Monday, March 2, 2009

Living The Dream

It is truly amazing to see how the Lord can use people from all walks of life to do His work. My name is Sam Thompson and I am currently living in Masaka Uganda working as a missionary. Looking back at the road I was headed down 5 years prior, I would never have imagined that I would end up in Uganda preaching the Word. The past few years have been quite an adventure and my life has made a complete 180 turn in the right direction.

Growing up I was home schooled by my mother and a few others from our home church. This was an awesome positive environment for me to grow up in. There were about 12 other kids in my class, but over the years we started to head our separate directions. When It came time for me to head into ninth grade my parents and I had decided that a change was needed. So I enrolled in the frightening world of public high school. I don't blame anyone but myself for my actions while attending. It was a bit of a shock being introduced to all the things that most of these kids had grown up with. Freshman year was a struggle for me to stay strong in what I believed in and by the end I fell victim to the ways of the world. The following years I kept growing farther apart from the Lord. Eventually I decided that my life could not keep heading in this direction. I dropped out of high school and finished out my education at a military school. This experience gave me the discipline I need to turn my life around. Once I graduated though I found myself longing for my old high school lifestyle. I started to fall victim to it once again but this time was overwhelmed by a feeling of tremendous guilt. Deep down I knew that the Lord was calling me back to Him; a life filled with adventure with Him as my guide.

The next few years ensued exactly this. Now I am currently working my dream job as a Wild land Firefighter in the North American summer. The government actually pays me to run around the mountains and play with fire. I have been truly blessed by working this job. Due to the snowfall in the winter though, I am only employed for 6 months out of the year. Last winter I headed home to Tulsa Oklahoma to take a semester of college. Whenever I am in Tulsa I attend a local church called Believers. One Sunday they showed a video about an outreach they were working on in Africa. My friend Rob was sitting next to me and we both were touched by what the video had shown. At that very moment we felt compelled to go and help how ever we could. Through a series of events we ended up coming to Masaka Uganda to help Jim and Robin with their outreach called He Will Provide. We have been here for about 3 weeks now and it has been one of the most rich times in my life. The kids here are filled with so much passion for the Lord and for life. Not a day has gone by that I have not been inspired by them. I would have never thought that I would be here, but then again I don't even know what tomorrow will bring.

I wanted to write my testimony for you to show you how the Lord can use the most unqualified people to do His work. If any of you reading this have been on the fence about coming out here to work, I totally recommend that you come. If your actions in the past are still hanging you up, remember that the Lords mercy is new every morning and He never stops waiting with open arms for you to come back to Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 " No eye has seen, no ear had heard and no mind had imagined what God has prepared for those who Love Him."

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