#watoto360

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Not the end, but the beginning

Isaiah 55:12 – “For you shall go out in joy and be lead forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

These past few weeks I’ve been feeling so many different overwhelming emotions. There have been tears because I haven’t wanted to go home, but then happiness because I get to see my beautiful family again. I’ve been spending a lot of time reflecting on what exactly it is that I’ve learnt this year & the most significant thing I feel I’ve learnt is the purpose God has for my life. It’s not to make money, it’s not to live a life of routine, it’s not to live averagely, but to live for something greater. It’s to live for him. I am never going to be the same person I was before I came to Africa. Those of you who were close to me back home are probably already noticing the change in me since I’ve been here. I am stronger, I am bolder & for the first time I’m standing firm in what I believe is the foundation of my life, I’m proud to say I’m a Christian & I’m proud to get to live my life for that.

For the first time in my life I’ve found a greater meaning to life, that meaning to live this life BEING the change I believe God wants to see in this World. Whatever small impact I can make in this short life time is enough, as long as I strive to be all that I can be. I remember in my first week here as I was driving to a day of classes for 360, I felt God tell me “Africa is going to become a bigger part of your story”, and right now I’m feeling he’s telling me that this isn’t the end of that ‘bigger’ part of my story. It’s just the start.

I’ve been to teenage pregnancy centers & met a 10 year old mother that was a victim of rape. I’ve walked past street children every single day. I’ve met a young man at the age of 12 that doesn’t want to return home because he knows that will entail being beaten with a hot metal rod. I’ve met abandoned children, I’ve met orphans. I’ve held children that have been born with HIV that may never know what it’s like to live a normal healthy life & kids who may never get the opportunity to go to school. I’ve met 45 year old women who never even reached grade 1, with more than 5 children & no way to support them. Beyond all of this, I’ve also seen people who have lost it all & lived such difficult lives, yet have a greater trust & hope in God than anyone I’ve ever met.  Instead of being pessimistic, they choose to see the best in life. In circumstances where they have every right to ask “Why me?” they choose to grasp every opportunity with two hands & make the most of every little blessing each day has to offer.  

I’m coming home for now & I am so incredibly excited to be seeing my amazing family & friends (and oh boy am I blessed), but Africa has my heart. Africa is my home now. Not my second home, it is my home. I might leave Uganda, but I’ll leave part of my heart here when I leave. I really feel like the best is yet to come but for now I know my time in this particular season of my life is coming to a close, but I thank God for the extra 3 & ½ months in this beautiful nation. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for almost an entire year!

I haven’t been in touch with those in Australia very much these past few months because I’ve been trying to be as invested as I can be with my life here. So for those of you I haven’t been in contact with, these past few months I’ve still been doing work with Watoto. I spent the month of July in Gulu (Northern Uganda) working in the Babies home there, which I absolutely adored. Since the end of July I’ve been living back in Kampala working with Living Hope doing office-type work (bit of a change for me, as I’m a pretty hands on people person), also teaching Literacy to older women that know only basic English twice a week. I’ve also been helping out my good friend Shirley & her husband Pastor Calvin (also coordinators of 360 this year!) with some planning for next year’s intake. I spend my weekends off visiting my African mum, Mama Justine out in Suubi Village, I’ve been serving in Children’s Church at Downtown Watoto Church & I’ve had the awesome opportunity to check out a few NGO’s being ran by other Muzungu’s (white peeps.)  It’s absolutely incredible the work you see people dedicating their lives to here, I’m in awe of what God is calling people to do in this nation & the hope that comes with that for the local people. Lives are being transformed every day because of people standing up & committing to come to Uganda to be a part of God’s bigger picture.

SO you’re probably wondering, what next? In October I’ll go home, I’m very keen to get back into ministry at Sydenham & take back some of the things I’ve learnt from Watoto. I plan to start working again, then next year in February I won’t be going back to studying Social Work, but I’m going to be starting a Double Degree in Ministry & Theology. My connection with Uganda is still to continue, this year & next I plan to do some volunteer work with the Australian country office for Watoto & the details of what that may entail are still yet to fall into place when I’m back in the country. I’m not done with Uganda yet & of course (not that anyone would be surprised), I plan to come back in the not so distant future for a longer period of time, but I know for at least the next year or two I’ll be back in my beloved Melbourne with my family waiting on God’s prompting & clearer vision for why I’ll be coming back, but I already have a few ideas in mind.

