All our adventures as missionaries, past and present.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-14-2011

Greetings and salutations! Work is progressing very well on the church building at Juru. Every time we go out there, I find that the wall is higher. This week, you could see the windows. Another three feet or so and they will have reached the roof. Meanwhile, they are constructing latrines at the other places. I remind them often that this time it needs to have a door and roof tall enough that 6'6" missionaries don't have to urinate stooped over.

The Genesis class I'm teaching is doing well. Last week, we studied Genesis 10, The Table of Nations. Even though much of our knowledge about the distant past is sketchy (we lost a LOT of ancient knowledge during the Dark Ages), the Bible provides unparalleled insight into how the nations formed and dispersed following the Flood. It was fascinating to them. It also provided a valuable opportunity to dispel a racist myth that has been viciously imposed upon African nations by their unwanted European colonizers – the curse of Ham. These people actually feel that their bloodline is cursed because of the curse directed at the Canaanites by Noah. The Europeans have used this to justify their wicked exploitation of the African continent. It's all a lot of white supremacist, racist garbage of course, but it is a very persistent belief.

I taught them the truth – the descendants of Ham are inferior to no one. Some of their tribes may have been enslaved by Shemites and Japhethites, and they were, but Noah was only prophesying what would happen, not declaring what should happen. In truth, the Bible only said that Ham's children would serve their cousins, and they would all serve each other, and this is certainly so. We know that the earliest exploration of the world was done by Hamites. Everywhere the Europeans went, much later, they found the children of Ham had arrived first. The earliest and some of the greatest civilizations were created by Hamites (Egypt, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, the Hittites, and possibly the Mongols, Chinese, and Amerindians). They developed the earliest forms of agriculture, masonry, and metallurgy, and taught that knowledge to all the others. The modern world would have never existed in its current form without the foundation laid by the children of Ham. Even now, for all their difficulties, they have such potential. What difficulties they do have are the product of sin, common to all of Noah's children, and not due to any mythical curse. Once their hearts belong to God, and the evils that human nature produces have been overcome, they can accomplish nearly anything. They don't have to feel inferior to white, Western cultures.

We preach. We teach. We admonish. We plant churches and train leaders, and through this, we can change the world. That' s what we're up to here in Uganda, and what missionaries are attempting to accomplish all over Africa, and around the world.

God bless you!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-10-2011

Greetings! I thought I’d send a brief letter and let you see the latest construction out at the Juru church. They have put the roof on the pole building, and we had our first service at the new location yesterday. Thank you to the church that sent us money for the construction. This is what your money built:

Juru Church Building

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great service. The morale of the church is greatly improved. I know it wasn’t terribly comfortable meeting in the old place, which had mud walls and a tarp roof (’til some lowlife stole it). It was wet in there when it rained, and hot in the sun. This new building is dry and cool. There’s always a nice breeze.

As you can see, they are constructing the walls now. Once they are complete, they pour the floor and plaster the walls. Final phase, we get some windows made and some doors and attach them, then paint. It will make it much easier to teach and preach, and give the children a good place to meet for VBS. It’s a great blessing.

God bless and keep you

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-04-2011

Baptism. It’s how we Baptists got our name. I conducted my first BaptismBaptismal service out at Nakivale refugee camp a few weeks back. It went great. I must say, I was a tad nervous, but I am happy to report nobody drowned. One of the advantages of my height is that I have the leverage to baptize nearly anybody. I baptized 5 brothers and sisters in Christ, and then we had a wonderful meal with the 3 churches represented. The church building at Sangano is fully repaired now. They are working on some cosmetic things (painting, cement repair, extending the front with an awning using the old roof pieces). Juru Church BuildingMeanwhile, the church building at Juru has commenced construction. We received a gift from a church in Arkansas which covered the costs of the poles and iron sheets they are using to get started. Thank you! Later, they’ll build the walls and floor, which will require lots of cement. Pray the money becomes available to continue the construction. In the meantime, we can meet there and be out of the rain and the sun. It’s also much closer to the town center, which is a help to everyone.

ElephantWe took a vacation last month, our first since coming to the field. Since we are only an hour or so away from Queen Elizabeth National Park, we decided to stay there for a few days and go see the many kinds of wildlife Africa has in abundance. We saw lots of elephants, gazelles, hippos, warthogs, baboons, Cape buffalo, and game wardens in their natural habitats. The kids got to swim lots, we spent time relaxing and playing games, and we took an hour-and-a-half hike down the mountain behind the lodge. It was great fun. Because we live so close, we can take these little vacations more often during the year, or just drive up there early, see the animals, have lunch, and then drive back to town. It’s one of the many perks of living here.Hike

In other news, the rains are coming well and with regularity. Our garden is growing, so we will have tomatoes, zucchini, squash, corn, peas, broccoli, and very soon STRAWBERRIES! Plus, our banana trees have begun producing, so we are getting bananas from the trees we planted a year ago. As always, our two avocado trees are producing bushels of avocados, so it’s a good thing we like guacamole. Our young mango tree is finally maturing, which is awesome because I love mangoes.

