All our adventures as missionaries, past and present.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 06-16-2011

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Hello again! We had a great service on Sunday. We baptized 6 and had 4 more weddings. We have been preaching and teaching about the necessity of Biblical marriage, and the people are really responding well. Jeff and Carla Bassett will be heading home for furlough on June 24, so be praying for them. In the interim, Djuna and I will be holding down the fort with the preaching on Sundays, in addition to the English classes I teach. I will be conducting another baptismal service, probably in September or thereabouts. We are planning a VBS for the various preaching points as well, and a Christmas service in December. On Wednesdays, I will be teaching through Genesis with the men, and Anna will be teaching the ladies. Lots to do! Pray for us.

Great news! A significant amount of funds has been given towards helping us buy a new vehicle. We still need about 1550, but the gifts were a great encouragement. It’s now within range! For those of you who gave, thank you so much! Once the Bassett’s are gone, I will have no way to get out to the refugee camp. The money has been coming in very quickly – God has provided swiftly for this need. If anybody still wants to help with this, you’ll need to mark your check “Vehicle Fund” and send it to BIMI (P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN 37412 • Tel.: (423) 344-5050). Thank you for praying! God plainly intends to get us into a more reliable, higher quality vehicle before the deadline so we can continue ministering in Nakivale without interruption and without the constant robbery of funds from car repairs.

This Christmas, I would like to give a gift to all the children at the preaching points. Anna is busily sewing up dolls for the girls. For the boys, I thought it would be good to give little cars (Matchbox or Hot Wheels). They’re small, relatively cheap, and easy to ship. I will need all that you care to send. If you would like to mail some cars for the boys here, you can use our mailing address (James Huckabee, P.O. Box 1830, Mbarara, Uganda EAST AFRICA). Mark the item as something VERY vague like “Plastic Goods” or “Metal Goods”. If the good people at the Post Office try to give you grief about this, remind them that it is being shipped to a third world country, where we cannot trust our postal service to not steal our mail, which is why you have to be vague. The best and most economical method I have found for shipping are the US Postal Service’s flat rate Priority Mail International service. Their padded flat rate envelope costs $13.95 with a 4 lb limit. You can basically stuff it full of cars or anything else you like (Kool-Aid packs and seasoning packs are always a welcome treat), and they will ship it to us here. It typically takes about 2 or 3 weeks to reach us in Mbarara. The full price list is here. You can start sending cars now, and the sooner the better because the closer you get to Christmas, the more unreliable the mail service becomes.

Thank you for all your prayers, encouraging notes, and the little gifts we get from time to time (Grape Kool-Aid + Lemonade Kool-Aid = Crazy Delicious).

God bless and keep you!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 05-25-2011

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Mordecai and JoselineGreetings! It's been a great month here in Uganda. This month, our guard Mordecai got married to his bride, Joseline. Both he and his wife are new Christians, and it's great to watch them as they grow in the LORD. They are both faithful at church (Independent Baptist Church of Mbarara), and are making good choices in their new life in Christ. Here, a man is formally introduced to the family of the bride first. He typically takes his parents with him, and they have to bring a gift to the parents of the bride. At a later time, he and a trusted relative, his father or an uncle, go there again and negotiate the bride price. Once they have agreed, then preparations begin for the wedding. A traditional African wedding entails a marriage feast for both families, and may not always involve a church ceremony. Once they have thrown the party for both families, the couple is considered wed. Naturally, we have a church ceremony AND a party (they are called receptions in America), in an effort to encourage Biblical marriages. There needs to be a full transfer of authority from father to son-in-law, and there has to be obedience to both the laws of the land, as well as the laws of God. Gaelin was in the ceremony as a flower boy, and Anna made the wedding cake. Most of the cake I have had here has about the taste and texture of sawdust, so needless to say, Anna's cake was a huge hit. We also kicked in some transport money to get the food and cooking fuel brought from Mordi's village to town where the feast would occur, in this case at church. We try to do everything we can to keep the cost of weddings down in order to ease the financial pressure on couples, and to encourage people to wed and not live in fornication. It was a great ceremony (my first African wedding), and we enjoyed it tremendously. May and June are the big wedding months around here, just like in the States. You'll be driving around on Saturdays and see the weddings going on all over, with great pomp and circumstance.

Mom and DadLast week Anna's parents (also our Pastor and his wife) Ken and Beth Spilger came to visit us from America. It is always a huge blessing to have visitors from America, but doubly so when it's family. They came primarily I think to see the new grandbaby, and possibly also to see the rest of us . There was some concern that there could be some violence in the capitol on the day of their arrival. Besigye, the loser in the last Presidential election, has been fomenting rebellion. As if that isn't bad enough, his plane from Kenya was due to land at Entebbe just hours after Ken and Beth's. Museveni's inauguration was set for the next day, and he was arriving to stir up trouble. The military and the police were certainly expecting trouble, as there were cops and soldiers all along the route from Entebbe to Kampala. Needless to say, we picked up our folks, loaded the car, and got out of Dodge as quick as we could, with no problems as it turned out. Thanks for praying.

