Bugs and Spiritual Heart Surgery

Hello Family & Friends,

I am writing this blog with my headlamp while sitting in bed under my mosquito net.  The electricity is out again and has been very intermittent all week and weekend.  We were spoiled the first couple of weeks here as it was on more than off, but we are told that this week is more of the norm, so thank the Lord for headlamps and candles!

Animal update:

I have not been stung by any more caterpillars. Yahoo! This week all the bug incidents seemed to happen in one day for me. I think it was Friday after dinner, I decided to sit down for a bit in our hut and read and journal when I felt a tickle between my bottom and waistline. It was really hot that day so I thought maybe I was just sweating. As I reached my hand back to give myself a little scratchy scratch, I felt a lump. Hmm…sweat is not lumpy as far as I know. Miracle of miracles, I remained calm and decided that whatever I was touching through my skirt needed to perish before I found out what it was so I pinched and it squished. I stood up holding the material of my skirt tightly and called outside for Chris to come in. I couldn’t bear to identify the squished creature alone. Well, when my skirt had been removed we discovered a green goo mark and one in tact black and green striped leg.  Needless to say, the poor grasshopper that somehow hopped into my skirt never hopped out.

A bit later, Chris and I were sitting in our front room reading when we saw two little flying ant type creatures on our coffee table. We both killed one and then all of a sudden, within seconds the table was filled with these things, it was like they were falling from the ceiling. We ended up DOOMING the entire room and going to our dining hall to wait out the fumes only to find that they had invaded that area too. The weird thing is that it was like they hatched and then started dying and then it was over. Chris swept up the remains and out the door they went and that was that.

Then we decided to go to bed and as I hugged my husband goodnight, I saw him glance up at the ceiling behind me. I thought he was trying to kid around with me but then he looked somewhat serious so I turned to see a very large cockroach making its way across our ceiling. This bug was also swept out the front door by my hubbie.  I then told God I had reached my bug quotient for the day and was going to sleep and would appreciate it if no other creatures found their way into my clothing or home. God heard my prayer.

Other than that one day, things have been much better. Our latrine is under control and for the most part all is clear. We have started seeing frogs this week with the increase of rain which I think are very cool. Oh, and I forgot, we did have a centipede in our room earlier in the week. Just a note, when you take a picture of a centipede with the macro lens on your camera, perhaps wait until you are out of country before you zoom in and see all of its tiny legs and fine hairs. It creeped me out. But, again, the frogs are cool. Yay for frogs.

School Update:

School is incredible. I can’t even begin to describe the training we are receiving here. It was a rough week spiritually, and all of us students decided to nickname this week Open Heart Surgery week. Some of the topics covered were: self-deceit, idols and idolatry, our true motives for doing the things that we do, repentance, what is an orphan?, what does an orphan heart look like?, what are the characteristics and behaviors of the orphan heart?, what are the differences between living like you are a slave of God instead of living as an adopted son or daughter of God?

Most of us, Africans and Westerners alike, felt like we had been cut open and left to bleed by the end of the week, but then Friday brought hope and the reminder that in spite of the wickedness in our own hearts, despite the areas in which we live out of our wounds and in turn wound others, as well as the ways in which we replace God with idols in our lives, that God in His love comes to us to offer freedom, love, and a new inheritance. That in our brokenness and inability to even know what to do with ourselves, He comes to us.

There is so much I could write about, say, and flesh out for you in regards to what we learned this week, but it is too much right now and we are honestly still trying to process it all. This is difficult stuff to look at and face, but it is so worth it. Many of the Africans shared today about areas they have found freedom since the teaching last week. We too can feel our hearts being stirred and worked on and we are all just praying for the courage to allow God to do the work He needs to do.

We also have started to get involved in our family groups this week and have begun meeting with our mentors. This whole experience is awesome, really hard, in every way completely draining, but in ways we don’t have words for, it’s transformational.  We all looked at each other today and talked about how we are already seeing that the truth we are learning is already making a difference in us and how we view our areas of ministry, but that we can’t even imagine what we will all be experiencing after many months more of this. Only God knows what He has in store for us. J  So the adventure continues.

Business Items:

Many of you have emailed lately and asked what our address is in case you want to send us something. Here is that info and some basic tips:

Mail to:

Attn: Chris and Aimee Haywood

New Hope Uganda

PO Box 16
Luwero, Uganda, East Africa

It is best to send packages in envelopes or slender boxes. Big, cubelike boxes tend to get damaged or take a really long time to come. A slender box can take 2-4 weeks to come. Letters usually get here in 2 weeks. Airmail is best obviously.

