John 1.23

Jubilee.

35mm Safari

Some photos to enjoy from an African safari shot with my Pentax K100.

These past few days have been pretty chaotic to say the least. We left Arua for Kampala yesterday. Goodbyes were extremely heart wrenching. The people of Arua have blessed my soul in crazy ways. I never thought I'd find a love like this. Thank God for His faithfulness. AND I never thought I'd be in a near head-on-collision-drive-into-a-ditch-almost-tipping-over in a bus going 70 miles per hour either. Thank God for His protection. 

We arrived in Kampala last night and it's a pretty rad city. The guest house we're staying at is quite cute and has provided us much comfort after a few months without warm showers, proper lighting and fresh coffee. 

Today we stopped at the Watoto Church, which reminded me of my church back home and then headed off to a nice little cafe down town. This place, Mish Mash, comes complete with an art gallery, craft shop, variety of gourmet food, chai tea, live music and a magical tree house. This weekend has been a little hectic but lovely for sure. And we officially began debrief today! 

Heading back to Hawaii on Tuesday and I cannot wait. I will miss Africa for sure but I'm ready to go home.

and Africa will see me again. Oh yes.

Stef.

Oh yeah, I instagram. My name: stefannagram.

“All our most lovely moments are perhaps timeless…”

This classic quote is from Sheldon Vanauken’s book, “A Severe Mercy”, an author who was dear friends with the renowned Christian author, C.S. Lewis. What a simple statement and yet so deep and true. It‘s a indication as to why I often find myself comfortably hesitant to write down my most lovely moments; ironically, the moments I truly desire to write about. Whether these moments are difficult or joyful, these  ageless instances leave me in the clouds, giving me no choice but to take time to write about them.

In all honesty, how can one truly describe a timeless moment and do it justice? But this is my attempt at writing about my “lovely moments [that] are perhaps timeless” here in Arua, Uganda

My journey began when I took a leap of faith to attend a media based Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Kona, Hawaii. After three months of training, the schools crux was to launch us into the corners of the Earth to declare God’s love. In God’s providence, He sent me to the place where I’d find myself; to the place where I’d fall in love with Him the most – Arua, Uganda.  

I first want to apologize personally to my supporters and my life followers for not posting updates about what I’m doing here in Arua. It’s my duty to keep everyone informed and my desire for you all to know what is happening. I wish you all could just live it with me while it’s all happening.

Me in a forest.

Here are a few things that have happened since arriving in Arua:

- It took us five days of travel to get to Uganda.

- The airlines lost our bags for four days after our five days of travel.

- Four out of nine of us have gotten malaria.

- We sleep in nets. Mosquito nets that is.

- Almost of all of us have had health issues at one point or another.

- We ride motorbikes every day (our taxi service).

- We live on a farm with cows, goats and chickens in our front yard.

- We didn’t have power (solar) for the first three weeks.

- We live in a community building/home with about twenty other people.

- I live in a small room with six other girls.

- We have community bathrooms with one toilet that doesn’t flush.

- We ran out of running water and have been living off rain water for the past three weeks.

- We have one day off a week where we retreat to a hotel called “White Castle” to drink English coffee and take normal (cold) showers. Normal meaning we don’t use buckets.

- We haven’t taken a warm shower since June.

- We started off eating all of the base food but bought a small gas stove and have been making food like campers ever since.

- We eat eggs and chapatti all the time (chapatti is basically a glorified greasy tortilla).

- Since our running water has turned off, we’ve been taking bucket showers (splish splash for sure).

- Children yell at us all the time, “Mundu! Mundu! How are you?!?” (Mundu means “white”…literally)

- I’ve never felt so welcome in my entire life. Mainly because everyone reminds you how welcome you truly are. No really, they say “You are most welcome,” even before you can say thank you.

- We are expected to preach and share a word from God everywhere we go. Yes you heard right, expected.

- We’ve discovered that Arua has the best fabric market around, and I had one of the women from the village make me a dress.

- I bought National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation in town for one dollar.

- My dear friend Jasen surprised us all with a visit. He brought letters from my family and all of our favorite American candies and chocolate. Oh and dryer sheets (life savers).

- We’ve gone two full months without looking at ourselves in a full size mirror.

- I’ve discovered my new favorite snack: Twix and a Coke.

- I’ll never go back to regular peanut butter. It’s all natural homemade here and its outta this world.

- I’ve had to try and unclog an un-flushable toilet. Since our toilet doesn’t automatically flush, it gets clogged easily. Amber and I took the initiative to fix it and failed. You should have seen it. Filled with pooh water. I’ve never gagged so much in my life.

- There was an Ebola outbreak in south western Uganda.  If ya’ll don’t know what virus that is, all you need to know is that it’s incurable and it’s fierce and you die. 

- I may or may not have fallen in love with my neighbors, the Craig’s. They are African missionaries from the UK, Ema and David, with their precious daughter, Amelie. I’m currently trying to convince them to allow me to follow them around and be their personal photographer and nanny. Check out their blog HERE. 

- I still haven’t bought my plane ticket home from Hawaii L which is not good… I need to see my new born niece as soon as possible or I may explode.

- I just killed a massive spider trapped inside my mosquito net with me. Literally 30 seconds ago.

- I dance so much here. The African music makes me dance. The children make me dance. The people make me dance. God makes me dance. I love to dance and I’m dancing now.  Weeeeee!

Ministry and Media happenings…

- We’ve put together a video for the ministries on the YWAM Arua base.

- Amber, Lea and I have developed a website for the tailoring ministry to help raise money for the women who are struggling to support their families.

- We are involved with the hospital ministry here where we pray for the patients in the TB ward. It’s intense and depressing but what all these people want is just to be loved. We love them.

- Jasen, Kyle and I are currently working on developing a support video to raise money for a truck for a forgotten village on a remote mountain in South Sudan. Crazy stuff. Look out for it!

Some more important happenings…

- I read a book called, “A Severe Mercy,” and fell in love with C.S. Lewis all over again.

- I discovered so much about God’s love while reading this book.

- I have read the book of Hosea a few dozen times since being here.

- Esther from the Bible has been on my mind.

- I’ve been reading Mere Christianity and I am daily perplexed by it.

- I have had many revelations about myself and my selfishness.

- I’ve realized I can actually tolerate and live with way more than I ever imagined (seven girls in one room folks).

- I shared my testimony and a message in front of a 200+ member church one Sunday. And it was terrifying but extremely encouraging.

- I’ve never learned so much about love until arriving in Uganda. Through the people and the encounters I’ve had with God.

- I’m realizing I have some type of call on my life to be a leader. And that’s both terrifying and intriguing.

- I've never been so thankful for just basic things, like water and electricity and good food.

- I’m determined to be an active woman of God.

- I’ve realized that I’m a very relational personal although I’m extremely introverted. That’s how I minister to people. I can’t just yell out a word from God, I yearn and desire to have a relationship with you. Then, let’s talk about why God rocks my world.

- I’ve realized that I put a huge wall up between me and those around me. A huge wall of pride and fear.  Behind that wall is a deep capacity to love. God is breaking that wall down day by day. It’s a work in progress but it’s so good to know something’s happening and God is faithful.

All this to say - God is good and he is continually pursuing my heart. I am falling in love daily with the creator of the universe. I have two weeks left in this beautiful place and am looking forward to more of these timeless moments with wonderful people and the lover of my soul.

It's moments like these.

our hope and our future.

So lovely ones, I am leaving for UGANDA in just five days! I cannot believe it. I cannot believe how fast my time has gone by here in Kona. I received all my funds for outreach! Hallelujah! And thank you all so much for your prayers and support! Praise be to God for all your giving hearts. Now, I have just enough to make it there and back to Hawaii. However, I still have a need for some finances so that I can survive while in the beautiful country of Uganda. Because I have hopes of using my camera as a tool to bring awareness to injustice issues there, I have needs for film and equipment. 

MY DREAM...

is to give a child a camera and see what they can do with it. To see the world through their eyes, through their lens. I hope to be able to bring cameras (disposable) to Uganda to give to the children. Can you imagine? I mean, wouldn't you like to see what the children of Uganda see? Kids who live in developing countries are so fascinated by the concept of photography. They constantly grab at the camera hoping to see what you see and get a glimpse of what is in that viewfinder. My hope is to teach the children of Arua how to use a camera and see what they can produce. I plan on developing the film and showcasing the photos in some form when I return from Africa. How would you feel about partnering with me in this?

If you like my idea and would like to help me make it happen, here's what you can do... Send cash or check to my home address. I am leaving soon and I will have limited access to internet while in Arua but please message me and I will give you more info and my address. A disposable camera is about 7-8 dollars each but give whatever you feel called to give. 

Children are our hope and our future... wouldn't you like to get a glimpse of what it may look like? 

Love you all so much and forever God bless.

-S-