Oli Mulungi means “you are beautiful” in Lugandan, the language spoken in Kampala, Uganda. 42 radiant faces make up the sisterhood at Restoration Home. Each face has a name, each name has a story, and each story plays a significant part in the ultimate STORY-GOD’S STORY. I said “oli mulungi” at least 100 times during my short visit to Restoration Home. It was one of 3 sentences I learned in Lugandan and each time it rolled up out of my heart, off my tongue and into the ears of a daughter of the King, I felt like I had stepped into my destiny. To sit beside the next generation on the other side of the world and joyfully share the truth of who God says that we are was Holy ground for me! It was like I could feel God smile as HE filled my mouth with yet another truth about who these precious girls are to HIM. HE kept whispering, “tell them they are radiant, My inheritance, My child, a temple of the Holy Spirit, light, salt, a city on a hill, My ambassadors, etc…” God was on a roll, bragging on His daughters and HE wanted me to tell them in every imaginable way that they are the apple of HIS eye! HE sees their past, present and future and HE is the Scarlet Thread weaving the tapestry of their purposeful lives together, all for HIS GLORY!
Katie learning “Oli Mulungi” from some of the Restoration Girls.
I am almost breathless after writing the previous paragraph! I am in awe of a GOD who allows me the honor of telling HIS babies how HE sees them! To say I am humbled and grateful is the understatement of the year! (I like exclamation marks!)
The girls at Restoration Home left their fingerprints in my life through language lessons, hair braiding, songs, walking to the well, sharing their prayer requests and future hopes and dreams, lots of laughs, hugs and worshipping! Each of our lives is a finger painting, a canvas touched by all the people with whom we intersect, a restored masterpiece created by and for the Master, Christ Jesus. Each canvas is a “one of kind original ” but they are all signed the same, HIS! “Oli Mulungi”-You are beautiful. HE is saying that to the girls of Restoration Home, HE is saying that to me and HE is saying that to you! Believe HIM! The Artist does not make mistakes and HE always tells the TRUTH!
Guest Contributor: Missioner: Katie Wilson, from Huntsville, Alabama. Traveled to Uganda in July of 2013 with Passion Partners. (Pictured above in the center photo on the steps of the new Restoration Home. Construction & operating costs funded by Passion Partners.)
Some of the Restoration Home girls… a true picture of BEAUTY!
More of the precious Restoration Home girls