We had lots of activities planned, as much as could be packed into 10 days without killing them and us off. Pastor preached out at Nakivale at both the Juru and Ngarama preaching points, and then on Wednesday, we went back out there where he taught a 2 hour class on marriage and family. It's a much needed area of study here. War and distance has disrupted families so badly in their home countries, and there is much confusion here about what a family should be. The Sexual Revolution happened here at around the same time as in the West, and with similar consequences. Sin has wrought such terrible devastation on families and individuals. We are laboring to give solid Bible teaching, so everyone can experience the blessing of God and the peace that passes understanding as they live out their new lives as believers.Marriage Class

They got to sit in on our English class (always fun), and observe our daily Runkankore studies. We also took time for them to ask a lot of questions of our language helper, and get a fuller picture of culture and life in Uganda.

Finally, after an all too brief visit (isn't that always the way?), it came time to get them back to the airport to return home. That's when the real fun began. Our vehicle, an ancient of days Mitsubishi Pajero, picked this trip in which to die the death. We made it to Kampala, barely (almost couldn't get it started again after stopping for a bathroom break in Masaka). We got our errands in the capitol run. We were going to take them to the International Theatre to buy souvenirs, but the engine finally died and could not be started again. I called up our faithful friend and mechanic Ssuemko to help us, and that's when we discovered that the engine was quite dead, yet again. Ssuemko saved the day and helped us get them to the airport in time, and then drove us back to Mbarara for the cost of his petrol there and back (petrol is quite expensive here).

This brand of vehicle is cheaply made, which has been well verified by the vast amount of money we've spent on it in the past year just keeping it running. Ssuemko and I discussed it, and I agree with him that we have spent too much on this car and it's time to sell it and buy a better one (a Toyota Land Cruiser). We cannot do our ministry in Nakivale without a strong, rugged, reliable vehicle (the roads out there are awful, as my Pastor and Pastor's wife got to witness firsthand). Even though the main road to Kampala is nearly entirely paved now, the roads everywhere else are still like country roads in the 1950's, riddled with potholes and gullies, or turned to soupy mud in the rain. This is a prime example of how God must provide for the work to which He has called his people, in this case, us. We don't have the money, and the clock is running out before the Bassets, the missionaries we work with at Nakivale, leave for furlough at the end of June. God has clearly led us to work out there, and therefore He has to provide if we are going to keep working out there.

In the short term, we're not suffering, since we can walk to nearly everything or ride our bikes here in Mbarara. I completed the last of our unnecessarily complicated paperwork in the capitol on this last trip there. I have nothing to do that requires me to go anywhere far away. For anything that requires more than walking I can hire a piki (motorcycle taxi). The only problem, then, is how to get out to Nakivale. I have been riding out there with the Bassets to preach and teach English, but once they're gone, we are going to need a car to get out there. I cannot conceive of a more clear opportunity for God to provide for our needs and answer prayer in a big way. What a chance to teach our kids about answered prayer! I reckon God just decided we'd had enough of junky unreliable cars, and decided to move us in this very decisive way into a better one so we can keep serving him in the manner He desires, and save a bundle of money on car repairs in the future at the same time. Be praying. We are going to repair our existing car, which will cost about $1250, and then sell it for about $3500. We will need about $7500 altogether to buy a good Toyota Land Cruiser. Ssuemko is going to handle the sale, and is going to find the replacement as well, at which point he can check it out thoroughly before we buy. All that remains is for God to provide the car and the funds to purchase it. Pray God provides the right car, one where everything works and which won't need any repairs, apart from general maintenance. Pray we have the money we need in time to buy the car He provides before the Bassetts leave so we can keep going out to Nakivale afterwards. Also pray about the Vacation Bible School we are planning while the Bassetts are away. We've never done anything like it out there (neither have they), so it will no doubt be an adventure. There are hundreds of children around, and it will be a rewarding challenge ministering to them. Pray for the ministry, for souls to be saved, for more people to be Biblically wed, and for the growth of the believers.

God bless you!

