Stepping into God’s Calling and Doing More Good: A Conversation with Andrea Kazindra, Co-Founder Musana.org

Hey.

Hey beautiful friends.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Woman.

This is your host, Kristen.

Today is a mini episode and if I'm going to be honest, February has.

Been quite a trying month already and we're only 12 days in.

So we are just going to talk about how can we give ourselves grace and space and rest when we're walking through.

Welcome to Faith Fueled Woman, a podcast designed for Christian women eager to deepen their faith and shine God's light in every aspect of their lives.

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Hi, I'm your host, Kristen.

I'm an encourager, a faith led entrepreneur, a mom and a wife.

Let's be encouraged in our everyday lives as we let our faith guide us through, fuel us and fill us with God's incredible peace, wisdom and joy in our lives.

Hi.

Today on the podcast we have a wonderful guest to share with you.

My guest is Andrea Kazendra and she's the co founder and co CEO of Masana.org this organization has been doing so much over so many years and she'll share more about that with us.

But they've grown.

19 sustainable enterprises in education, healthcare and economic development in Uganda, including schools, hospitals, restaurants and guest houses, employ over 680 Ugandans and impact thousands of lives every day.

And what's amazing is not only is she the co founder and CEO doing this amazing faith based work and just changing these communities, you know, for the better, but she's making these programs are sustainable, they're profitable, it is being built from, you know, the inside out or from the ground up.

And she's also a mom of three and a wife and I just can't wait for her to share with you how she's stepping into continuing to do more things that God is calling her into.

And I think you're going to be encouraged by what she has to share with you.

So welcome so much, Andrea.

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Yeah.

Can you just share with us a little bit about your backstory, your background and kind of get us caught up to speed with what life looks like now.

Yeah.

So I am originally from Denver, Colorado and grew up in a Christian home and you know, my whole life was told to be the hands and feet of Jesus and I really wanted that for my life.

You know, I really wanted my life to be of service, and I wanted to follow him, but I really didn't know what that looked like practically.

So when I graduated high school, I joined the business school mostly because I had an obsession with coffee shops.

And I had this dream of one day opening a coffee shop because I loved the community aspect of people coming together and always worked at coffee shops and so joined the business school and, you know, was really struggling to understand how to use business to make an impact in the world.

And, you know, I'd sit in business classes and be told, you know, about profit maximization.

And, you know, I.

Yeah, I was just confused like most college kids, right?

I really didn't know what to do, what direction God was, you know, pointing, pointing me into.

And then one day I was sitting in class and my professor put up on the screen a picture of Muhammad Yunus, who is the founder of the concept of microfinance, which is giving small loans to the poorest people in the world so that they can lift themselves out of poverty.

And I was so excited.

Like, I just felt like God was saying, this is it.

Like, this is what I want to do.

This is what I want to learn about.

And so I googled cheapest way to go to Africa and learn microfinance.

And an internship popped up and I applied and I was accepted.

And my sister, who was a year younger than me and a good friend, also decided to join me.

So the summer between my sophomore and junior year, 20 years old, got on a plane for the first time to head to Uganda.

And it was, you know, such an exciting experience.

And, yeah, I was just ready to learn.

I mean, really.

And shortly after I got there, I was brought to an orphanage in town where 160 kids were living.

And just the most awful, deplorable conditions you could imagine.

I mean, like you, if you think about poverty, I mean, these are the conditions you think about, right?

Sleeping on rocky dirt floors.

The compound that they were living in was the community trash dump, you know, toilets overflowing, sleeping on rocky dirt floors.

No beds, no mattresses, nothing piled on top of each other.

And, you know, I'll never forget the first day after leaving, and I literally wrote in my notebook or in my journal, I said, God, why did you bring me to that place?

Because it felt so hopeless.

But I knew that I had to go back.

And so every day that summer, I would go back and basically ended up just falling in love with these sweet little kids and uncovering layer of after layer of abuse and deception.

And lies and learning that these kids were being kept in these conditions for a reason.

And, yeah, people were benefiting from them.

And, I mean, essentially, it was a tourist attraction, right?

People like us, people, foreigners, would come to this town and be brought to this orphanage and be told, this is where we bring all of our kids that have no families.

And you see the way they're living.

So people would go home, raise money, send it, and then the money would never get to where it was supposed to go.

