Uganda in Three Acts

Jesus feeds 5,000: God's Big Story

ACT ONE: This is where I got to do more OneHope work. The first few days in any new country are an adjustment period. Learning the terms and customs especially when it comes to interviewing. The first thing I need to learn is how the school system is set up and then how to phrase things to get the answers that I am seeking. I had the privilege of spending a week with the OneHope staff in Uganda where I did 95 interviews! I believe this was a personal record for one week. No matter what, I wanted to spend quality time with each interviewee. The majority were children and for those 15 minutes the one in front of me had my full attention. A handful of interviews were excellent and will be used by OneHope as tools to continue the work, but more than anything after recording the child's story I always want to encourage them or pray for them regardless of the results. After all, it is another point of contact where they can be strengthened in their faith.

Happy

And so I will not forget the story of Happy, a 14 year old confined to a wheelchair who converted from Islam at 9yrs. His real name is Saddiq but when he came to Christ they said to him "we will no longer call you Sad (the nickname for Saddiq) you are now Happy." I was able to observe him as he taught bible stories using OneHope's God's Big Story. It gave him great pleasure and encouragement to be used to teach others. I will never forget the teen boys who confessed pornography addictions that have now been broken thanks to reading the Teen edition of the Book of Hope. And then there was the one young man who attended a predominately Muslim school who was saved when someone gave him a Teen edition Book of Hope and in the couple of months since he has personally distributed and witnessed to 29 others in his school as well as the surrounding schools. One girl however wanted to become a Christian but she feared her parents and so she kept her book at her friends house to read whenever she wanted. I encouraged her that when she was ready that there was a very special page that would help her with that decision.

The Girls with their favorite card: God's Big Story

I spoke with children whose parents were incarcerated, orphans, those in public schools, Christian schools, and Muslim schools. I was also privileged to visit one of the Watoto campus's and interview a few of their kids and I believe that experience pretty much summed up many things I noticed throughout Uganda. I first talked to a few kids that were new to Watoto, they were quiet and shy. They still were uncomfortable with strangers and had a lot of hurts to be dealt with from past abuse and abandonment. They were learning and could tell me the stories from God's Big Story without problems but still needed something more. But then the others who have lived in a loving nurturing environment for a while spoke easily and confidently about their personal stories and their experiences of ministering to their peers. And it is in those kids I knew Uganda was in good hands. Both situation still exist in Uganda today, but what I noticed was where the Word went deeper, true healing and transformation took place and there are indeed pockets of that throughout. Photos: OneHope Uganda

ACT TWO: This is where I met up with a team of 14 from my church (Victory) and 26+ others from 8 different nations to do some amazing ministry with Adonai Partners literally to the "least of these". I was so happy to be in Africa with some of my own people. It just made me proud seeing people I knew step up and help others. I felt like my leadership skills were suddenly catapulted into another level as I was asked time and time again to speak on various topics to pastors, kids, women and the team. I have to say that the knowledge I acquired just the week prior in my interviews came in handy on several occasions.

Heading up to Gulu was very eye opening. While I had been confronted with extreme poverty before in places like Haiti and West Africa I was able to do ministry for a short time and leave. But this was different as we ministered to the same people all day for several days at a time. There was no quick escape. It was disheartening to have 200 kids for 8 hours who were literally starving, who are so lethargic that they just sat there. Those who craved attention so badly and anything you could give them. We gave them what we could...the Word and a meal, but it just didn't seem like enough. I can say that I am still trying to come to grips with it because it was an experience I was not prepared for. We used God's Big Story which they loved, lots of songs and games. And when our interpreter grew weary we did a lot of mimic games and taught English word to things we could point out.

The rest of the team was involved in Medical clinics and I am happy to say did a great job helping it to run smoothly. They saw patients all day long and at the end of the day we all came back to the hotel sufficiently worn out. We also did community cleanup, a technology workshop, medical & health training, a leadership conference, women's and children's meetings just to name a few things. It was so cool to see everyone speak, pray or do whatever was needed. And for that this leader was very satisfied. See http://www.422churchmissions.blogspot.com/ for more. Photos: Uganda 422 Church

ACT THREE: This is were I succumbed to exhaustion and the flu and were I learned to let go. One of my concerns going into this was letting go. Having led teams for a different organization I knew having to do things a different way would be a challenge. I was surprised at how easy it was. Okay, I caught myself saying a few times in the beginning..."this is how I would do it", but then I immediately stopped. The one thing that was hardest was the children's ministry, but then I got sick and had to let go. And you know what...things continued without me. We had a good core group that knew what they were doing.

