Not the end, but the beginning

Two days remain until I return to the USA, sorry for not writing sooner!! These days have been fresh and full so time on the web has not been a priority. 

I figure its best to keep this short and simple, considering I am still processing my time here and figuring  out how to match it with words. However, I know this to be true, God has begun something new in me.   My heart is changing and I sense the beginning of God writing His dream on my heart. I believe this next season is going to be a time of equipping and preparing for that dream He has for my life. Im ready for that mountain.

My time at Atin Afrika has changed my life. I thank God for His grace that sustained me the entire way. And I thank Morris and Chelsea for welcoming me in and sharing their passion with me. Some of my experiences seem so profound, I don't know how to describe them with words. All I know is that the most important thing you can do in this little life we have is to know God's love. This love absolutely transforms people and won't return void…I have seen it pierce, change, refine, overpower, and shape the hearts of these kids. And its shaped my heart too. This year I have learned many things and in some ways feel even half Ugandan now. I went from teaching and nurturing the kids weekly to moving in with them and attempting to even be their "matron"…yes, I can cook anything over coals now :) The Langi have won me. This young generation has won me. Mercy has won me. Serving God with your whole heart (which I am still learning how to do) has won me completely. Its been the most challenging, yet rewarding thing I have ever been a part of. To see a child go from defeat, neglect and poverty, to a place of love, confidence, and growth is profound. Even more so when you meet these kids face to face; see them dream, and love, and encounter their gifts and talents. They shine like stars, even though darkness tries to surround them. This year has been very transforming and I feel INCREDIBLY grateful for all my experiences.

Injustice and mercy move me. 
Gaining Christ is the greatest treasure.
People here need to be told. 
Someone needs to be sent. 
I want to labor wherever He calls me.

MAYBE its Uganda
:)

Missin those days

I have to say...I miss my days living at Atin!! However, I am grateful for these past weeks as well, they have been restful and filled with time with friends and good things. I just see now, how incredibly RARE that opportunity was. I am so thankful to all the folks at Atin who offered me this. I was pushed to lay down my life in a way I never have before. Although challenging, I felt so intimate with God, and like I was working muscles that had not been worked before. I miss waking up in the mornings with my first thoughts being about the kids, and not myself. As painful as it was sometimes, I miss having to force myself up at 7am or earlier to the sounds of their worship time...and being present with them cause I knew it bonded us. I miss having tea and cassava with the staff every morning. I miss reading to the kids at night. I miss preparing the food. I miss sorting beans. I miss the house and all of its quarks. I miss the many animals that roamed freely in and out. Atin, you are a wonderful place, living with you was one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given. My experience there, once again speaks loudly of the thing I have learned most in Uganda: service brings the greatest joy.

September has begun. Only two more full months in Lira before returning home. Still, my stomach churns when I think about leaving....however, I know its the right thing. Just not the easy thing. It will be good for me to go back and see this place through a different perspective. I also miss my family and friends a lot. I do have so many dreams of coming back and working in areas of photography or child empowerment or Atin or helping in educational support or even starting up a small business, ha! Who knows. I commit all these dreams to God. His will I want most. I have also learned this: the more I give up, the more fulfilled I am.

Its taken me over 6 months to finally begin a photo project! But I have started and hoping it has affect. I want these kids stories to be told. They deserve it. I want my photographs to empower children. The 16 children that are being fostered at the project have become my beloved subjects. If you have feedback, please share with me, I need it :)
website: Graciebyrdjones.com (if you wanna check out the work)

Thank you for your care and prayers. Please just pray over these next two months for me, that Christ would pour out His grace, provision, humility, and love. Also, that i would walk closely knit to Him. Also, that He would show me what to pursue after returning home.

G

Summer Under a Burning Sun

At the moment, I am sitting in a coffee shop in Kampala, nestled in the corner and entranced by what I see. I am surrounded by folks who wanna change the world...or at least it seems. I see young and vibrant mzungus discussing global issues, asians being awesome and I assume (wishing I knew their language) talking about something important and knowledgeable, interracial families enjoying one another, and diverse folks glued to the newspapers. These are people who care about change. They have inspired me. It feels like home...but also feels a little more real. I can tell these folks have stories and experiences that are rare and unique. If you are living in Uganda, there must be an intriguing reason  as to why. Or a cause you are fighting for. You don't plant roots in a 3rd world country just for the heck of it. Again, I just thank God so much for the privilege of being here, in a country so treasured, but so in need. 

So, I have ventured out of Lira for a week and a half. I have not left that beloved town since April. I've learned something about myself: I don't put up boundaries very well and tend to burn myself out! This is not a good thing. I have LOVED my summer living at Atin, but am ready for a small respite before returning. Living with street kids is the hardest thing I have ever done, however, perhaps the most rewarding. Its not in any way easy love. You are pushed to embrace the hard kind of love; the one where you really have to swallow your pride, and learn to love without record of wrongs. The kind that reflects your own inability without the help of God. These kids aren't the cute and cuddly kind. But they are REAL. They have stories that would make you cry and families that have neglected them. They have minds matured beyond their years. They know how to survive on nothing but scraps and trash. They have been hurt, wounded and numbed by neglect . So, how can I expect them to love well, when they have not been loved themselves? My conclusion is this: they are lovely still. They are glorious ruins, just like me. 

