Update- Finally!

Hello Everyone!
Forgive me for not writing you an update earlier I have thought about you all often and am hoping you are following my blog to be a bit more updated! New Year’s was the last you heard from me so I’ll try to fill you in up until now.
January we had said good bye to our dear friend Rhonwen, from Australia, she was here for 5 weeks and they flew by! We then painted the baby room mural! It looks so great now! Adding African animals, lion, elephant, monkey, and giraffe, with grass and tress adds a lot to the baby room! It sure feels more like a kids room now! It took us about 1.5 weeks to get it done because we painted each day early until mid day so that the paint would dry hopefully by the time the little ones went to bed.

February was here and gone with a trip to Kampala to fetch our passports so we could go to Kenya in March! We had a good trip to Kampala then and it was much needed for me. I feel like so far each of us has had some type of breakdown at about the half way mark. Mine was a bit before but there was a day I was eating breakfast and just done with being in Uganda. I can’t really explain it but it was about a week of just wanting to know what was next and that I wanted to start that now. I am so blessed by Sarah and Holly, my team, to help me get through these moments. I really do love my time here and I am learning so much but it is not easy.

In March we made the trip to Kenya! It was a first for all 3 of us. We headed to Kajabe, Kenya where the AIM boarding school is located. We were able to stay there with Lauri, the kindergarten teacher, for about 5 days. After a 7 hour taxi ride we finally arrived in Kajabe and it was beautiful, I called it “A little drop of Heaven”. The school is located in the Riff Valley which is a proper valley. The campus is so lovely and well maintained and from their soccer field you can see out into the valley. Amazing views!
We had a great time relaxing, which was much needed, meeting the staff and some students. I met with the counselors on campus to get a feel for the issues they face on the campus and hear more of the perspective of what life is like for students there. We were treated like royalty at Lauri’s with amazing meals and great fellowship, she was such a blessing to us! It was a great experience to see more of AIM than just our work in Tororo. It is also really good to see that side of being a missionary and how families sacrifice while doing missions to send their children to school. It has a wonderful family feel and everyone is a big family.

Now April, I just said good bye to my parents, again. I was so blessed to have them here for 10 days! They were able to be at Smile for a couple days playing with the kids and seeing our ministry there. We then spent a few days doing some traveling including going to the Source of the Nile River and Safari! I have been blessed abundantly in this journey being able to travel and see things I never thought I would!  Having my parents here was so amazing. I don’t know what it will be like to come home again but I know the transition will be difficult, to say the least, and I am so glad they were able to come and see all of this to help me adjust and understand where I am coming from.

In this second half of my journey to Africa God has continually been teaching me and revealing to me my next steps after Smile Africa in Uganda. One of the main things I have been learning about is prayer. How powerful it is, how important it is and how God uses it. He has been challenging me to pray for an hour a day. So I am trying to conquer that challenge so it becomes a normal thing, not easy. He has shown me how to rest, how to be dependent on Him, in EVERYTHING, how to wait patiently for His timing, and how to be content and see good in what I don’t want or like. These are just a few of the things I have been learning or wrestling with.

Exciting News! God opened the doors so I will be starting Graduate School at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO this fall in the Counseling and Career Development program. It is really funny how God has connected this. Here’s the story:
During my last semester in 2009 I traveled to Fort Collins, CO with a few friends one of whom I was going to move there with in the summer. We went out there specifically to look at apartments, which we found one, I got to visit my cousin and his lovely family.
As I finished out my semester, my friend got a job offer she couldn’t pass up and then met her, now husband. So my plans fell through and at the time I wasn’t comfortable moving by myself. Over the next two years I worked as a Life Skills Assistant, led a youth group, taught voice lessons, then took an unpaid internship as I moved to Minneapolis, MN and started working at TreeHouse which is where I realized the need for school counselors and that that was what I wanted to do. After the job falling through and it being too late to apply for school God led me to Africa and I tried to be wise by applying for school before I left. In all of this I have realized that without all these experiences I wouldn’t be going to school this fall and wouldn’t have experienced so many other things, despite it being really hard and not what I (thought I) wanted.
So the phrase “In God’s Timing”, fits quite well here....I wanted to go to CO then and it was 3 years later that God is now opening that door. It is hard to wait but so good in the end because His plan is always better.

