I Am a Missionary

I’ve had people ask “Why Africa?” or “How did you end up in Uganda?” I thought you, dear reader, might enjoy hearing a recounting of that tale.

I was saved at a very young age during VBS at our church. I realized that I had sinned and that Jesus died for me. That night during the invitation, I ran to the front of the church, in tears, and told my dad I wanted to be saved. My Sunday School teacher led me to the Lord.

God called me to be a missionary when I was 6 years old. I spent my life planning to be a missionary. (I’ve always been hyperactive. This was in addition to planning to be a writer. 😉 ) 

When I was 15 God began working in my heart to be a missionary to Africa. I didn’t want to go to Africa. They had AIDS in Africa. So I planned to go to Europe, specifically Germany.

Then God began exposing me to African missions, whether through missionary stories that I taught or people I came into contact with. I remember meeting a man from Liberia and, for the first time, feeling a burden for the people of Africa as I talked to this man.

Then when I was 17, God called me to Uganda. I knew this for certain. I didn’t want to go to Uganda. I was scared of AIDS, and the political unrest that had been so prevalent there for so long. But it was as if God said to my heart “I want you to go there and I will give you the strength to do so.” Then He began to put people into my path to dissipate those fears. I surrendered to go to Uganda and began making plans to go and saving my money to take a survey trip. I took Bible Institute classes geared toward teacher training so I could train the nationals to be Sunday School teachers. 

My dad and I made plans to take a survey trip, had our passports and were reserving tickets when we found out that the missionaries we were going to visit had come home from the field for various reasons (some with health problems others with family issues). That was when God started dealing with me on being willing to stay in the United States. This was a very difficult area of surrender for me. Being a missionary on the foreign field was who I was. God kept dealing with me that He wanted me to be willing to STAY as well as being willing to go. Finally, I surrendered to that, too, not understanding at all what He was doing. I felt like everything I had been working toward for years had been knocked out from underneath me. Yet, at the same time I had peace in my heart.

James and I married in 2000. God blessed us with twins in our first year of marriage and then with two more children right away.

Then in summer of 2004, God called James to be a missionary in Uganda. I was so surprised and overjoyed when he shared this with me. It was a confirmation that God had called me all those years ago but wanted me in a position where I wasn’t in the way for Him to call James. James wasn’t pressured into being a missionary by his wife. He was called by God, just as I was. I was in a position to be completely supportive because God had already dealt with my heart.

Living on the mission field has been a wild ride. It’s been fun in a heart-warming kind of way and fun in a terrifying and exciting kind of way, too. I’m planning to share about my favorite places and people in Uganda over the next few months.

Suffice it to say, I love Uganda. I love the people. I love the place. It feels like I’m living a dream come true!