I was asking the Lord for a plan for this trip to Uganda, and asking Him what we get to DO this time.

Every trip looks different, with different people and different plans.

I knew this much so far, after much prayer and discussion with Charlie; I am the one that gets to go this time, and Reece with me, and my good friend/ running / prayer partner Teresa and her daughter Ariana. The way the Lord put it all together was again, all HIM, and I couldn't be more thrilled with His plan so far.

(I'm sure he was relieved at my approval.)

We get to be with so many of our amazing Ugandan friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ, our family, our ministry partners!!!!

We get to spend the entire time with Simon, our Ugandan son.
We get to see Patrick our other Ugandan son, the list is too long of the people we are so excited to see and spend time with.

Seriously, if this was the only thing we went for.......it would be worth it!

Every single second and every red cent.

Worth IT!!!

We do have an itinerary; we are going to be in Kampala with Christ Sanctuary International for the first week, and then the second week we head to Jinja and serve at Redeemer House with a team from xHOPE. We have the big stuff penciled in and we have an even bigger eraser handy. With mission trips (or every day life) it's always pencil, because you learn to go with the flow.....wherever, whatever the Spirit may lead, may lead to a change.
If we get all bound up in our own plans, we get all frustrated and miss stuff that would be so much better than our
PLAN.

I was penciling in the "to-do" list and it was pretty short, and the stuff that is on there is gonna to be too much fun to call work. Both teams that we get to serve with are a stinking blast, and I would choose to spend my time with them on any given day, doing anything and everything from work to play and everything in between.
So I was after the big thing.....you know, the plan that motivates and excites people and makes a good report.

I have been throwing out a bunch of really good ideas to the Lord.

(eye roll)

I mean GOOD stuff. Stuff that would look good, feel good, feel accomplished and successful.

GOOD.

He just didn't seem to be impressed with my GOOD ideas......I mean I could force my PLAN, but I do have sense enough to know that it would be a disaster.

Here's the truth of the matter; the sweet things that we already have on the "to do" list is all stuff that the people in Uganda are completely capable of doing without us getting in their way and eating their food. They don't need me or my pathetic muscles or my great wisdom or anything else I can DO. The people we work with there are the most capable, hard working, faith filled people I know.
I mean seriously....some the the NAMES of the women we will be with are this; Patience, Mercy, Angel, and Prudence......it doesn't get any better than that. I am completely 100% serious.
Do you really think my good friend Patience needs me????
No way, but I promise you I need me some Patience!!!

This is a picture of Angel...this beautiful Angel cooks for us in Uganda, and she is also in charge of Reece's hygiene while we were there last time. She would check his cleanliness before dinner and he rarely passed her inspection without a do-over.

So I was still searching for "the plan," and God gave me our big assignment very clearly!

Here's the plan:

Plan A is:
"Be"

and there is no plan B.

Mission statement: Be All We Can Be.

Be All We Are Called To Do
and
Do All We Are Called To Be

Mission verse:Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

BELIEVE

Be imitators of God.

Be-loved = be love.

Be light.

Be generous.

Be present.

Be obedient.

Be kind.

Be gracious.

Be available.

Be kind.

Be humble.

Be patient.

Be encouraging, be encouraged.

Be a blessing!!!

James 1:22English Standard Version (ESV)

²²But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

As a human and especially the American part of my humanness, I want a big list, and I want to DO it, and DO it well. I want to measure my success with numbers and projects and results.

This is where pride sets in. Pride to measure what I'm DOING. Pride that decides if I DID enough to call it a success. Pride that says I earned something, I affected change, I DID it.

Pride that says our value is in what we DO.

This is what Jesus says to DO:

Matthew 18:2-4English Standard Version (ESV)

²And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them ³and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

*emphasis on the scripture are mine*

When scripture talks about missions, it talks about going and making disciples, it speaks of sharing the Good News, and it says pure religion is visiting the widow and the orphan. All of this is really hard when we just want to sweat a little and see something DONE and DONE well, so we can hear WELL DONE.

I'm not against the sweating and DOING, as there will be that too, and there is a time and a place for all kinds of doing.....but, the really hard part that goes against our human nature is the
BE
part.

So whether here in Powell Butte or in Uganda or wherever and whatever God allows us to BE on this planet at this time in history.....our DOING is in our BEING.