And so after learning all these things and then some other events happening, just felt like God was saying, like, you know what he calls us to look after the orphans and the widows.

Right.

He calls us to not live a comfortable life.

I knew I was taking on a lot, but I just, you know, back then, I was so young, and I would say naive.

Like, I think back, and I'm like, oh, my gosh.

Like today, I would never take the risks that I was willing to take then.

But, yeah, so made the decision to stay and try to get that orphanage closed down and move the kids to a safe place.

My sister and my friend came back to Colorado and started showing photos and raising support.

I called my parents, told my dad, I'm sorry, I can't come home.

I have to stay and try to help these kids.

Around that time, I met a young man who was living across the street from me.

He's now my husband, but that happened many years down the road.

But he was just this young entrepreneur, and he started helping me.

And long story short, after a crazy battle, a lot of death threats, a lot of just crazy, crazy things, we were able to rescue 80 kids from that orphanage and bring them to a new home, which we called Musana Children's home.

Yeah.

So it was total chaos.

And here we were all of a sudden, like, this huge responsibility of raising these kids and educating them and feeding them.

And, you know, when we first took the kids, we had maybe a month.

We had enough money to get through the first month, but just kept going forward and trusting that God would provide.

And, you know, when we took on these kids, there was this element, like, I didn't.

We didn't really know the stories.

We had a feeling that we were not being told the full truth.

But I, in my heart, I'm like, well, no parents would want their kids to live like this, so they must be orphans, right?

And then Basically started to uncover, we hired social workers and we started to dig into where these kids came from.

So we tracked down every single one of their homes, deep, deep, deep in villages.

Yeah.

And basically uncovered that they had parents.

And you know, it felt like such a betrayal.

Right.

Like here we are thinking that we were, you know, taking on guardianship of kids that had no one, but they did.

And they, these were people that were told that their kids would have a better life and so their kids were taken from them.

And so that just started to, you know, bring this question of why, why are families, why are parents so willing to give up responsibility for their children?

And it comes down to poverty, right.

And this desire for something better for their kids.

And so we completely transitioned.

So I always tell my story saying that I don't want anyone to think of Musanna and think of this 20 year old girl that rescued these kids because that's the story and it's how God started.

But what Musana is today is a Ugandan community that is self sustaining, right.

That is, that is, that has quality and affordable education and health care and meaningful employment.

Is a community that doesn't need orphanages.

Right.

Because the people are economically capable of taking care of their own.

And it's just been beautiful to witness what has, what God has done in Masana and with the community just owning and believing that they can change their own, their own futures in their own lives.

Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful.

And yeah, not that I'm very familiar with that, but even my sister for one summer had worked in Nicaragua and she's told me that the orphanages are much like that.

Like you said, they have families.

So it's probably similar type things that are going on.

But I think a lot of people have never even heard that before, you know, that it's because they really didn't think they could provide for their kids or feed another mouth.

Right.

And so they, they did this.

But to your point, it was like thinking that they're sending them off to some school or in a home in the United States.

And it's very different, right?

It's not the same at all.

Not saying something like that couldn't happen here too, right.

I mean you can definitely find yourself in a worse sit situation sometimes.

But so I appreciate you sharing that very beginning, you know, story.

But just share with us from, you know, just from the beginning until now, you know, you had this heart, you know, God was literally just making your heart hurt for those kids.

And then now of course he's continuing to have you, to have this big open heart to help, continue to build, right.

This, all these wonderful resources, I guess, in Uganda, but that they run.

So how would you first just describe, like, how you continue to be able to step into things that you've never done before.

Right.

And keep doing them?

Because I think for some of us that's very scary.

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, early on we learned that actually what we were doing was just causing more harm.

Right?

We learned, you know, I mean, you said the whole orphanage thing, I mean, 80% of kids and orphanages aren't true orphans.

And so this desire to help and this charity mentality has actually just kind of caused more issues, more dependency, killed local initiative, killed the locals coming up with solutions to their own problems because they're always looking to outsiders.

And so through experience, I mean, it was the most humbling, you know, time of my life those first two or three years, because here I was being looked at as this white savior.

You know, I was, I had the connections to all the funds and everything operationally was supported with donations.

And we had kids had sponsors and all these things and it was working, right, Like Musana.