If there’s one clear thing I know about my future, it’s that this is just the beginning of my travels & this will most definitely not be my last trip to Uganda. Right now I’m praying for God to open up opportunities for Ministry in areas I’m passionate about, this muzungu has a very big heart for Africa. Already I have some ideas for evangelism & outreach & would love to start something of my own, but we will see what doors open when I come back to Australia. So as cliché as it is, for now this is my “Good-bye for now” to Uganda & possibly a very temporary hello to the land down under!

Please continue to pray for me even in my final few weeks here, pray for God’s peace in me returning home because it isn’t easy leaving behind such amazing relationships, even when you know it is the right timing!

Thank-you for reading my blog, I’ll see you in 3 weeks Australia.

Jasmine

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Why Am I Here?

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” – Psalm 127:1.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours writing a blog that was 1,500 words in length, but when I went to post it the internet was down. Before I went to bed last night I was going to post it again, but for some reason I felt in my heart I needed to wait until today. When I woke up this morning I really felt I needed to write it again, not because there was anything wrong with sharing what I’ve done these past few months, but because I felt I needed to put more of an emphasis on the reason I’m in Uganda – which is God - AND what God is doing in my life.

I know so many people reading this blog aren’t Christian, but HE is the reason why I’m here in Uganda & I can’t ignore the fact HE is the one who has supplied for this entire journey, therefore HE deserves nothing less than for me to share what he’s doing & has done, not what I’m doing. So instead of sharing about what I’ve been doing these past few months, I’ll leave that until a later point & instead I’m going to share my story as to how I came to Uganda:

I’ve always felt called to do something in Missions, even before I was a Christian I felt I wanted to do Humanitarian work overseas, but if I’d ever go forwards into making plans, it never felt like the right time or it wouldn’t work out. Last year around May-June I was really feeling as though I wasn’t content in what I was doing, which really made no sense to me. I’d worked so hard during my final year of school, always studying, to make sure I’d get into the BEST University in my city for Social Work/Psychology, I was going through my first semester but only half invested. I was somehow managing to receive distinctions and high distinctions, but I never did my readings & was nowhere near as passionate about it as the others in the course. So what did I do? I started to pray, I started to ask God why I was feeling so discouraged despite getting into what from an earthly perspective looked like the most amazing opportunity. It was everything I wanted, yet there was something missing.

As I continued to pray over those few weeks, I felt God placing on my heart again doing discipleship overseas as a way of starting this journey to what I feel is my calling. I didn’t want to jump straight into looking for somewhere to go because I was worried it was just a desire on my heart, not God’s. I left it, tried to forget about the idea but one day I came home from a really tough day at University & like many other days, I sat at the bench when my Grandmother got home & just cried. I cried that University was tough, that I just didn’t feel like I was where I needed to be, that I was struggling to feel I belonged in the course & as always, wise nanny offered to pray with me. As she was praying God showed her an image of a map of the world. At this point I hadn’t even mentioned to her what I’d felt God was calling me to do, so again, I cried & for the first time told her what I was feeling.

Long-story short – I spoke it through with some friends involved in Missions and Ministry to get advice on where to go next & they helped my overcome my anxieties about going, one being I had no idea where I would be going & the biggest being that I definitely didn’t have enough money to go anywhere, let alone overseas.

In terms of WHERE I was going to go, I felt if it was really God leading me I wanted to make sure that I went exactly where he was wanted me to go. Even though a good friend advised me to pray for that week that God would reveal where to go, I felt God telling me to be patient & that he’d show me when the time was right. After a month & ½ of waiting & getting anxious that maybe I was wrong, God gave me direction. An advertisement for Watoto 360 came up in my newsfeed on Instagram & straight away I knew it was where I needed to go.

Of course the human side of me had doubts because I wanted to be SURE. That seemed to be a common theme for me all the way up until I came, I wanted more more MORE confirmation that I was making the right decision even though I KNEW that I knew. Leading up to coming, God was faithful. Each & every time money was due, I would have to the dollar every penny I needed or more. Working night shift was so exhausting, I didn’t have much of a life or energy, but even though I was trying hard to trust God, praying for prevalence, I still worked waiting on God for that prevalence. One thing I’ve learnt, is that even though you pray & trust that God will provide, you still have to commit to working towards the goal yourself too.