As I now only have 7 weeks left at Smile, the countdown has begun. We have almost every Sunday planned to be visiting someone’s church or be with someone for lunch. Lunch is a whole afternoon event! We are trying to finish up our projects such as painting in the older kids’ rooms, and completing the organization of the sponsorship program. Since I have 6 months under my belt does not mean it gets much easier. I have good days and bad days and I am thankful for comfort God brings me, your support, and my team here. Although, it is hard to fathom saying an “official” good bye to the kids, staff, and friends we have made here. People keep telling me “don’t forget us”, and it is hard to describe to them how I can NEVER forget my experience and time in Uganda.

Thank you all for your continued support, letters, packages, and prayers! This would not be possible to accomplish with out all of this support. I am so glad you are taking this journey with me, thanks for being such a blessing to me!

If you have any questions or comments send them to me!

leahrkent@gmail.com

From the cell..

Pastor Amos in the middle with the men.

Us with the male prisoners.

Prisoners room, there were currently 30 but this room holds 72!

    Pastor Amos has been such a joy to work with! He is always happy and Loving the ministry he is apart of. We have gone to several prisons around Tororo with him and this time we drove about an hour to a mens prison in the next district over. This is the only one they let people take photos at, and I am pretty sure its because Pastor Amos has built such a good relationship with them.

Prison here is much different. Granted I’ve never visited any jail in America but I have heard, so correct me if I’m wrong, that people who are in prison are allowed to use the library that is available, watch tv, exercise, and I really don’t know what else. But at this prison and all of the ones we have visited the prisoners are given nothing but a bamboo or grass woven mat, 2 blankets, mosquito net, uniform, and some are given a Bible if a visitor brings them. When we have gone we have brought gifts for the prisoners such as tooth brush and tooth paste, feminine products, and soap. They aren’t given these things because the prison doesn’t have money for it and the prisoners obviously don’t either.

I know that many of these people in prison in the area are innocent and it is amazing to see the hope in their eyes, peace in their hearts, and no bitterness for the act they have been accused of. Wow, that would be so difficult. I know we go there to sing and worship with them and minister to them with a word from the Bible we feel God is calling us to share about but most of the time I am being taught to or ministered to through them. I am humbled each time we visit.

Dennis, Mbale, lunch

Erin, Holly, Sarah, and I

Sarah, Denis, Holly, and I

Holly FINALLY bought a map!

Thanks for the fun Mbale!

Sarah with Ella and Chloe and their lovely ribbons!

Because I am SO BEHIND on my blogs and keeping you all updated on the events that are going on here and  how things are I am having to combine them into many small blogs! Sorry, and thank you for continuing to follow what is happening on this side of the world, in this very small town!

Starting from the TOP! 2nd time I am SO thankful we have a house! When we were in Kampala in February we went to church at Watoto and I had met Erin after the service very briefly. She is from Colorado and was in Uganda for 3 months serving at a children's home in Jinja from January to March! We chatted about why each of us was in Africa and how it was going. I invited her out to Tororo if she ever wanted to see another ministry and area of Uganda. She took me up on the offer and came on over for a few days! We had a great time getting to know her and having her with us at Smile! The kids especially loved seeing someone new!

Being here in Africa has definitely expanded my network, to say the least! I love how God works in connecting us together! I love hearing everyone's story of who they are, what they are doing, etc. it is so fun to share! So far I've met people from the UK, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, South Africa, and more! I am definitely constantly learning more and more about the rest of the world!

Next Photo! Our good friend Denis has been such a blessing here in Tororo! He helps us with a lot of questions we have about where to get things in town and about cultural differences as well. He has worked with people from the Western world quite a bit so he understands us a bit. We had him over for breakfast one morning because he has again headed to Ethiopia! He is reaching out to people there and spreading the Gospel there, pray for him in this journey!