The kids were being taken care of and being educated.

But there was this underlying ugliness, right, this patriarchal feeling of the donors where the money was coming from, was who had the control and the power.

And so probably, you know, the biggest shift that we had to make that I personally had to make was giving up control and trusting that God was going to take care of the kids and take care of Musana and was going to provide the right people and, you know, letting go of, yeah, the, the.

The desire to be the decision maker, right, and letting the community truly own Musana and, and bring it to where they needed it to, to be turning it into what they wanted.

And so it was just, I think we have a saying at Masana Okusoma Te Ka.

And that means learning never ends.

And that has been a phrase that has just.

We are not afraid to admit when we've, when we make mistakes, when we've made mistakes.

And just this constant willingness to, to.

To do what the community needed, right?

Making it about them, not about us, not about what the donors want, but what is actually going to, to create long term impact.

I mean, the kids needed a school to go to.

There were no good schools.

So we started a Christian school, opened it up to the community so that they could and, you know, allowed them to start paying the kids.

I mean, I can't tell you how many nights I spent in the government hospitals early on in Musana and just the nightmare of healthcare in Uganda.

I mean, I had literally people I loved die in my arms because we couldn't get them the care that they needed.

And so that led to us starting a hospital.

The community mothers coming to Musana begging us to take their kids because they felt like they couldn't take care of them.

Right.

So instead we started a school for them.

So we have a.

We have now three.

Three schools just for women, right.

And these young moms that can come and will take care of their babies and they go to learn a skill in a business and so that they can take care of their own kids and, you know, our high school.

So basically, and then we have a hotel and a restaurant.

So in the community we started in, we just built things based on what we saw the community needed.

And then by, with always with this mindset of how do we make it sustainable?

How do we make sure that we can run without relying on outside funds to operate?

And so we started using donations as capital investment.

As a capital investment.

I mean, true local ownership.

I always say this.

If you really want the community to own, has to be sustained by them, Right?

Because as long as they're having to look to the donor, you know, it's not truly theirs.

It's not truly, you know, locally owned and locally sustained.

So.

Yeah.

So then we started to, you know, can this work in other communities?

And so we started to establish Musana and more communities.

And.

Yeah, so that's kind of how it grew.

I don't know.

I could talk all day, but I know.

Yeah.

No, no, that's great.

Yeah.

I mean, it's kind of the.

I know, I know it.

I just can't think of it, you know, but it's like instead of, you know, providing the fish, Right.

You teach them how to fish.

I mean, it's.

It's basically, you said you're providing them the skills, the resources, but then.

And then in the needs they have, and then you're allowing them to run it and figure out what needs to be done differently.

Right, but you guys are supporting that, right.

Like in the communities and getting them to that point, which is beautiful.

So do you find that you.

Once you've established all these things, like you're still on the ground, if you will, or do you find that then you kind of move on to like these new areas that you're talking about.

So like me, like as Andrea, I don't do anything operationally like I, I always tell the team.

I mean right Now Musana has 7, 700 full time Ugandan employees.

My husband is Ugandan and he leads everything on the ground.

There is an incredible leadership team of Ugandans.

They don't, they don't need me at all.

Like I actually, I always joke that like whenever I try to get my hands and things, I just screw things up.

I make I like I.

Because the truth is I don't, I don't know, I don't know the culture, I don't know what they need.

I don't know what the solutions are, right.

I know what my Western mind mentality or mindset and perspective says that the community needs, but that's not really what they need.

So.

Yeah, so now when we go into a community, like when I say we, I mean the Ugandan team, my job now is I always tell them like I work for them.

I work for the Ugandan leaders that are the change agents changing their country, right?

And now I feel like I want to share with the world what is possible when these communities can take control.

And we as the donors invest in them and believe in them and see them as the capable image bearers of God that they are, right?

They are not recipients of charity, right?

They are agents of change and we need to treat them like that.

So now that's my job, right?

I just get the opportunity to share, right, with the world what they're doing.

And I love the financial side, I love the strategizing side.

So, yeah, so but on the ground, you know, the, the, like the communities that we go into, at some point they become self sustaining where they're, and you know, they have, now they have Musana schools, Musana hospital, Musana Hotel, Musana restaurant, meaningful employment.

