I said I was going to do this…so here goes another one!
In my last post I said that “God has been working, not always in the way I want or in a way that I understand, but everything has drawn us closer to Him”…and within a week after that I started to question everything. So like me to have so little faith!
A quick (well not so quick) background…
When we initially came to Uganda, we came under the umbrella of Africa Renewal Ministries (ARM) and worked with them for one year, which was our commitment. When that year was up, Jamesdon began working with a very small and new organization called Remnant Uganda. This was a bit scary! We not only had to take care of ourselves, but now Daniel and we had to make a decision of whether or not to move to Gulu for Jamesdon to work voluntarily for Remnant full time or stay in Kampala. Because we were only staying for one year initially we had only raised support for that year and knew that we would have to go home and raise some serious support in order to stay here and work in Gulu. In the meantime I had been praying about what I could do here and since we had Daniel, I felt like he was our first ministry, so I started to look for jobs that could help provide for us financially. After many promising leads and a couple of great interviews, all doors seemed to be closing! This led me to believe that I was looking for something that God did not want for us! So we began to plan for Jamesdon to go to the states to visit family and friends and raise support for us for the upcoming year. Right before Jamesdon left I got a job offer at an international school in Kampala and felt like this was the way that God was going to help provide for us financially, so I accepted. Because Jamesdon really felt led to work with Remnant, he committed to work with them in Gulu and that meant we would be spending A LOT of time apart…this has proven much harder than I would have imagined! We knew that the job I accepted would not provide for us completely but would contribute substantially to our financial situation, so that still meant a little bit of support raising. Oh and did I mention that we decided to let my 13 year old niece come to live with us for a year and go to school where I would be working!
In the meantime...
In October of last year, Uganda immigration laws changed so that expatriates are no longer allowed to apply for new work permits while in Uganda, but only from the country in which they come from. Since Jamesdon and I are up for renewal of our work permits and are both working for new organizations, this seemed like it could be a problem. Initially, we were trying to work it out so that I could bypass this new law because I was already in country, which looked promising! One of our biggest concerns was having our niece come back to Uganda after Christmas break and then us having to leave to go back to the US to reapply (which can take anywhere from 3-6 months, depending). Because things seemed to be going in the right direction, we decided to have our niece return. God blessed us with an amazing Christmas, despite being away from home, and soon after blessed us with a much needed car. The day my niece left the US to return to Uganda, I was informed that I would be unable to get a visa through my current employer and because of that would lose my job when my work permit expired. This did not seem so bad at the time, other than financial concerns, because we had found a way to get a work permit for Jamesdon and I could apply for a dependency pass under him. This is when we began making plans to move to Gulu and it all seemed very clear. God was providing for us in so many ways and seemed to be showing us a clear path of where to go next.
Where we are now…
This past week we found out that Jamesdon is not going to be able to get a visa, at least not the way we had planned. As of right now we do not have a clear solution as to what to do about this. If it were just me and Jamesdon, the solution would be easy…go home right away, apply for new work permits, have the baby at home, and then return when everything is settled. Unfortunately, that is not the case. We have a niece who is in the middle of a school year with an entirely different curriculum from home, and Daniel, who we do not have full adoption of yet and getting his paperwork to leave the country for an extended period of time will take a while to process. Also, I currently have insurance through my current employer that will cover all of our medical costs for the pregnancy and delivery here in Uganda
Although I feel like I am on an emotional roller coaster (pregnancy does not help), I know in my heart that God is in control and that His ways are so much bigger than ours. So I have been praying and asking everyone we know to join us in prayer. I pray that God will show us the path to take next and that we continue to look to Him for wisdom, guidance, and strength. God has surrounded us and blessed us with some amazing people here in Uganda, who have been encouraging us and praying along side us! He knows what we need and when we need it! Also I have been praying that God will continue to provide for us financially, so that we can remain here at least until the summer, but longer if that is what He has planned for us.
With me losing my job and Jamesdon’s position being purely voluntary, our primary source of financial provisions will be gone at the end of April. While we are starting to make adjustments now to account for this loss, we realize that we have to look to God to fill this large deficit, especially with a baby on the way. God has slowly been revealing to me that my pride has prevented me from talking about financial concerns to just about everyone and that I need to be honest with myself and others. God has a way of humbling us even when we don’t realize we need to be humbled.
With all of that said, we are really looking forward to coming home this summer to see all of our friends and family. We are excited for everyone to finally meet the newest 2 additions to our family and are confident that God wants us back here in Uganda to show those around us a little glimpse of Him!
We're truly thankful for your continued prayer and support.
Please check out the Remnant Uganda website to learn more about what Jamesdon is doing here at remnantuganda.com
Align Ministries has also been an amazing blessing to us since coming to Uganda. You can learn more about their ministries here in Uganda at alignministries.org
If you’d like to unite with us in this undertaking you may send your financial blessings to: Align Ministries, 27562 Sweetbrier Lane, Mission Viejo, CA payable to Align Ministries and include "the Kisslings" in the memo line. You can also give online by going to www.alignministries.org/donate. Just select Missionary Support and write Kisslings in the memo section.
0 comments:
Post a Comment