2015 was a year of big transition and change for me. I turned eighteen, I completed my A levels, left the school I’d attended for seven years and got into my favourite university to study two subjects I love.
Perhaps the
biggest change of all was leaving England and my family and friends to come to
work with Smile International in Uganda. At the beginning of 2015, I didn’t
know that I would be ending the year in Kampala. Before I arrived, I might have
known what I was coming to do here and the reasons why I wanted to do it but I
had little idea of what the reality of it would be like. I wondered how I would
cope in a new country and culture away from the comfortable structures of the
place I’ve lived all my life, about the people I would be working alongside and
serving on the projects and the friends I would make here.
There is
something about a period of change in your life that teaches and grows you a lot.
Here are some things that I have learnt or began to truly know in my heart in
2015.
God
remains constant through the change
I have
always known this in my head but being here in Kampala has helped to reinforce
that because when it seems that I am far from home, I know that God is the same
wherever I am in the world and whatever I am doing.
The song
‘One Thing Remains’ by Jesus Culture reminds me of this and has been a
song that I have listened to a lot recently.
Higher
than the mountains that I face
Stronger
than the power of the grave
Constant
through the trial and the change
One thing…
Remains
God has
a plan for my life
Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
This is one of my favourite Bible
verses because I often worry a lot about the future and I have written it on a
card to decorate my bed here.
I have seen God’s plans play out for me this year in the way He to
guided me to Uganda and to Smile International and the way that the challenges
of coming here were overcome. There were so many barriers that could have
stopped me being here but I believe that this is where God wants me to be and
they were removed because of this.
One example of a ‘barrier’ is that I wasn’t sure if I would be free to
come this year because my second choice university only offered me a place
starting in September 2015 and not September 2016, meaning the year I started
university seemed dependant on my A level results. I wasn’t sure what to do
about making decisions but God had other plans and the university eventually
changed their minds and I got the results I needed.
Another thing that I saw as a potential ‘barrier’ was raising the money
to come here. I have been overwhelmed by
the generosity that people have shown in helping me financially and am so
grateful. Through this, I have learnt to
trust more that if God wants you to do something or be somewhere, He will make
a way.
Also, I have realised more fully since being away from school that my
future doesn’t revolve around academia. I love learning and for much of my
school life and particularly during sixth form, I have focused on getting the
grades I needed to go to the university I wanted. People have told me that so
many times but it’s only since being away from an academic environment that
I’ve understood more that God’s plans are so much greater than any one thing
and this is something I want to always remember when I start university.
God goes before me
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be
with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be
discouraged."- Deuteronomy 31:8
Looking
back on the past three months, I can see the way that God has prepared a path for
us gappers in Kampala. From our team of three to the people who we work
alongside and with and the friends we have made here, I believe that God has
placed them in our life for a reason and this has taught me more about how God
goes before us. There are people here
who’ve helped me to settle in, people who’ve taught me to be more positive and
people who've encouraged me in different aspects of my life.
It’s
amazing to me that things that I found difficult about Kampala as a city when I
first came here are things that I love about it now. I realised that when we went
to Rwanda to renew our visas and it made me think about how it’s God who’s
changed my heart because he knows everything about me and the city.
2016
2016 will
be another year of change for me. I’ll be spending part of the year in Uganda
and part of the year back in England, including starting university in October.
This year I want to continue to learn more about the things that I’ve written
about to make the most of my time in Kamapla by working on the Smile projects
to the best of my ability.
I started
off the New Year at Kampala Baptist Church’s all night worship and prayer
event. It was a joyful start to the year and it was great to spend it with our
friends from church. What really stood out to me as different to the way I’ve
spent other New Year’s Eves that after we’d gone outside to watch fireworks
that had been set off around the city, everyone went inside to pray for each
other and the year ahead. I couldn’t think of a better way to start off the
year.
On New Year's Day I had a lovely time going with friends to the shopping centre Garden City for shopping and ice cream. It has been fun to be able to do these kind of things with friends from church whilst the schools are on holiday.
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| Friends at Garden City |
Happy New
Year again- I hope you’ve had a fantastic start to 2016!
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