And all these enterprises are build, making profits.

And those profits are the profits that are generated locally with local income are what is supporting the most vulnerable people in the community.

Giving them education, scholarships, right?

And providing free health care.

So these things that we as the west or we as the donors feel like we're responsible for, right?

Taking care of the most vulnerable, right?

We want to sponsor a kid or we want to buy a meal or we want to build a house or we want, we want to support the, the most vulnerable people, right?

And yet that has to be the community's job.

Right.

So our job is to invest in the community, empower the community, build the community economically so that they can do it on their own.

Yeah, I love it.

It's so great.

Excuse me.

So tell me.

Well, near the end, I think then we can share kind of like how can people participate, obviously, you know, learn more about your organization, but then also just other organizations that are doing, you know, this type of work in the world, like you said, helping communities, right?

To.

To have what they need and actually build it from there.

But before that, what I do want to talk about is people can hear you and think, gosh, but I don't know how I would ever do anything like that or how could I be braver or how could I do something?

You know, maybe I feel like something's on my heart.

Maybe, maybe something, you know, just breaks heart, or maybe I feel some prompting, but I just think I don't know what to do, right?

Like, how do I move forward?

Maybe fear's standing in my way.

You know, maybe I'm wondering, do I have what it takes, right, to do something more?

And first I should just say, I'm not saying everyone's called to create an entire, you know, in another country, from the ground up, something this just fantastic and big, right?

But I would just say to you, like, what encouragement would you have for people, you know, as far as our faith and just being the body, you know, the feet and hands of Christ in the world, to help others in some way?

Like what?

Would you just want to encourage them, you know, from your perspective?

Yeah, I mean, get uncomfortable.

I mean, I think we are living in a time and in a society, I mean in the US and the west, of comfort and convenience.

And we are working so hard to make sure that we're safe and that we're secure and you know, that we have money saved and you know, we were.

It's almost like the more comfortable we are and the more convenience we have, the more, the better life we're going to have, right?

And the more peace we're going to have.

And yet that's not what God called us to, to strive after at all, right?

I mean, look at Jesus like he.

He had nothing, right?

And he just trusted that God would provide for him.

And I think when we're willing to get uncomfortable, right?

When we're willing to step into the unknown, we are giving God an opportunity to show up.

Why in America is it so hard to see God's, God's existence and God's power, right?

Why is it so hard because we're, we're living in too much comfort and we're not giving God room to move.

We're not giving God because God works.

He does the impossible, right?

I mean, Ephesians 3:20 is my like favorite verse, right?

He does immensely more.

Right.

Than we could ever ask or imagine.

And it's, it's like we have to give him the opportunity and the only way we can let him move is, is by doing things that we're afraid of doing things that we don't know the outcome.

And so how does that apply to us practically?

I mean, I tell my kids this all the time.

Like you, you, we can make a difference every single day.

And every single time that we feel uncomfortable, there's an opportunity there, right?

Talking to someone that you know, would be uncool to talk to, right?

Going to a neighbor's house that, you know, maybe makes us feel uncomfortable.

Like, I mean we, we have moments every single day that we, we can step out, right?

And trust, like, okay, if I do this, God will show up.

And those are small examples, right?

But I mean, I think it's the same thing with our finances, right?

How are we handing them over to God and trusting him, right.

To like they're his resources, right?

They're not ours.

So I don't know, there's a lot of things, but I definitely think we have to be willing to get uncomfortable if we really want to see God move in our lives.

Yeah, absolutely.

And there's here, I was going to share this with just little statement or a couple words from Mark Patterson in his book Chase the Lion, but it's talking about kind of going after, right?

Like what God's put on our heart.

If you are big enough for your dream, your dream isn't big enough for God.

You need a dream that necessitates 37 mighty men and mighty women.

You need a dream that takes dollars and decades.

You need a dream that scares you.

And I think most of us are afraid to even step into those God sized dreams.

Like we might have them or at least the inkling, the beginning feeling or desire or heartbreak.

But we are, we're afraid or we're too comfortable to, to even take that first step, right?

To say, what if I got curious?

Like, what if I was willing to say, well, what if, right?

Like, what if I just did one little thing?

What if I just, you know, went over and you know, experienced what you've done over there?

What if I went and helped a different, you know, program or group?

What if I wanted to go just see the kids in my neighborhood who I know are struggling with something.

Right.

Like it's.

In other words, it's that we teach to your point, we have to just take that next step.

We have to be willing to just try something and keep doing a little more of it.

Right.

And over time the path opens up and we see what God is trying, how he's trying to move, you know, and how he's trying to use us.

And I think most of us are even afraid to.

We feel frozen by this thing that maybe we, we know God's calling us into.

And I think like, you're so right.

We feel too comfortable or we're too afraid to move.

And when that's really how God wants to move us.

Yeah.

I mean, when you don't know the outcome, it's right, it's the unknown.

But that's where he's calling us to.

Be, where he's going to do miracles.

Yeah.

And it's amazing.

Like, I mean I just think like every time in my life where I feel doubt, right.

Or I feel fear or I feel like, oh, I just don't know, is this going to work?

Like I start having that, like, you know, I almost, those are almost the times where I know that I have to do it.

I feel like those are like the God, that's God's sign.

Like God's speaking to me.

Like, no, you're feeling all those things because in your weakness I'm strong.

Right?

That's where you, where you trust him and you know, and he shows up.

I mean, I just think back like how Musana started and how many mistakes we made and how many, like the, the how young we were and so unqualified and so ill equipped and right yet now to see Musana where it is today, that is God, right?

That's God saying like, just take those steps and we'll do the rest.

I love that.

So let me ask you this.

Why don't you share with us a little bit.

How can people, you know, learn more about different ways they can work with your organization?

And then also is there other, I mean, I know there are, but are there other organizations or things that from your perspective you recommend people that might be other alternatives?

Right.

To things, maybe to your point, like just being a sponsor or going on a short term mission trip.

I know you kind of encourage, you know, this, you know, anyways, micro, you know, helping people learn how to do their own skills, so many other things.

So I'd love to hear what you might want to share people on that.

Yeah.

So you can learn obviously more about Musana on our website mg you know, follow us on all the channel, all those channels and all the things as far as, you know, what, what people can support or what people should support.

I mean, I think everybody has something that, you know, God like, you know, calls them to, right?

Like you feel this, like this some, this is something that really means a lot to me and I definitely think there's a time and place for relief, right.

There's a lot of extremely hurt and broken people that just need this like handout in a moment.

I think what we have to be really careful of is not creating dependency.

And so I always say, like, if it's something where they're going to continue to need to come back to you, right.

And continue to need money to, to keep doing what they're doing, we have to question is that the best use of our resources?

Right.

So find things that are sustainable or on, are on track to becoming sustainable.

So, you know, think of it as an investment, right?

You want to give your resources into something that is, that it's going to grow, right?

It's like the, the parable of the talents.

It's like, yeah, God wants us to be responsible with our resources and so just think, think about that.

I also really believe in local ownership.

I really believe in empowering any, in investing in the local people.

And so if the ministries that you're supporting, you know, if, you know, look who's leading it, who's making decisions, right?

And are they the people that are on the ground that know their own community?

I think that's also really important.

There's, there's so many amazing organizations, so I would just look for those things, you know.

Yeah, yeah, that's good, that's good advice.

Well, and there are a lot more now than I think there used to be, you know what I mean, that are doing that kind of work.

I mean, there's obviously been a shift, I don't know, probably in the last 20 years, I would guess, I don't know exactly how long, but to more of those types of, I mean they might all be different but you know, I'm saying the way they're helping communities and actually creating like you said, sustainable models in different communities.

So I think, I think that was good thoughts to share with people.

What would you just say to people?

You know, we talked about sort of like just get uncomfortable, listen to those promptings, you know, and kind of just like you said, listen to your heart, like what kind of breaks your heart and whatnot and just try to do something right.

Like try to say like how can I serve others?

You know, and sometimes it's a small things our everyday lives and then other times it's, we're going to be called to do bigger things, right.

Whether it's investing our resources and our money and.

But other times it's going to be our time and talent and so just what other maybe encouragement as we start wrapping up would you have for people?

Just about anything, maybe about in their faith walk, maybe just about in their lives and kind of, you know, your philosophy for how you want to live your life and how you've just seen that it's might be worth sharing with other people.

Yeah.

You know, I think again like being able to take risk.

