Dear Family and Friends:
I could never have known at the time, but God began putting the people of Uganda on my heart years ago. I was intrigued by this region of Africa when I watched the new life my father had after returning from East Africa in the summer of 2000. Three years later I took a class studying the genocide of Rwanda from a Ugandan Catholic priest.
But it was in March 2007 that I couldn’t get Uganda off of my mind. I watched tears fall down the face of a young boy named Jacob while watching the documentary film Invisible Children. Jacob mourned the loss of his brother—a young soldier abducted by rebel troops in northern Uganda. I left the film thinking, “I want to go to Uganda. I want to know, listen, and learn from these children.”
In a month, I leave Nashville on a pilgrimage to Uganda. There, I will get to know beautiful children like Jacob. I will spend time with women who have fled their homes for safety. I will witness the Ugandan people serving one another through a youth development ministry. I will step onto the soil of Africa for the first time and be present to God’s people there. I will journey closer to God’s heart, which is beeping strongly there.
It is an amazing and unbelievable blessing for me to have this opportunity. I depart Sept. 2 and return Sept. 16. I will travel with my friend James Pearson and his sister. James is a faithful visionary from San Diego who lived in southern Uganda for two years working closely with the Acholi people.
To learn more about this journey and ways you can participate and/or support me in living out this calling, contact me at laneciarouse@gmail.com
Thanks for vising my blog and hearing some of my story. I invite you to join me in prayer—for my safe travels, for the people I will meet and for how God will use me on this pilgrimage and when I return.
Be,
lanecia
No comments:
Post a Comment