MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 02-05-2007

Greetings, once again! I'm up in Great Falls, MT at the moment. I flew up here last Wednesday for some meetings I had scheduled up this way. Anna and the kids stayed at home and got some much needed rest. Driving up here would have been time, and cost, prohibitive, so flying up for the meetings alone was definitely the way to go. It turned out to be a good decision, because they got sick (not stomach flu) after I left, and it's always easier to recover from sickness in your own home.

My first meeting was in Fairview Baptist Church with Pastor Richard Dion. Dr. Pat Creed, the Caribbean Director for BIMI, was the main speaker. It was a tremendous conference. The messages were encouraging to me, and were beneficial to everyone. Their goal for missions giving this year was $40,000, which they exceeded with $53,000 and some change. This was in spite of losing several giving families in the prior year. Praise the LORD! I know they're excited about what God is going to do in the coming year.

I've been staying with George and Mary Prehn, one of the families in the church. They have a great heart for missions and for missionaries, and have taken great care of me here. I will be staying with them 'til Saturday, which secures my lodging between this conference, and the next in Heritage Baptist Church with Dr. Sheldon Schearer on Saturday. George is one of those guys who has been everywhere and done everything. Among his many achievements, he spent a year at the American base in Antarctica. Pretty cool! Saturday, we went ice fishing over at a church member's frozen pond. Neither of us had ever been ice fishing before. It's pretty basic. You auger a hole in the 8-inch thick ice. Then you bait your jig with some meat (perch are carnivorous). Then, you let your line drop 18 feet or so to the bottom, whereupon you reel it in about six to eight inches and wait. Within a minute, the perch would strike, you give a jerk to set the hook, reel them in, remove the hook, toss them on the ice, and repeat. The whole process takes a couple minutes. It was the easiest fishing I've ever done. We caught about 50 in two hours (private property, no limits). We'll be having ourselves a fish fry this week, needless to say.

Sunday morning, I got the privilege of speaking in Junior Church. We had a big crowd of mostly bus kids. I gave the clearest presentation of the Gospel I could. I could tell folks were praying, because the Holy Spirit really moved. No one responded during the invitation to be saved, but that's alright, because the seed was planted. Pray that, as the faithful workers water it, that God will give the increase and that these kids, and ultimately their families, will be saved.

I have a Wednesday night meeting with Wayne Voss in Calvary Baptist Indian Church. He's a BIMI missionary to the various Native American tribes that live up here in the Great Falls area. Pray for the meeting, that God will bless. Pray for Anna and the gang. Anna's home alone with 5 little kids, and is feeling awfully isolated at the moment. Don't get me wrong. She wanted the break from traveling and needed the break from traveling, but she's still fighting sickness, which has sapped her energy levels, and is hindering her in accomplishing the tasks she wanted to complete while at home. Pray that she, and the others, will get well soon, and that she'll still be able to get her house in order before we hit the road again. Pray for me. I've picked up a cold myself, and would very much like to be well by Wednesday so I can be in good condition to preach and share our burden for Uganda in Bro. Voss' church.

Thank you for praying!