Tickets are booked and the count down is on...Uganda here I come!
This journey with Uganda Venture over the past two years has been completely and utterly humbling even from the initial conversations that sparked my interest in working alongside this organization, and being a part of the Tabiro community.
Who would have guess that a simple question from a friend Alli, how would you like to go love people in Uganda for a while, could have sparked such commotion and change in my life!
In my life there are many things that I feel like I am okay at doing or my talent is rather mediocre or satisfactory. However there are few feats I am able to say I feel confident I am good at achieving, or that I feel like I am able to say, yes, I take pride in this... Living in community, and being able to love people is one of those things I feel like I am better at than many other things in my life. Now I am not saying that I always get it right, I mess up and people get hurt at my expense at times and in those moments I am NOT good at loving others, however it is something I feel like I have been blessed with the ability to connect with people on a deeper level. I have learned to embrace this fact about my life. SO when someone saw this in me, and expressed how it could be put to use elsewhere (in this case in Tabiro), how could I not embrace this dream and this idea to invest in a community and see what came of it!
In my life there are many things that I feel like I am okay at doing or my talent is rather mediocre or satisfactory. However there are few feats I am able to say I feel confident I am good at achieving, or that I feel like I am able to say, yes, I take pride in this... Living in community, and being able to love people is one of those things I feel like I am better at than many other things in my life. Now I am not saying that I always get it right, I mess up and people get hurt at my expense at times and in those moments I am NOT good at loving others, however it is something I feel like I have been blessed with the ability to connect with people on a deeper level. I have learned to embrace this fact about my life. SO when someone saw this in me, and expressed how it could be put to use elsewhere (in this case in Tabiro), how could I not embrace this dream and this idea to invest in a community and see what came of it!
In some ways, I feel as if I have been able to take the front seat in an adventure in my own life that has been an incredibly exciting, encouraging, inspiring, surprising and humbling journey! I have been blown away by the amount of support and encouragement from people from all walks of my life who never in my wildest dreams would I have thought they would jump on board this journey with me.
I don't know why I have felt fear and in some ways shame of inviting people along with me in journeying through experiences like this in the past. Maybe I thought people wouldn't find it interesting, or I feared they wouldn't see the value and depth in the work I would be doing while away, or maybe it was an element of feeling selfish that I was going away and experiencing something others were not...regardless of the reason, I have always found it stressful and overwhelming to invite people into journeying with me..
I don't know why I have felt fear and in some ways shame of inviting people along with me in journeying through experiences like this in the past. Maybe I thought people wouldn't find it interesting, or I feared they wouldn't see the value and depth in the work I would be doing while away, or maybe it was an element of feeling selfish that I was going away and experiencing something others were not...regardless of the reason, I have always found it stressful and overwhelming to invite people into journeying with me..
For some reason, this time feels different. Maybe because this experience is a custom fit for me and my abilities I can't help but want to invite people alongside me in this journey. I am not an engineer who can help design a better water system in the village, nor a I any good with numbers to help smooth out the bumps in the micro financing program in the village. What I am good at is loving people. Because this is what I AM good at doing, I am going to get to spend nearly three months in close community with others, sharing life with them, processing issues and struggles they have, and trying to instil confidence and encouragement in them, so that maybe one day they could maybe go and do the things I am merely mediocre at doing.
Simply thinking about that alone excites me.
I had initially been completely overwhelmed about the finances I needed to gather in order for this internship to be possible. When I was told I needed to raise $6000 in order to go, my heart sunk. I am not a numbers girl, but dang, that seemed like a BIG looming number. In the past I have needed to gather only a quarter of that number for other trips I have been on, and that was stressful for me...so to see six thousand dollars big and bold in front of me I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide.
After a little hooing-and-hawing over what I should do, I decided to take a bite of humility and step out of my comfort zone and write a blogpost rather than a support letter to leave the invitation open to whomever wanted to help me out.. and the response was absolutely overwhelming! I have been continually blessed and so encouraged by the people who have showed interest in my journey. I never would have expected such generosity from others!
After a little hooing-and-hawing over what I should do, I decided to take a bite of humility and step out of my comfort zone and write a blogpost rather than a support letter to leave the invitation open to whomever wanted to help me out.. and the response was absolutely overwhelming! I have been continually blessed and so encouraged by the people who have showed interest in my journey. I never would have expected such generosity from others!
It is so humbling to know that a dream of mine has stepped out of my own heart and into the hearts of others! And not only are they supporting me in my dream, but they are beginning to dream along with me! It is even better and more rich than I could even fathom in my own imagination.
Love is pretty powerful!
Love is pretty powerful!
Knowing I have so many people on my side, who have my back, I am stepping into this new adventure with confidence and a new excitement! I want to thank you for being a part of this journey with me! I also look forward to the continual ways I will be challenged and brought to positions of humility that grow and strengthen me as a person engaging in real life with others.
If you have no idea what Uganda Venture is, you can click HERE and it will tell you more about the organization and our story!
If you were interested in supporting me in my venture, click here to donate. (re: Allison Churchill)
If you were wanting to hear more about what I will be doing in Uganda, leave a comment and I will do my best to get in contact with you to tell you more about what I will be doing!
If you have already given me support--I thank you so so so much!
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