Lessons and Missions

Well, I said yesterday in my ridiculously long post about camp, that I would share some of the lessons I learnt working at camp and tell you about my upcoming Uganda trip, and since I don't have much else to do right now (oh, how I love weekends!), I thought I'd do just that.

Firstly, lessons from camp. Some of these sound tres cliche, I know, but they are true. And the truth is not overrated (Big Fat Liar reference, ahaha!) so here they are:

(P.S. There's a fair few, so bear with me...)

Lessons from Scotian Glen:

• God will always be there to help - it's just up to us to ask for His help.
• Nothing is ever too hard with God's help.
• We need challenges and difficulties in order to grow and learn.
• If it was always easy, we would never get to learn how to handle hard times and gain useful life experience.
• Life would be really boring if it were always easy!
• The logical solution to a problem is not always the best one.
  
• Influence is a powerful, and potentially very dangerous, thing.
• I have a much greater influence than I realise.
• It's the little things that really count.
• Know when to stop - there is a time to just give up.
• Pick your battles, only do what matters.
• Watch your words - what you mean and what you say can be completely different. Be careful! (see The Tuesday Think - Words)
• Never make assumptions or cast judgements.
• First impressions are (almost) always wrong.
• Make every effort to go "the extra mile" - it's the extra care you take that makes the difference.
• When you think you're at the end of your rope and can't do anything more, you're wrong. You can press on and do some of your best work when you decide to persevere.
• Don't take anything too seriously. It's better to laugh it off than to let it get you down.
• Just have fun! If you can't enjoy what you're doing at all, then it's probably not worth doing.
• Look on the bright side!
• Always put other first. (When you live for others it all makes sense.)
  
• Patience! Patience is the key. Even though it's brutally hard at times, it's always worth it.
• Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love is all that ultimately matters.
  

So, there you go. Those are just some of the things that being at camp for 6 weeks (plus Malagash) taught me. Yes, they're all simple things that I already knew, but you can never be reminded of basic truths and principles like these too often.

Now, UGANDA! I depart in a mere 18 days! Ahhhhhhhhhh! :)
I am going to Uganda on a missions trip with a group of 10 people from my church. We're going to the Watoto Children's Village, which is a home for children who have been orphaned, mainly due to AIDS, as well as to civil war, etc. Watoto is just outside of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. We'll be there until 12 October and the main goal for our trip is to help build a classroom for the Watoto school, which we're building thanks to the $23,000 we raised. (Yes, we raised a whackload of money. It costs $17,000 to build the classroom, so who knows what the rest will do... God is amazing!)
We'll also be interacting with the children of Watoto and their "housemothers". You see, Watoto is an orphanage, but not in the traditional sense. At Watoto, kids are placed in homes, in "families" with 7 other brothers and sisters, all orphans, like themselves, and under the care of a "mother". The kids are provided with all that they need, including an education at the school of Watoto. Watoto has given hope, joy, love and life to thousands of kids since it began in 1994. It's going strong as ever: there are several villages, a new "Baby Watoto" and more villages are being created in Northern Uganda, where they will be rescuing child soldiers.
You may have heard of, or even seen, the Watoto Children's Choir. This is a group of Watoto kids who tour the world singing about Jesus, and telling the good news of how He saved them. I have seen them perform twice now, and they are amazing. I am so priviledged to get to go to their homeland and help expand the Village.
Hey, if you want to know any more about Watoto, or see some pictures or anything, here is the website: http://www.watoto.com/

So, now you know what I'll be doing for the first two weeks of October (and also what I'm doing with the money I earned working at camp all summer!) It's gonna be epic. I'd just ask that you keep this mission trip in your prayers. That'd be awesome, ta!

Well, good night everyone!
Jord :)