A New Stone

This is probably the best way to start a journal entry about my trip. This story is the beginning and the end of this chapter and with time I will post the in between stories. First let me start by explaining that I have always loved the story of Joshua in the Old Testament. For some reason his story just resonates with me. I found myself going back to his story in preparation for the trip. If you're familiar with Joshua you know that Moses sent Joshua, Caleb and 10 others to spy out the promised land, Canaan. This was the land the Lord had set apart for the Israelites and the place they were longing for as they wondered 40 years in the wilderness. The time was soon approaching and Moses sent the 12 to go ahead and scout out the land. When the 12 returned the other ten reported that there were giants and going into this land that God had promised was impossible...they wanted to just return to Egypt where they were captives. Ironically enough the Lord struck those 10 dead. Joshua and Caleb had a different perspective however. They saw what the other 10 saw but more importantly they saw a land flowing with milk and honey. Their focus was on a land their God had promised them and nothing would deter them from that land.

I shared with me team that I felt like we were being sent as scouts to Uganda. Geoffrey is in the process of building an orphanage and has a passion and a vision for orphan care there. The Lord just impressed on my heart that the five of us were being sent as scouts to catch a glimpse of that vision and return here to report and help gather the resources. My prayer as I challenged the team is that our perspective in coming back would be to report what God allowed us to see...not the obstacles. I know Satan would love to get a foothold and have our attitude be one of "thank God I am back in America and I could care less if I ever go back." Oh how the Lord was faithful to allow all five us to see the promises and the hope that awaits in Uganda.

Further on in the story of Joshua you'll remember that Moses never got to lead the people into the promised land...Joshua was their leader when the promise was fulfilled. As the people crossed through the Jordan River on dry land the Lord instructed Joshua to have the leader of each of the 12 tribes take a stone from the water's bed. Once they reached dry ground they were instructed to build a memorial with the 12 stones so that they would always be able to come back to this place and remember God's faithfulness. The memorial would also serve as a way of telling their children and grandchildren about this season/chapter of their lives.

Like I said...this story has always resonated with me. In 1998 I got my first tattoo and it served as one of "my stones" that I could always look at and remember how I saw experienced God's faithfulness and knew his nearness. In 2000 I got my second stone. For two years I have known I wanted a third tattoo but I didn't know where I wanted it and I didn't have an experience to connect it with. That was important to me.

As I went back and read the story of Joshua again the day before we left for Uganda I saw a part of the story I had never seen before. Just a few verses past where the 12 stones were placed by the 12 tribes it says the Joshua took another 12 stones and put them in the river. I had never noticed this part of the passage...but wow how it gripped me. You see those 12 stones were just for Joshua...no one else could see them, no one knew they were there, but they were just between him and the Lord. Not only were they for him and his God but the only time Joshua would ever see those stones again was if the Jordan River dried up...only in a drought would he see that reminder...just when he would need the reminder the most. Even as a type that my eyes are welling up with tears. For those of you who have journeyed with me for a while you know, or maybe you don't...the last four years of life have been a drought for me. I feel like I have been in the wilderness and have the bumps, bruises and scars on my spirit to show it. Everything in me was hoping that my trip to Africa was going to be the start of a chapter of restoration and joy. When I read that passage the day before I left it was as if the Lord just leaned in and whispered sweetly in my ear that the river was coming...but I've allowed you to see the stones in the drought.

From the minute my feet touched the ground in Uganda there was a mighty river. I haven't felt that alive in a long time, actually probably never. I couldn't soak in enough of hearing the Lord and seeing him at work around me. His promises and blessings were bursting at the seams for me. And here is why I adore my heavenly Father...He was faithful to daily remind me that is was ALL HIM...and not becuase I was Africa that the restoration had begun. I didn't have to return to Louisiana and dread that the wilderness was waiting because it wasn't about a place, but about God, my sustainer.Dont' get me wrong, I left a huge part of my heart in Uganda and honestly think the Lord will have me back there for an extended period of time one day...but I came home renewed, restored and soaking in the river.

