Exhausted & Sure
Had you asked me five years ago where I would see myself today, I can definitely tell you I would not have said that I would see my 24 year old self serving as acting director for an organization in a foreign country overseeing 43 Ugandan staff, 65 children, 60+ women in our program, and 7 interns on a daily basis. But alas, here I am, doing just that.
Normally it's not just me here. Normally either Tina Weir, Founder and Executive Director of HEAL Ministries, and/or Trey Weir (her son), Director of Operations, are on ground in Jinja. My first year on ground, there were two different two week periods where it was just me. This year, things are a little different. Trey had been gifted a trip home to attend a class reunion. He was gone for about 2 weeks the end of September into the beginning of October. Then he was supposed to be here until almost the end of November. However, he had some medical emergencies happen suddenly and had to fly home early. He left on the 19th of October. And since then, it has just been me. Total time by myself this year will come to 10 weeks by the time we close for Christmas break.
I'm not going to lie. I am exhausted. My hours are extended and I have more responsibility now than I ever have had before with the organization. I have to make decisions daily that impact the lives of the people around me. Do I feel equipped for this job? No. Am I though? Yes. Because the Lord put me here for a reason and supplies me all of my needs on a daily basis. Tina has said that she is grateful for me being here, because if I wasn't, she would have had to get on a plane against her doctor's orders and leave her sick son to come and make sure this place continued running. So, while I am tired, I know that God placed me here for a reason and I am grateful that I can allow Tina this time with Trey in the states.
"Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:28-31
Not only that, but my roommate left me! So now I'm alone at the house too. We did a trip to the zoo together with some of the interns shortly before she left. That was a lot of fun. The nice thing is that she actually lands in Uganda a couple days before I do in January and will be at the airport to pick me up! Love and miss you Heather!
My mom is coming out to visit for the first time this December. She lands the 12th and will have almost a week with HEAL before we close and then go on safari! I'll get to show her around Jinja and we'll get to go to a Sole Hope jigger removal clinic. After I close the ministry on the 17th (we have three weeks off because almost everyone goes home to the villages for Christmas), we will leave for safari the next day. I'm taking my mom to Murchison Falls for 4 nights before we head to Entebbe to get on a plane back to America.
We get on the plane December 22nd, land on the 23rd, and I have exactly 2 weeks on the ground in America before I fly back to Jinja on January 6th. During that time, I have to fit in a multitude of doctors appointments because I will be off of my parents insurance the next time I am in the states. I'm also planning on chopping off my hair (it's way too long and way too hot here) as well as trying to see family and friends. It's going to be an exhausting two weeks.
I did recently find out that HEAL will be paying my expenses on this side next year. That is a huge blessing and means I don't have to fundraise nearly as much as I did for this year. I will still need to fundraise enough for the supplies I need to purchase to bring back with me, some money for medical coverage incase anything unexpected happens, money to get the Adobe Creative Suite which I use on a daily basis here (but with having to purchase a new laptop due to my old one dying, I no longer have access to), as well as money for a plane ticket home. I would ask you to please prayerfully consider making a donation so that I can continue serving the people of Uganda. What I am doing would not be possible without your prayer and support. I will be sending fundraising letters out soon, but you can donate to me through Paypal using my phone number, 201-819-1374, or send cash or checks to my home address:
Betty Ross
33 Schuyler Avenue
Pequannock, NJ 07440
I thank you all for your prayers. They mean more to me than you know. Also...if anyone would like to have a penpal from Uganda, feel free to send me a letter and I will send you one back! You address the letter the same way you would send it in the states but you also have to write AIRMAIL larger in the lower right hand corner:
Hands Embracing All Lands
Attn: Betty Ross
P.O. Box 5142
Jinja, Uganda
East Africa
Love you all and God bless!
Normally it's not just me here. Normally either Tina Weir, Founder and Executive Director of HEAL Ministries, and/or Trey Weir (her son), Director of Operations, are on ground in Jinja. My first year on ground, there were two different two week periods where it was just me. This year, things are a little different. Trey had been gifted a trip home to attend a class reunion. He was gone for about 2 weeks the end of September into the beginning of October. Then he was supposed to be here until almost the end of November. However, he had some medical emergencies happen suddenly and had to fly home early. He left on the 19th of October. And since then, it has just been me. Total time by myself this year will come to 10 weeks by the time we close for Christmas break.
 |
| Some of our staff and kids |
I'm not going to lie. I am exhausted. My hours are extended and I have more responsibility now than I ever have had before with the organization. I have to make decisions daily that impact the lives of the people around me. Do I feel equipped for this job? No. Am I though? Yes. Because the Lord put me here for a reason and supplies me all of my needs on a daily basis. Tina has said that she is grateful for me being here, because if I wasn't, she would have had to get on a plane against her doctor's orders and leave her sick son to come and make sure this place continued running. So, while I am tired, I know that God placed me here for a reason and I am grateful that I can allow Tina this time with Trey in the states.
"Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." - 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:28-31
Not only that, but my roommate left me! So now I'm alone at the house too. We did a trip to the zoo together with some of the interns shortly before she left. That was a lot of fun. The nice thing is that she actually lands in Uganda a couple days before I do in January and will be at the airport to pick me up! Love and miss you Heather!
My mom is coming out to visit for the first time this December. She lands the 12th and will have almost a week with HEAL before we close and then go on safari! I'll get to show her around Jinja and we'll get to go to a Sole Hope jigger removal clinic. After I close the ministry on the 17th (we have three weeks off because almost everyone goes home to the villages for Christmas), we will leave for safari the next day. I'm taking my mom to Murchison Falls for 4 nights before we head to Entebbe to get on a plane back to America.
 |
| Taken at Murchison Falls National Park Last Year |
We get on the plane December 22nd, land on the 23rd, and I have exactly 2 weeks on the ground in America before I fly back to Jinja on January 6th. During that time, I have to fit in a multitude of doctors appointments because I will be off of my parents insurance the next time I am in the states. I'm also planning on chopping off my hair (it's way too long and way too hot here) as well as trying to see family and friends. It's going to be an exhausting two weeks.
I did recently find out that HEAL will be paying my expenses on this side next year. That is a huge blessing and means I don't have to fundraise nearly as much as I did for this year. I will still need to fundraise enough for the supplies I need to purchase to bring back with me, some money for medical coverage incase anything unexpected happens, money to get the Adobe Creative Suite which I use on a daily basis here (but with having to purchase a new laptop due to my old one dying, I no longer have access to), as well as money for a plane ticket home. I would ask you to please prayerfully consider making a donation so that I can continue serving the people of Uganda. What I am doing would not be possible without your prayer and support. I will be sending fundraising letters out soon, but you can donate to me through Paypal using my phone number, 201-819-1374, or send cash or checks to my home address:
Betty Ross
33 Schuyler Avenue
Pequannock, NJ 07440
I thank you all for your prayers. They mean more to me than you know. Also...if anyone would like to have a penpal from Uganda, feel free to send me a letter and I will send you one back! You address the letter the same way you would send it in the states but you also have to write AIRMAIL larger in the lower right hand corner:
Hands Embracing All Lands
Attn: Betty Ross
P.O. Box 5142
Jinja, Uganda
East Africa
 |
| When you pet the big kitty and all of a sudden you can feel his teeth on your arm and you question whether it was the right decision... no worries though...just licking the salt off my arm! |
Love you all and God bless!
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