Moving homes!

A busy week as we kick into the new year here. 

There is lots to be done, including moving houses, moving our office, organizing sponsorship, commencing old projects and starting new ones.  It has been very hot here, and they say January is going to be a very dry month, so with all the running around and the heat, by the end of the day you can feel pretty spent.

The HopeBuilders team also arrived here a few days ago, so it has been good seeing people like Damian and Rob from HopeBuilders.
It has also been really special to catch up with my old friend Jeremy. Jeremy and his wife Sarah lived here at the village of hope for six months with me in the same house. During that time we developed a great friendship and I really value those two! Sarah has had to stay back in Australia with their two children, but Jeremy has come all the way from Brisbane to be a part of the team. The last time I say Jeremy was in September 2011 at the very same place that I saw him again for the first time! At the Village of hope. So catching up with him and chatting and even being able to introduce Agnes to him has been great.

I also experienced a bit of a strange medical issue over the last week which has taught me one solid lesson.

Never squeeze a pimple that is not ready.

I did exactly that to one which had settled underneath my chin, and within a day my whole chin had blown up like a balloon due to an obvious infection.
It was really sensitive and was rather large for a few days as I self-medicated on general antibiotics. After a few days I happened to knock it and a little bit of icky stuff came up. I then proceeded to squeeze it as tremendous amounts of pus squirted and popped out. It was truly disgusting and relieving at the same time.

I actually was really tempted to film it, as I kid you not it could have competed with some of the stuff you would find on youtube (think of like a big boil or something under your chin being popped).
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I couldn’t hold my camera and squeeze at the same time so you are just going to have to imagine.

my balloon chin

In other news Farouk and I managed to find a new house to stay in (I should really say Farouk found a new house as he does all the work in looking). This house is awesome and is owned by a very wealthy professor in Kampala.  It is a double story house and all of our YSU projects will be in the downstairs part, while the top will be just for bedrooms. Farouk and his family will be staying there in one room while I stay in another. We will also have 2 spare rooms in case we find potential youth who need a place to stay for a bit, or if we have visitors and guests.
We got so lucky with this house and it feels a bit like God’s working (which we are very thankful for, especially since it had to be found very fast before we needed to move). Apparently the house has been vacant for many many years, with lots of people trying to get it to rent but always being refused. The owners have not wanted to rent it out and don’t need the money, but for some reason when Farouk felt compelled to ask, something made them decide they would let us (and for very very cheap). So after perhaps 30 or more years we are now the first people to move into this big house and we really feel blessed about it.

We really feel like this will be a community house, and we look forward to inviting the outcasts and down low type youths to this place. We hope to use it as a place for training and education, as well as fellowship, prayer, worship and bible study. So Farouk is already living there and I will move in next week on Monday before Ron and Anne return.

It was really nice today as we shifted everything into the house. It took four trips back and forth with the truck to move everything, but unlike when Farouk and I shifted into our first place and were alone, this time we had a whole community we have built helping us.
All the tailoring girls where there sweeping, mopping and shifting things into place. We also had a few of Farouks friends and Agnes and Beatrice helping out. Even my boda boda (motor bike taxi) transport driver Moses took a few hours off work to help us shift heavy things, just because he likes us. It really felt special as everyone chipped in to help. And to think this community of friends has only been built in the last few months and we already feel a bit like family. I think it is a good picture of the things to come with this house and with YSU, as community is something we really want to build and nourish.

On the moving truck

Tailoring girls helping us carry things

Some girls hard at work resting

Our house from the front

Our front garden area

 Lastly, I have just finished completing something I begun near the start of last year (2013), which was to read the entire bible. I really think that it is important for people who profess the faith to actually read the book that they believe in and dig deep into it, asking many questions.

I have often heard people say how the bible contradicts itself and makes no sense. But I wonder if those people have actually read and studied the bible in depth and as a whole, instead of just taking obscure passages out of their context here and there to justify their claims.
I can’t help but feel, after reading the whole book, that it is a beautiful grand story of redemption, liberation and love from God towards broken sinful people. That He makes a path, bright and beautiful, back to Him so that we don't have to experience the wrath and punishment which we all deserve, and that He gives us the grace to now experience new life, full and beautiful. And that the whole book (not just the new testament) quite clearly points towards Jesus (the Son of God, and God Himself) and His atonement for us, dying on the cross, so that He may save us from ourselves, if we make the choice to trust in Him. If people have not read the whole bible before, I really would recommend they do it, with the help of some background information for the context of the different scriptures (go deep!) It really did open my eyes more to the wonder of the faith! What a beautiful book we are blessed with! What a life transforming Word we have had granted to us.

God bless