Shine In Africa

Uganda. Where should I begin. This trip was a vision trip in hopes to confirm our call to serve in this country. We flew into Entebbe and were greeted by the two of the team members, Tim and Steve. We were very happy to see them. After getting our luggage we headed to the vehicle. Outside we were greeted with the darkness of night and several military looking men with guns. We drove to our guest house and spent our first night sleeping under the mosquito nets. The next day we drove the 7 hours along bumpy African roads to reach our destination Soroti.

Soroti is home to the Soroti Rock. If you aren't familiar with it I would suggest you google it. It is exactly that, a huge rock in the center of the town that takes quite a lot of work to hike to the top of. The views from the top are amazing. From day one we began meeting people from Uganda that all had such amazing stories of transformation. I hope their stories will inspire you and motivate you to step out of your comfort and step into a world of unknown...a place where God is at work!

                                            "Angelina"

A woman of extraordinary courage and faith. Angelina is blind. Chicken pox took her sight at the age of five, but it didn't take her spirit. It only made her more of who she was created to be. The blind have been a marginalized people in Uganda. They were categorized as worthless to society, destitute and destined for a life of begging. Angelina doesn't believe this, she never has. She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that her creator made her for a purpose. She was made in the image of God. It is her mission to see that any person who is blind in Soroti is given the skills necessary to keep them from having to beg to survive. They are taught to read Braille. They are taught skills like knitting and gardening. In fact they have even been shown how to plant orange groves utilizing strings with measured knots for planting. Her wisdom was extraordinary. On the way to visit a blind man in the village that was now able to support his family with the sale of oranges from his trees she reminded us how important following up is. She said, "We must train, but then we have to follow up. Following up is so important." How often we begin the work, but then fail to follow through and follow up. She couldn't see us, but we sure could see the love of Christ in her. We are thankful to have met Angelina.