I will return to Lira and a new chapter will begin. The last one before returning home. It will be a time of teaching and sharing God's word, both to my dear kids and the women I have befriended in the community. And also to myself :) I still have much to learn. Will try to be better about blogging too, specifically the little things, since they are always interesting. This summer has been a time filled the laughter and play with my kids, motorcycles days to the village (did a small photography job for an NGO here), lots of beans and posho, rainy days, and fellowship with many Ugandans. Sometimes I would go days without the presence of another mzungu...talk about immersion. Even here I feel a little socially awkard, forgot how to communicate with my own race! That is slightly dramatic, but I do feel a little behind ha. 

After a few days of rest, I will be heading to Sanyu Babies Home to volunteer for a few days. Then off to Jinja, which I am most excited about. I will be staying with a lovely gal who is newly married to a Ugandan, with 5 adopted children. Her life inspires me and Im excited to be in their company. 

I covet your prayers. Please pray that God would sustain me with His love and teach me more about himself. Also, just want to say, these kids of this term are WONDERFUL. Yes, stubborn sometimes, but most of them are hardworking and so ready for school. They need sponsors and its only $105 a year to basically give them a better life. Well worth it. Contact me if you are interested graciebyrdjones@me.com

till next time :)

Beans, Beans, Beans

Yes, I am eating beans twice a day. My stomach is expanding like an air ballon. The only upside is I don't think about what I eat now. I just eat to get full :) That's the way it should be right??

So, I'm not sure where to start. I also don't want to overwrite either and make you read a novel of a blog. There is a lot that could be said....however, I am thinking maybe less words the better this time.

This is what I know: I feel like a mother. Its both challenging and joyful. Here is my day:

Kids wake up at 6:30 and have prayer time  (I TRY to get up with them)
We clean the compound for an hour, I make sure they do their assigned chore
I prepare the porridge with Lucy (Ugandan cook who comes for the day and also my dear friend)
Bathe my little Opio, dear boy who is 6 and has down syndrome, but the star of Atin
We serve them by 8:30
Wait on our patient, Jimmy, he is 14 and just had a big operation on his legs so he is bedridden for a while
Then I have tea and get to breathe
They go to class till lunch...I have time to myself yayyyyy
Prepare my best friend, beans..also its partner: meet corn much, his name is posho
We serve them
Then they are free and we play
I tidy the house
Prepare for dinner...beans again, who guessed it!??!
Then praise time (my ABSOLUTE favorite) we have a shaker and drum and sing and dance and pray to Jesus till we sweat  ( I love it and need that time)
Then we spend the last hour of the day sharing stories and riddles, or we play a small game, or go lay in the field
Then I get them in their bunk beds by 9, and read them a "Jesus Calling for kids Devotion" and sometimes even sing them a song ha (which is always humbling)
Then they snooze.
I go back into the kitchen and prepare the beans for the next day. Wash/sort, if they haven't been sorted by the kids...and sit by the box of coals and wait for a little while to let them heat.
Then I sleep......praise Jesus.

Nothing too grand, pretty ordinary right?
However, this is what I have learned about the ordinary and our humanness: I agree with Solomon entirely. Everything is meaningless under the sun, except serving and pleasing God. Serving brings the greatest joy. So although I am doing ordinary things everyday, nothing thrilling at all, just serving ones that haven't known love for a while, it still leaves me incredibly full. I feel like I am working the muscles of the Spirit of God. And my insides are singing. Its not really about the specifics I don't think....God isn't necessarily concerned with Opio getting bathed and clean, but He does care that Opio gets served and loved, and that I partake in the freeing act of laying down my time, desires, and life for another. Now I see the kind of joy that reaped from simple sacrifice.
What do people gain from all their labors under the sun?
Temporary happiness
What do people gain from laboring for the Lord Jesus?
A Really Profound Joy........fancy for talking about that mystery inside you, when you have served and then you feel like you lack nothing, and you delight in God and you can feel him delighting in you, and you feel free.

So, all you moms out there, I devote this blog to you. You're the real deal.

Also, would like to share with you some exciting news....I have extended my stay here in Lira. I will know be spending a year here, and will return to the USA either in Nov. or Dec. Yay!

Also, if anyone would like to send me some small NT's, they would be a HUGE help here. We can talk about how that would look, just shoot me an email if you are interested :)

Thank you for your prayers and care for me,
Lovingly,
G

Romans 12:12   Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Here is some pics of some of the new kids....a sweet group

Margaret and me...the only two gals

Meet Denis, Walter, Denis, Anthony, and Joshua

 This is Bosco, stubborn but great, love this kid

A Mountain Drive

I feel like I have been driving up a mountain for the last 3 weeks. They have been the toughest, rockiest weeks yet...however, I feel like I am finally reaching the top, where I can take a deep breathe and see the glory of God again. Its been a month since I last wrote....precisely because of that darn mountain.