So with that experience (deep breath)...I knew it was time for a new stone. I knew two years ago that I wanted the word "redeemed" but I didn't know where on my body or in what script. As we were sharing the gospel one day using the evangecube which walks through the gospel using pictures, it became quite clear where the next stone was going. There was a picture on the cube of Jesus reaching his hand out to receive you and the nail scars were still fresh and very visible on his wrist. That picture was magnified in my heart...his suffering and death are the reason, the only reason, why I am REDEEMED. What better place than on my wrist to remind me that Christ has redeemed me. Christ has redeemed my mistakes, my sin, my past, my future and the day is coming when all that is broken will be made right...REDEEMED. I finally decided to get the tattoo in Hebrew because in the Old Testament, which was originally written in Hebrew, redemption was only a promise...but the promise was fulfilled in the New Testament through Christ. I wanted a reminder that even though I am redeemed now and have been since I professed Christ as my savior...there is still a great promise of redemption coming when I don't have to thirst through a drought, walk the road alone, grow weary from working or experience heartbreak.

The thing I loved about the people of Uganda was their simplicity. Because they have so little, they have an unbelievable joy and hope when they have Christ as their Savior. I feel like they know what it means to yearn for Heaven...to yearn for what has been promised. Too often I find myself so satisfied with the things of this world that I am content to wait and wait for the Lord's return. This new "stone" is a reminder to me not only that God was and is faithful in the drought of the last four years, but there is a time coming that all things will be redeemed and I want a spirit that yearns for His return. Come Lord Jesus, Come!

So, that was quite a long post but is the reason for the new tattoo and the bookends to my first trip to Africa. A word from the Lord, his restoring touch and a way to always be reminded. Now that the bookends are in place I will begin writing the in between stories soon, there is just still so much to process.

The Lord is Faithful....

To say that the Lord is faithful seems like an understatement....but it is the only way I know to start this blog. I shared that our team verse was Ephesians 3:18-21 and wow did the Lord ever keep his promise to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we could have asked or imagined during our time in Uganda.


I mentioned in the last post and on several other occassions that I have been trying to get to Africa for 1o years. My biggest fear is that it would either be all that imagined and more and I wouldn't want to come home or that it wouldn't be what I expected and I would be disappointed. Let me just clear it up right now...I was not disappointed. I feel like my heart found it's rightful home in Africa. I have never felt so alive. I am already praying that the Lord would fling the door open wide for me to go back for a longer period of time...even permanently. Enough about that though...let me share stories.

First let me introduce you to the team officially now that I can add pictures to the blog.

from left to right: Maggie, KB, Heather, Jimmy and Matt
I couldn't have asked for a better team to travel Uganda with. The Lord kept us laughing with and at each other for two and half weeks. The more I was with them the more I loved them. I was like a proud mom sitting back taking thousands of pics and watching them play soccer and lead songs and love on kids. I beamed with pride every time I got to hear one of them share the gospel and my heart beat out of my chest every time I children would raise their hands...ready to follow Jesus. As we traveled from school to school, from district to district in Northern Uganda..I am proud to tell you that we have over 6000 new brothers and sisters in Christ. Every night we would sit together in utter astonishment at the way the Lord was working. The apostle Paul was right when he wrote "At the NAME of JESUS every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!" All we had to do was be faithful to share and Christ made himself irristable the people we shared with.

My mom asked me why I loved Uganda so much and all I can really say is that the people were simple. When you met a believe you knew without a doubt that their hope nad their joy was Christ alone. Jimmy and I were talking one day in the van and the best I could muster up was that these people knew what it meant to yearn for heaven. They don't have the busyness and the distractions that keep them satisfied here on earth...they work and exist longing for a new day...to be one day closer to "home". And even in that explanation it doesn't do them justice. I took thousands of pictures just capturing the love, hope and courage you see in each face.

The trip wouldn't have been possible without our Paul and Timothy...otherwise known in Uganda as Geoffrey and Stanley. These guys made our trip absolutely incredible. They have both local pastors who have taken the Great Commission seriously...they host teams and spend most of their time traveling around sharing the gospel wherever they are permitted. Geoffrey has started an orphan care ministry and is in the process of raising the money to open an orphanage and school. Right now he has currently placed 50 orphans in foster homes with familiers who are believers. To say these guys are amazing is truly an understatement. They treated our team like family and when it came time to leave them we felt we were leaving a huge part of ourselves behind.

Geoffrey

Stanley

I'm honestly not really sure where to start or what to tell and if you've seen my facebook page then you know that choosing which pics to post is an impossible task. This will be a long process and will take many many blog entries so stay tuned. I will try to slowing walk through the days slowly but surely.

For now I hear a nap calling my name. I have had a terrible cough for the majority of the trip. I have affectionately called it my "black lung" and every time I start coughing my teammates tell me to stay with them..not to go towards the light. Well I made it to the doctor this morning only to discover that the "black lung" is a case of pneumonia. I feel much better knowing that...I really thought that jet lag was whooping my tail more than ever before. Now I feel justified in how tired I am. Keep me in your prayers as I ease back into life...work is calling tomorrow.

More posts coming soon.

Leaving on a jet plane...

....don't know when I'll be back again!

Only kidding. I'm leaving today for Uganda after months of anticipation and ten years of longing to go to Africa. Please keep "the fab five" in your prayers as we travel for the next 48 hours. Several of my teammates have a fearof flying and I am so proud of their courage to follow God's call even when it means facing their fears. Pray for our protection both traveling and as we spend two weeks ministering in Northern Uganda.

You can also pray that the Lord gives us supernatural strength as we play soccer in the heat everyday. We played for less than an hour yesterday and it wiped us all out pretty good. The Lord is faithful!

I've tried uploading a team picture but blogging from my phone isn't ideal. Check out my facebook page for a picture of my team. I love them all dearly already and pray that the Lord binds Satan from causing any dissection or disunity among us. We laugh a lot together but have already become open and transparent with each other...the Lord is good.

Thank you for your prayers and I will keep you updated the best I can.

team verse

In my training manual as the team leader it was suggested that we have a team verse and memorize it together and focus on it throughout the trip. I have been thinking about what that verse should be...I mean seriously, there are so many promises in God's Word...so many ways He has shown His faithulness. Something kept drawing me back to Ephesians 3:18-21...these verses have resonated with me for a long long long time.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish inifinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

I pray that each of us on the team will truly begin to grasp just how overwhelming our Father's love for us is....and that He longs to fill us with his fullness so that we are not lacking power for anything he calls us to do. I have big hopes for this trip and I get a little teary to think that my hopes and dreams for this trip don't even compare to what God has in store for me...for us.I pray he opens our eyes and our hearts so we don't miss it! Praise be to the CREATOR of the universe for making himself known to us and working in and through us. I can't wrap my mind around that...honestly!

I meet my team tomorrow and I am quite excited!

Update on the river kayaking trip: I had a blast going kayaking on Saturday. I've never kayaked before and I love it. I did have one minor mishap where I flipped my kayak going down a rapid backwards. I have a battle wound to show for my adventure but nothing that won't heal in time. If I didn't live in Louisiana where all waters are gator infested...and if I hadn't watched so many episodes of RIVER MONSTERS I might would consider buying a kayak.

first leg of the adventure...

Well the time has finally arrived for my trip to Uganda! I arrived in Atlanta last night where I will spend the next few days preparing for my team. While I am here I am going to get to reconnect with some long lost friends that live in the area. Sara Beth and I were catching up last night and realizing that it had been 4 years since we had seen one another...how does that happen? I will get to see Billy and Elizabeth tomorrow and get some love from Bailey, Jesse and finally get to meet sweet Jack! Today we are going river kayaking and I will get to catch up with two old friends from my college days. My soul is full and rejoicing in just how much God has blessed me with some amazing people at every season of my life.

My team will arrive on Tuesday for training camp and I am anxious to meet them. We will spend two days preparing for ministry together. We got a rough idea this week of what our schedule will look like. I wanted to include that for you so you would know how to pray for us. You'll notice that the majority of what we will be doing is playing soccer...I'VE NEVER PLAYED SOCCER A DAY IN MY LIFE! I am so thankful that what began this adventure was getting in shape and losing weight...at least now I will be able to run and play and try to keep up!

July 1st we will depart from Atlanta for Uganda. We will fly from ATL to Detroit...on to Amsterdam for a short layover and then into Entebbe in Uganda.

July 2nd and 3rd we will arrive in Uganda and have two days of orientation and will travel to North Uganda where we will spend our time doing ministry.

July 4th we will be joining a local church for worship. Geoffrey has asked if one of our team members would like to preach and I am praying through that...you can certainly add that to your prayers. Uganda culture doesn't have a problem with women preachers so I could be the preacher for the day but I am waiting on a word from the Lord.

July 5th-9th we will be playing soccer and doing outreach in several schools

July 10th we will be doing orphan home visitations

July 11th we will be joining another congregation for worship and then doing soccer outreach in the afternoon/evening

July 12th we will be playing soccer in more schools

July 13th-14th we will get to go on a 3 day safari

July 15th we will leave Entebbe headed back home.

