View from 30,000ft

I realized this week God hasn’t been calling me to Uganda and you’re going to have to keep reading for this one.

5 years ago, God started calling me to Africa. This was through many dreams, conversations with people, and conversations with God in prayer. I prayed on and off for 3 years, said yes to going to Africa in 2020. I reached out to Love Africa and during my phone interview, I was asked where in Africa I wanted to go. For some reason, I wasn’t prepared for that question. I didn’t think about the subcategory underneath Africa. I ended up telling them to just put me wherever they needed more people, I knew God would work out the rest.

I could have ended up in Rwanda or Kenya, but July of 2022 I landed in Entebbe, Uganda. We drove another 8 hours (should’ve been 6 but we took a few wrong turns) northwest into a refugee settlement called Kyangwali. You see, I could’ve done mission work with orphanages, local churches, hospitals, the list could go on. And yes, some of the work we did was with visiting local churches and I met many young orphans. But I was only merely working with people who lived in Uganda’s borders. In Kyangwali most people are from Congo, Rwanda, or South Sudan. They’ve been displaced by war and violence. Their prayer is that home would be safe one day as they long to go back.

I was placed where all the displaced, wounded, and hurting souls from the surrounding nations live. I wasn’t serving Uganda. I was serving young people that would one day go back out into the surrounding nations. I had the very privilege of meeting the people who I strongly believe will transform Africa. I wasn’t serving Uganda. I was serving and loving on Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Uganda. This is so much bigger than I could have ever thought.

I was so stuck looking at what was directly in front of me that I didn’t think of the bigger picture. I saw a refugee camp in Uganda but God was asking me to see the dispersion of seeds. Like those of a dandelion, carried away and dispersed amongst the expanse of a field. They will root and flower, filling a wide expanse with beauty and hope. The impact of the work in Kyangwali is bigger than I could have ever thought.

Through joining CIYOTA in the work they are doing, we have the privilege of serving nations. These students will one day be fishers of men and I cannot wait to be a witness of it.