..::Hard Truths::..

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! 

When we first started working with Align, I was asked to begin coaching our team through the project management process. In corporate America, this would seem a fairly common skill-set but, here in Uganda, it hasn't quite been adapted. After a ton of preparation (much more than I anticipated) I've now lead two half day classes and the matter. The team here is really beginning to receive the model well, and to be honest, I'm learning a ton through the process too!

Coryn has also been quite busy (way more than me) this month. 

One of her main tasks as of late has been to manage the development of an operations manual for Align's Life Homes. It's been a challenging experience to format their structure since the homes have been running without it for some time, but the team is really making great strides regardless.

Alongside her other responsibilities, Coryn also managed to plan and execute a much needed 2 day retreat for the teachers at Donela Primary School. It was a huge success. The staff really enjoyed getting time to relax, pray together, eat great food, play ridiculous games, and most importantly, there was no work! The leadership really wanted to simply appreciate the staff for their hard work so we made sure there was no training or any other activity that wasn't fun or relaxing. Coryn still hasn't stopped receiving accolades from the staff. For most of them, it was a first time experience, and they're begging for another!

All this awesome work (and a ton more I didn't mention) that we get to be a part of has been such a blessing, and I think there's a big part of us that's sad at the thought of our time here being over. 

But then there's the other part of us... the part that's scared to death that we're going to have to accept the hard truth of us not making it home in August so we don't lose our jobs, The part that's watching our savings and support dry up as each days whizzes by, and the part that is desperately trying to figure out how We can fix it instead of asking, "God, how will You use us through all of this?"

The ridiculous part of all of this (besides our lack of faith) is that we've been here before... MANY TIMES!!!

When we first felt called to Uganda, we had no idea how we'd get here or what we'd do! When God placed Daniel in our lives, we had no clue how to go about adopting internationally or if we were even the right home for Daniel! When we felt God calling us back to the US, we knew we'd be jobless, homeless, and thoroughly culture shocked! When we had to come back to Uganda to finalize Daniel's adoption, and then found out that the process to get back home would keep us here MUCH longer, we were broke, homeless, and emotionally paralyzed by the news!

...but in each of these situations, we prayed! We prayed for God to reveal Himself and His plan. We prayed that our family would be fed, clothed and cared for! And we prayed for our faith to increase! Every time we did this, God responded in some ridiculous way!

So where does this leave us now, amidst another seemingly impossible dilemma? You'd think it's be obvious by now but we're not always the sharpest tools in the ol' shed!

PRAY!

We need to lift our silly heads back up to the heavens and ask our provider to do what He does best! 

So as we've come to this realization and prayed the last few days, we feel the thing that God's showing us right now is to be real! To share our "hard truth"! We feel spurred to let our community know what our situation is and humbly and honestly ask for help! 

So here goes... 

We're low on funds, running short on time, and scarred for what the future holds. We'd like to ask you to think about supporting us financially as we continue to partner with Align Ministries. We'd also like to ask you to SERIOUSLY CONSIDER remembering our family in your daily prayers as we're seeking God's direction through this season. These are some of the most humbling words we've ever had to type, but we feel that this is what we're being called to do, and know that God will do with it what He's intended for good!

We absolutely love you all, and can't wait to get back home to continue doing life with you!

...:::The New Normal:::...

WOW!

I can't belive I've already been home (Uganda for now) for 3 weeks! It feels like I was just in the US a few days ago! Luckily, that feeling doesn't still include the jet-lag I came back with!!! Although it's felt like a blur the past few weeks, there's actually been a ton of stuff happening over here...

 
To start with, we're finally in a home that we can once again call our own! As many of you may know, God has been a bit of a showoff for us since this whole "we're going back to Uganda" thing happened. One of the ways He's reminded us of how big He is, is by giving us a free house to stay in! Not only is it free, but it's BEAUTY~FULL!!!

We share a compound with an amazing family of missionaries, The Carrolls, and are blessed with a daily spectacular sunrise and a constant cool breeze (unheard of here!). We're also only a 5 minute drive from where we now serve (Bombo). To keep things exciting, we've got no running water or flushing toilets! We rely 100% on collected rain water and are getting quite adept at pulling buckets of water from our well/cistern, but honestly, we kinda love it!

The past few weeks have pretty much been a time for us to become better acquainted with the work being done here through Align Ministries and the amazing volunteers and staff that work tirelessly to make it all happen!

Coryn has spent most of her days getting better acquainted with Align's "Life With Hope" program. LWH was established to accomplish exactly what the name implies by coming alongside individuals in the most dire situations (most affected by HIV/AIDS) and providing immediate and long term care. This is done through monthly support and food donations, as well as medical care, and in extreme cases, admission into a "life home". 