The first time money was due was September 30. I remember a week before it was due, I was on my knees on my bedroom floor in tears crying to God for prevalence. I was asking him why if he wanted me to go to Uganda he wasn’t providing for me & he said “Trust me.” Of course, being human, I decided to try to take it into my own hands & I asked some family if they would be willing to help me if I needed it that following week. They said yes, but… God is faithful. To the EXACT dollar, I had what I needed to pay the course fees. But I was still worried, what about my car insurance? What about transport money? What about my board (rent) due that week? I hesitated to pay the money the day it was due because I didn’t want to put myself in a compromising position, but I woke up the next morning to again, checking my bank account I found the EXACT dollar I needed to pay for all my needs that week. But again… putting every single penny of my life savings into this trip? Honestly, I was scared. This is money I could put towards my University tuition, or towards a deposit on a house in a few years to come, but again, God said “Jasmine, trust me.” After a day passed & after a lot of inner conflict, I sent the money through. Every single penny in my life savings account, trying with a LOT of hesitation to be obedient to what I felt God was asking me to do.

I still didn’t have money for my flights, I still didn’t have money for my vaccinations, I still didn’t have money to support myself for the 6 months I was going to be in Uganda, but God kept telling me to trust.

I know in Matthew 6, it talks about God being our source & supplier & how we don’t need to worry about our basic needs because God always provides, but when you look at how unrealistic this trip looked financially, it really didn’t make sense. At this point I knew the money I’d sent through wouldn’t be refunded in full if I couldn’t go, so part of me was still anxious about everything. But, God kept telling me to trust him.

When the week came for me to get my vaccinations, I managed to work enough to pay for all of the vaccinations I needed. Then when I went online to check the flight dates, there was 1 seat left on the flight I needed to be on to get here in time to start the program, but I didn’t have the money. That day I prayed about it & my aunt was my answer to prayer without even realizing it. She offered to pay using her card then I pay her back. So I managed to get the only seat left on my flight & had the money to pay her back much quicker than I ever expected.

The week before I came to Uganda, I had just $100 in my bank account. I went to church that Sunday just 2 days before I was due to fly out & was called up the front to be prayed for. I remember standing up the front of church feeling so discouraged & extremely anxious, I was thinking “How can I be standing here when I don’t even have the money to go?” but again, God said “Trust me.”  

Those following few days, the number of people that came up to me & handed me money, or came to my house with envelopes was unbelievable. I added it all up, it was incredible… but still not quite enough for 6 months. Then the day before I flew out, I found in my bank account again to the dollar the EXACT amount of money I’d budgeted for needing in Uganda. I made some calls, tried to find out where it came from… it was my Grandma. She had been saving the money I’d been paying for rent to give back to me. I wasn’t supposed to come home that day, but as soon as I found it was her I came home, walked through the door & with tears just hugged her. I asked her why she waited until last minute & she told me it was because God had told her not to send it through until that date.

The day before I came, God was faithful, but he wanted me to learn to trust him.

Since I’ve been here, there have been times when I’ve followed God’s direction in extending, just to be found in positions where I’ve felt I wouldn’t be able to push through. If anyone knows me well, they know that money is something that stresses me out a lot, I’m an obsessive budgeter & I’m constantly checking my accounts keeping track of where my every single penny goes. Just last week I was in tears because I didn’t trust in God’s prevalence. You’d think after this many examples of his faithfulness; I’d trust things would be okay. Again, God used someone to provide enough money for my food for the next 2 months. I went from not having enough money to even be here for a few weeks, to having enough money to spend 9 months in Uganda. God is good.

Discontentment in where I was in life was for me, God’s way of telling me he had something else he wanted me to do. Coming to Uganda, I’ve realized that living a life for God & not for myself is the ONLY way I’ll ever find meaning in this life, because nothing in this world really makes sense if Jesus isn’t taking the first place in my life. I’m not going to be ashamed of the one thing that saved me, I’m going to live FOR it. I want everything I do & everything that I am, to be for his Kingdoms cause. Matthew 28: 19-20 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” THAT is what I’m going to live for.

This might be my last few months here, but it’s only the beginning of what God is going to do & I’m super excited to see what is next!

“Those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” – Isaiah 49:23

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Last weekend of 360. Leading service Downtown! 😀

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Babies home in Gulu ❤️

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Month 4! (& a half!)

When I thought “My foot slips”, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. – Psalm 94:18-19.

There are days I wonder why God has brought me to Africa. Days where I feel so insignificant, so unworthy, times where I feel that someone else would have been more qualified than me to come do something like this. This last month the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that God doesn’t want someone qualified, he wants someone willing and open-hearted. Someone to say “I will”, not “I can”, because at the end of the day we are all capable. In team devotions two weeks back, one of the ladies spoke about the Vision of Watoto & the one thing that stood out to me most was that no matter how insignificant we think our role in life is, it’s those roles that contribute to the bigger picture and set the path for the bigger result. We don’t have to be the main person who makes everything happen, we just have to have vision, be willing, serve God and those that have been placed in our lives. The first Watoto Child to ever be rescued gave her testimony during this same devotion & she said “I am all that I am because someone bothered to show me the love of Jesus. I am all that I am because someone chose to care.” You don’t have to be a pastor or the leader of your country to make a significant difference in this life, you just have to willing.  

