masese loves to look at the picture that I have of me and my grandma on my phone. She said, "I like to see your jaja (grandma)", so I told her that I hope she gets to meet her someday. Her answer was, "Ah no. I'm not like you. I don't know I'm going to heaven. I know I'm a sinner." Please pray that she would find the assurance of salvation and faith in Him, and rest and joy in Christ. Pray that she would know that she has a Savior. Pray that God gives me His words for her. Maureen is one of my closest friends in Masese. 

I wake up at 5:30 every morning with the sunrise streaming in through my windows. Brilliant pinks and golds shimmer across the water and wake me with such gentleness that far surpasses that of an alarm clock. It's completely worth it to wake at such an hour to see His beauty displayed over the shining water. 

I love prayer. I know this may sound strange, but in the quietness that this month has already provided, I've come to appreciate intercessory prayer more than ever. Mom, dad, Grandma Buschette, Grandpa Swartz, Jason and Esther, NoahGraceJamesMilo, Kari and Nick, Krista and Zach, Erik, Pastor Franz, Pastor Steve, Courtney, Lydia, Zach, Angie, Austin, Logan, Kyle, Steph, Jo, Bekah...only to name a few! I find it such an honor that even me, in Africa, can lift up my friends and family so many thousands of miles away to the Lord of Heaven and Earth. Wow. Please know that I have not forgotten America or my loved ones there.

My friends think it's funny that I like chicks

I love that while I'm such a failure and often would prefer just to sip tea and read a book instead of getting dirt on my feet and struggling through the language barrier, God still chooses to love me. I love that I don't have to muster up enough love for these people, but can run to my Jesus to be filled and allow Him to pour out over me into the lives of my friends here. I love that while I was still sinning, Christ died for me. I love that I have assurance of salvation and hope and love and joy. I love that I'm still learning what it means to be a disciple myself. I love that God's not done with me. 

Alice, a sweet woman in Masese