I have never...

Concluding a previous trip, Bethany (a trip participant) wrote a blog titled “I Have Never…”

And with her prompting....

I have never…

·         Had to wash my children outside in a bucket with no running water

·         Walked in the elements just to get clean water or to go to school 

·         Received the clarity of life like I do in Uganda

·         Cried for the opportunity to have education

·         Heard a 10 year old boy speak about his fathers’ mistreatment to him and mother

·         Been a double orphan and homeless

·         Stolen, simply to eat a morsel of food

·         Given my child to a stranger, thinking they’d be better off, due to my inability to feed or educate them

·         Praised God in such an uninhibited way in church

·         Felt the presence of the Holy Spirit blow through my hair with every breeze

·         Understood “things” are merely that... just ”things”

·         Experienced “Jesus feeding the 5,000” through encountering an individual selflessly supporting 200 kids----realizing this individual has nothing to begin with. 

·         Seen children squeal with delight when given an empty plastic water bottle

·         Watched a child blow up a Ziploc bag to kick & use it as a soccer ball

·         Experienced or demonstrated true, genuine sacrifice…you know…the kind of sacrifice that actually hurts!

·         Met an 8 year old boy who didn’t know how to ride a bike because he’d never sat on one

·         Left my infant alone at home, for days, in order to prostitute myself to purchase food

·         Left my younger siblings at home, in order to prostitute myself, purchase food for them

·         Reach for food, and had my hand cut off

·         Told my kids we were fasting because I had no food to offer them

·         See my brother killed

·         Been beaten at school because only ½ of my school fees could be paid

·         Been the parent of a child who was sacrificed by the witch doctor

·         Been woken up at night by the “Night Dancer” and sacrificed

·         Endured daily beatings from extended relatives because I am seen as a financial burden due to the      death of my parents

·         Disfigured from boiling water poured on me, by relatives of my deceased father

·         Had to hide my family in a hole in the ground, in order to avoid corrupt soldiers

·         Killed  my father as he slept, due to years of mistreatment