 

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 04-29-2011

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It’s been a busy month! We had our annual Uganda Field Conference earlier this month. This was our first Conference in Uganda (we arrived last year just days after the 2010 Field Conference). One of the requirements of the Ugandan government for NGOs (non-government organizations) is that the NGO have an annual business meeting of all it’s members. The Conference fulfills that requirement. It also gives missionaries from all over the country a chance to fellowship with one another. It was great to get to see some of the folks we had met years earlier and renew those friendships, and also make some new ones. It was a good time. We went to the capitol a day early and got a bunch of things for Brennah taken care of, which Anna covered in her last blog entry. Brennah had her first visit to American soil when we went to the U.S. Embassy for our passport/CRBA/Social Security card appointment. This was her first venture abroad after being born, and a reminder to us how much of a drag it is traveling with newborns. 🙂

Last week was more adventuresome than usual going out to Nakivale. It was Easter, and we were having a joint service of all the churches out there. Three couples were getting married, and there was also 14 baptisms. It was a very eventful and excellent Easter. We were bringing the marriage certificates, expertly genned up in InDesign by Anna, and 35 liters of Grape Kool-Aid for the meal afterwards. Naturally, we get ourselves loaded into the car nice and early and ready to roll to get to the service in plenty of time AND the car won’t start. And it’s Easter Sunday. It’s nothing short of miraculous that we were able to get our mechanic out to look at it. It turned out to be the battery. We got it fixed and were on our way again, albeit late. On the way, one of the 5L containers broke from the bouncing and spilled grape Kool-Aid all over the back of the Pajero. The cookies Anna baked had spilled on the floor and were ruined, about half of them. It was a comedy of errors. We finally got there, and the service went great, but there was a lot of hassle GETTING there. Next time I have to do something like this, I’ll be using better containers, and making sure somebody holds the cookies. (We got the car cleaned up, so everything is cool).

In a week, my wife’s parents, our Pastor, will be coming to Uganda for a visit, so we are going to be very busy getting ready for that. We have to make a trip to the capitol to pick them up, and of course to return them when the time comes. There has been some small rioting in the capitol lately due to the loser in the Presidential election stirring up the people. Yesterday, fearing another protest march from Besigye and his followers, police and army commandos arrested Besigye at his home. He and his aides were beaten and he was hauled away in a police van while his followers peppered the police with rocks and sticks, whereupon they were promptly tear-gassed. Pray we will be able to get to the capitol to pick up our parents safely and get back without problems. Pray for the peace of Uganda. Pray our car performs well for the trip and that we can get there and back without issue. Pray for our churches and ministry here as we continue to do the work of the Gospel in Uganda.

MISSION: Uganda Email Udpate 03-28-2011

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Mud, mud, and more mud. The rainy season is officially here! Everything is getting green and lush, and my gardens are doing well. We had our 1 year anniversary on the 23rd, which is bizarre to consider. Time has gone by so quickly. I won’t get into the gritty details, since you can read my wife’s blog post A Year in Review here. Everyone is doing very well, including Brennah, who is growing quickly and enjoying her new spot as youngest child. Gaelin is in love I think. He just adores his new kid sister.

Yesterday was entertaining. It had been raining most of the night, and was still raining when we got ready to head to Nakivale. The roads were, of course, sloppy in the extreme. Thank God for 4-wheel drive! We made it to the camp in time, but here is the catch: Djuna, the national Pastor and translator is out sick (Pray for him. He’s in Kampala seeing a doctor, which is how serious it is). He had arranged for another man to come and do the translating for me at Juru. I arrived at the appointed time, and he was nowhere to be found. Turns out, he couldn’t obtain transport because of the the rain and mud. Naturally, he didn’t do anything to inform us about it, by actually, you know, telling anybody or anything. So, I sang the two Swahili songs I know with the kids, showed them picture of Brennah (they hadn’t seen them yet), and then I had to go.

Nevertheless, I got to Ngarama, and found that rain had delayed the start of service there for 45 minutes. I was then in the position to do the Kid’s Service there so that the Bassett’s could get to Sangano in time. Then we had a good English class and came home. Always high adventure here, especially in the rain.

I will be going to Kampala tomorrow to pick up my passport and new work permit, get Anna’s paperwork turned in, and pick up Brennah’s long form birth certificate. Pray all goes well with that. We must have the birth certificate, or we won’t be able to do anything at the embassy next Monday (we’re taking her in to get all her American legal documents squared away). The remainder of the week, we will be at the Uganda Field Conference. Pray everything goes well with that, and that everything goes smoothly with the driving we will be doing. Last time I drove to Kampala, I got in a wreck. I would prefer this not happen again.

God bless and keep you!

