Hey all :)

I am now in another country: Uganda! We arrived in Gulu just yesterday, and the days before I was in Kampala. The travel from Kampala to Gulu was only five hours, and we were able to rest for the latter half of the day. This morning we went to church and two of us shared a testimony and a preaching. The rest of the week will be full of ministry with women who used to be part of the sex industry here, as well as their children. In Kampala we were doing full-time children ministry at schools, just hanging out with the kids and helping prepare their meals and help out their teachers.

These past few weeks have been so full of God’s blessings and I am so happy to be here! This is quite a short blog entry but I just wanted to update everyone with where I am and what I am doing. I most likely won’t have access to the internet for a few weeks, but be assured that God is always taking good care of my team and I. Thank you so much for your prayers and support, for I would not be able to be here and helping so many people without the help of our Lord Jesus Christ and without you. So thanks be to God and I thank him for all of you.

Take care.

Love always,

Fina

Hello again!

I am back so soon; I know it is rare for me to post on my blog and now I have posted twice in two days! I figured that since I have access to the internet now, I might as well take advantage of that blessing and bless you all with great news! During this past week, I mentioned that my team and I along with a few members of the church we are working with, have been visiting homes here in the city we are living in. On Friday, as we were visiting the last houses, we had the opportunity to pray over a woman who knew who Jesus was but did not yet believe. After our prayers, she confessed with her mouth that Jesus is Lord and accepted him into her heart as her Saviour! Praise God for another child being added to his kingdom! It is truly so astounding and honouring to be God’s vessels that carry his message of salvation and hope! We also had the chance to pray for this woman’s mother, who is elderly and quite sick, and who was also deaf. I say was, because she was, as in the past she used to be deaf. But by God’s incredible healing power, she was healed and is now able to hear again! Another huge praise to God! I am just in awe of how wonderful and powerful the God that I serve is and that he wants to use me and I am an open vessel to showing his great mercy and endless love. His goodness is poured into my life every single day.

I wanted to share these two praises with you so that you may also be encouraged and be assured that good things are happening. I again want to thank you for your prayers and if there is anything I can pray for any of you reading this, please let me know!

Tomorrow I head to Uganda with the three others of my Kenyan team and we will reach Kampala tomorrow night sometime. I am sad to leave Kenya, for in this place and with these people here, I have never received such hospitality and kindness in my entire life. The host family that we stayed with and the church we worked with were so awesome and accommodating and lovely and just everything great! We have made solid friendships here, even after only one week, and it will be tough to say goodbye to the people here. Yet God has called us to different things, and I pray that I will be able to return to Kenya and visit my new friends again.

I do not know when the next time that I will have internet, but know that God is working here and that he is doing awesome things with me and my team, and it is such an adventure! :)

Love always,

Fina

 Pwana asifiwe! In Swahili that means “Praise the Lord!” This is a usual greeting for Christians in Kenya; they say "Praise the Lord!" and you answer with "Amen." I have really been enjoying the fellowship that I am able to have with the local Christians here. I have also been learning some Swahili which has been quite entertaining. 

This entire week has been full of fellowship and learning Swahili and God’s hand has most definitely been blessing my team and I here. I have been doing a lot of preaching and teaching this past week as well, which has been a great learning experience for me as I have realized that I do not know the Word of God as well as I should. This insight has spurred me on to want to read more of the Word. It has encouraged me also to not only read it, but learn to apply it in more ways in my life so that my preaching will not fall down useless because it has no power, but rather so that I am able to preach with power of testimony. I want to be able to preach about things in my faith that I am practicing in my life. As the saying goes: First do, then teach. 

The other day, while spending time with local missionaries here, one of them told me that I was meant to be a Kenyan, and that made me laugh. I am proud of being Canadian, and wouldn't trade my country for any other; I find it funny that others want me to be part of their own country. That statement is quite an honour and I am so privileged to be here and hear those kinds of things. 

Tomorrow is our last full day here and we are definitely going out with a bang. In the morning before church we were invited to speak at a college fellowship group. Then we will have church where all four of us will share, and then after lunch we have the opportunity to speak with the youth of the area for a couple hours. Finally, we will lead the revival service tomorrow evening. It will be a day full of preaching and teaching as well as learning and growing, and I look forward to it! I know that by the end of tomorrow I will be exhausted, but it is for good purposes and always for the glory of God. 

It is crazy to think that I am six weeks into outreach and still have six weeks. I feel as if I have been in Africa for much longer, and I miss home a lot. Yet I know that God still has so much in store for me! I have so much to look forward to in the future: the rest of outreach and what God will teach me and being able to bless more of His children, my time in Germany at the Castle in Herrnhut, which feels like my home away from home, and then heading home to reunite with my awesome family and friends and spending time in the beautiful country of Canada, and then on to new adventures in another area of that lovely country where I will be going to school and learning even more! It is so much! I am incredibly blessed and am so thankful. 

Thank you for sharing in my joys and for being a part of the process, for I pray that even as you read this you are open to being blessed and to learning something new about the great and glorious and good God that we serve! 

I will be in touch when I can. Prayers for continued safety and health, and for constant focus on Jesus Christ and his grace and love are so appreciated! 

May the Lord our Father bless you and keep you. :) 

Love always,

Fina

Jambo! 

Hello from Kenya :) I am in Nairobi right now, and have been in Kenya for the past five days. The travel here from Addis was exhausting, but thanks to God my team and I made it here safely in four long days of travelling.


During this past week, my team and I had the opportunity to travel south for four hours, near the border of Tanzania, and visit with a Masai tribe. We worked in the school for two days and it was amazing. It was definitely a God-filled time where we were able to sing songs and play games with all the children there and we taught them many Bible stories and told them more of the love that Jesus has for them. There is much to tell about this time, but unfortunately the battery on my laptop is dying so I do not have much time. It was an awesome experience; the people of this tribe had never seen any white people before so that was definitely really interesting and cool for them as well as me. 

Tomorrow I will be travelling to a town in western Kenya with three others on my team. We will stay there for one week working with ministries and churches there, and then will head to Uganda. The other part of my team will leave for Uganda tomorrow and will be there for the week I am staying in Kenya. Once we rejoin each other, we will have two weeks together again in Uganda and then will begin the long and tiring travel back to Ethiopia. 

I really appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts. They mean so much for they truly do make a difference. I was feeling quite sick last week, but I am definitely much better. God is always taking good care of me and this trip to Africa has already been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Thank you again for your support; I pray that all of you reading this may continue to be blessed and to be a blessing as well. 

I will update you again once I have more battery life and more time. 
Take care. :) 

Love always, 
Fina