I just realized that there is a lot to say and so I better update everyone now.

The first thing is that God has been stretching me in matters of faith. As my last blog said I was planning on going to Kenya to renew my visa. Well it seems that the Lord closed the doors for Kenya. I also had tried to get a special pass, which would allow me to be in the country for a total of five months. Unfortunately the immigration of Uganda denied my application for a special pass and I decided to go to Rwanda to try and get my visa there. Well I was very blessed because Judy and Malia decided to come with me and we stayed in Kabale, which is in southern Uganda, and on Sunday crossed over the boarder into Rwanda the next day for about an hour then crossed back over into Uganda. Getting my new visa however didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked. The person giving me my visa took advantage of the fact that I was a white person and told me that I needed to get a work permit and stop crossing the boarder. So he ended up making me pay $50 and gave me only one month. It's supposed to be $50 for three months! I was on the verge of tears as I walked out of the immigration office. I don't understand how people who have power could be so cruel. I have not had a good time with getting my new visa's I guess they frown on people who are here without a work permit.

I have been working at Our Own Home for two weeks now. I enjoy the work I do there. I get to spend a lot of time with the kids which I like but at the same time I wish there was more that I could do. I am looking forward to house sitting for Jesse and Bev when they go on furlough! :) It was such a huge blessing when Bev told me that I could house sit for them while there gone. This way I still have more time to look for a place to stay and to raise money for support.

Thank you to everyone who is a financial and prayer supporter!!! You are very much appreciated!!!

That's all for now, more to come later!

Blessings,
Rochelle

Lord draw me closer to you everyday!!!

Hey everyone!

Some things have taken place since my last blog. First off I have been very blessed to have such amazing people in my life. Every day is an adventure and a challenge, but God has never left my side and he continues to speak through my friends and family.

Second I want to give God the glory for a certain friend stepping out in faith and pledging to give $10 a month. I know life hasn't been easy for her so I feel so very blessed that she is taking this incredible step. So I just need 99 more people.

Third I have been able to view two apartments in the last week, which in itself is a huge blessing because apartments, in nice buildings and safe environments, are hard to come by here. So this is a huge answer to prayer! Thank you Lord!

Fourth next week my visa expires and I need to go to Kenya to get a new one. Now to some of you this may appear easy but alas nothing in Uganda comes easily. I will be traveling by bus to Mombasa. There is a YWAM base there that I will be staying at for five days. Please pray for safe travels and also money for the visa's. I will need $50 for a Kenyan visa and $50 for a Ugandan visa.

Last but not least I started my new volunteer job on Wednesday and so far it is going really well. William and Holly are amazing people and I am so blessed that the Lord has brought them into my life!

May everything I do be for the glory and furtherance of God's kingdom! Amen!

Oh the Journey of it all!!!

This new opportunity has presented itself to me this week, but I'll start from the beginning.

For the past month I have been feeling like the Lord wants me to learn more about the administration side of running an organization. As i prayed about it, that desire became stronger. I didn't tell very many people because I wanted to know that this was what God wanted. If any of you know me very well, you know that sometimes I get excited about things that don't end up working out, because that's not where God wants me. I wanted to make sure that this was God's will.

Well this last week it was confirmed through a couple who has home for HIV/AIDS kids. They have 40+ kids. They have also just had a baby of their own. William has been doing all the admin stuff but is realizing that he needs help. So as he and his wife, Holly, prayed about it separately they both felt like the Lord had told them to ask me. They had, had no idea that I was even interested in anything to do with admin work. When they presented this idea to me last Saturday I almost started to cry because this was something that the Lord had been speaking to me and he spoke to them without me even knowing. I Believe that this is from the Lord and so we've decided that this is where he wants me for now.

However this is still a volunteer position and I will continue to need monthly support.

I need your continued prayers and as I try and search for a place to live. My rent will go up significantly so my expenses will as well.

Below I have posted my budget and I am praying for 100 people to come along side me and support me at $10 a month. It's only $120 a year! That's nothing! Please pray about supporting me. I have more than 100 friends on facebook so I know this is possible!!!

God Bless!!!
Rochelle

Monthly Budget

Health Insurance- $50

Rent- $325

This covers:
Electricity
Water
Fully furnished apartment

Food/Groceries- $80
A) bug repellent
B) eating out
C) malaria meds
D) food for breakfast, Lunch and dinner

Transport- $50
(a) Boda’s to and from work
(b) Going to Kampala
(c) Going to neighboring country for visa’s

Phone- $10

Visa’s/ work permit- $100. Three months/ $250 yearly.

Misc.- $40.
A) money for Moses (the little boy I'm supporting)
B) days away i.e. going to Kampala for the day or a weekend.
D) other needs

Airfare- $2200. Yearly

Savings- $250. monthly

If you are interested in supporting please e-mail me at rmbishop09@gmail.com. Thank you and God Bless you!!!

The Beauty of the Lord astounds me!!!