On Having a Baby in Africa

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As you've likely heard, Brennah LaDynne Huckabee was born March 6, 2011 at 2AM Uganda time. When we told our families they told others "My niece was born tomorrow!" 😀

Having her here has been quite the experience all around. It put me way out of my comfort zone. First of all, in the states I know who to call and what to do to go about getting prenatal care. Here I didn't know anyone. After asking around a little, a Dr. and hospital were recommended in Kampala. I made an appointment and saw her last fall. We really liked what we saw at both the hospital and with the Dr. It looked like a "real American hospital". As we talked with her, though, she kept asking us why we were driving all the way to Kampala to have our baby. She recommended a good hospital in Mbarara for us to check out. I didn't really want to. In my mind having as close to an American experience with the whole thing as possible was my goal. Each time I saw the Dr. she said the same thing – that we should check out the hospital here in town. Still I wasn't convinced.

However, as the time drew closer and I realized how little I enjoyed trips to Kampala, the idea began to seem a little more appealing. Not to mention the fact that the Dr. wanted us to come and stay in Kampala around my due date until she was born. Its very expensive for a family of our size to stay in Kampala even for a day or two, let alone for more than a week!

So James and I went and saw the hospital here – Mayanja Memorial Hospital. What we saw impressed us. It was very clean, very organized, all the staff that we met seemed knowledgeable in their job. The rooms were very nice! So, after much prayer and thought and consideration, we decided to try for the delivery here, rather than in Kampala. The midwife we met and saw there said, "We'll see you soon! Just come in when you are in labor!" If only it were that easy!

So we waited, and waited. The due date came and went. We kept up with my blood pressure and stuff and all was well but no baby was born. On Monday, February 28, James and I talked and I asked him "At what point do we do something about this instead of just waiting?" He replied, "Let's give it until Friday. If nothing has happened then, we'll see what the Dr. suggests." So Friday I went and saw the Dr. at the hospital here. They couldn't get a good feel on the babies position or size and since I was past due they wanted to do an ultrasound. The ultrasound showed that the placenta was alarmingly calcified and that we needed to deliver the baby right away. I suggested waiting until Monday but he didn't even want to wait that long. He told us to come in the next morning and they'd start the induction then.

Next morning we arrived at 9AM. However, one of the Drs that they needed to be there didn't arrive until almost 11AM so we sat and waited for a LONG time in our room. Then they assessed me and determined that we had to go the long road – half of a little pill that should help things get ready and maybe even start labor if my body was ready to do that. So I took that half of a pill. Within half an hour, contractions started. They weren't super painful but they were there. After six hours, at 6PM, they checked again. No significant progress so they gave me the other half of the pill. WHAM! In 30 min. The contractions were coming very hard and very regularly! I couldn't hardly believe how fast things went then. By 10PM I was 6 cm. dilated and by 12:30AM I was complete. However, the Dr on duty in the night didn't want to check me until 2AM!!! James told the nurses they better get him before then or we'd be delivering that baby without him. 🙂 At 1:30 I started pushing. I was so tired that it was hard to work with my body to finish it. After a couple pushes I was finally able to start to feel and remember what to do. By 2AM she was born. It was such a relief to hear her little cry and to have her laid up on my chest for me to hold and touch. Then they took her off to clean her up and finish things with me.

There are so many things that were quite different than the other deliveries I've had in America. For one thing, the nurses and midwives kept coming in to make sure I was eating and drinking. I was encouraged to eat all the way to the end of the labor process. For another thing, they were avoiding as much as possible doing anything intrusive. They never even suggested an IV. We were pretty much left alone except for brief visits to check my blood pressure and the baby's heart rate. And after all the clean-up from delivery was finished we were left to sleep until morning. It was wonderful!

We've been having random water outages and I guess Saturday was one of those days. So the hospital was without water by the time I finished delivering. They did have water that they brought in so I got a sort of sponge bath, but there wasn't water for a shower or anything. By next morning the water had been turned back on and we had some water for flushing toilets and washing hands and stuff. It was interesting to say the least!

The morning after Brennah was born, several total strangers came to visit us to see the Mzungu baby. Since white people don't have many babies (they think) seeing one who did was quite the novelty. Three ladies came to visit and all wanted to hold her. Then, a little later another lady and man came in to see her. It was pouring rain outside and kind of chilly, but I had Brennah wrapped up and warm with a hat on. Still, they thought she was cold and kept telling me that. They said she needed a "shawl" which is a big heavy fleece blanket. Whew! It made me hot thinking about it for her! I just kept telling them she was fine. Even the Dr. told me not to let her get cold and to wrap her well. Sigh. I told him I'd had babies in America where it was MUCH colder than here and she seemed fine to me. 😀

Our discharge was super easy. James paid for our bill and we were free to go. Less than 12 hours after she was born, we were home and able to rest in our own beds and be around our family. It was really nice! The kids were so excited to meet her and she seemed really content as they took turns holding her and we got pictures. She still really likes to have them all around and tries as hard as she can to see them. It is so precious to see all of the kids so excited about their new sister.