We have some very active days ahead so pray for strength and endurance. Please pray for that everyone stays healthy and adjust to the 8 hour time difference quickly. We really aren't sure what the living conditions will be. For most of our time we will probably have no electricity, take bucket bathes and use squatty potties...pray for a flexible spirit and that our team would laugh and embrace the challenges!

My biggest perosnal request would be this: I have longed to go to Africa and know that this is going to be a life changing trip. My fear is that I will be an emotional wreck when I return. I do not want to be that bitter person who hates America and wishes she were back in Africa to the point of making everyone around me miserable. I want to be thankful for the opportunity that the Lord has blessed me with and come back changed for the better. I know this will be just the first of many trip to Africa and I would be totally okay with God calling me there full time...but most importantly I want to be where He wants me and be wholeheartedly invested in that place and those people wherever it is...be it Africa or Pineville.

Here are the names of the my teammates so you can pray for them by name:
KB Thomas--team leader
Maggie Lingenfelter
Heather Odom
Matt Jahnke
Jimmy Thate

Thank you in advance for your prayers! I look forward to having great stories and thousands (not exaggerating) of pictures to share with you.

photo shoot with Noah Lee Chandler

So you have probably noticed that my blogging has decreased significantly since Noah Lee Chandler entered our world. I can't make apologies for that...I am loving this little boy and spending as much time with him as I can. I will be leaving this week for Uganda and will be gone for almost three weeks and before I get back the Chandlers are leaving for their trip to NC and wont be back until two weeks after I am back home. If you do the math that's 5 weeks I won't get to see sweet Noah. He hasn't even been around for 5 weeks yet so I will miss half of his life. Okay, so that's a little dramatic but I am still trying to get some quality time with him and his parents before I head out. I got to be his first official babysitter this past Thursday and I was a wee bit excited. Cory and Amy went on a date to dinner and a movie and I got to spoil Noah for a few hours.

Since Father's Day was just a few days away I thought I would take advantage of my time with Noah and have a mini photo shoot in hopes of getting some good pics to give Cory for Father's Day. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...only they were so cute I couldn't keep them a secret. As soon as Cory and Amy got home I showed them the pics. Amy and I even went to Walmart on Friday night and used the pics to design his birth announcement. Here are just a few of the many many pics I took of lil man that night.

CREATURE OF HABIT!

So, I am learning something about myself just a few weeks into the summer. Okay, so maybe it isn't an entirely new lesson, just one that is being reinforced with every passing day. I, KB Thomas, am a creature of habit. I thrive on a routine!! I haven't always been this way...or at least not this bad. I chalk it up to getting older and needing to have some order in my life. From the time I graduated high school until I started my job at LC 5 years ago I lived a very spontaneous...ever changing life. Every summer I was doing summer missions or working Centrifuge in a new location. After graduating college and starting seminary I moved from city to city and job to job. I loved my life and all the adventures the Lord let me experience. Now that I have settled into a job and been in one place for almost five years now...I thrive on the routine of life and when the routine is off I feel disheveled. Case in point, we host a different camp every week of the summer here at LC so we are constantly checking people in and out. Every camps' needs are different, their check in and out times vary, emergencies happen at the oddest hours, camp directors personalities are drastically different...and therefore, no week of the summer is the same. I really never know what to expect on any given day going into the office. Don't get me wrong...I love camps and miss almost every day of the summer being able to work camp...but when summer rolls around and all other offices on campus get a break I feel like I go into coffee and survival mode.

Sadly, because Hayden is working as an intern for summer camps and Sara is working as my assistant in Residence Life our workout routine has struggled the last two weeks as we have all gone into survival mode. Fortunately I am still losing weight and getting as many workouts in as possible in a given week. We are trying to figure out how to get back on schedule. So far it's required me to get runs in by myself which is never fun. Sara is married to a youth ministry and so there have been several nights where her schedule has been booked with church activities. This week her church has night VBS so we are going to have to get in morning workouts if they are going to get done. Have I mentioned that Sara isn't a morning person and requires a lot of sleep? No pain, no gain...right?

All that to say...I'm actually thankful that I am learning how to lose weight, eat right and incorporate exercise into my "real life"...it's challenging enough to learn new habits in you're normal routine...much less learn it on a TV show in a bubble and then have to come home and incorporate it into "real life." If I can roll with the punches of the summer and still manage to get a workout in every day regardless of my schedule or where I am in (Dry Creek, Uganda, etc) then I will be set when the school year starts back and I can get into a routine.

HAVE I MENTIONED I AM GOING TO AFRICA IN TWO WEEKS?!?!?!?!?! Cause I am!