Dear friends and family,

After getting Malaria and then being healed from malaria, life has gone back to "normal." I'm still not completely sure what my normal is but life has gone back to the way it was before. This last Friday I went to the hopeland base here in Jinja for the 50th celebration of YWAM. It was an exciting day full of music and updates on all the east African YWAM bases. I was able to see some of the people that went through my DTS with me. And reconnect with old friends. It was fun and also very exhausting at the same time.

On Saturday Calvary Chapel had a R.A.C.E day for the children of Jinja and surrounding villages. Race stands for Running According to Christ's Example. It was a way to tell the kids about Jesus. We had the gospel presented after each race. It was done in Luganda (the local language) and about 50 of the 300 children excepted Christ into their hearts!!! It was very exciting! We had around 40 something staff and 4 different races, Sugar sack, relay, 40 meter dash and three legged. All the children were signed up for one race each. After all the races were completed there was an award ceremony followed by juice and popcorn. All in all it was a great success!
After the Race some friends and I went to the Jinja Nile Resort and went swimming.
It a was much needed time to relax and cool off, after an extremely HOT day!!!

Sunday was a pretty emotional day because some of our friends are leaving for furlough and another was leaving for good. Also it was the day Judy was scheduled to leave for home with Malia. So Judy had planned to take Kelli and I to a guest house in town for our birthday's. Mine was last Thursday and Kelli's is tomorrow. It was so nice to be able to get away with both of them and relax, talk, swim, eat some amazing pizza and just be girls.
I, of course, got burned pretty badly, a sad result of being in the sun all day and forgetting to put on sunscreen. What was I thinking!!! Here I am 24 and I know that I have pale skin and burn supper easy and yet I always forget sunscreen! I blame it on growing up in a place that is only sunny about two months out of the year!!! :) Oh well you live and you learn! Or at least we hope we learn! :)

Life seems to be busy lately. I have been trying to research different organizations in east Africa to find out if I can get involved with one that is a NGO(non government organization) or a NPO (non profit organization) But unfortunately I have not had very much success.

Please pray for the Lord to open the doors to where he wants me and where he can use me. I want more than anything to be in his will. So that is why I am earnestly seeking him for my life, in every part.

Another letter about finances is coming within the next couple of days.

Love you all and thank you so much for all your love, prayers and support. God Bless!

In Christ,
Rochelle

Oh Malaria, why do you poison me so!!!

The week started out pretty normal. I was still pretty tired and emotionally worn out from the trip to Kitgum. I was really hoping, as I said last week, that I would feel God wanted me in a certain place. Well that still hasn't happened. I still feel like the Lord wants me to go North but I don't think it is supposed to be now. So I have been at a loss of what to do next. On Thursday Judy and Malia had their court date. So we got up early and headed to Kampala to appear before the judge. I was aloud to sit in the court room with them and I was very nervous because the Judge was a hard looking woman. I thought for sure she was going to ask me why I was there. But she didn't she just talked to the lawyer and never even looked at us. Then on Friday at 1:45 am I woke up shivering even though I had all my covers on. It was a long night to say the least. At 7:45 or so that morning I was so tired and my head was hurting so bad, I was still cold and my back was so achy. When I told Judy she right away said that it was malaria and told me to go get tested. Off I went, not really having the energy to walk and was thankful when a boda came by and I had him take me. We went to one of the clinics in town and it was still closed so I had him take me to another one on the other side of town. They pricked my figure and I ended up waiting for about 20 minutes before the test came back positive. I was hoping that it was malaria because then I could get treatment and be done with it sooner. :)

Friday Judy got legal custody of Malia. So now she is working on getting her passport and other things to travel.

Now I am trying to get better. My appetite is returning a little by little. I am drinking a lot of water and sleeping a lot as well. I will hopefully be fully recovered in a day or so.

Man I really hate being sick.

Please keep praying for a full recovery! Thank you! :)

Philippians 1:6

Warning: this blog may be longer than I intended!!! :)

My story begins on Saturday the first of may in the year 2010.

5:00am is not a time I usually like to see. Normally I am studying the insides of my eyelids very intently at that time. I was told that this was the time I was to get out of bed and get ready for the two hour trip to Kampala, where we would then board a bus to Kitgum (Northern Uganda). We arrived in Kampala at 7:30am and after stopping for a potty break, headed to the bus park. Surprisingly we had no trouble finding the bus park thanks to Abdullah our driver. At 7:45 we boarded the bus and at about 9:20 we pulled out of the park and headed into the Kampala traffic.

Everything was going really well for the first hour or so. I think Malia and I were sleeping and Judy was reading her book, when all of a sudden we heard a very loud BANG!!! my eyes popped open and both Judy and I reached for Malia so she didn't go flying out of her seat. We soon realized that the tire had been shredded and the driver pulled over to the side of the road, which only left five inches for cars to pass us. After about five minutes we started moving again! thud thud thud went the tire and this went on for about 20 minutes until we reached the town of Luwero and he found a safe place to pull over. We all climbed out of the bus and sat on the side of the road for a good 20 more minutes before we heard the driver start the engine. Everyone climbed back on and off we went. We reached Kitgum at around 5:30pm and waited for Summer (the mom of the missionary family we stayed with) to come and pick us, as they say here in Uganda. We were shown the place where we were staying and after we ate a little food and fell into bed exhausted.

