Community

COVID-19 has consumed every facet of our lives. You turn on the TV, and if it’s not being talked about, it’s scrolling across the bottom of our screens. You call your friend, it’s the first topic of conversation. Here in Uganda, if you make a phone call there is first a government issued message about it before your call is even connected. It’s everywhere. It’s consuming our minds and entire beings. Not to mention the loss some of us are feeling because of it.

Let’s be honest – this sucks. Each day it becomes more and more real. Suffering is increasing and people are hurting.

Through all of the suffering, this morning I found hope. Due to churches being closed, we have been trying to do some sort of Bible study as a family on Sunday mornings. I am no pastor, so the idea of leading a group of young men through the Bible has been a daunting task for me. However, I keep being drawn towards Job. This is no coincidence. If you’re ever having a bad day, read through Job and you’ll quickly realize that maybe your troubles are not so bad. Man, Job went through the wringer. He lost everything within a matter of hours. Yet, when he heard the bad news he knelt to the ground and worshiped God. Are you kidding me?! What a freakin saint. Sign me up for a faith like that, please! 

While reading and discussing about Job, we also looked into the book of James. There, we found our encouragement. 

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

James 1:2-4

When we’re in the midst of suffering, I believe it’s hard to wrap our heads around this verse. Suffering hurts, it can even be debilitating to our human bodies/minds. How in the heck are we supposed to find joy through that?! 

I get it. It seems impossible.

But, take a minute and look back on your life. Suffering is there. Did you make it through? Did you learn something through it? I think we all can say yes. I’m not saying the lessons we learn are all positive. They may stretch us thiner than we’ve ever been stretched. We may be knocked to the ground a thousand times before we can get back up, but we always get up. Through Him, we are resilient. Our God is amazing. 

I’m not sure what we are going to learn through this suffering of COVID-19, but one thing I do know is that we’re all suffering together. That doesn’t happen very often. Most times, we’re suffering alone – at least we feel alone. In this crazy time, we don’t need to suffer alone. Let’s take advantage of the communal suffering. What can we learn from this? What can we learn from each other? If I know one thing, it’s that two heads are better than one. Talk to someone. What joy can we bring out of this? 

SN: I’d love to hear from you. Share in the comments if you have any joy to spread! 

Like I said before, I’m no pastor. I’m not sharing all of this to convince you of anything. These are simply my Sunday morning thoughts. It would be selfish of me to find encouragement in something so beautiful and not share it. After all, we’re in this together, right? 

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As my above thoughts conclude, I wanted to give you all a quick update of how life over here in Uganda is. 

We’re doing well. Schools were let out on March 20th, and that’s when we began a sort of quarantine. Most transportation as been halted – unless you’re a cargo truck driver, medical professional, or government official. Everything is shut down, except for places that sell food. We’re not allowed to exercise outside of our homes (i.e. no walking/running). We are now on lockdown through May 5. 

Thankfully, Uganda took preventative measures before things got too crazy. We currently have 55 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Uganda. By some miracle, 20 have now healed naturally, and there have been no recorded deaths. Maybe we’re missing something, but regardless I’m feeling safe and thankful. 

We stay busy within our compound. There are 17 of us staying here, so there is always something going on. We’re playing a lot of games, and taking a lot of naps. 

The president is going to address the country again tonight, so we will see if anything changes. As for now, we have our countdown posted on the door, and we’re pushing through until we can venture out into the streets of Jinja again. 

We are thinking of all of you out there in the rest of the world. We hope you’re safe and healthy! As always, we’re so grateful for your prayers and support. The boys and I talk about this a lot these days. So, in spirits of working together through all of this unknown, I’ll leave you with this: 

“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as it is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Romans 15:5-6

grace + peace,

Kendall Rose