You know, I, I've been studying the story of Peter and when God calls him onto the water, right, and he, he takes a step out and you know, he starts like looking around and seeing, oh like all these things are making him fearful and doubtful and he's gonna sink and drown.

And so he starts thinking and goes, no, like look, you know, like, like just keep your eyes on what's important.

And I think, you know, let's, it's like when we can, you know, keep from, keep the distractions that the world brings.

Yes, there are so many distractions and there are so many things that will feel important to strive after and just remembering like what is really important.

Where should our time and our resources and our talents be going and how can we be of service to others and to the most, you know, vulnerable and broken populations that God continuously calls us to look after.

So you know, again, I, I think the most important thing is just taking, taking, taking the risk, taking the step and trusting.

Yeah, yeah, I love it.

I, you know, I often say that, you know, all of us have a ministry, you know, even if we don't use those words or even if it's our only ourselves.

And hopefully the ministry is pointing people back to Jesus, right?

We're doing things, you know, showing up to serve and love others.

But I say that because I think a lot of, a lot of times people think, well, I'm not, I don't work in the church or I don't have my own ministry or a non profit, but everything we do is a ministry, right?

In other words, it's how we choose to show up in our lives.

It's how we choose up to like you said, to use our talents, our resources and our, in our finances.

And so yeah, I Just encourage people.

What's the legacy that you want to leave?

Right?

Is it one of being Christlike?

And, you know, my dad recently just passed away.

He'd been ill for some time with Parkinson's.

But, you know, he.

First of all, he has a legacy of five kids and 11 grandkids.

You know, all his kids are faith based and, you know, just doing things in the world, you know, to.

To be good Christians.

And, you know, and then he was very sorry, you know, sharing his faith with people and giving to causes and things are so important to him.

Right.

But it's like he left this beautiful legacy as a Christian.

And so while we're still here, we need to just decide, like, are we being intentional?

Right, with how we're showing up?

Are we.

Like you said, you know, I love Bob Goff's books, but, you know, he has one called Undistracted, and it's all about that.

Like, how do you get.

How do you push to the side the things that aren't don't really matter in this lifetime and the next, right?

Like, you know, and so we just have to get serious about it, I think, because sometimes, like you said, it's easy just to, you know, and I'm not saying I'm not guilty of this too, but, you know, clicking on Netflix and just kind of wanting to zone out sometimes or in the evening.

And I'm not saying we can't ever do that, but what I am saying is sometimes we stop being intentional and we just let the day or the week or the month or the year happen.

Instead of saying, what is it I really want to be a part of?

How is it that I really want to have an impact in the world, you know, which is what you're doing in your organization.

So lovely.

And so I think if we can all just, you know, ask ourselves those questions, because that's how we, I think, continue to listen to God and step into more is saying, like, am I spending my time, right, doing more good?

You know, how can we.

That's what we're here for, right.

Is to do more good, I believe.

You know, and so I love that.

Yeah, it's good.

Yeah.

So the last question for you, and then you can remind people again of your website.

But what would.

What's filling you up right now?

Whether it's something in your faith or just in your life in general, it could be just quiet walks.

But, like, what is fueling you right now?

Fueling me?

That's a good question.

Because other than my coffee, I mean, you said it.

You know, we have a pretty chaotic different life.

I mean we go back and forth between Uganda and Colorado.

You know, our kids are in two schools and I have three young kids, 10, six and one.

And yeah, it's in work, you know, you, all the things, it's the, it is a balancing act.

Like I've never felt in my life before just this pressure to like be so many things to so many different people.

And I think, you know, what grounds me is like I, I do love walking.

I love my, my walks, my prayer walks.

But I have to start every day with at least.

I used to say I wanted at least 30 minutes and someone recently told me like, even if it's five minutes, right, like just having that time where it's just me and yeah, I can just focus re.

You know, focus my day and remember, right.

Like I am God's hands and feet.

I.

How can I be of service today?

How can my life be a sacrifice for him?

And yes, like I, I've learned over the years the importance of self care and making sure that I'm like taking care of myself.

I can't take care of anyone if I'm not taking care of myself.

And that has been one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn because for so many years is just pouring into so many other people and other things.

But yeah, I mean, I think just having that time every morning just to ground me and.

Yeah, well, yeah, absolutely.