Next photo! Holly has been so amazing in helping our little Sam from Smile get an x-ray! It is quite the process! First she took him to a hospital in town, they didn't have the equipment or the radiology department wasn't open that day. So the following day she had to go to Mbale with Sam, Nurse Grace and Albert with the Smile van. It's about an 1.5 hour drive, on one of the worst roads in probably the whole world! haha....its extremely bumpy! My parents can even attest to it now! Anyways they couldn't receive the x-ray that day so she had to go back again the next day. I offered to ride with this time because I hadn't been to Mbale yet and have heard so much about it, actually I've heard mostly how bad the road is! haha. But we headed in a taxi for the day, got the x-ray in about an hours time, which was WAY less than I was expecting to wait! We had lunch in town and did some shopping for the necessities. Which ended up to be movies, and Coke light (Africa's equivalent to Diet Coke, very hard to find), so we count that day as a success! While we were waiting in the taxi to head home, and by waiting I mean this....when you go to a taxi park, or find a taxi in Uganda and want to go somewhere you have to wait for the van to be full, and I mean overly full before you get to start going. Some days I am still learning to wait. You can do most of your shopping while waiting in a taxi as well, Bibles, bread, sunglasses, necklaces, hair accessories, watches, locks, books, under garments, and more! Holly has been talking about having a map for so long and a gentlemen came to the window with some so I convinced her to buy one! We had a successful and enjoyable day in Mbale!

Last Photo! We went over for lunch to our friend Salima and Sam! Salima is a nurse at Smile! Sarah had brought with some ribbons for the girls and I managed to snap a picture before Chloe (the small one) took it out! It is so fun to be welcomed and enjoy a meal with our friends here! Ugandans are some of the most hospitable people!

Bring 'em down

About a month or so ago now we were having a normal day at Smile and I was working in the office. I kept seeing kids running behind the office, "The White House", I couldn't help but notice so I asked one of them where is everyone going, and a typical answer was the child laughed at me. I don't think he understood what I was saying....very normal for me as well! haha. I walked behind the office and they were cutting down the whole grove of trees! It now makes a big difference in the scenery! You can see for quite a distance and it looks more like Africa that way! 

The funny part of it was that EVERYONE, ran to see how, what, why, etc. they were cutting down the trees, staff included! It was great. Everyone just sat and watched the guys cut down the trees! Women were working by picking up the brush of the branches and needles! It was quite the event that lasted a couple days!

Staff and kids watching the trees being cut down.

Groves of trees that were cut down....they are ALL gone now.

Maria and I watching the show!

Simon going after my camera while trying to take this photo! haha.

My Utmost for His Highest-

Book: My Utmost for His Highest
-Oswald Chambers

March 27

Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character:

“Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place...”
                            Revelation 4:1
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do , you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
    Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
    Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
    “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing ...?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.




-As I read this days devotion I was really encouraged! As I am in Africa learning so much in a little amount of time, yes 8 months has become little time, the thought “Why I am here?” runs through my mind. Asking God to help me make sense of this part of the life journey. He has recently revealed to me understanding and explanation of why I lived in Grand Forks after college struggling to find a job, taking a step backwards, only it was really forwards, as an intern in Minneapolis, then working short term at TreeHouse in the Twin Cities, a period of unemployment and nannying, and now Africa. I am not complaining for where I’ve been but don’t you ever wonder why you have worked where you worked to get where you are? Or moved where you moved, etc.?

Through this message I see God is building character and faith in all these “unknown” steps we take, including all the ones I mentioned. So I am THANKFUL for this knowledge and understanding that I need to be patient and content where God has me and puts me because he is continually asking us to “Come up higher”! That is the amazing thing about this relationship we have with Him, it never stops growing!!!

Be encouraged!!

P.s. 2 days until my parents are here!!!!

"Working" in the office

These are a FEW of the MANY visitors I get in the office! We tend to take lots of photos and eat sweeties! Not a bad gig! haha Enjoy these smiling and silly faces!!