I went to Kampala dreading it. I was so excited to finally get to serve with Watoto, this ministry I heard about well over a year ago and have been dreaming of serving with ever since. But I was not excited about Kampala. I live in small town Uganda and from there, Kampala is the big, busy, dirty capital full of traffic jam and accidents and riots and thieves. It's the place where you go for court dates and adoption appointments and only when you need to. Not really a place I wanted to live.


And then I moved there.

While it's still not my favorite city (not by a longshot), I was given a different view of it while there and mainly because of Watoto Church and Childcare Ministries who I got to serve with at the Bulrushes Babies Home. Through Watoto's eyes, I saw a city full of hurting people who need the gospel and need active love. People who don't just to be preached at but need real Love demonstrated...through loving a neighbor, taking in babies with no family or who need serious medical attention which families here struggle to afford, loving on street kids, working to restore dignity to women with HIV, and bottom line being Love clothed in flesh.

I love Watoto's heartbeat desire...to be people who are caring for community while celebrating Christ. Isn't that beautiful? Is that how we are living? Is that how I am living? I want ot more actively do this, to care for community each day while I celebrate Christ....that my celebration of my Savior would inform my care for others in my community, and that my care for others would reflect the way I love and celebrate Him. Maybe that even in my care for others I am actively celebrating Him...celebrating His people and His gifts with intention and joy. Living in a way that does that. So no matter where I am, whether it be Jinja or Kampala or Nashville, that I am celebrating Him there as I love the people around me. And that, folks, is the Truth. Love God, love others. Boom.

What a beautiful lesson He's taught me in a place I didn't want to go. Isn't He always working like that? Taking me to places I don't necessarily want, that I don't really think are best, and teaching me the most beautiful things. Help me remember this Lord, when you next take me to a place I may not have chosen for myself, that my eyes might be open to the beauty and ready for the wonder in the hard places to come.