On Sunday we attended the Church Zain and Summer are pastoring, Calvary Chapel Kitgum. It is a very small church of about 20 people, including the children. The teaching was on Matthew 23 and even though I've read this passage many times, the Lord was able to reveal even more to me. :)

Monday we hung out with the family and then took one of there church members to the hospital because she broke her ankle that morning. On the way to the hospital we passed by the church where i had stayed with my DTS team four years ago. It was really weird to be back there but this time with different people.

Tuesday we went to a place called the Infant Care Center. They house about 14 children and their care givers in two rooms. The children are so cute and we brought them mango's and bread. It was fun to just hang out with them and play the hokie pokie, color and take pictures. Also on Tuesday we went to a near by village and had bible stories for the kids. It was really exciting!!!

We decided to head home, back to Jinja, on Wednesday. The bus ride both there and back were about eight hours! Not so much fun when you have a four year old sitting next to you, kicking you and wiggling in her seat. She needed to run around and it was impossible because well we were on a bus with 40 other people. :) Oh well we all made it to Kampala safe and sound. In Kampala we had to take boda's to get coaster's to go back to Jinja. I was on one boda and Judy and Malia were on another. I told the boda's to go to the old taxi park and off we went. Unfortunately Judy was in front and she had no idea where to go because it was her first time taking public transportation and my boda decided not to listen to me and took me to another part of town where they also have coasters that go to Jinja. I was really upset when we got there however because I knew this was not where i had told him to go. I lost it! I was so upset and every time I would talk to him it was like he wasn't listening to a word I was saying and he'd just turn and look at my lips. It was like he was trying to listen to what I was saying but he wasn't getting it. I called Judy and our boda drivers talked to each other then they came to where we were and we climbed aboard the coaster and started the two hour ride back home.

By the time we got home we were all so tired of sitting and hungry from only eating cassava and chapati. We went down to the main house after showering and ate dinner with the "family."

So I guess all in all I'm really glad that I went to Kitgum. I still have a lot to pray about in the coming weeks and months but at least now I know what's up there.

Please keep me in your prayers i have a lot of decisions ahead of me and i want to make sure that know matter where I am, I will be where God wants me. :) Thank you all for your love and support!!!

In Christ,
Rochelle

This week has been so busy for me and I love the things the Lord has been able to show me.

On Monday to Tuesday I went to the YWAM base, where I had completed my DTS four years ago. I needed that time to fast and pray. I was able to talk to the Lord with no distractions, well except my own thoughts that is. :) One thing my dad has told me more than once is that when he left for Isreal in 1990 he was excited about going and spreading the word of God. But he soon realized that he had brought himself with him. I never really understood and maybe I still don't, but I got a clearer picture of what that ment this week. I had a room to myself and it was really quiet and I was so excited to talk and to listen. Well I did some talking and when I went to listen my mind took over the thinking part. I started to make list's of what I needed from the store and on and on my mind went. Then it was clear, I had brought myself with me! All the distractions I thought I had weren't there but I was still having a hard time consintrating. The reason was me not the other people in my life, even though i'm sure they do play a part :). It was an awesome time realizing that I needed to be able to be quiet and just be in the presents of God kneeling at his feet. Being able to hear his voice, feel his presents and let him be in control of the things that worry us. I am still learning what this means and how to apply it to my life.

On Wednesday I was hanging out with Malia. We went to Ossie's Cafe in Jinja town and had lunch, then it was off to Amani to visit the babies. :) we then hurried home for her nap and biblestudy later that night. It was a wonderful day.

On thursday I woke up at an ungodly hour (6:30 am) to get ready for a long day in Kampala. Judy and I have decided to make the long and dusty trip to Kitgum, which is in Northren Uganda near the Sudan border, on public transport. It's going to be Judy and Malia's first time on public and I want things to go as smoothly as possible. :) The Pastor and his wife were headed to Kampala as well so I got to ride with them. I was dropped off on one side of town and then took a boda (motorcycle) to the bus park which was on the other side of town. But I was able to ask some questions of the bus workers and find out where the bus park was. Then it was off to the store to buy some snacks and kill time until Bev and Jesse were ready to head back home.

We leave Jinja tomorrow at 6 or 6:30am so that we can get to the bus park and hopefully get on one of the first buses leaving to Kitgum. Please pray for a safe trip. It's a 8 hour bus ride on dirt roads at high speeds.
We will be visiting a missionary family who has resently moved up there with their 11 children. They are going to show us around to different orginizations that work with children. I am hopefull that the Lord will show me the place he wants me. I have been prayerfully considering moving up North perminately within the next couple of months. This will be a great oppurtunity to see what's there and if this is where the Lord wants me.

So keep us (Judy, malia and I) in your prayers over the next 5 days. We won't have access to internet while up there so don't get worried if you don't hear from me for a week.

In Christ,
Rochelle