I’m thankful that I haven’t been home sick these past few months. Of course there are things about home that I love & miss but I’m so content in being here right now, I know I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. There are days when I look forwards to going home to be somewhere familiar, around the people I love but then I think about leaving all of this behind & it makes me so sad. I know Uganda will always have a special place in my heart & for sure I will come back. Uganda is like a second home to me now.

In class we’re up to the ‘Self-discovery’ part of the course, which I’m super happy about. I’ve realized both through my social work course & this year doing Watoto 360 that learning more about who you are is so important. Travelling so far away from home to a totally different culture as well forces you to analyze your life & who you are as a person so much more than I ever imagined. I knew I’d learn so much coming here, but I never thought it would be as much as it has been. I’ve learnt so many things about myself that have been really positive but also the parts of my character I need to work on as well. No opportunity to develop in who you are to become a better person is a waste of time.

The week after I last wrote we went away for a camp in Jinja for a bit of a break from class & ministry. It was good to get out of Kampala to see a little more of Uganda, we don’t have much spare time because we go into town 6 days of the week & by the time Monday comes we just want to rest. While we were in Jinja we had the chance to go for a boat ride on the Nile, then the next day we went swimming in the Nile. I had to laugh because we were told there weren’t any crocodiles in that water, just to find out a couple weeks later from another Australian that he’d actually seen crocodiles there & that they are there, just deeper in the water. Can you imagine if I had decided to be a little more adventurous & swim out deeper!! Definitely don’t regret it though. I had so much fun & had a lot of time that week for reading & journaling.

We had a break from ministry & class because of camp and the ‘Heavens Gates & Hell’s Flames’ production. I spent that week serving in the Welfare department for the production, which is where we serve drinks & food for the 400 volunteers & 150 cast members. It was a tiring week, but I really enjoyed it. It went from being something I definitely wasn’t looking forwards to, to one of my highlights in 360. I really learnt that I can give so much more back home, I know when I go home I will try to do more in church & give more time to serving in the community as well.

In terms of ministry we’ve been back into our regular Thursday/Saturday outreaches these past few weeks. 2 weeks ago my team visited the Nauru Remand Home, which is a prison/rehabilitation home for kids around 200 kids between the ages of 8-18 years, it was a really great but different experience for me. Last week I visited the Wamikisa Teenage Pregnancy Center again & as always, my heart was touched by the incredible love & trust these girls have for God despite their extremely difficult circumstances. There was one girl that stood out to me this time, a girl no older than 10-11 years old, for what reasons she was there I don’t know, but I was so inspired that despite what she was facing, she still had a smile on her face. We also visited out Living Hope client’s on Saturday just passed, the same as last time we went shopping for some basic things like rice, oil, flour, sugar, salt, toothpaste etc, then spent a few hours just sharing life with her, seeing how she is & hearing more of her story. By far, the Living Hope ministry is my favorite ministry, I really hope that even after 360 finishes I still get to visit our mum before I fly back to Australia. You think you’re the one going to help or give something when you visit these ministries but in the end you’re the one that walks away blessed. You can learn SO much more about life when you take the time to see what’s going on in someone else’s life & culture.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you who are reading my blogs, sending me messages of encouragement & praying for me. All the little things mean the world to me & I’m so grateful to have such amazing people back home that care so much for me.

Hope you’re all well!

Jasmine.

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Month three!

“Seek first his kingdom, and all these things will be given to you.” Matthew 6:33.

When it comes to writing my blog, I can never quite find the right words to describe this experience God’s got me on. There is so much my heart wants to express, but no words can really piece things together in the way I want them to. There are so many things I want to write about and so many things I don’t because it’s so hard to sum up so many experiences without writing too much, but I’ll do my best and share the rest of my experiences when I come home.

Time is passing by so quickly. If I’ve learnt one significant thing this past month, it’s that I need to make the most of every single moment in life, not just in Africa but at home too. Days, weeks and years pass by so fast and I find myself thinking about the future so much that I forget to live in the moment God has for me now. These past two weeks I’ve really been trying to make the most of every opportunity thrown my way here in Uganda, learning to say yes when being pushed and stretched to try new and challenging things. This week I shared my testimony for the first time since being here and on Thursday I was on a panel at a careers conference talking about University life.