Support:

Some of you have asked how we are doing on our financial support. We first of all want to thank all of you for the tremendous outpouring of support that came in to get us here to Uganda in this season of our lives and for your generous gifts. We were overwhelmed with all of your financial and spiritual support and encouragement to take this next step in our training. We would not be here without all those who prayed and gave to us. THANK YOU.

We are in need of more support and are focusing on three things with the money that will come in during our time here.

1) School Fees: We are hoping to continue to be able to make payments towards the education, housing, and food costs that New Hope so generously allowed us to pay for as we go.

2) We are praying about going to visit the Musana Camps that are about 6 hours away from where we are now as they do a lot of discipleship training, family counseling, and other things that we are interested in possibly doing in the States.

3) Our family group is looking to begin a pig project that will allow them to have a form of income that will make them more self-sufficient. The family father is hoping this will help him to provide for his kids who are at the age where they will need money to continue their education. Many of them are ready to go into more of a skill and trade training or university and there are costs associated with that. The pig project will need some funding to get off the ground so we are hoping to possibly contribute to the building proposal for this.

Again, as stated in our original email, if you’d like to contribute financially to us while we are here, you can send a check to my parent’s home and they will put that in our bank account for us. We do have access to our bank accounts here in a small village about 30 minutes away thankfully, so that makes things easier. If you need their mailing address, please email my Dad, Paul, at pjpavlik@gmail.com and he can give you the address to mail checks to. I just don’t want to put their address on the public blog. J

Thank you in advance for giving to us as God leads you. God has provided for our every need so far and we know He will continue. He is good and faithful. Also, please continue to pray for us as that is very important as well. We have been comforted and blessed by your prayers.

Until next time, may you experience the love of God today in all its fullness and grace,

Aimee & Chris

Latrine Update and Caterpillars

Hello everyone!

Sorry it has taken so long for us to post another update. The internet service here has not been cooperating with me at all this last week, at least not for long enough to write a blog.

We are doing well. Since we have arrived, much has happened. We continue to adjust to the latrines and bucket baths, but I am happy to report that the latrines have indeed gotten better and the cockroaches are staying down in the hole (most of the time) and not keeping us at bay. One did scurry past my foot the other day and I only squealed a little so yay for me! Prayer, Doom Bug Spray, and teamwork have made conditions much more tolerable. The fear has also lessened, so thank you for your prayers. My most common companion in the latrines this past week was a baby lizard. He climbs down the wall while I am doing my business and we watch each other. I’ve named him Teeny and I like him, he eats other creepy crawlies that I don’t want to see. J

The First Lady of Uganda was here at New Hope last weekend and that was very exciting. New Hope chooses a day every year to celebrate “Thanksgiving”. This is the day they have set aside to celebrate and thank God for all He has done since New Hope’s beginning. She was very gracious and kind and truly enjoyed the festivities. She was here years ago and was pleased and praising God for all that He has done here. She was a breath of fresh air as far as political figures go as she is very open with her faith and by her words and actions you can tell that she is genuine in wanting to see her people here in Uganda recover and thrive as a people living with biblical morals. We were all impressed with her. There was also a group from a deaf school in Kampala that performed worship music for us. They danced and worshipped only by feeling the beat of the music. It was pure joy watching their smiles as they worshipped God.

We have also completed our first week of classes at the Institute here and that has been AMAZING. Our teachers are so engaging and what we are learning is very eye opening. I hope to write something on it to share with you all, but that will have to be done another day.  We are enjoying our classmates and have our first report due soon on a book we are reading. We are so thankful to be here and learning what we are learning. It is so important to what we will be doing in the future, whatever and wherever that might be, but God hasn’t let us in on that part yet.

This next week will be the first week we will return to our Pacific Family group. We are excited to join up with them again. We will be a part of their family during our time here helping with chores, being there for devotions and just being involved in whatever way Uncle Rukundo deems best.

Hmm, let’s see what else, oh CATERPILLARS.  Yeah, they are poisonous here and are not to be touched. They look similar to ours except when you look close they have barely visible spines (cactus like) all over their body. Anyway, one decided to crawl onto my sandal while doing laundry the other day. I kicked this baby caterpillar and he stung me. Needless to say my toes have felt like they’ve had little needles in them for a couple days now. The first day my toes that were grazed got really hot and itchy. I’m fine though and may have gotten stung on the other foot as I type this by another one, but I might have kicked that one in time, I’ll get back to you on the status of that next time.

