MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 12-12-2013

Merry Christmas! We are finished with our travels and are home (blessed relief) for the holidays while simultaneously trying to wrap up our furlough and make tracks back to Uganda.

Anna and I had a great 2-week trip to Hawaii. We visited six churches there. We like Hawaii a lot because it reminds us so much of Uganda. The pace of life is similar. You have similar distance of travel getting there. You have the same isolation. Cost of living is high because everything has to be imported. Land and buildings are expensive. So you see, you can get the full missionary experience without leaving America. 35 different ethnic groups live there, so your ministry can be quite diverse. Pray for the churches in Hawaii. They have to raise support like the rest of us, trying to reach the people of Hawaii with the gospel, but then they have to get Pastors on the mainland to take them seriously. It’s a hard place to live, and a lot of people come there, and then leave later because they can’t hack it. Pray for these men who have labored there for so long, ministering in a culture where Christianity is viewed as “foreign religion”, where so many cults are vying for the souls of men, and where drug-addiction and alcoholism is rampant.

Our time in America is drawing to a close. It’s been a great furlough. We’ve enjoyed seeing family and visiting our friends and our churches. I was able to get meetings in around 2/3 of our supporting churches, and 25 new ones. Pray we’ll be able to get more support, which we need. We’re tired, though, and are all looking forward to getting home to Uganda. I miss my people, and our ministry there.

Project Libris has been very successful. I have gathered enough books to fill a 20 foot shipping container. Right now, I am exploring various means of shipping. I may need to buy a 20’ shipping container if nothing else turns up. If any of you have any contacts in the shipping industry who can get a bead on a cheap (but still good) 20’ shipping container, please have them contact me. Better yet, if anyone has a shipping container they would like to donate to help a missionary start a library in a refugee camp in Uganda, by all means, let me know. We have received $2000, which could cover the cost of the container, but we still need the money to ship. If everybody pitched in and gave some, we could raise the funds without too much difficulty. We are going to need those soon. Just pray about it. I need to get the books God has provided back to Uganda, and international shipping is just plain expensive no matter what you try.

I heard from my fellow missionary in Uganda that the ministries are doing well. The Juru church is thriving, but the Ngarama church is still struggling. I know what I need to do. I’m going to get a copy of the Jesus movie in the most common East African languages and use my little projector (bought it for this exact purpose) to have some special meetings out there. Video anything will bring in the folks, and we will show the video and give out the gospel. Pray for them. There are some serious jealousies that are hindering them and stunting their growth. Some people are going to need to repent if God is going to bless.

God bless you all!