Sneak Peak...

ARM (otherwise known as Africa Renewal Ministries) is celebrating it's 20th year and as a result I have been helping put together a celebration magazine...it is filled with stories about the organization, successes they have had, and how far they have come over the last 20 years. As we were working on success stories for the Mwangaza Choir pages, I realized that I too had a success story about the choir that I could share...Parts of this story will be in the magazine, but I figured I would share it with those of you who may never see the magazine in print...for those of you who will see the magazine, consider this your "sneak peak",

If it were not for ARM’s very first choir, sent to Californi

a in 2004, I don’t think I would be living, working and serving in Uganda Today.

I first discovered the country Uganda, sitting in Cornerstone Community Church, Simi Valley, California. I remember the music and the rhythms, but even more so I remember the testimonies of the children who had faced so many challenges in their young lives but had the determination to love Jesus and share Him with the world. It was in my seat that night that I felt God telling me…”Go, go to Uganda”…

You would think that I would have ran out of my seat and talked to my missions pastor that second, but being a procrastinator, I didn’t…I did however go to the back table and signed up to start supporting a young girl who lived in Ggaba. It was the first time I had ever given to anyone or any cause outside of my own little church circle and I loved feeling like I was doing something so outside of myself, even if I hadn’t actually done anything with Gods call “to go, go to Uganda”…That was in 2004...

(Mwangaza's Choir - 2004)

It was 2 years later when the second choir returned to my church that I realized I had been disobedient to God and what he asked me to do 2 years previously. I sat again listening to the music but mostly praying during that concert, “God if you want me to go, you need to do it because I don’t know how”…in my usual fashion, I went to the back table and sponsored another 2 children. I was up to 3 now, but still had never set foot on Uganda’s soil.

(Mwangaza's Choir - 2006)

It was a few weeks later that God opened up a huge opportunity and I was invited to go on a short term trip to Uganda with some members of my church. I went with them in Nov. 2006 and my life has never been the same. Before traveling to Uganda, I was always the one who planned trips to different places around the world and then ticked them off my list when I returned…determined to explore the world in my lifetime. But when I returned from Uganda, I didn’t tick it off my list…instead I found myself saying, “As long as I keep going back to Uganda, I don’t care if I ever go anywhere else”.

I returned again to Uganda in 2007, trying to tell myself that I was just called to go on short terms there, but God showed me through the pastors at my church and through the people in Uganda, that he wanted me in Uganda, LONG TERM.

I finally submitted to God’s call for me, when I moved to Uganda in July 2009, and I have to say that it has been the greatest blessing in my life. In Mark 10 God says that those who leave their homes, their families, and their land for him will receive 100 fold and I have found that to be true in my own life. Some days I smile and thank God for making Uganda just for me…I know that is silly because he didn’t make it just for me, but the blessings he has poured out in my life in the few short years I have been here make it feel that way. I can’t imagine my life anywhere else, and I am so blessed to be working alongside the very organization that sent Mwangaza choir all those years ago and helped me realize God’s calling on my life!

(Me and my co-workers at ARM Headquarters, Sept 2011)

Thank you ARM for being faithful, keep up the good work because you are making an impact for the world!