MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-10-2012
Greetings, one and all! Thank you for praying. The works are producing fruit, and that is always a good thing. I have had four saved at Juru in the past few weeks, and this in spite of my best efforts to talk them out of it (you have to be careful with salvation decisions, so I press folks that want to be saved to make sure they fully understand what they are doing, and are truly responding in faith, not just reciting a prayer and joining our club like other outfits do). I reckon we’ll have to have a baptism service soon. Meanwhile, at Ngarama, we are trying something new. Attendance has dwindled there of late (these things go in cycles I have noticed), so I am bringing some small prizes with me on Sunday to reward those who bring visitors. I don’t plan on doing this ALL the time, but I thought it might be fun, just to see what they do. Everybody likes to be rewarded for their efforts, and bars of laundry soap aren’t terribly expensive.
Pray for the roads. I know I ask for this quite often, but at the moment, it is one of the biggest obstacles in our ministry. The Chinese construction guys are working on it, but our prayer is that they would begin the paving soon. If the roads were paved, it would save us thousands of dollars a year in maintenance and fuel. Let me give you a recent example.
This past Wednesday, it was my turn to drive out for the Bible Institute class Jeff and I teach at Sangano for all the prospective preachers. We carpool to save fuel and wear-and-tear on the cars. He teaches for two hours, then I teach for two hours – it’s a good system. The rains have been very hard on the roads of late (this is awesome for the plants/crops, bad for driving). On the way back, I drove over what looked like an average depth crevasse in the road. I was going slow (have to on this particular section), but it turned out to be much deeper than either of us could see. I felt the back end of the car just drop and we both cringed. Within moments, I knew there was a problem. On inspection, we found a variety of issues. One of the back shocks was broke. We got it loose and begin to move on slowly to limp back to town. There was still knocking. The parking brake was locked up, so I disconnected the cable to release tension on the pad. Still it was knocking. I called our mechanic in Kampala. He suspected some of the bushings were damaged, and advised we drive very slowly (chameleon-speed as one guy put it). We drove a bit more, but it was getting worse and worse. I called him again, and we held the phone out the window for him to listen. He told us to pull over right away and call a wrecker.
Calling for a wrecker is an adventure in itself here. We only had to sit for an hour-and-a-half waiting for them to come from Mbarara. We chatted with the school children who milled about on the way home from school. There was a stream running nearby. It was almost pleasant. They came, and we had to work to make them understand that it was the back end with the problem, so the car would have to be towed backwards. They got us hooked up, and we’re both praying the car stays attached the whole way back to town. We made it, just before dark, which is always the goal. Ssuemko came yesterday and confirmed what I already suspected – the whole rear end will have to be replaced. So, in addition to the shocks that have to be replaced, the clutch assembly which we were already needing to repair, and this new problem of a whole back end having to be replaced, we’re looking at around $3200 in repairs. Road: 1, Missionary: 0. Please pray about this need.
Pray about furlough. I am busily scheduling meetings. We will need more churches to support us, to make up for what we did not have when we came, and which never materialized, and to make up for the vast increase in the cost of living that has come about since 2010. Please pray I will be able to get meetings in NEW churches, and these churches will support us. If you would like a visit from us, please contact me so I can work you into the schedule (it is filling up fast). Pray for America. You know why.
God bless you! Thanks for praying! God is good, and we are confident He will supply what we need for His work.