I must go to dinner now! The meals are delicious, and we are enjoying it all. I have more to share but I will try to write again this weekend. Please be praying for us as we continue here. I’ve been having stomach issues for a few days and am trying to wait to see if it will pass before having to do antibiotics, so time will tell.

I’ll post pictures as soon as I can. It’s taking forever to upload a pic so I need to figure out a different way.

With love,

Aimee and Chris

Hello all!

Chris and I have safely arrived at New Hope in Uganda and are getting settled in. We were greeted at the airport by Jay and Vicki Dangers and one of our fellow students, Devon from South Dakota. We ran errands most of the day which was fun because we got to see a lot of local places within Kampala which we had never seen before. Chris and I did fall asleep for about an hour in the car as Jay and Devon were finding some much needed items in a market. Vicki watched over us closely as we took naps that were desperately needed!

Upon our arrival at New Hope, we were shown our living quarters and then walked up the road to the Vogt family home for dinner. We ate Indian food here in Uganda and we had never had it before but it was delicious! Another student joined us that night for dinner, Rachel from England. She and I have become fast friends between being the only girls here so far and our trips to the cockroach infested latrines. More on that later.

It is nice to be back here at New Hope. Anyone who has been here would say that coming back is like coming back to a kind of home. The people are so welcoming and so kind and just love that we are back. Since we have arrived we have used the pit latrines, had our first bucket baths, eaten a few Ugandan meals that were super yummy, attended church this morning, and I even did my first load of laundry, hand washed and on the line as we speak!

Our first day of school is tomorrow so that will be fun to get started with our studies. I'm so glad we came a few days early though as it was nice to be able to adjust and take time to settle into our new home for the next 5 months.

A prayer request: the 4 of us who have been here the last few days have been struggling with the latrines. We have ones that are assigned to us and because they've been sitting for a couple of months since the last Institute students graduated, cockroaches have taken up residence. We have been given cans of Doom and have been spraying and sending many a cockroach to Heaven, but a few of us still feel fear and anxiety every time we have to go to the bathroom.

My husband is awesome and has sprayed and cleaned and swept dead ones out for me to try to help. We have been told they will go away once we have been using the latrine more frequently and dooming them, and it is much better just within a few days of attacking them.. But I'm not the only one who has had a rough go of it. All 4 of us have had some yuck/fear moments. Part of the adventure, but a real obstacle we have had to overcome.  Who knew you could bond with other people so much over bathroom talk?

Anyway, things are going well here, and oh!  My parents home in Colorado is still standing!  Thank you for your prayers!

Love you all,
Aimee

And so it begins...

We are off on our adventure. Chris and I are currently sitting at Denver International Airport awaiting our flight to London. We should be boarding at any time now.

Our most eventful moment so far was when Chris dropped his personal pan pizza on the airport floor....yep, slid right out of the cardboard and onto the carpet (crust down thank goodness) Another passenger walking by yelled, "5 second rule!"  Then Chris went on to eat his pizza...he said he trusts God to take care of the germs. I was horrified but I guess my husband has more faith than me in the germ arena. :-)

Anyway, we are off. Please pray for us as we leave. We are excited to go but leave with heavy hearts as our community here is suffering so greatly from the wildfires. Both sets of our parents have been evacuated. My parents are awaiting news of whether their home stills stands. Please continue to pray for all those involved in this tragedy.

We love you and will miss you but are looking forward to sharing our adventures with you.

The Haywoods

Everything is possible with God

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."  Mark 10:27

ALL THINGS are possible with God.

As of last Wednesday evening, we needed $1300 to come from somewhere before Friday at noon to be able to get our plane tickets to Uganda. Guess what?  It came in.

Every prayer we have prayed so far since setting our hearts to follow God on this adventure has been answered. At 11:45 on Friday we still needed around $900 and stopped for a moment to look at each other and figure out what to do. Do we commit to the tickets and trust God to bring in the remainder of the money before our check got to the travel agent, or do we give up and not go to Uganda?

My husband said, "God has gotten us this far, He's not going to stop now. Let's go for it." So, I sent the email that said, "Book the tickets." Within 3 hours after that email thrown out in faith, $900 came in and then a little bit more came in so that we would have enough for our malaria medicine. God is providing.

Chris had prayed that morning as we were driving, "God, give us this day our daily bread, please provide for us so that we can do what you have asked.  Let manna fall from Heaven Lord!"  We kind of laughed as he proclaimed the manna part, but then a friend of ours pointed something out to us. When the Israelites prayed for manna, God did provide the manna, but He only provided what was needed for that day. They were not allowed to save it or store it. The manna fell down from Heaven and they used it for that day. It is funny because that is what has happened to us. Every day that we are on the edge of our seats wondering if we will have enough, here comes our manna for the day to provide for what we need in that very moment. God is good.