Coryn has also been spending a lot of her time teaching and developing leaders and programs at Align's school, Donela Orange Primary and Secondary School.

I, like Coryn, have spent my days familiarizing myself with the projects, ministries, and processes that Align is involved in here. I've also had the opportunity to begin looking into new ways of impacting the communities we're planted in.

One of the first projects our team tackled here was installing "Tippy Taps" for our LifeHomes. Running water is rare in most of the rural parts of Uganda, and because of this, good hygiene is not always an option. This leads to an increase in disease and illness which, in many of our HIV/AIDS infected clients, is detrimental! Tippy Taps provide a great hand washing solution for areas where water conservation is a must! So far, they're a great success, and we're now planning on installing them around our schools and communities!

Daniel and Nehemiah pretty much love it here! They've really taken to their new school, and put up quite a fight on days

when they can't go! They also really love living on the same property as the Carrolls because they've always got kids to play with! Both boys have been hit with a myriad of different infections and bugs (like any kid at a new school) but are hopefully on an immune system upswing!
Lastly, we've got some exciting news...

We're once again "Real Missionaries"! Align Ministries has added us to their easy to use support page! If you're one of the many people who've wondered how you can partner with our family, now you can!

All you have to do is go to alignministries.org/donate/ and select "Uganda Missionary Support". Fill in the required fields and, Boom!!!, it's like you're right here with us, loving and serving the Align community! You'll notice that there's also a ton of other great ways to learn about the ministry and support Align on that same site!

...:::chapter 2wo:::...

As many of you reading this well know, 2009 was a very unique year for us. It hosted a slue of firsts in our lives but has ultimately brought us closer together and, more importantly, closer to God. We packed up our things and left everyone but each other behind and headed off to the world of Uganda. A world, that up until then, we had only imagined through movies, books, and the World Wide Web.

Arrival here was almost whimsical! The new faces, sounds, smells, and traditions brought us spinning out of our comfortable Californian lives and into a renewed sense of being. Then, of course, that fanciful mind set started to fade with our own adaptation. Before we knew it, we found ourselves picking up new Lugandan phrases everyday and braving the frenzied city on our own two wheels (I love my bike!). We set into our routines and life here has become just that; Life!

To say we love it here would be a gross understatement. All the things, which at first, were strange and out of the ordinary, have now become a thread in the fabric that makes up who we are. We’ve completely fallen head over heals for the people here and the stories of who they are, where they’ve been, and where they’re going, each one with so much hope for their future. Our time here has also given us the ability to better evaluate the need here and determine exactly where we fit into it. That very evaluation has led us to an understanding that the place we belong, the place God is heavily calling us to, is not one we could simply walk away from in August as planned. That being said, we’ve made the decision to, once again, listen to the unmistakable voice of God’s direction in our lives.

So what exactly does that look like? Glad you asked!

First off, as many are well aware, we’ve been asking for your partnership in prayer for a really special little guy here; Daniel.
Daniel came into our lives about 6 months ago through the baby home that we’ve been volunteering with as part of our work here. Abandoned by his parents, and left on the steps of a hospital, Daniel was the first one to arrive at the home, and came dangerously malnourished and under developed. Not only was he severely emaciated, but he also arrived with congenital Cataracts leading to two very weak, underdeveloped, but beautiful eyes! I really think those two wandering, googly-eyes, were what initially drew us to him. Over the last 6 months, we’ve had the joy of being a part of his growth, seeing him learn to sit up, crawl, grunt, walk, and talk (kinda?!?!).

It’s been the greatest blessing and revealed something huge to us! We Love this guy! I mean, we really LOVE him!  We love him and we couldn’t stand the thought of leaving such a joyous part of our life behind!

Now at first, this feeling was much more in Coryn’s heart than mine. I mean come on, she’s a woman with an amazing heart. Of course it was! But for me, I just wasn’t ready to come to terms with what being this guy’s dad would look like. I prayed constantly that God would just provide Daniel with a good family that would be the blessing to him that he has been to us! That way, we could go back home to our comfortable life, guilt free. Pretty selfish huh?

Well, God answered that prayer, but not exactly how I’d hoped. At the end of the year, while we were in Gulu serving alongside our home church, ROCKharbor, I heard an unmistakable calling. We were all gathered for the morning’s devotion, which was on the topic of allowing God to speak in our lives. I had been praying with an inspiring woman, Frankie, Frank the Tank, Galaway, and suddenly had an overwhelming phrase go through my head. ADOPT DANIEL. I immediately dismissed it as my own convoluted thought but then it just got louder! ADOPT DANIEL! I continued dismissing the “thoughts” as my own but they were so dang consistent! Finally I found myself weeping uncontrollably, unable to utter a single comprehendible word! I realized at that point that truth had fallen on me. God answered the prayer I prayed so many times before, “Give Daniel a good home”.