Life is becoming very real and normal here. I am savoring every moment because days are flying by like birds in air, and it frightens me. I want the real and the nitty gritty Uganda, and I feel like I am finally getting it. Real life is happening. Im being confronted by the good and profound still, but also the crap and the difficulty of life too.The honeymoon phase has past, and things that were cute (like kids calling my munu on the st every second of every day, are now the usual, and maybe even annoying sometimes ha). Relationships have developed and I am seeing things as they truly are, situations, people, places. The good and bad. I still feel giddiness in the mornings to get up and start my day, but its more rooted and grounded in reality. All I know to be true of this is......it     is    good....
So good. My romanticist mind is not coating everything I see with beauty and idealism like it tends to. Im truly seeing.

This week will begin a new chapter of life here. I am moving in to Atin Afrika! I will be living with the kids...so happy and excited. The 18 boys I was with for the last 5 months have all now been resettled back into their homes and are starting school this wk. I have picked up 2 to sponsor and just put the last one in school yesterday. I love these two, James and Brian so so much. They have very unique and sweet spirits. So, there is a new bunch from the street arriving now. Its hard to imagine doing everything over again with a whole new group of kids I have never met....but I trust God  to give me the strength and joy to do it. On Monday, I will also begin an internship there, doing work in  their education program and also organizing media. This will be done alongside what a favor most, which is teaching, building relationship, and sharing the goodness of Christ with them. I have learned, living on the street is straight poison for any child. For those that have been there for a year or more, street life destroys innocence, hardens childlikeness, and steals happiness. Their like lost wandering sheep, running around, consumed by their passions. Ive seen it up close now, right in front of my face.....and it makes me SOOO angry at the devil. Most of all, street life corrupts their idea of love. Love is something many of them don't know how to show, or even receive. They don't know how to care or be cared for. So, love in Christ, unconditional love, the no matter-whatness of Gods love, is what they need most. This writer captures it perfectly. "Sometimes its necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness".

Continuing to meet with two women, Lucy and Rhema who know Jesus now. Please pray for them with me. Battling a lot of religiosity with both of them.

Please pray that I have JOY. I want joy and need joy to radiate through me to these kids. Also, that I do not over commit my self to things, which I seem to do often ;/ Lastly, for open doors to speak into specific kid's lives and hearts.

Love you all, thank you for reading, i need your care and interest in these days

crazy thing I did this past wk: Went to a village called Amolataar to resettle a child in his home. We were on the motorcycle for 2 and a half hours there and also 2 and half back. Mind you, the road was incredibly potholey and it rained half the way back...ah it was crazy!!! Mom, don't worry I had a helmet on, and Ronald is a very skilled driver :)

If you would like to get involved through sponsorship or donation, email me

love, G

My boys from last term

One of the boys, Darius, getting baptized :)  

Rhema 

Lucy

Sponsorship Opportunity

Hey yall,

For anyone interested in school sponsorship for little ones, I wanted to put this bug in your ear. At least for me in the past, I have always wanted to, but never sure how to plug in and know where the money is going exactly, stay connected with the child, and all those details. So, wanted to let you know of the legit program at Atin Afrika, where I work. I have been there almost every day these last 4 months and watched how to they handle their kids and sponsors, and I can confidently say they do it very well. Currently, there are 16 boys (ones I have been teaching/discipling these past months) who are about to begin school this next term, for the first time since being on the street. Their ages range from 6-15 years. They have become sort of like my pride and joy, I wish I could sponsor all of them! However, I am picking up one, possibly two. The foundation also pulls sponsors from Canada through the founder, a gal from those ends. So, all to say, I know God will provide a sponsor for each child. But, if this pulls on any of your hearts, to sponsor, I would highly encourage you to do it through this program. Check out their website to get the details: atinafrika.org. Basically though, its 30 bucks a month to provide all the kids needs. Also, since I will be here for the next few months, I can link u up with the child on Skype to meet them. They are all VERY excited to meet their sponsor, someone who wants to commit caring for them: this is a big thing. Keep in mind they are coming from a background of being vulnerably alone and pushed aside, so any sentiment of love and attention given to them, speaks loudly.

I leave you with that! Let me know if this interests any of you :) Here are some recent pics of them...

G

A Farewell

Well log is leavin me tomorrow. I will miss her greatly. Our time together has been very blessed and perhaps more bonding than we ever expected. Y'all, we even shared a bed! Haha...but i truly thank God for sending us to love Lira together. Some days were spent hip to hip, some were spent apart (her and I both r maybe too independent ha), but I feel that we always carried each other in prayer, encouragement, and support....and for that I am so grateful! Will miss ya log