I most, most every morning I do the same.

I mean if some, for some reason the morning kind of goes sideways, I normally am able to fit it back in, you know, maybe an hour, a couple hours later.

But my days are definitely smoother when I do that as well.

You know, like I stay more grounded, I stay more centered and more at peace.

You know, so many things.

And you know, by the way, with a one year old and two other kids, yeah, it's a lot.

One year olds are busy, you know, and they need a lot.

Mine are much older now, so they don't, they don't need much from me anymore.

You know what I'm saying?

Like as far as daily care, if you will.

So.

Oh my gosh, I love it.

Okay, so why don't you share this one more time the website where people can learn more about ways that they can partner with you or work with you.

Yeah, so our website is www.musanamusa.org.

so yeah, I mean you can find everything there.

We also, you know, have all, yeah, like I said, all the social media channels.

Love to follow or follow us.

We also love to host people, so maybe, you know, talk about getting a little uncomfortable if you feel like you want to come and see and learn.

I mean, man, I, I always tell people this year, like, if you really want to learn how to have full reliance and dependence on God, come to Uganda.

I mean, the faith that people have is just so beautiful and there is so much we can learn from being with the Ugandan people.

And yeah, I just, I just love them.

I find them just so beautiful and remarkable and resilient and faithful.

And so if you want to come and see and be a part of, amazing.

I love that you guys do that, you know, that you have that available to and open to, to have people come.

So I love that.

So thank you so much.

So, Andreas, thank you so much again for coming and joining us and for sharing your, your own journey and then the journey of what you're doing Uganda.

It's beautiful and I hope it encourages other people just to keep stepping out in their faith, getting a little more uncomfortable and stepping into more of what God, you know, is really calling each of us into.

So thank you so much for your.

Yeah, thank you so much, Kristin.

As I wrap up today's episode, I just want to share with you an excerpt from the book the Esther Mantle by Christy Johnson Johnston.

She says, question is, will you personally bow to the pressure or not?

Or will you stand alone?

This prevalent desire to not rock the boat, stay low, to not stand up, and to stay away from anything that feels uncomfortable has consumed our world.

Take note, this was the very thing Vashati did.

She refused to come before the king because of the discomfort of his request.

I assume she did not want to be ridiculed or look on undesirably in front of the court officials.

However, it was not this action alone that cost her the throne.

Rather, it was the threat that her actions could initiate, encouraging millions of women into rebellion.

But basically the author is talking about Vasadi is the first queen to the king that Esther ends up marrying after a year of preparation.

And basically the king divorces and casts away Bashadi because she doesn't do what the king wants to.

But the point is, is Esther is able to be used because she is willing to get uncomfortable.

One, she's willing to leave her own environment and go and prepare for a year to try to become who the king picks to be his wife.

And then she's living in an environment where Jewish people were not necessarily or in some ways they were.

We'll just say discriminated against.

But she later then has to basically get in front of the king and try to save the Jewish people.

And so once again, she shows that she was willing to be used in uncomfortable situations and situations that were not always safe and absolutely situations that she didn't probably feel prepared for.

But I only share this because, as our guest today shared, we often, especially in the US or, you know, many other countries, we, we don't like getting uncomfortable.

We have gotten too comfortable.

And when we do that, when there's too much comfort, we cannot see as easily or quick clearly or as often God doing the impossible in our lives and in the world.

And so I only share those words to encourage each of us.

Let's step out of our comfort zones.

Let's step into what God's calling us into.

And when we feel like there's maybe some discomfort, that might be exactly what God's asking us to step into or step through.

And the questions that I just want to wrap up with you or to share with you is how can we each be of more service?

How can we invest our resources, our time, our talent in a more godly way?

Right?

That's our everyday moments.

That's giving time to God.

But it's also how are we willing to show up and do more good in the world for his honor?

Right.

To bring a light and shine it back to Jesus.

And so that is just what I want to challenge you, challenge you with today.

And I hope that Andrea's story today was an example of just how people are showing up around the world to do just that.

Until next time, I hope you have a wonderful week and I hope that you'll challenge yourself to do one small thing that's a little bit uncomfortable or, or get you out of your comfort zone that you feel like God might be prompting you to do.

Thanks again for listening to the show and if you enjoyed today's episode, we.

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