Looking at the Heart

"The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 

-Sam 16:7

I Love people, and I got to see so many of them these two weeks. I want to share my favorite pictures of people with you. Not every photograph is worth a prize. Not every person is glamorous. Nothing is photoshoped. This is raw a piece of Uganda I have captured for you. As you look into the eyes of these people, try to look at the heart and see who they really are. Some sleep in houses of mud, other live in slums. All have seen pain and experienced joy. 

All are loved and relentlessly pursued by Jesus. 

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

-Romans 5:8

(click on the picture and use the arrow keys)

Orientation And Some Time Travelling

Greetings from Kampala, Uganda!

Our team of interns arrived 3 days ago at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda after an amazing week of orientation in the mountains of Colorado Springs. So many great things happened, and so many great new relationships were formed. I really enjoyed meeting a wide variety of people, all of which were design professionals wanting to give their lives for the Kingdom. We learned a lot about each other, other cultures, the Gospel, and God's heart for the Nations. The one lecture session that was particularly interesting to me was about the other 2/3 of the gospel. We discussed how in the U.S. we tend to focus solely on the forgiveness of sins when sharing the gospel. Many cultures in the world are not as concerned with their own personal mistakes as we are. They can be more concerned with honor and shame, or power and fear. It was amazing to see how the gospel addresses these issues and how they can apply not only to other cultures but also to our own. I am hoping to apply all I learned in the next few months.

Honestly, It was difficult for me to leave Colorado. Everything about it was amazing, the mountains, the people, the late night dance session, my time in the Word and so much more. Nonetheless, I was also excited to embark on this crazy new journey and time of my life. So, we left Monday night and from Denver, and flew to Heathrow International Airport. After an 8 hour lay-over we departed for Entebbe in a surprisingly empty plane. Nine hours later we landed just of the edge of Lake Victoria. Quite an amazing sight I must say. Passing through customs was smooth, and all our luggage had arrived on time as well (with nothing stolen either!).  At this point in time in was 7 am, Wednesday. I have no idea where Tuesday went, so don't ask me. The next few days felt like a dream due to the severe jet lag our team was experiencing.

Our scavenger hunt team, in front of the new taxi Park

Downtown

Despite the jet lag, the past 3 days have been incredible. I cannot possibly begin to explain to you all the feelings, sights, and smells I have experienced. Yesterday we embarked on a scavenger hunt in downtown Kampala. We took a Mutatu (taxi bus) into the city for about 1000 Ugandan Shillings (that's 40 US cents).  It was unbelievably crowded, with the smell of diesel, burnt plastic and trash lingering in the air. Small shops were scattered on along the roads. Red dirt seemingly covered everything. I remember seeing 15 mattresses fly into the air as guy catches them on his head and casually walks onto the road, gracefully avoiding all the boda-boda's and Mutatus flying through the streets at seemingly random pasterns without ever touching. As we walked through the crowded open air market I tightly held to my bag in front of me to avoid becoming victim to the pickpockets. Ugandans at the stalls were yelling: "Mzugu! You want to buy?" There was laughter, bartering, shoving all around me. The objective I was given was to buy some fresh fruit, so I eagerly look around for some mangoes. After bypassing some remote controls and bags of stuff that looks like flour I find a lady sitting on the floor with mangoes neatly placed in front of her. Politely I ask: "Hi, how are you? Can I have 2 mangoes please?" She looks at me blankly and says: "two thousand." At this point I wonder if 80 cents is reasonable and decide not to barter with the woman, and just pay the said two thousand. She hands me a bag with three mangoes for some reason, and so I walk away happy. I look up and feel raindrops falling on my face as the first rain in two weeks starts to fall, washing away all the red dust. "Welcome to Kampala" I think with a smile on my face.

Its only been 3 days, and so much has happened. I realize that the first few weeks are always the most intense, but I am stoked about the next few months and all they entail. I would love to Skype with you sometime just send me an email at alexandermooney@gmail.com and we can setup a date and time. The internet here is slow, but it works. In a moment I'm going to head back to the house, get some lunch and then head down to the lake. We are going to play some football (soccer) and ultimate with the locals. The "rolex" I got for breakfast down the street should give me enough energy till lunch. I'll let you guess what that is.

But yeah, don't hesitate to email me, it means more than you think.

Love You All,
-Alex

The End of a Chapter.

I left Atlanta last Tuesday, and I have spent the last few days here in Savannah. I should be here until the 19th when I leave for Colorado Springs, and start a new crazy chapter of my life. The next week should be filled with good intentional time with my Kingdom family and some last minute preparations.
Honestly I am eager to leave, and I am getting a little impatient. But I want to make good use of my last few days here and not let them go to waste. Even though something big lies ahead of me I need to focus on today, for tomorrow has enough worries by itself.