As we have been preparing there are so many emotions that assault us every day, and sometimes even in the middle of the night I am awakened with the reality that we are going to be in Uganda for 5 months. Sometimes we are filled with excitement and then other moments panic tries to overwhelm us. But I keep thinking that this is what must have happened to some of the people in the Bible that stepped out in faith when God asked them to.

We've been thinking about those known as the people of great faith that are listed in Hebrews 11 and the priests who stepped out into the raging river (Joshua 3:14-17) after Joshua told them that God would stop the water once their feet hit the water. We read about these people and think, "Wow, to have that kind of faith."

I think a challenge for all of us though is to remember that they were just people like you and me. It says in James 5:17 that Elijah, who was known to be this amazing prophet and man of prayer and faith, was "a man just like us." (NIV1984)

We like to ponder if the priests in Joshua who were carrying the ark and then had to take their first step into a river that was at flood stage may have looked at each other like, "Are you kidding me with this?"  I know Chris and I have as we've stepped out when God has asked us to. The greatest thing we all need to remember about all these stories though is that they were people just like you and me. Ordinary people serving an extra ordinary God.

I love how in the verses right before the priests are called to step into the river, Joshua tells the people that God is going to do what He is going to do so that "you will know that the living God is among you..." (Joshua 3:10)

We have lived in amazement and awe this past week at the demonstration of God's hand in our lives. We pray that our blog and the stories of answered prayer that God is giving us encourage your heart and help you to see that the living God is among us all, even today.

I have felt the presence of God this week in a way I haven't in a long time. I will be going throughout my day so busy with details and yet over my shoulder or deep within my heart I can feel the peace of His presence pass by me and give me a little nudge letting me know He is near.

We continue to grow in our excitement as we take each new step into this Haywood journey of faith with God. Thank you again to all who were the answer to our prayers this past week. We couldn't be walking this path without you and your own obedience to what God asked you to do.

With love and awe-filled gratefulness,

Aimee and Chris

We prepare and we run through sprinklers...

These are 2 of 4 of the huts that house the students who attend the Institute for Childcare and Family.

Today was a good day here in Colorado, but it was very hot!  Maybe God was trying to prepare us for the warmer weather in Uganda. ;) Really though, we had fun today. My brother and family were here visiting and as usual, we had a wonderful time with family. I ran through the sprinklers, got soaked, and was protected by my nephews as we navigated and jumped through the spraying water that was surely after us. It was a sweet time.

As Chris and I prepare to leave for Uganda in a few weeks for a 5 month period, times like today have taken on even more of a special feel. What a gift family is. There is nothing like the sound of a child's belly laugh and the smiles on our adult faces as we watch personalities peek out and express themselves. Joy. It's joy, plain and simple, to sit back and look at my parents, at my brother and his wife, their three children, and my husband sitting around laughing, stepping over toys, and just sharing food and time together. 

Leaving for 5 months to go to another country with a very different culture is not an easy decision. A friend of mine said earlier tonight, "When you're called, you have to answer." So true. He and I talked about how times like this in life can be difficult because there can be fear and there can be doubt, but it is better to feel the fear and doubt for a moment as you run towards the goal, then to feel the kind of fear and doubt that comes from a life that has left paths unwalked and unexplored. So often too these paths are difficult to walk. Many times there is some sort of sacrifice involved. 

Chris and I are feeling the reality of that and we have been for awhile as we've talked to God about Uganda. We are going to miss our families. We are going to miss you who are reading this. Most importantly though, we don't want to miss God. He's asked us to go to Uganda for awhile to see what His heart has done there and is doing there. Although we have experienced that in some way on our previous missions there, we believe that there is a deeper work that He wants to do in us, for us, and then through us wherever He decides to put us more permanently. 

Please pray for us. Pray for us that we are able in every way to follow God where He asks us to go. Pray for the home that we will be assigned as we go to New Hope Uganda. Pray that every need we still have will be supplied in ways that bring God the glory that He so deserves from us as we live a life unexpected and extraordinary.

Until we go, I think at least one more run through the sprinklers is in order. 

With heavy, but very full hearts....

Chris and Aimee

How This Haywood Adventure Began...

Dear friends and family,                                                                                                                                                                               

As many of you already know, we both became unemployed over the last half a year and have been asking God what the next step is for us as the months have gone on and on. We have been unable to find positions for employment here and have been really wondering what God had in mind for us.

About two months ago, a man at our church prayed a simple prayer for guidance and provision over us. Upon arriving back at our townhome, Chris looked at me and asked me if I had sensed or heard anything in my heart as the man was praying. I had not. I asked him what he heard and he looked at me and said, “Uganda. Uganda. Uganda.”

Chris said when he said the word Uganda 3 times my eyes got as big as saucers. Let me tell you why. A couple weeks prior to that, I had met with one of my dear friends that I had not spent time with in quite awhile. We were excited to catch up and during that time she asked if Chris and I had ever thought about going to the Institute for Childcare and Family in Uganda. Now just to remind you, Chris has been to Uganda twice on missions trips with our church and I have been once. I briefly explained that yes, Chris had mentioned the last time we were there that he knew God would bring him back someday to attend the Institute.  She continued to say she thought it’d be a great idea for us both to attend the school because we both have many giftings that the staff there could help draw out and therefore equip us to be released into full-time ministry somewhere. She encouraged me to mention it to Chris. Well, I didn’t.

I partially forgot, I was mostly afraid, and thirdly I didn’t want to plant that idea myself. I kind of wanted God to tell Chris because that would be a huge change for us to move to Uganda for 5 months or more and leave everything and everyone behind.  Plus, Uganda was not even anywhere on our radar of what to do next. So, I didn’t tell him. About a week passed, and I was in the shower and I heard a whisper in my head saying, “You didn’t tell Chris about the Institute in Uganda.” I sighed and looked at my husband outside standing in our bedroom getting ready for the day and then continued to wash my hair. Then another week passed and that is when the man I mentioned earlier prayed for us at church.

God is so good to us in our weakness. I think God knew I wouldn’t tell Chris and then when Chris told me that he heard Uganda 3 times, I heard God tell me, “Don’t worry, I told him myself and now you know that this is from me.”  In that moment, I knew we were going back to Uganda. Just to make myself sure, I asked Chris, “Ok, you heard Uganda 3 times, what exactly did you hear about Uganda?”  He said, “I think we are supposed to go to the Institute for Childcare and Family.”  Yes, ok, I heard that God!  Thank you very much.

That evening we decided to set our hearts to pray about when and how we would go as well as asking God for further confirmation because of the huge life change this would be for us and our families. We decided not to tell anyone about this until God confirmed it again.

A few days later we went to dinner with one of our Pastors and his wife. This dinner was planned well before we had heard Uganda. They asked us if we had gotten any direction from the Lord and Chris began to share that as someone was praying for us he heard a word 3 times. Chris had not said what word, and wasn’t going to, when our Pastor said, “Uganda. Uganda. Uganda.”  I almost spit my soda in his wife’s face. They laughed and then realized that we both were looking shocked across the table and they said, “What? That was the word?!”  So yes, that was crazy and so awesome.  They were thrilled and thought it the perfectly normal next step for us.

Another set of friends came to our home a few nights later for dinner and as they sat down, we mentioned that we had something to tell them so they could pray. The woman said, “What, are you going back to Africa or something?!”  She was joking but again, we heard God and they too were thrilled for us when we shared.

The next weekend, we saw a man twice in one day that we had never met before. Once at a meeting in the morning and the second time in the evening at church. At the evening meeting, a Pastor’s wife asked us where we felt God was leading and if they could all be praying for anything for us. At this point we felt we had our confirmation so Chris shared that we felt we were going back to Uganda. The man Chris had been talking to earlier looked surprised and asked Chris if he was wearing the same shirt he had been wearing earlier in the day and Chris said yes. Chris had a blank blue t-shirt on but the man said that earlier that morning he had seen Uganda in bold letters across Chris’ chest and thought Chris must be pretty proud of Uganda for some reason to wear a shirt like that. That was a little weird, but maybe it was thrown in for extra measure from God saying, “Yes, it’s me and you heard me.”

So, we thought we were going to go to Uganda in January and I had enrolled in and EMT course here for the summer, but this weekend that all changed when we received an email from Uganda saying that if we can get there, we can come in July. After speaking with our Pastors and asking their opinion, they said we should go for it. At the moment we have no jobs and no children and this is an opportunity not to be passed up.  We are very excited but at the same time it is hard to know we will be leaving family and friends for such an extended period of time. But, we know that we are stepping into the next thing God has asked of us and following the path He lays out in front of you is always worth it and the best choice in our opinion!

We had our plans, but God then added some of His own, so we thank God for the provision and adventure that is to come.   I’ll write as often as I can…love you all! I'll leave you with Proverbs 16:9.

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.