Winterstein Family Blog

One of the most asked questions at New Hope is, "Why are we here?" and the answer is "For relationship". I have mentioned before that this was my best trip to Uganda and I think that is because of the rich relationships that were developed and also some new relationships were formed.  I could probably write a short story if I were to touch on all the relationships, but for the sake of this post I will focus on my relationships as a sponsor to a Ugandan missionary, Kasana preschool teacher, Auntie Scovia, and a young man named Vincent. Robert and I with Auntie Scovia and her family in 2016. When I arrived at Kasana Children's Center the first thing I wanted to do was to walk over the the school and see Auntie Scovia.  I found her having a break-time with her friends and was asked to join.  It was such an honor to meet her dear friends and to be a part of their conversation. After our time with her friends, she showed me her classroom and all the new thi...

Our final destination, Kasana Children's Center, where we conducted women's ministry events. When our team began to meet to prepare for the trip, we were brainstorming ways we might want to serve.  Out of my mouth came, "What about women's ministry?"  Then Steve says, "Sounds great, Could you lead that?" This was intimidating to me for a couple reasons.  First, I was one of the youngest women on the team.  Also, I don't like speaking in front of people!  I'll do it, but it is not my favorite thing to do.  I'd much rather grab a cup of coffee and talk with a few people.  I don't like being in the spotlight. I began to communicate with the women's ministry coordinator in Uganda.  The theme for the year and one which we were asked to stay within is "Turning Our Hearts Towards Home".  She explained this as things like, housekeeping, hospitality, etc.  I was thinking, "I can barely keep up with my own home.  How am I...

We began our morning at Musana by walking down to the fishing village of Nalumuli.  First, we sat on the beach and listened to Angela share her story of how God called her to minister to the women.  As she shared, tears welled up in her eyes.  She spoke directly from the heart.  There was no denying God has given her a supernatural love for the people of Nalumuli. Angela and her husband came to Uganda on utter obedience.  They sold their house, bought plane tickets, and initially had no plan.  All they knew was that God was calling them to Uganda.  They found out about New Hope Uganda, were accepted as missionaries, and moved into their home at Musana.  Angela looked down at Nalumuli and her heart was moved.  She felt God was calling her to walk down there - alone. This was a scary calling.  Nalumuli is a place of suffering and rampant sin.  The men aren't faithful; they fish at night, and drink during the day....

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 1 Corinthians 12:9-10 The next lesson for me on this trip to Uganda comes on a day of travel.  We left Kobwin at 5am to travel to Kapchorwa and to our final destination of Musana. To be honest, I was dreading the day with the way our travel went a couple days prior.  I was also still trying to process the suffering I witnessed at the school the day before and the weight of being away from my family was hitting me.  I rolled out of bed, pulled myself together, and hopped into the van before dawn. As we began driving down the dirt road I had the opportunity to call home for the first time.  Robert answered and he was s...

Each trip to Uganda has been so different for me.  I do have to say though that this one may have topped all the others.  We had a large team, yet there was such unity and servant-hearts across the whole group.  The "God-moments" were numerous and the blessings beyond count. As I am processing all that God did and taught me among this beloved group of brothers and sisters in Christ., I am going to write several blog posts.  This first one will focus on our first stop, Kobwin Children's Center. Our first day in Uganda was hard.  We traveled for 2 days just on airplanes so we were tired and waking up early to head to our first destination, Kobwin Children's Center.  The drive would be a minimum of 8 hours. At one of our last team meetings, our team leader, Steve, shared a saying his pastor once shared with him, "Blessed are the flexible for they will not break".  We remembered this on our first day as we were stuck in Kampala traffic for 3 hours on...

There have been a few instances recently where I feel that the Lord has been teaching me about identity in the Father that I would like to share with you. I'm now spending half of my time with New Hope working for find sponsors for our precious children.  A couple weeks ago I had a bit of a stressful situation.  I worked on profile drafts and learned about the past experiences of some of our kids.  My heart broke. While working on these drafts, I included a bit too much information initially and had to redo them.  It was hard learning from my mistake because I had to put in some additional work time.  Thankfully none of this information was shared on a public medium and everything is ok. Even though my experience was difficult in the short-term, it gave me a greater respect for New Hope. You see, it is so important that our children understand that they are not defined by past experiences.  We serve the most needy children in the surrounding communiti...

When I explain to people that I work 30 hours a week from home with my kids I hear a lot of different responses.  I hear everything from, "You are so lucky" to "How could you do that?".  In response to these comments I wanted to give you a glimpse into my day. My best days begin with an early rise, reading the word, going on a jog, and a cup of coffee all before my kids wake up at 6:30am!  Some mornings are more successful than others, but this is at least my aim! An ideal start to my day, reading the word outside on a beautiful day with coffee! The next hour is very chaotic, but I make it through with the help of my husband!  We try to dress the kids and all eat breakfast before 7:30.  This often includes Soren waking up screaming (not a morning person like his momma used to be!).  Then I try and rush him to the bathroom before any accidents (recently potty trained)!  After wrestling a "monkey baby" to the ground (so wiggly when I change...