Despite my eagerness, the last few weeks have been good and I feel like I left Atlanta on a good note. I was able to say goodbye to most of the people that mean a lot to me, and I had a lot of good intentional conversations with my co-workers at Jimmy Johns. In hindsight I really enjoyed my summer in Atlanta working an easy job with little hours. I got to meet a large variety of people, and I was reminded of Gods amazing love for people. His heart is for the broken people of this world, especially those who are running away from him. I was reminded that he revealed himself to me not because of anything I had done, but simply because he loves me. I believe he has pointed these things out to me, so that I will be able to better love the people of Uganda. I really don't want to arrive with a prideful agenda. Instead, I desire to live amongst the people of Uganda with a humble heart while allowing myself to be teachable. I have a lot to learn.

There have been a few passages that have really stuck out to me the past year as I have been going through the process of applying and preparing for this internship. A big one I would like to share with you is the parable of the talents. It shows up in Luke 19:12-27 and Matthew 25:14-30 in case you have not read it before. I felt convicted early this year about these verses because I believe that we are the servant that receives the most talents. Just by looking at my own life, I see how God has given me so much. Not only am I a US citizen, but he gave me a healthy body, an education and a strong biblical foundation in my faith. In addition, He has provided me with you: Godly brothers and sisters willing to pray for me and support me. It's only natural that I do this internship with EMI. There is nothing crazy about it. I really want to use these "talents" He has given me.

I wanted to mention how I have been blown away by the support God has provided for me. I am close to reaching my financial needs for this trip, and I love how people have been eager to give on their own accord. It truly has been the Spirit that has stirred up people into giving, not any type of fundraising that I did. This is a direct answer to prayer, which I prayed for with the Georgia Tech Navigators in the beginning of this summer. God is pretty awesome.

Thank you for you praying for me, and reading my blog. I should be posting more frequently now that I am getting closer to leaving. So don't forget to sign up for email notifications on the right.

I love you all,
Alex

Father to the Fatherless

Hi Everyone!

Today, I received an email from Jeff Austin at EMI informing me of the project I will be working on. We will be doing some design work for the ministry "Father to the Fatherless"(F2F) who recently purchased land and want to build a variety of structures including schools, a hospital and an orphanage. All this will help them with their vision of loving people like Jesus. Here is part of their vision statement:

"Father to the Fatherless International is a charitable and religious organization with the purpose of reaching out to the street children, orphans, single mothers, and widows of the world through education, nutrition, boarding, and fostering."

The founder has a really awesome testimony in which God protected him while living on the streets of Kampala when he was only 10 years old. You should check out F2F's website if you want to know more about the vision God has given him. Click here if you want to visit the website.
I'm so excited to work with the engineers at EMI to make this vision a reality. It's so awesome that my first engineering experience as a college graduate will be for His Kingdom. I bless God for that.

The Calling
I just posted a page that will go a bit more in depth about why and how God called me to Uganda. So if you were ever wondering "Why Uganda?" just Click here. The reasons I list there mean a lot to me, so be sure to check it out.

A Message to the Sponsors
I want to thank everyone who has committed to praying for me this fall! Honestly, it's kinda overwhelming to think about the amount of people willing to pray for me and the rest of the Uganda Team. You can start by praying for the interns as we prepare to move to Uganda. Ask the Lord that nothing would be forgotten before our departure and that last minute fundraising would go smoothly.
You should consider signing up for email notifications so that the next time I post something you won't miss it. I would love for you to stay up to date on God's work in Kampala. Simply type in your email on the left toolbar.

Donate!
Yes, this is an unpaid internship, and the Lord has been so good in providing funding for me. I have been working at Jimmy John's for the past two months, which has provided me with some income (and a good dose of humility). It has been good working with a large variety of people from the Georgia Tech crowd that I have been around for the past year and a half. Having said that, I am still in need of funds for my internship. Please consider supporting me financially, if you have not already. I will make it easy for you. Simply Click here to visit the online donation page. Select "interns" in the drop down menu and then select "Mooney, Alex-3038." 

Thank you so much for reading my blog! I hope I did not take too much of your time. Feel free to comment on these posts. I would love to know who all is reading this, so I can pray for you in return. Also, don't hesitate to share this blog with anyone you think would be interested in knowing more about God using engineering in Africa to expand His kingdom. 

With Love,
-Alex

Immunizations

Hello Everyone!

I am so glad you decided to take the time to check out my blog, hopefully I can keep you updated on things as a prepare for moving to Kampala in the next 7 weeks. I just got my immunizations today, which is as exciting as it sounds. Thank God for my awesome roommate Taylor who gave me a ride and was willing to sit in his car for 2 hours waiting for me.

Anyways, I will be posting more soon. So don't stray too far.

-Alex