Support Update

It has been roughly two weeks since I sent out support letters and God has already provided me with $975. I am nearly 1/3 of the way to my goal of $3,400. Thank you everyone who has given so willing to allow me to travel across the globe to share the love of Christ with a classroom full of 2nd graders. Also, thank you for your prayers. It all means more than you will ever know to me. To be able to follow the plan God has laid out for me makes my heart so happy. Thank you!

Support Letter Update

Support letters where sent out today thanks to

my wonderful mother who put them in the mail for me!

So be expecting to receive yours in the near future!

Email support letters have also been sent out.

If you did not receive one and would like one,

contact me at: kelseygoestouganda@yahoo.com

I am excited for these letters to finally be sent out!

But please ignore the one spelling error that my dad caught last minute.

I had already printed them all and was not about to re-print.

So, it is supposed to say me not my.

Much love!

Kelsey Magnolia

Support Letters

People keep asking me, "When are you sending your support letters?"

Soon, soon! I worked on addressing envelopes last week and was going to print the letters but of course after printing just one copy, the printer ran out of ink. So I figured it just wasn't the right time to print them.

In the past week I have added a few more names to my mailing list with my mom's help. She calls me at random times, usually when I'm working or in class, and she leaves me messages of more people to send letters to.

I am actually going home tomorrow to print my letters. After that I am going to finish addressing envelopes and then I am going to get postage. After doing that, they will finally be in the mail for all y'all.

It is nearing finals time for me, so I've had a lot of school work to do on top of work and being an RA. So my letters have been put on the back burner for the past few days. But I promise that they will be sent out soon! Hopefully by the end of the week.

God bless and thanks for your prayers and support!

"Remember I love you and that the kids in Uganda are going to love your socks off."

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I wanted to take a moment to talk about what I am thankful for. Although there are many things, this is what I have narrowed the list down to:

• People who provide encouragement in exactly the right moments
• New opportunities
• People who are supporting me in these new opportunities
• My family and friends
• And grace like an ocean

Guess who has their flight reserved?!

Yeeep! That would be me!

And God has a sense of humor, that's for sure.

Before I decided to go to Uganda, I had always wanted to move to England.

Well look where God has my layover at...yep, that would be London.

My favorite city I have ever been to.

Anyhow, support letters will be sent out soon since I finally have the information for where support should be sent! 

Go and make disciples

Jesus simply states, "Go and make disciples."

Jesus' statement was not a question.
Jesus' statement was not a favor.
Jesus' statement was a command. 

Matthew 28:19 NIV says, "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations."

Or all people, depending on what version you're reading.

See, but a lot of us read it like this: "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, if you feel like it."

I'm calling this the MPV, the My Preference Version. 

But God's commandment for us was not an option. It was not a favor. 

God owes us nothing. Go and make disciples.

Evangelism is our calling, not an option.

Romans 12

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

First Donation!

I got back to school today after being home for the weekend and in my mail box I found this from one of my co-workers. I have officially begun my fundraising for Uganda starting with this little dollar! I am going to get a jar to start putting money in to make it more exciting! Anyhow, this note was really encouraging and has gotten me excited to start raising funds!

Meet some of the students who will be in my class! Some will be moving on to P4, while some will stay in P3, where I will be their teacher.

New beginnings.

I honestly never would have thought that I would be traveling to Uganda. I have always wanted to travel and have even had it on my heart to teach abroad. But never in a million years would I have thought that God would send me to Kampala, Uganda to be a second grade teacher. I find myself nervous about it, but mostly just excited. Sometimes I plan on getting to bed early so I will be well rested, but I end up laying in bed for hours just thinking of all that is to come.

It's seriously crazy to think that in eight months from now, I will be making my way to Uganda.

For now I am just praying that God opens the doors for funding and that my heart stays in the right place.

I will leave you with a few photos of where I will be staying while in Uganda.