It's been a long non-stop year without much rest. Unfortunately, I had to come to Uganda to realize I needed a break and need to slow down once in awhile. But it was a point well taken. It was a blessing not to have to travel home alone and to know people were looking out for me...but not an experience I want to repeat (the flying while sick part). For the first time in a long time I do not have another trip lined up. That probably won't last for long but I am okay with that for now. I think it's finally time to process life after full/part-time missions.

Hopeful Nepal

Nepal is like an little gem nestled between the two giants called India and China. Two weeks prior to boarding a flight to Nepal I knew very little about the country except that Mt Everest was on the Northern border and that several of the worlds highest mountains reside there. I knew that it had been closed off to the world for many decades and that only in the last several years have they had any semblance of freedom. Nepal is primarily a Hindu nation with a little bit of Tibetan Buddhism in the mix. But to be honest the only exposure I had ever had with either religion was in an Asian Art history class many years ago. You could say this was a very educational trip. 

Nepal is a landlocked nation but has a very diverse terrain and population. The southern plains area is flat and very hot. The people are dark and look very much like those in Northern India. A portion of the border is above India's Bihar state, said to be the graveyard of Missionaries and a little bit of that oppressive influence crosses the border. The mountainous north is extremely difficult to traverse but the views are amazing. When there are roads in the North, they are treacherous. Most travel by charter plane or on foot, sometimes for days at a time. There are several Mongoloid tribes that live in this region causing the people to look very Chinese. The central area is very hilly and contains a wide combination of people and tribal groups. The people are very gentle and polite. The children are inquisitive yet shy.

The OneHope program in Nepal is brand new. They received newly translated Books of Hope and The GodMan film the early part of 2011. In March 150 leaders all across the country were recruited and trained. They were then send back to their areas to train more people. In homes, churches and on local cable tv's the gospel is going out in video format. I was privileged to visit several of these people in four different areas of the country and see for myself the early impact. I cannot wait to hear the stories that will come from this. The pastors are very eager to use these tools as it has helped them in networking and getting close to the people. The children love watching movies and are sure to watch this one again and again. It is said that where there is no Christian context they must see the film at least three times to truly understand that it is not just a nice story but one that will change their lives forever.

As White As Snow

This winter much of the US has received a lot of snow. It is hard to resist the urge to run outside and photograph the newly fallen snow before the plows and shoveler's create dirty mounds of the not-so-white stuff everywhere. Those who do venture out with their cameras in hand are usually rewarded with a winter wonderland of shots from the trees wearing their winter white coats to the the fresh, pure and clean ground cover. But have you ever come back inside, thawed out with a nice hot cup of tea or hot chocolate then sat down at your computer anxious to see your new spoils only to be let down by images of grey dull-looking snow? What happened to the white crisp snow? There is an easy answer to this and it lives inside your camera. Don't worry your camera is not defective. It is doing what it is supposed to do. But there are a few tricks to bringing the white back. Of course there is photoshop, but who wants to spend hours cleaning up something you could have fixed while shooting.

Digital cameras shoot in grey values and for most situations this is great. But when you are shooting at the extreme tonal ranges such as white snow your camera meters that whiteness as neutral 18% grey to compensate for the lack of contrast. There are a couple ways to get around this. The first one is simple for some, many camera manufactures have a snow setting in the automatic dial that makes the necessary compensations. But not everyone has this option. 

The next step and most effective solution is to shoot manual. By doing so you can move your settings to slightly overexpose the image. A half to a full stop over for cloud cover, and one to two stops for sun will bring that scene back to white. Be careful not to go too far. You don't want areas that are completely washed out. 

If your are in doubt about how bright your photo is, you can always look at the histogram. What is that you ask? When viewing your photo on the LCD screen most cameras have an info or display button. This brings up a graph that often looks like a mountain. When you are shooting snow the graph information will be mostly over to the right. What you want to avoid is that information going completely off the right side. This means your photo is severely overexposed and there is no way to fix it later. If the majority of the information is to the right but not going off the edge chances are you will have white snow, but histograms that show all the information in the middle, in this situation, will render that grey snow that you are trying to avoid. 

Snow is fun to shoot but to get the results that you are seeking you must trick your camera meter in order to get that 'white as snow' appearance. Happy shooting while the snow last, spring is just around the corner.

Point of View

Who knew shooting could be so fun looking through, down and on a trampoline! Of course a wide angle lens helps as well. It helps to expand your creativity by looking at things with a new perspective.

While its not a really a resolution I want to make a conscious effort this year to push the boundaries, to see things in a new ways but most of all to see things the way God see them. Sometimes that is from a much different angle. Sometimes we are much smaller than we think especially in the grand scope of things but when we make God much larger in our lives you can't help but touch others and make an impact. I want His perspective this year in my photos and in my life, how about you?