May 13 – Sunday

Happy Mother's Day! Thank you Mom for loving me and leading me in Christ. What a gift you have given me. And your faithfulness to God is now bringing being shared around the world. Thank you to my Mother-in-law for bringing up a man of God and for accepting me as one of your own. And to all the other godly mothers I have the privilege of knowing, I thank God for you.

A couple days ago we decided to get about 20lbs of meat to grind. Of course that night our power went out and was out for more than 18 hours. I was so mad! The meat was beginning to smell but we went ahead and had our house help grind it any way (she said it was still okay too). I am so glad I didn't have to grind all that meat. What a long, messy, and smelly process.
We now have meat, which we decided to cook extra well just in case. And so, after talking about and shopping around for a generator, we now own one. Yeah! Josh's Aunt and Uncle generously help us with the money for one. The generator is big enough to run our fridge, lights, and fans. It can't run anything that heats and will only be on for a few hours at a time, but that is all we need to keep our freezer frozen and to have lights for bath time. The electrician is coming tomorrow to wire it to the house for us.

This may sound a little funny but God has been teaching me a little bit about what it means to love and pray for our enemies. I really felt like the people in control of our electricity were my enemies the other morning with the meat incident. I was anger yet some how reminded that that is when God calls us to love. When it isn't easy we are to be different than the rest of the world and show love. I've been thinking a lot about this with Steven. He lied to us, took advantage of our generosity, and even tried to steal from us and God wants me to pray for him and still love him. This does not mean continue to let him use us but to lead him with love. I am thankful that our ways are not God's ways. And I am thankful that He is teaching me His ways.

For the first time since we got here I have been feeling a bit homesick. It must be a mix of reasons why: people being sick, discouragement, summer approaching, garage sales happening, we have been here almost 3 months now, bored, stressed, questioning what I do here, weddings being planning at home... Somethings must sound funny to you, but it really is the normal every day stuff that brings comfort and we tend to miss. Summer seems to do it to me. I know everyone will be together so much and I wish I could be there. I love going to the cottage, going garage salting together, smelling fresh cut grass, tubing, grilling, all the fruits and vegetables, going for ice cream and looking for deer, sitting by a campfire... So please enjoy it all for me. Isn't it just like human nature to want what we can't have and to glamorize things. I commonly have this problem (sin?) of wanting the best of both worlds. I do want to live and serve in Uganda but I also want to be able to go home and enjoy. Even though I am very busy here with the girls and keeping up with the house and food, I find live on the mission field can be very boring at times. We are at home all the time. There are no parks to go to, no stores to walk around in and enjoy, no friends or family to go and visit, no babysitters, and no plans on the calendar. Am I a complainer or what?! Sorry. This is how I vent sometimes. Then God puts it all back in perspective again and even challenges me. I look around and see real suffering and need – what am I complaining about! I have been so blessed! I was upset about my weight the other day and thought I should pray about it. Boy did God speak to me. How sad and wrong is it that I am praying to God about having too much to eat when my neighbors have to skip meals because they don't have enough. I have things all wrong sometimes and am full of myself. In my devotions God showed me Psalm 116:7, “Be at rest once more, o my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Isn't that a great verse. It just speaks to me. Have peace and be content Mandy, look at all the ways God is so good to you. Amen!