The story...

The children at St. Anthony primary school in Kasanje

In His book "What Does God Want?", Fr. Michael Scanlan writes these words:
  “God never sends anyone to Africa without first putting Africa in his heart.”

This statement is very liberating. Foreign mission work is simply something we conjure up as an extreme example of what God might ask us to do if we give ourselves completely to Him, something that sounds terrifying and awful.

If it sounds that way to you, God may not be asking you to be a foreign missionary, at least not right now…..and that’s okay. What Father is really saying is that God will not call you to do something that makes you miserable. Uncomfortable? Yes, sometimes. But not miserable.

Rather, if God is calling you, it is because He has already been drawing you, leading you by desire. If you haven’t recognized this leading, careful investigation will probably reveal that the very thing God is asking fulfills the deepest desires of your heart – you just weren’t aware. God is good!

When you begin to see that God really has your best interests at heart – and He really does want to fulfill your deepest desires – things that originally seemed scary or uncomfortable somehow become easier to accept. Sometimes they even become attractive, desirable, exhilarating.

When you begin to believe in the goodness of God, He can feel freer to suggest something to you like going to Africa, such that when some crazy missionary comes along and invites you, you will jump at the opportunity. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself….

What follows is the story of how God called me to go to Africa...

My close friends can attest to the fact that I actually started “blessing the rains down in Africa” when I was in high school….But I will start this tale in 2011….

For 18 months prior to this, I had been in a religious community in Omaha, Nebraska….which crumbled and broke apart (no need to bore you with details). Thanks be to God, I kept in touch with many of the former members, one of whom was Eddie, who was from Uganda and moved back there at the end of 2010. By the summer of 2011, we were emailing quite frequently, and had become very good friends. I decided I would like to go and visit.

I thought I had better start dropping hints to my parents because I was pretty sure I knew what the initial reaction would be to the suggestion of traveling to Africa. WHAT?!?!?

Slowly, I got mom and dad to accept this idea, and I enticed my friend, Rori, to join me, and we began planning our Ugandan adventure. I prayed a novena asking the Lord if this was indeed what He wanted and the answer was, “Wait.” I thought for sure this meant wait until Rori had her next vacation, so in a few months I asked her again, and she said that due to some unplanned expenses, she wouldn’t be able to go. I put the thought away and went on with my life.

A year later (fall of 2012), my friend Ken was planning a 5-month mission trip to Rwanda. Before leaving, he invited me (and at least 25 other people, hahaha!) to go with him. I firmly told him, “No! I’m going to Haiti.” Ha! God laughed and told me to go to Africa. Happily enough, my friend Michael was going to visit Ken for a few weeks, so I asked to tag along. With a little bit of coaxing, Ken decided to give up his original idea of going to the D.R.C. (Congo) those two weeks (where we probably would have been killed by rebel groups), and instead travel from Rwanda up to Uganda, with me and Michael. Yay, God!

In Uganda, we linked up with NET Ministries (an international Catholic evangelization team), Holy Trinity Community (a Catholic charismatic covenant community), and LifeTeen (an international Catholic youth ministry movement). We traveled and did ministry with them within Masaka, as well as at different schools and churches throughout the country. (And yes, I bothered Ken to make sure we spent a weekend with Eddie while we were there.)

With the NET 2012 Uganda team

Michael and some members of Holy Trinity Community

Our Lady of Sorrows Life Teen

With Eddie at the Ugandan Martyrs Shrine



Since then, I have remained in contact with Moses, the LifeTeen youth minister; Fred, the coordinator of Holy Trinity Community; and Mary and Paul, the founders of St. Anthony primary school in Kasanje, which we visited during Nursery School Graduation Day.

The graduates

Moses and his LifeTeen program have just recently begun a partnership with the Lifeteen program at St. Timothy’s in Mesa, AZ, to support one another in prayer and to work together to build the Kingdom of God. Fred, Mary, Paul, Ken and I (among others) have been discussing the dreams and desires of the community of Kasanje and St. Anthony school, and how we may all work together to help realize these dreams, through the resources and connections they have in country, and those we are able to make and share from abroad.

In order to build these relationships and continue these dialogues in more depth, I will be returning to Uganda in late January of 2014 and remaining there until mid-April. This blog will be a vehicle for sharing that journey with YOU.

During this time, I humbly ask your prayers and sacrifices for this mission and intention, for the people of Uganda, and that God will open the doors that need to be opened and open my heart to be receptive to His Will, so that He may be able to accomplish all that He desires to accomplish in that short time. (Prayers for my safety are much appreciated as well). NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT PRAYER AND INTERCESSION, so please support me in this way. If you have a desire to support me financially in this mission as well, please send me an email. This will be used to help pay for my daily living expenses.

Please follow the blog, and look for an update when I return, to learn of more specific or on-going ways in which you can support St. Anthony’s school community and/or the LifeTeen program. Thank you so much for being a part of this mission and vision!

 For His greater honor and glory…. Amen!