Since I last wrote I’ve been lucky enough to experience a few different ministries. I visited a local medical center called Nauru Teenage Center, which is a center for teens as well as a medical service for the community. We took a tour of the facilities when we first arrived, then I was allocated to the Laboratory department to serve filling out paperwork. While at first filling out paper work didn’t seem all that exciting, I decided to make the most of it and asked questions about exactly what the results were that I was documenting. I’ve always heard about how HIV is a big issue faced here in Africa, but my heart absolutely broke when I realized just how many people, especially young people my own age that not only suffered from HIV, but their HIV had become so bad there wasn’t much that could be done for them medically. It really makes you think about how lucky you are to be healthy and how sometimes we take for granted the small things in life while someone somewhere else is being told that they’re going to lose their life because of HIV or some other medical condition. I’ve learnt to be thankful to God for the little things I DO have, rather than always asking for more because he has already blessed me with so much.

A few weeks ago on a Saturday in small groups we went again to visit our living hope client. The last time we went, my team visited a women that wasn’t our client as our lady wasn’t home, this time we met with the lady we’ll be visiting more regularly throughout the next few months. Living hope clients are women that are a part of a Watoto program that aims to empower women with HIV aids or women considered to be in vulnerable situations to acquire skills in things such as beading and sewing so that they can take them back to their local communities and start their own businesses earning money for themselves and their families. For this ministry our team went into the main part of Kampala (Downtown) to shop for basic needs like soap (for clothes washing), flour, bread, milk, sugar, salt and a few other basic needs so that we could take it along to give to our client. The one thing I love about the living hope ministry we have, is that we get out into these ladies homes in the slums and we learn more about their lives on a personal level and do life alongside them. Even if we feel as though we aren’t doing much, you realize that even something as simple as making time to travel to where they stay, chat with them and encourage them by reading some scripture can have such a huge impact on their lives.

Saturday the 19th 360 travelled to a secondary school where we spent the day with around 50 students. We ran a bit of a service for them, sang some songs & one of my friends preached on the topic of ‘Setting an example’, which was pretty cool. Then we played sport against them, I played netball and 360 lost by a lot which was quite entertaining.

From the 15th to the 18th of March we took a break from Ministry & our usual classes to do a short course called ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’. We spent 3 full days in class learning ways to make changes in our lives so that we can make the most of our opportunities & time. The main things that stood out for me were the habits of ‘Putting first things first’ & ‘think with an end in mind’, because I feel as though when I’m in Australia I’m always SO buzy & have the tendency to not consider my priorities & waste so much time on unimportant things that I forget to focus on the things I consider most important, like God, family & my life goals.

Last week on Thursday we had another ministry day, my group alongside another cell group were allocated the Wamikisa Teen Pregnancy centre. Wamikisa is an organization that looks after mothers & soon-to-be mothers between the ages of 10-18 & most of these women have become mothers as a result of rape and/or incest. My role for this outreach was to preach, which is something I have NEVER done but I jumped at the opportunity to push & stretch myself. The topic that was recommended for us was ‘Purpose & Hope’ which is one of my favorite themes to study in the Bible, so I enjoyed preparing for that! So far this and the Living Hope ministry would have to be my two favorites.

This blog has been quite long, but there has been so much happening this month it’s hard to keep it short. Coming to Africa I knew that I would learn a lot & that I’d be stretched in so many ways, but God has really been working in my life so much more than I ever imagined. While I’ve been learning a lot through class & through ministry, so much personal change & development has been happening as well, in areas I never thought I’d be changed in. I’ve always had a passion for people, but my love for people has grown so much more than I ever thought possible & I really can’t wait to see where that’s going to lead me in the future.

A bit of an update! I was supposed to be flying back to Australia at the beginning of July, but a few weeks ago I rescheduled my flights & I will be leaving Uganda on the 4th of August, arriving in Melbourne in the evening of August 6. I’m going to be moving to Gulu (rural Uganda) to work in the Watoto Village there in the Baby section of the orphanage & spend some time getting to know my sponsor child Ivan better, which I’m SUPER excited for.

This coming week we’re going away for the weekend to Jinja for a break with the whole 360 team, then the following weeks are going to be crazy buzy, as Watoto have a big event running called ‘Heavens Gates & Hells Flames’ running over a week with 28 shows that we’ll be serving for. Prayers for energy during that time will be VERY much appreciated & prayers for the health of the whole of 360 are needed too, as lots of people aren’t well at the moment.

Hope all is well for all of you back home, I’m so thankful for the amount of support from all of you!

Take care.

<3 Jasmine!

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At Wamikisa last week with Bosco :) 

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Saturday we had an Easter lunch with Pastor Calvin & Shirley (: