One Friday morning, the Buyamba team set out from the Glory House to spend the day at God Cares High School. This was our second time visiting the school, and we were looking forward to going to the Chapel with the students. As we drove through the gates of GCHS, the Bethuel Dongo Assembly Hall stood out in the center of the campus, and that day there was a lot of foot traffic as it was being rented out by another school in the community for a conference... Not just any school, but a Muslim school.

After the message, songs of praise and worship began to fill the campus. We were all singing, "I surrender; I surrender; I surrender all to You."

Led by the Spirit, Sam invited students to come up and give their lives to the Lord. That's when it happened... I realized a young girl from the Muslim school must have snuck over to our Chapel, and that day, she gave her life to the Lord! She boldly stepped up to the stage alongside 30 other students and prayed the prayer of salvation. "WOW!" I thought ... "God, you are so good!"

From the beginning of the Lighthouse Church team trip to the end, I experienced Jesus in practically everything at both campuses of God Cares School. He was in the firm hug of a teacher welcoming me into her classroom. He was in the bold, enthusiastic worship voices behind the microphone at chapel. He was in the quick, but careful hands of a school cook who worked to feed hundreds of students, but still warmly welcomed me into the kitchen to chat. He was in the full brown children’s eyes that spied me and came racing over to grab my hands. He was in the faithful comment of a Dongo family member as he stated matter of fact, “We believe God will provide.”

Not only did I see Jesus in God Cares Schools, I saw overwhelming evidence of Him in the communities. God was present on the billboards and in the names of businesses. His name was literally tacked up on the walls of homes in the slums where many of the God Cares children go home each evening. His name was written, spoken, and sung with joy and confidence every time I turned around.

Stepping cautiously across a footbridge, I am careful not to slip into a small stream choked with discarded rags, empty water bottles, scraps of shredded plastic too small to be of use to anyone. Pungent, acrid smells seeping from black charcoal contrasting the fresh, bright sun-soaked weeds clinging to the river’s edge. Plump brown chickens scratching through the filth as fluffy chicks follow closely behind. Small shards of beige straw protruding from handmade bricks, fingerprints still evident, with bamboo lashed to the exterior of the hut for strength. These are some of the images seared into my mind as I returned to the slums of Busaka.

So much contrast. My eyes are drawn to the cramped shacks constructed out of scraps of corrugated steel scraps and discarded wood as I duck underneath turquoise and magenta shirts draped unceremoniously over a clothesline. I marvel at how clean the laundry appears after peering into the small blue tub used for washing.

So much poverty, yet beautiful, bright smiles welcome us joyfully with squeals of delight as news travels of our arrival. I’m braver this year. Gone are the tennis shoes I wore last summer as protection against disease. I consciously chose to wear open sandals beneath my long skirt, symbolic of my desire to break down barriers with the people I have grown to love. Also gone was my hesitation to engage strangers we met along the path. Although a curiosity, we are greeted with love and acceptance as children show off their ability to roll a bike tire over the rough terrain.

In the summer of 2017, I was given the opportunity to travel to God Gares School and Orphanage with the mission team at the Met Church and was equally blessed to be doing it with my mom by my side. Preparing for this trip was a tedious process that required lots of time, commitment, and money, but I knew, in the end, it would all be worth it because I was going to do the Lord’s work and change some lives…but little did I know that it would be me whose life would be changed instead. When we arrived at the orphanage on the first day, the squeals of the kids accurately reflected my feelings of excitement, as the trip of my dreams was finally beginning! During my time in Uganda, I met a handful of children and lifelong friends (no matter how far apart we may be) who left a lasting impact on my heart and my life. I prepared to show each of these people the unconditional love of

Jesus and teach them His righteous ways, but miraculously they managed to show me a side of Him I never knew. As the days evolved, I quickly realized that all some of these children had was Jesus and each other. That’s it. Some of them had deceased or terminally ill parents, nowhere to call home outside of the orphanage, or were abandoned because their parents couldn’t handle the burden of caring for a child. This broke my heart when I heard some of their stories and personal experiences, but in a strangely beautiful way, none of that seemed to matter to them because they had Jesus in their hearts and therefore they had everything they could ever need and from THAT is where their joy stemmed. The moment I realized that is when I knew that nothing would be the same when I returned home, where I had everything and more that I simply take for granted. My lifestyle would be shifted in such a way that I stopped putting my happiness in the hands of material objects or people and started putting it in the hands of my Creator, Jesus Christ, where I would find an everlasting joy I’ve never known before. Furthermore, God was calling us to sponsor a young lady, and He placed Waldah in our path.  This was our opportunity to continue His work and give back each month as a constant reminder of where our joy comes and to keep shining our light wherever we go.