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    12 Days in Africa: A Mother's Journey
    12 Days in Africa: A Mother's Journey
    12 Days in Africa: A Mother's Journey
    Ebook146 pages1 hour

    12 Days in Africa: A Mother's Journey

    By Lisa Sanders

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    About this ebook

    Lisa traveled to Uganda with her teenage son on a twelve-day mission trip. In an orphanage her world view abruptly changed as she held a shivering emaciated little boy who lay dying of malaria. He had no one else in the world to care that he was passing. This experience and others while on the trip were so profound that she is compelled to share them with you. Come and walk with Lisa through Uganda as God shows her His different definitions of mother.

    All profits from this book will be donated to build lifesaving wells in villages desperate for clean water.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateApr 26, 2013
    ISBN9781449788346
    12 Days in Africa: A Mother's Journey
    Author

    Lisa Sanders

    Lisa Sanders followed her new husband to Alaska for his first job out of college. Twenty-six years later, with a successful business and her last child about to leave for college, she discovered in Uganda that the gifts of mercy, love and compassion given to women are meant to be shared with children not only in our own homes, but across the street and around the world. Lisa lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband Greg, two dogs and her two sons when they are not away at University. She serves on the board of directors for Hope4Kids International.

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      Book preview

      12 Days in Africa - Lisa Sanders

      Copyright © 2013 Lisa Sanders.

      Cover photo by Angie Simon

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-8833-9 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4497-8834-6 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904556

      WestBow Press rev. date: 04/24/2013

      Table of Contents

      SKU-000612889.pdf

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction

      Chapter 1   Getting There

      Chapter 2   Surprises—from diapers to Ebola and mountain climbing at my age!

      Chapter 3   Life is Hard

      Chapter 4   Holy Ground—powerful moments feeling God’s presence

      Chapter 5   Illnesses Theirs and mine

      Chapter 6   Miracles

      Chapter 7   My African Boys

      Chapter 8   Water

      Chapter 9   A new Christianity—worshiping and other ministries

      Chapter 10   Behold I make all things

      new—changes and discoveries

      Chapter 11   Coming Home

      Chapter 12   Where do I go From Here…

      Epilogue

      About the Author

      ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did to me.’

      Matthew 25: 35-40

      Acknowledgements

      SKU-000612889.pdf

      M y fellow travelers, thank you for sharing this amazing experience with me. There are many of you that I did not mention, experiences with you yet untold, but please know that you touched my life.

      To the ones who were called to write down their stories to be included in this book, thank you. Your contribution adds a depth that I could never have achieved alone.

      Tom, Kristin, Angie and Carmela of Hope4Kids—Thank you for the Skype sessions and numerous e mail exchanges to help me more accurately portray the broad scope of Hope4Kids International.

      Laura A. from Minnesota, thank you for introducing me to the editing features on my laptop, and for being in the background for me to bounce ideas off of.

      My dear friend Cathy Bruning, who has shared my walk of motherhood these past ten years. Thank you for volunteering to act as editor, and understanding the heart of my story.

      Thank you to my excellent and devoted employees. Without you running my office professionally and seamlessly, I would never have been able to spend 12 days in Africa. Thank you for caring about my customers as much as I do.

      Last, but most importantly, my husband Greg and two Alaskan sons, Trent and Blake. They have shared this book journey with me, critiquing chapters, helping me with appropriate bible verses, Greg cropping and formatting photos with only the precision that an engineer is capable of, as well as all of them eating more take out than usual.

      Introduction

      SKU-000612889.pdf

      T hank you for sharing my African journey with me! Who goes to Africa for two weeks, then comes home and writes a book about it? Pretty crazy. I was a Math major and tried to avoid any classes in college that involved writing. Africa, however, has a way of changing people in all kinds of ways. I came home from Uganda, took my jumbled scraps of journal paper and started writing. I figured my reflections could be given to family and friends who asked about my trip and God could use my words to help others prepare for their own trips to Africa someday.

      My pamphlet quickly became a book… the one you hold in your hands. I found myself immersed for hours at night and on the weekends, reliving all of the experiences in great depth. My writings motivated me to reach out to my fellow travelers asking them for photographs and their stories to add to mine. While still more comfortable with numbers, I found myself beginning to find my way around words.

      Helping me navigate the literary ocean was my friend, Cathy Bruning, a woman God plunked into my life 10 years ago when our family hosted hers before they began living in a rural Alaskan fishing village for the summer. None of us realized at the time that my small act of service to host a family from Ohio would turn into a beautiful friendship between our families that has spanned a decade, with reunions occurring each summer when Cathy and her family return to the Alaskan village they love. God reminded me, as my pamphlet kept growing, that Cathy could help with the words. She is a missionary at heart and our oldest children left for college at the same time. Cathy understands the void left in a woman’s heart as the nest begins to empty but the still-strong urge to provide motherly love remains.

      I am beginning to grasp that whether a woman has her own children or not, God created women to provide a unique kind of love to children everywhere. We are especially equipped with gifts of love, affirmation, encouragement and tenderness that children around the corner and around the world desperately need. There is no void when God is involved.

      All profits from this book will be donated to build wells in villages desperate for clean water. By purchasing this book, you now have a part in saving children’s lives.

      Chapter 1

      Getting There

      SKU-000612889.pdf

      And the priest said to them, Go in peace. The Journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.

      (Judges 18:6)

      "A dventuresome" Oh, some might have said this about me when I ventured from the Midwest to Alaska after college for my husband Greg’s first job—decided I loved it and stayed. I have become a skilled driver in snow and consider it summer when the temperature reaches 55 degrees. But as far as living a life of adventure, the past 26 years has been filled with nurturing a business from its foundation, loving my high school sweetheart-turned husband, raising two sons, plus keeping my husband organized and in clean socks. My life had a lovely predictability until last fall when we dropped our eldest son, Trent, off at college.

      If you ask me what I am most proud of, it is not my business (although anyone will tell you that I am passionate about my company and my customers). I am most proud of my kids; and the opportunity God has given my husband and me to be fully involved in all areas of their childhood, whether it be travelling many miles for soccer, watching choir and drama events or being a part of their classroom.

      Now, as the mother of any college aged kid will tell you, there comes a time when the opportunities to be involved in your child’s day to day life (something I cherished!) dramatically decreases. Actually, it becomes nearly non-existent if you remove texting and Skype. And while we mothers hear whispers of this chasm long before the day our mini-van pulls away from the university curb, we don’t really get it until we live it. When a child leaves for college it is the death of the family as we know it. As my heart broke from missing this son that we are so blessed to have shared 18 years with, other emotions began to surface. Surprising emotions and, dare I say, a stirring in my heart for Adventure. Not the Alaskan adventure you see on your television screens, but a God Adventure. I sensed the whisper inside me Awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. (Ephesians 5:14). Could a God-Adventure wake me from the spiritual slumber within which I sometimes found myself?

      I caught my breath as I sensed God was serious. His timing made sense to me (not that God needs me to agree with His timing). After three years of talking about going to Africa, I decided that I should experience this with my younger son Blake before he leaves for college next year. Added to that was a growing restlessness within me that my sense of purpose in being a mother needs a new outlet. With Blake on the brink of leaving home I was looking for something that would use this intense mother’s love along with the time and talents that God has given to me. Could God know the outlet that I needed? The outlet that needed me? Excitement bubbled… and fear and worry and joy!

      In my mind’s eye I stood at a door only slightly ajar with a sign on it that read AFRICA. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) And then I just knew. Some people refer to it as a calling;

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