One Heart
Last time there were three months in between my blog posts. Now I'm down to two months in between. That's a little better, right? I am very sorry for being so terrible at writing these. The days are so long and the weeks just fly by and writing these escapes me. I don't even want to be writing this at the moment, but yet here I am forcing myself because I haven't been very fair to anyone who is following my journey this time around.
Last time I wrote, Heather had just left for America. She had almost two months at home during which she pretty much worked all day, every day, and is now back here with me. We've been enjoying hanging out since she's been back, going out to eat for food and watching Grey's Anatomy in the evenings together. We went through a period of a few days without having water in Jinja right before she got back...and I was a little worried because I knew if the water didn't come back on...she'd stay in Kampala!
Things at HEAL have been good. Tina left last week to go back to the states for medical treatment so everyone is getting into the swing of things without her being here. So far, all of her scans have been great and the doctors are very optimistic about her returning after Christmas to Jinja. We now finally have the 7 interns at the James Place who are here for 6 months to a year. It's been great getting to know these young women and see where their hearts are at. I'm greatly looking forward to continue building relationships with them as we get into a routine of things together as well. We have intern dinner once a week at the James Place in which we discuss God moments and hard moments from the week. Once a week, I am hoping to open our apartment up to them to create a place that they can get away from the James Place just for a little. I know how difficult it is to be working and living on the same compound, having done that for a year myself.
We created many new jewelry pieces this past summer so our ladies at the James Place have been hard at work creating those as well as the previous lines as well. Tina was hoping to bring a certain amount back for each piece before she left, but what she wanted amounts to over 2,000 pieces of jewelry which just wasn't possible. Trey goes home for a class reunion towards the end of September and we're doing our best to create all of those pieces by then.
Something super exciting that happened this summer was the opening of One Heart Collective. A couple of months ago, I gave a tour of HEAL Ministries to 3 lovely women. Two were here adopting, and since have gotten their paperwork and are now at home in the states with their child/children. One had been in Jinja for a while running a guest house. After the tour while they were looking at our jewelry and pottery for sale, we were talking and I brought up the fact that one of future goals was to open a store on Main Street so we could start selling out product there. Terina, the one with the guesthouse, said she had been praying about opening a shop on Main Street for years! She believed that moment was God affirming that this was the time to do it. The three of them left the James Place to go look at a storefront on Main Street. It turns out that a few years back, Terina had prayed for that same storefront to be hers one day. God provided in his perfect timing and within a couple of weeks, the storefront was Terina's! I got to watch her transform it from the empty place that it was, into a beautiful storefront that is a place where ministries doing good work here in Uganda can have a place to sell their product and you can get delicious pastries, ice cream, sandwiches, and coffee! The idea behind One Heart Collective comes from Acts 4:32a which says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind." The ultimate goal is that this store would be a place that would bring unity within the community, because you would probably be shocked by the amount of division and drama that occurs here in our small town of Jinja. Terina believes that this One Heart Collective in Jinja is the first of many that she believes God wants her to plant.
HEAL Ministries has product for sale in One Heart Collective. I used to only be able to sell things on this side to interns and visitors who came for a tour of the ministry. It has been exciting that we are now able to sell to a broader range of people, pretty much anyone who walks into that storefront on Main Street. I've also been able to do some fun marketing things related to this, such as creating our new jewelry tags and brochures that can be distributed at the store. I've also been getting to do a lot of work on the website lately which I always enjoy. We're launching our new jewelry line on September 1st, so make sure to check out our store then!
Well, I don't want to write too much and bore you to death. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you might have seen my many posts about doing the behind the scenes tour at the Zoo in Entebbe, Uganda. We brought all of our staff there on a retreat and we were informed that we were the first organization to ever bring their Ugandan staff on the behind the scenes tour. That broke my heart a little bit, but I was glad that we were able to do something so incredible for our staff. Everyone seemed to have a great time! Who wouldn't enjoy riding through the zoo exhibits while standing in the back of a pickup truck and getting to interact up close and personal with the animals? Only in Africa folks.
God bless you!
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| This was the first time my new "googles" were tried on by a child this time around. |
Last time I wrote, Heather had just left for America. She had almost two months at home during which she pretty much worked all day, every day, and is now back here with me. We've been enjoying hanging out since she's been back, going out to eat for food and watching Grey's Anatomy in the evenings together. We went through a period of a few days without having water in Jinja right before she got back...and I was a little worried because I knew if the water didn't come back on...she'd stay in Kampala!
 |
| No water means you have to go fill up jerry cans at the lake (Lake Victoria) |
We created many new jewelry pieces this past summer so our ladies at the James Place have been hard at work creating those as well as the previous lines as well. Tina was hoping to bring a certain amount back for each piece before she left, but what she wanted amounts to over 2,000 pieces of jewelry which just wasn't possible. Trey goes home for a class reunion towards the end of September and we're doing our best to create all of those pieces by then.
Something super exciting that happened this summer was the opening of One Heart Collective. A couple of months ago, I gave a tour of HEAL Ministries to 3 lovely women. Two were here adopting, and since have gotten their paperwork and are now at home in the states with their child/children. One had been in Jinja for a while running a guest house. After the tour while they were looking at our jewelry and pottery for sale, we were talking and I brought up the fact that one of future goals was to open a store on Main Street so we could start selling out product there. Terina, the one with the guesthouse, said she had been praying about opening a shop on Main Street for years! She believed that moment was God affirming that this was the time to do it. The three of them left the James Place to go look at a storefront on Main Street. It turns out that a few years back, Terina had prayed for that same storefront to be hers one day. God provided in his perfect timing and within a couple of weeks, the storefront was Terina's! I got to watch her transform it from the empty place that it was, into a beautiful storefront that is a place where ministries doing good work here in Uganda can have a place to sell their product and you can get delicious pastries, ice cream, sandwiches, and coffee! The idea behind One Heart Collective comes from Acts 4:32a which says, "All the believers were one in heart and mind." The ultimate goal is that this store would be a place that would bring unity within the community, because you would probably be shocked by the amount of division and drama that occurs here in our small town of Jinja. Terina believes that this One Heart Collective in Jinja is the first of many that she believes God wants her to plant.
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| That giant rug is a custom rug that our women made to match the decor of the store |
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| Opening day we got to pray and worship in the store before opening the doors |
HEAL Ministries has product for sale in One Heart Collective. I used to only be able to sell things on this side to interns and visitors who came for a tour of the ministry. It has been exciting that we are now able to sell to a broader range of people, pretty much anyone who walks into that storefront on Main Street. I've also been able to do some fun marketing things related to this, such as creating our new jewelry tags and brochures that can be distributed at the store. I've also been getting to do a lot of work on the website lately which I always enjoy. We're launching our new jewelry line on September 1st, so make sure to check out our store then!
Well, I don't want to write too much and bore you to death. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you might have seen my many posts about doing the behind the scenes tour at the Zoo in Entebbe, Uganda. We brought all of our staff there on a retreat and we were informed that we were the first organization to ever bring their Ugandan staff on the behind the scenes tour. That broke my heart a little bit, but I was glad that we were able to do something so incredible for our staff. Everyone seemed to have a great time! Who wouldn't enjoy riding through the zoo exhibits while standing in the back of a pickup truck and getting to interact up close and personal with the animals? Only in Africa folks.
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| This was our transport in the zoo |
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| The cow really wanted the food we brought for the giraffes |
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| Me with Aisha and 2 of 17 white rhinos in Uganda |
God bless you!
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