I finally got the last of the money paid for the car, and I think I have located and fixed nearly everything that needed repair. It is a great blessing to have a reliable vehicle. I am getting a more powerful inverter constructed. Turns out you can get inverters built locally, much cheaper than the cost of a manufactured one. This is great because Umeme (world’s most hated utility) has gone to 12-hour every other day power outages (load shedding), and occasionally 24-hour whenever it suits them. I have finally got us upgraded to six 200Ah batteries, which gives us approximately 24 hours of stored power. The world economic crisis is hitting Uganda pretty hard. In addition to the high cost of fuel, which translates into higher costs for virtually anything manufactured or imported, we are seeing much higher costs for food due to the high inflation Uganda is experiencing right now. Some sugar plants have curtailed production, which has caused the cost of sugar to skyrocket. All these things, in concert with the high cost of energy, are really putting the pinch on everybody, but especially the average Ugandan citizen, who didn’t have a lot of economic advantages to begin with. Please pray for better government here. Uganda can no longer afford the levels of corruption and graft to which their government has become accustomed. Pray the economy will recover soon.

Pray about our house situation. Like tens of thousands of other Americans, we are upside down on our mortgage. We are looking into either doing a short sale, or trying to get another renter if that doesn’t pan out (the last tenant stopped paying the bills, and trashed the place before she skipped town). God has provided thus far, but if we could eliminate our house and it’s mortgage, it would be that much more funds available every month for the ministry.

God bless you all!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-02-2011

Greetings! Our first Lord's Supper at Sangano went very well. I had preached on this and taught on this, so when the day came, it was all done decently and in order. Everyone well understood the serious nature of the memorial service, and we moved through it at a good pace with time for instruction along the way. We got a good rain storm right before, naturally, so after waiting about 20 minutes for it to die down, we were able to get to it and actually hear ourselves (downpour on a tin roof is deafening). We had 20 members of 24 present, but LORD willing, this first beginning will grow to many more. Pray this motivates those who are still riding the fence on church membership to join the church here.

Lord's SupperLord's Supper

Construction is beginning on a more permanent building for the church at Juru to replace the temporary structure we were in. Pray for this process, that it will proceed well with minimal expense. Pray for safety for the workers, and protection from theft (construction materials are at a premium in the camp).

Also pray for the baptismal service at Sangano approaching in a few weeks. I've been involved in these before, but this time Anna and I are running the show, so pray everything proceeds smoothly. Our tenure at Nakivale is making tangible progress, and we look to the future to all that remains to accomplish here as God advances his work in the refugee camp.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-26-2011

276 children. 3 days, 2 hours each place, 3 preaching points, 3 complete VBS’ a day: Marathon VBS at Nakivale! So, we had our very first VBS out at the refugee camp. It was quite the learning experience. I had for months been considering doing something like this. There are children everywhere at the camps, and little or nothing seems to be done for them from a ministry standpoint. Overall, it went very well. The kids were super excited, and even though Anna taught the lesson through an interpreter, they listened intently. The Betty Lukins stuff we were sent was great for this. I had put the word out about needing toy cars and other prizes, and my father’s church, FBC of Bellfower sent a box full of these, which arrived three days before the VBS. Excellent timing! The cars, bracelets, and necklaces were a tremendous hit, as well as about 30 wooden crosses, which we used for memory verse prizes (these nearly sparked a riot when we tried to hand these out to the winners – this was another one of those learning experiences I mentioned). Tom and Cheryl Tracht, some of our fellow missionaries here in Mbarara, came with us and their kids, and were a HUGE help to us. We had songs (in Swahili), a memory verse for the week (also in Swahili), the Bible lesson each day, and a craft (they loved this). At Ngarama, even some of the adults colored pages (I don’t think they had ever colored before) on the last day. Our adult workers at each of the places were extremely helpful. We couldn’t have done this without their aid controlling the children and relaying instructions. The whole experience, albeit physically exhausting, was very positive, and I look forward to the next one we do, probably near the end of January.

Genesis 1:1OpeningPlaydough
ReviewColoring Pages!Bible StoryGrape KoolAid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, I’ll be conducting their first Lord’s Supper at Sangano. The church just organized under a Constitution not long ago, so this is an important step. Pray for me that this will go smoothly. I am acutely aware of how this will likely set precedent, so I want to make sure it goes well. Continue to pray for the churches at Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda.