A heart for Uganda- Part 1

They say that once you go to Africa you are never the same. It’s like you bury a part of your heart in the African soil and when you are away, you are longing to return and be whole again. I’m not the only one who has experienced this kind of connection with Uganda in my family. Let me tell you a little story about my mother.

I distinctly remember sitting in my directors chair fulfilling my duties as stage manager during my stint on staff at People’s Church in Franklin, TN back in 2004 when the thought first came to me. I was mentally preparing myself for my trip to Uganda; the first since the dream came to me 7 years prior. At first I rationalized the crazy thought away but it was persistent and kept coming back hoping to be reconsidered. I promised my conscience (AKA God) that I would pray about it but never fully believed it would be possible. Like a song stuck in my head, I was being prompted to do something with the same exact words over and over again. It made no logical sense. There was simply no way. It must be God! Scripture reminded me that it wasn’t up to me to produce any particular results in this situation but that my job was to be obedient and plant the seed. In this case, planting the seed was making a phone call to my mother, then living in St. George, Utah.

I have done and said a lot of crazy things in my lifetime and my mom’s managed to roll with it. Usually she is a “tell me after you have lived through it” kind of mom when it comes to my shenanigans. But she has always trusted my instincts and knew well that I had a good head on my shoulders so eventually I would make the right choice. But this time my crazy plans included … HER!?

I dialed her number with butterflies in my stomach and once she answered we made small talk until eventually I made it around to the reason I was calling. “Mom, I need to ask you to pray about something.” “Ok,” she said, bracing herself for all the possibilities of what comes after a statement like that. I took a deep breath. “I really believe that God wants you to go to Uganda with me.” SILENCE….not even crickets, just silence. My mom had never been out of the United States. She had never been on a missions trip. Her Christian walk was still stabilizing itself after years of being atrophied. I rushed into the silence with an avalanche of how the story played out. “I was just sitting at work, thinking about the trip and God spoke to me that He wanted me to ask you to go too. I laughed it off but it didn’t go away and I’m sure God is telling me to invite you.” I ended my ranting with the plea, “Just promise me you will pray about it?” “Ok, ” she responded with a ‘she has lost her mind’ tone. We said our ‘I love you’s’ and hung up the phone. I was relieved that I had done what God had asked of me but started praying that my mom would obey whatever God would say to her as she prayed about it.

My mom and I talked many times over the next few weeks with no mention of her joining me on the trip. Finally one day she called me and with as much questioning as hope in her voice, shared with me that she believed God wanted her to go to Uganda too. I bawled! A dream God placed in me as a teenager was finally coming to life and with an extra dose of specialness to the story, He included one of my favorite people in the whole world in its fulfillment! I was in awe. I knew God was going to do big things in MY life during this trip but now I was anxious to see God explode in my mom’s life too!

To make a long story shorter we began fundraising and making preparations and plans for our trip together but it all came to a screeching halt when I found out I was pregnant. I was not allowed to get the vaccinations required so my trip was not going to happen. I tried to convince my mom to go without me but she refused. We both decided it WOULD happen, just in God’s perfect timing. We told our donors that the trip was postponed and that if they wanted their  donations back they could have them but no one requested any returns. We kept it all in a savings account, hopeful to use it sooner than later.

A year after our son was born Mom and I started planning again. This time Nathan would be going with us as well so we raised the funds, organized childcare between my step-dad and mother in law and off the three of us went! Can you imagine fulfilling a delayed dream with 2 of your closest loved ones? It was surreal for me in the least.

During that trip I saw my mom serve beyond herself in countless ways. I knew she was strong, having been a single mom for so many years, but I had no idea how fierce she could be. She blew me away during those two weeks as we built homes with clay bricks and mud/cement while standing on rickety, make shift platforms for 8 hours a day in the direct sun next to the equator. She took bathroom breaks in a hole in the ground, hauled loads twice her size up hills and down trenches, built relationships with the Ugandan workers, and held children with diapers soaking her legs b/c they hadn’t been changed all day. Everything she did was done without complaint. You must understand that the majority of our international team was in their 20′s and there she was in her 60′s keeping up with everyone and pulling more than her share of the work load. I have always looked up to her and during that trip a whole new appreciation for the depth of her love kept growing in me as I watched my mom, mother so many others through strength, kindness, and comfort. It was clear where my heart for missions came from.

We all came away from that trip changed but we also knew that we would return again. Pieces of our hearts were buried there, remember.

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