God has us here for a reason

The last three months in Africa have been filled with illnesses and sicknesses that the Pierce family has never encountered stateside--funky, not-so-familiar names like Giardia, Amoebic Dysentery, and now Brucellosis.  As painful and inconvenient as these yucky bugs are, they pale in comparison to the suffering around us.  

My heart breaks when I see children walking around with poorly healed limbs, now debilitated, because they had to lie in bed while their bones healed improperly without a cast. Malnourished children, thyphoid, and tuberculosis are common. Men, women, and children die of unknown diseases, malnutrition, and complications that can’t be resolved.

I see the terrible suffering of these people each day. I want to do more. I want to give more. And maybe the Lord is asking me to. When I put it before the Lord, I can’t help but see a bigger picture.

As long as governments continue to worship the idols of power and wealth, and their allegiance is not to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords--wars and famine will happen. Medical development and farming will be limited due to instability and corruption. More and more people will die. Displacement and instability will limit access to basic medical care and sanitary living conditions.

Near the refugee camps in Ethiopia, housing is scarce. Families pile other displaced family members into their mudhuts, so when one person gets sick, everyone gets sick. I am brought to tears as tragedy continues to unfold before me. But the answer isn’t better healthcare. BILLIONS of Billions of dollars are sent to countries just like South Sudan every year to help save lives and improve access to healthcare. Why isn’t the aid working? We know the answer. This battle is not against flesh and blood. 

Why would we invest two years or more of our lives here unless we had hope? Hope that we might have the opportunity to serve, love, and disciple a few South Sudanese men and women. Hope that those who don’t know Him might come to know our only hope, Christ Jesus. Hope that those who DO know Christ as Lord might be encouraged that, despite the suffering and sorrow they are enduring, they are born again into a living hope that cannot be destroyed by war or famine.

Please join us in prayer for South Sudan. For the leaders. For the soldiers. For the widows. For the orphans. For the dying. For the lost.

God has us here for a reason. Despite the sadness and grief that we see and experience here, we are blessed to be here. We are blessed to war in prayer for this nation, for these people, and to gather you with us in this fight. Thank you for your support.

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.  For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.”

Ephesians 6: 11-12

Conservation

So we got a dog. She’s really cute. Her name is ZaZu. From the beginning we knew she was not here for the purpose of being a family member, but more of an alert system for snakes, rats, and other vermin. 

So before ZaZu was even here, we decided she would eat table scraps.

For the first few days, it worked well. ZaZu was getting plenty to eat from the food we couldn’t finish each meal.  But as our eyes began to become more aware of our surroundings and as we came to the realization that some of our meals cost more than 30 times what minimum wage is here, our eating habits began to change.

Soon, we found our bowls empty after each meal. When we made too much food, we creatively found ways to stretch it to make it last another meal. So then, what do we feed Zazu? Dog food here is pretty expensive, so we asked around. What do other Mazungoos (foreigners) feed their dogs? The Answer: Posho and dried fish.

Posho is kind of a flour that thickens into this strange doughy substance. The dried fish is smaller than sardines and very….chewy.  The cost for Zazu to eat this stuff is about 5,000 shillings per week, a little under $2.50 USD.

When it came time to serve Zazu his first meal, we didn’t know how to make it. We had our guard, Mr. Cehphus show us how to cook it. It turns out this special meal we were making for Zazu is a common meal eaten by many locals as well, including Mr. Cehphus.

This by far is the hardest part of being in Uganda for me. I love Uganda: the traffic, the crazy driving, the steep hills, fresh fruit and beautiful views! But in this country, we are considered rich. And we are rich compared to the most of this world. But it’s so obvious here. And so less obvious when we are in the states. I don’t like being so different from everyone else. It’s a painful reminder that many people aren’t nearly as spoiled as I am.

So with that, we do our best to conserve more. Utilize our resources to the best of our ability. Because when we spend less, we can give more. We can bless more. And blessing people in the name of Jesus brings beauty to brokenness.

February, 23, 2010 - Cultivating Compassion & Appreciation

So, I'm up earlier than normal. And I can't get this nagging feeling out of my head, that I'm on the wrong track.
Jared and I have always known that we wanted to serve God through various ministries. Not only that we want to do it, but that we were made to do it.
We do serve in small ways, but we have full time jobs which we are very grateful for.
As we work so hard to provide a "better life" for our children, I realize more and more every day, that providing the "better life" for them may mean that we hinder the cultivation of compassion, appreciation, gratefulness. Is this true?

Growing up, I remember getting excited when a teacher would announce a field trip or in high school when younglife would announce the week long camping trips. I would get excited and overjoyed and then very quickly would realize that I may not be able to participate. The worry and fear that we could not afford it was very real to me. Sometimes through Gods provision, I could go and sometimes, I could not. As an adult, I can appreciate these times of disappointment and wouldn't trade them for anything. Just as we draw closer to the Lord when we are brokenhearted, we can draw closer to the value of appreciation, in the same way. It was because of the times of disappointment, that the times I could participate were even that much more enjoyable and appreciated.

Is it just me or is the attribute of appreciation overlooked? How can I instill this value in my children? We cannot just withhold things from them can we? Part of the fear I experienced growing up was because I KNEW we could not afford certain things. We didn't have a car. The costs of "things" were very real to me.

So what do we do? I can't see the other side of the picture, because I didn't grow up in the same type of environment that I am trying to raise my children in. Can Compassion, Appreciation and gratefulness be cultivated in our home? As well as they were for me?


In the meantime, please pray that we would be patient and wait on the Lord to lay the path that is ahead for us.

-KP

P.S. - Many of you know that my Mom and I had a very rocky relationship. But I can give nothing but gratitude for her working so hard as a single mom, to do her best to give me all she could.

Blessings to you this Tuesday!