That was it! The second I recognized that voice my heart open up wide to the new life staring us in the face. We came home from that trip and haven’t looked back since. After expressing our desires to the church and getting their blessing, we started the process. We’ve applied for foster care and had our home study done in the last week and are now awaiting our court appearance. After that, we’ll await the approval of our appeal for legal guardianship.

Sounds great right? Well it is, but it does come with a few strings attached. To adopt the right and legal way, one has to foster the prospective child in country for 3 years! Yup, 3 more years in Uganda! But even this has been a blessing.

Knowing that we’ll be around longer has encouraged us to step up our ministry efforts here. We’re currently applying to be the managers of the very baby home that cared for Daniel, and so many just like him! We feel a special connection to it and the vision we share with them; to provide the orphaned and abandoned children of Uganda with loving, Christian families. I can’t express enough the excitement we both have for the prospective future! If accepted, Coryn and I will serve side by side in ministry, just as we’ve always hoped.

So, with this new chapter in our lives, we’d like to ask you for two things…

First and foremost, Prayer! Pray for God’s continued covering in the adoption process. Pray for Daniel’s continued health and astonishing development. Pray for us as new, completely clueless, parents! Pray that we continue to put God at the center of our marriage through all this newness! Pray that God maintains His unexplainable provision for our new family as we continue to follow His path. And lastly, pray that we relentlessly open up our hearts and ears to the voice of God!

Secondly, and probably the hardest for us to verbalize is that of provision. Our family survives completely on our personal savings, which was only budgeted for one year, as well as the support of friends and family like you. We ask that each of you take a moment to evaluate both yours and our current situation. If you feel the work we’re doing here is of God and are able to commit to even the slightest amount to enable us to continue in it, please do so. Either way, we do really urge you to keep us in prayer constantly!

…and stay posted for the announcement of our hug n’ love trip home with Daniel in the coming months!!!

Thank you all for your continued love, prayer, and support!

~The Kisslings

If you’d like to unite with us in this undertaking you may send donations to 3012 Herrington Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92405 payable to Africa Renewal Ministries and include "the Kisslings" in the memo line.

..::Uganda 2009::..

…the realization

Jamesdon, summer of 2005…

Coryn and I were on a short term mission in Victoria, Canada. Only dating at the time, we made a commitment to give each other space to allow God to do his work through us without the distraction of young love. After spending a few weeks immersed in a new and foreign way of living, I started to feel God tugging on my heart strings, giving me a picture of a life, perpetually lived in this sacrificial lifestyle. It looked magnificent! But little did I know the woman that would one day be my bride was having her own parallel experience.

Coryn, summer of 2005…

Before our trip to Canada I never truly knew what it meant to “hear God’s voice”, but after being in Canada for a week I knew that God was definitely speaking to me. After an amazing session of prayer and worship, I went to my pastor’s wife, Deanna, and told her that I felt God was calling me to missions in Africa. The first thing she asked me was “have you talked to Jamesdon about this?”, which I thought was an odd response. Little did I know, Jamesdon had come to Deanna earlier to share that He too felt called to missions in Africa.

When we finally sat down to talk about this there was no doubt in our minds that this was what God wanted us to do. We had no idea what this would look like, but God has slowly been unveiling His plan and now, four years later, we’re finally saying yes to what God had called us to do so many years ago!

What does this look like? Uganda! We’ll be serving for 13 months in various areas of war torn Uganda with Africa Renewal Ministry. Coryn will be concentrating most of her efforts with Maranatha High School teaching and developing their science department and Jamesdon will be heavily involved with computer networking and instruction as well as media production. We’ll be serving mostly in southern Uganda with some extended stays in Gulu.

...where you come in

For many of you, we’d first like to say thank you for all the prayer, support, and guidance you’ve provided us in the last year of preparation. The journey has been challenging, but without you all it would have been nearly impossible.

With that said, I first and foremost want to start by asking you to join us in prayer with longing, anticipation, and expectation that the Lord will continue to guide and provide for us according to His will. The column to the right is a great place to start!

Secondly, we humbly ask that you partner with us in the work being done in Uganda by contributing to our financial commitment of 20,000 to cover our expenses for the year. If you’d like to unite with us in this undertaking you may send donations to 3012 Herrington Ave. San Bernardino 92405 payable to Africa Renewal Ministries and include "the Kisslings" in the memo line..

We thank you again for your continued prayers and support for our ministry and look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. To help us facilitate this please email us at jamesdonkissling@gmail.com with your contact info!