...:::Diving In:::...

For the past two weeks, while Jamesdon was in the US, the boys and I have been getting settled into our new home. When I say home, I do not mean a physical home (we still don’t have one of those), I mean the place where we are going to be doing ministry. I have been spending the past two weeks investing in the people that we are going to serve alongside. The boys have started school and while Nehemiah is still adjusting to the whole idea of school, Daniel is thriving! Everyone already knows Daniel ( I think it helps that he has a “funny” accent, wears glasses, and has a “mzungu” family!). Daniel loves going to class, taking porridge, playing with his new friends, and sharing all of his snacks with other kids. 

Nehemiah has become the focus for most of the students. They love to touch his hair and face, but unfortunately Nemo doesn’t like it and had a hard time adjusting to all the attention, but it is getting better each day that we are here. It didn’t help that Nemo ended up getting really sick this past week. 

It was so tough to see my little guy in so much pain. We are staying about an hour outside of Kampala, but made the trek into town and spent half of the day at the hospital trying to rehydrate and medicate him. The doctors found an amoeba in his digestive tract, which caused an infection in his colon. He refused to eat anything for a few days and was vomiting anytime I gave him medicine (even with anti-vomiting medication). But he is now back to his old self.  It helps that his daddy is back!

I have had such a great time the past two weeks. It is always hard to adjust to no running water, which means pit latrines and bucket baths, but the family that we have been staying with have been amazing. We have been so blessed to have a place to stay where we are just an extension of the family. 

It was hard not having Jamesdon here, but it has allowed me to dive in and get working. I have started teaching Chemistry and Biology to Donela’s secondary students. I am also teaching science lessons to the higher primary classes. This is a bit of a new element for me, but I love that it allows to meet many of the students and work with a lot of the staff at the school.

 I have also had an awesome time learning how to greet each of the staff in their mother tongue. Because there are people from all over Uganda in Bombo, mostly because of the military barracks, most of the staff speak different languages. This has been a way for me to get to know the staff on a more personal basis (So far I know how to greet in Luganda, Swahili, Ateso, Luo, and Acholi, not bad!). Nemo and Daniel have even learned how to greet and respond, but only in Luganda.

It has been such a blessing to not only get to be involved at the school, but to get to learn so much more about the different ministries that Align ministries is partnering with here. Jamesdon will be serving as a Project Supervisor and I will be doing teaching/communications/staff development. If you are interested in learning more about the organization we are working with please visit their website www.alignministries.org. 

In the last month, God continues to confirm that Uganda is where we are meant to be… for now! We are currently committed to stay here until August, even if we receive Daniel’s paperwork before that, due to the clear path that God has created for us to stay here and work with people and an organization that we love and respect beyond words. We have been so blessed throughout this entire process and God just continues to rain down His blessings on our family!

The last time I updated our blog, we were beside ourselves about what we're doing next. Jamesdon and I felt like we had two choices and we were divided on which one was the right one. I felt an overwhelming sense that I needed to come back home to start work, and Jamesdon had an incredible peace with me staying here with our family and allowing God to continue to provide for our family. After taking time to really seek God and talking with family and friends at home, I was reminded of our very first reaction to this situation when it first arose last summer…
we are going to do this as a family! 

So Jamesdon and I went to work, making phone calls, writing our Congress woman, writing letters to expedite the process, and began trying to “fix” what was happening. The potential financial burden on our family was weighing heavy on me, but Jamesdon remained confident that God would provide. I figured that I would just continue to extend my leave of absence on a month to month basis and hope that we could finalize this whole thing quickly...
…because God is totally capable of doing that, right?!

It was very soon after  brought to my attention that , me taking a leave of absence on a month to month basis is preventing the school from hiring a teacher to take over my position, and finding a long-term sub for a high school Chemistry class  is not easy to come by. At this point, I definitely knew I was not ready to come home immediately, and really had no idea how much longer this process was going to take, so I made a professional decision to put in my leave of absence for the remainder of the year. Talk about a LEAP OF FAITH! 

Immediately after making this decision, God started to “show-off”! We literally woke up the next morning to a message saying that we had a received a very generous  anonymous cashier’s check to support our family. CRAZY!

What I realized then was that God was just waiting for us to stop trying to “fix” this and to trust in Him to provide what we need. That first check wasn't the start of God’s provisions for our family and was definitely not the end. Since making that decision, I no longer feel torn between going home and staying here, but have put both feet in allowing Jamesdon and I to focus on being present here. 

Once we made the decision to stay, options seemed to open up left and right, from ministry work to paying job opportunities. After a lot of prayer and continued encouragement and financial provision, we felt that God was definitely calling us to do ministry here.

When it was all said and done, we felt like we were being called to serve beside Pastor Alex and Millie Ojera, a couple that has become our family here in Uganda. They have a network of churches in Luwero District and many other projects/ministries, one of which is a very quickly growing school. We have said many times how much we would love to work with them, but I up until now, they only had a Primary School, and weren't really in need of our particular skill sets. But guess what… they have a secondary school that began last year! Looks like I am going to teach Chemistry again!

Jamesdon, along with his role with align, has made a commitment to become more active in worship for our church in Kampala, which many people here are VERY excited about! 

It is amazing how many doors God has opened to us now that we have decided to stay, but really when I look back I realize that all of these doors have been open, we just finally decided to walk through them! So it looks like we are going to be here awhile!

If you’d like to unite with us in this undertaking you may send your financial blessings to: C/O Andrew Galbreath 354 Avocado Street #16 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Please make checks payable to "Jamesdon and/or Coryn Kissling"

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A window into our adventure that is UGANDA