Silence IS the Key

Back around Christmas time, we studied the discipline of solitude.  One of the main ways  God challenged me in practicing this discipline was to take a whole day, whenever He so chooses, of complete silence.  The first time I was challenged by this was during our week vacation.  I went to Sipi Falls for three days with Becca, Jay, and his now fiancé, Jessica, who had flown over from the States to spend time with Jay.

The day after the proposal (and after Jessica said “yes” of course) was the day that God had originally told me to take a whole day of silence.  When I say “a whole day of silence,” I mean a whole day without a single word!  Guess who took Jay and Jessica’s engagement pictures that next day?  Yup, me.  Do you think I planned it that way?  Nope, but I know God sure did.  He has a funny sense of humor.  He definitely knew what He was doing because while taking the engagement pictures it was such a blessing to be able to watch a couple whose love is biblical.  Not only did I see that love still exists, but I saw that it’s definitely worth waiting on God for.

The most recent time God told me to do a day of silence was a week ago.  We were having a day of rest so I was able to sleep in, which was incredible, and when I woke up I thought to myself “I could go all day without speaking to anyone just to rest”.  Then I heard God say, “so take a day of silence”.  What’s funny about it is that I had to sign to my whole team that I wasn’t talking since He had just told me that morning.  They all knew exactly what I was doing since we had all read the same chapter on solitude, so they all understood and prayed for my day.  I did really well all day long and I only spoke once.  I spoke without even knowing that I was speaking!  Once I realized it, I had a revelation of how many times a day I speak without even thinking about it or knowing that I am speaking.  Most of the time I don’t realize that I am talking.  I feel like that mayyyyy be a huge problem.  I was reading again the chapter on solitude and I came across a part where Richard Foster said, “If we speak when we should be silent, we again miss the mark”.  I missed the mark of not listening to my teammate like I was supposed to.  There is a time to speak and there is a time to be silent.  It was still my time to be silent and yet I spoke.

After I spoke I felt disappointed and didn’t want to go on in silence for the rest of the day, but then I heard God say, “You spoke?  When?”  Once again He doesn’t see me as I see myself but He sees me as His daughter who is an overcomer and a warrior.  That whole day was an amazing day of rest for me and He challenges me to take a whole day of silence every once in a while.  I challenge you to take a whole day of silence as well and see what God does.  He’s pretty creative.  :)

“The tongue is a thermometer; it gives us our spiritual temperature.  It is also a thermostat; it regulates our spiritual temperature.  Control of the tongue can mean everything.” Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline

- JJ

Fruits and veggies, here we come.

This past month my teammate Jon and I have been in charge of the groceries for our team.  That means we get the menu ready for breakfast and dinner every weekday for the month of December.  Then, when the month ends we pass the torch to two other lucky teammates.  Our teammates, Tyler and Sadie, were the ones in charge for the month of November; they trained us for a week or so on where to get the good deals at the different markets.  After that week, we hit the ground running ready to feed our team.

There are about three to four different markets we go to every day to buy food for the meals we’ve planned. There is the open-air market which is actually called Kaunda Grounds. That is where we find fresh fruit, vegetables and meat.  I personally do NOT like walking by the meat and the fish section.  But you gotta do what you gotta do.  Usually what happens is Jon and I will take a boda boda to get to Kaunda for our first stop of the day.  I will get out our list and we will go to our usual people to buy our veggies.  Ugandans are very personable so when you go to the same stands frequently you build a nice friendship and usually we will get a few tomatoes or cucumbers for a “bonus,” as the Ugandans say.  We pay and then off we go to Uchumi on bodas.

Uchumi is the two story supermarket here in Gulu town that has made the life of our team so much easier.  Thank you, Jesus, you know our name!  We found mac-n-cheese there a few weeks ago – legit mac-n-cheese that even says,“from the USA” on the box.  We have become very thankful for the little things living here in Uganda.

We buy the rest of the things that are on our list for our team dinner. When we check out we always see the familiar friendly faces that ask us,“How is the day?”. And we respond,“Ehh, the day is so good,” in our Ugandan English accents.  I pull out my Uchumi members card – yes, I have an Uchumi members card – and pay so we can go home.

As a member of the grocery team, it has been hard to go out and do “ministry” everyday.  But what I have realized about Jesus through being on grocery team is He came to earth to serve, not to be served.  So whenever I am wanting to look more like Him instead of myself, I need to realize that serving my teammates is ministry as well.  It’s been a very freeing revelation that doing ministry doesn’t need to look any certain way every single day.  It is also a chance to serve those you love and want to help grow.  We are doing that with the Ugandans already, so why can’t I do that with my six brothers and nine sisters that I spend every day with??  God loves to speak to us in the little things that may not seem to matter, but to Him they do.  He knew that I would need to experience ministry in a different way so He put Jon and me on this grocery team together.

I wish every single one of you an amazing New Year!!!!!

Much love,

JJ Dennis

This IS my life!

“Is this seriously my life right now??” I think I have asked myself that question about a hundred times in the past four weeks. Once while sitting in the airport in London, England. Another was when my teammates and I were riding in a red bus while going from Kampala to Gulu, which is a five hour drive from southern Uganda to northern Uganda. Then standing in our bonda, or huts, trying to figure out how to make it feel somewhat like home. One day a couple of us were walking into Gulu town and we all got the realization that this IS our life. The things God has called us to are a little crazy.

My passion is for the children and I found myself asking the same question again as I had done the weeks before. This past Saturday I started teaching the Acholi children in northern Uganda Christmas songs and when I was listening to them sing Siwen Nigh, aka Silent Night, I felt a smile come across my face. “Is this seriously my life right now??” I asked and God said “Why yes. Yes it is”. I can’t believe He is using a twenty-one year old hairstylist from Norman, Oklahoma to teach these Acholi children Christmas songs. Whenever you ask God to dream His dreams through you, you better hold on because He has some big ol’ dreams! I know that because I am sitting at my home in Uganda, Africa right now.

I asked this question probably around seventy-nine times in one day a few Saturdays ago. Seven of my teammates and I went to Kampala for a day to watch the African Football Qualifier Cup game. We all woke up and left our house between 4:30-5 am that Saturday morning and didn’t get back until about 4 am Sunday morning. Those 24 hours were life changing – you have no idea:
• We went on two different bus rides, five hours each, with no A/C and jammed packed
• We figured out how to use squatty potties
• The eight of us plus two more piled into a seven passenger car to head to the stadium
• We got our faces painted by Ugandans
• We got stuck in the middle of a mob in the stadium just trying to find seats
I am glad I went just so that I can say I went and I definitely checked it off of my bucket list. Like it was actually on there to begin with. Ha!

I find myself falling in love with Gulu more each day. God is moving in so many different ways than I have ever known before and it is so much fun! Whoever said God’s work is boring and a “job” was seriously wrong. We find rest in Him so why can’t we find joy there as well?? This is my life in Gulu, Uganda and there is nowhere else I want to be. This is where my True Love is, so this is where I want to be.

In His Love,
JJ Dennis