MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-10-2022

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Happy New Year!

We survived our return trip to Uganda at the end of November. We packed up all our belongings. Got our COVID tests. Said our goodbyes. Then we began our trek. As you can imagine, the already complicated process of international travel is even more difficult now. Uganda requires a negative PCR test within 72 hours of when you ARRIVE in the country. Subtracting the 24 hours to get the results, and the almost 24 of actual travel time, the window in which to do this is very small.

The lab failed to get our results back in time, but the airline allowed us to fly anyway, since Amsterdam allows entry on a vaccine card. They also did not charge us for the extra pieces of baggage we had! Praise God!

Our results still had not come when we arrived in Amsterdam and we were stranded there for almost 24 hours because of it. We were finally able to talk to someone at the lab in America and get the results emailed to us. The airline moved mountains on our behalf. We caught a flight to Paris, spent 12 hours in the airport there, before getting a flight to Nairobi, Kenya. By this time, the 72 hours had passed. However, Kenya’s timeframe allows 96 hours, and we were within that. Once we landed in Kenya, we were home free. We were able to get on our short flight to Entebbe.

Needless to say, by the time we reached Entebbe 4 days after we left, we were beat. After we passed a second PCR test in the airport, we were finally allowed to go. Because of the flight changes, our luggage did not arrive with us. They sent it on the next KLM flight from Amsterdam. We eventually got our things a day late, minus one piece that had inexplicably been unloaded in Kigali, Rwanda (a connecting stop on our original flight). It arrived the following week and the airline had it sent to us in Mbarara. God blessed, and only one small item in our luggage was broken despite all the changes and delays!

I had reserved a room in a guest house, so we went there, unloaded our stuff, got showers, and went to bed for the first time in almost 4 days.

We waited an extra couple of day for our missing piece of luggage, but finally left with its status unknown, and headed for Mbarara. What a relief and a joy to finally crest that last hill and cast our eyes upon the mountain valley that holds the home we had not seen for so very long!

The guy I hired to keep the place in our absence had worked very hard to make the place beautiful for our return. He did a great job.

After two years of sitting empty, except for bugs and geckos, the house was a catastrophe. It took two days to get it clean enough for us to be able to sleep there. Two rats had been living in my office, the store room and the boys’ room. They had made a terrible mess. Many things needed to be fixed, both in the house and on the vehicle, as they always do when we’ve been gone. We pushed through and got it all done at last.

Meanwhile, I had to resolve problems out at the camp. Some rebels in one of our churches took advantage of the Corona lockdowns to attempt a takeover of the church. It didn’t work. After everything at home was more in order, I met with the camp officals, and our members, and our deacons and got it squared away. Pray for continued peace.

We held a Christmas service at Sangano the day after Christmas. We brought all the churches in to the service. I preached. Greeted everybody. It was like returning to family after a long absence, for family they are. Then I baptized 65 people, young, old, and everywhere in between. God is still working in hearts all over the camp. After all of that, we had Congolese beans and rice and stew, which I had not tasted in 2.5 years. It was a great day and God was glorified.

Pray for us. I have a lot of work to do. Every permit has expired. Everything has to be renewed, including the NGO which expires in May. I am facing a sea of paper work in the coming months.

Pray for our churches. We have a lot of teaching and training to do to get everybody back up to speed. In the 1.5 years of the lockdown, they were allowed to attend church for five months. That, more than anything else, contributed to the troubles, along with standard human sinfulness.

Pray for our backlog of building projects. I plan on starting the first of the construction projects, rebuilding the Isanja church building, in the next weeks. Any financial help with these project would be appreciated, both by us and our church people.

We live in uncertain times. As always, we continue to serve the risen Savior, plan the best we can, react to the unexpected as best we can, and continue to occupy until He returns. God is still working in lives all over the world and we feel privileged to be part of His work.

God bless and keep you.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-08-2021

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Greetings one and all!

The day we have long hoped for has finally come. We are going home!

We had anticipated returning at the beginning of October. Then, as the day approached, I realized Brennah’s passport had expired. We began the renewal process as soon as we discovered the issue, but the lady at the post office said it would take 12 weeks for it to come back. We paid to expedite it, and began praying for a miracle. The passport came back in only 4 weeks! Praise God!

Our tickets are bought, and we are flying back to Uganda on November 30.

We have a lot of details to finalize before we leave, but the real work begins when we get there. Cleaning. Buying food. Getting ourselves plugged back in. Getting over jet lag. Renewing work permits. Endless paperwork.

A serious situation has developed at the Sangano church. Several members have created division in the church and tried to take over leadership of it from those the church members elected. The situation is under control for the moment. I have been in constant contact with our church leaders the whole time via WhatsApp (as I have been the entire time we’ve been in the US). I’m looking forward to being there in person and being able to once more teach our doctrines classes, now that we’ll be able to return to more “normal” services. We will need to teach new believers and encourage the rest of the membership in God’s Word — something that has been lacking due to the restrictions of the past year plus.

Our deacons, especially Zizi, have done the lion’s share of the work, visiting and encouraging church members, even when the churches were unable to meet. He has been faithful through all of this, in spite of being the focus of this latest division. He has made one request of me – that we get him a laptop to use with the church. We would appreciate any help we could get with this project. Then I can take it with us when we go. It will be useful in furthering the ministry in Uganda as we translate materials for the classes we teach. Please let me know if you would be willing to help with this need.

Please pray for our trip. There are many travel requirements we will be navigating for the first time and we are uncertain what it will be like when we enter Uganda. It will also be the very beginning of the Christmas season when we arrive, so we anticipate more hustle and bustle than usual in Mbarara, and possible supply issues. God has worked out the details for us to go back right now, so we fully expect Him to provide, but we appreciate your prayers.

Pray for our churches, pray for our people, pray for souls to be saved. Pray for the safety and health of our church members.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-09-2021

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Hiya, folks! There have been some small changes to the status of Uganda’s ongoing COVID lockdown. This is not a full prayer letter per se, but a status update to keep you all in the loop.

We have reached the end of the 42 day lockdown. President Museveni has relaxed the restrictions on private vehicles and crossing district lines. However, schools and churches remain closed for an additional 60 days. Private vehicles are limited to three passengers, so I guess my extra children would have to be smuggled in a hidden compartment or an ox cart filled with hay to reach Mbarara without issue.

At the moment, the Ugandan health department is observing cases for two weeks to see it the easing of travel restrictions will trigger a rise in cases. If there is a rise in cases, the government will probably restore all the lockdown protocols again. I hope this does not happen, but I am telling you about it so you can be ready for it if it does.

We are all, with the exception of Brennah who is too young, fully vaccinated and ready for travel. As of today, the country of Uganda is still under a Level 4 Travel Advisory, which means the U.S. Embassy and the CDC are telling travelers to stay away for now. I have no idea how long that will last.

I believe that waiting until October will allow the virus to run its course, and cause the government to further ease restrictions. They seem to be moving in that direction, which gives me hope we are heading towards some kind of conclusion to this whole debacle. It will also bring the cost of plane tickets way down for us. We have vouchers from KLM from our last aborted attempt to return to Uganda, but we still have to pay the difference. 

In the meantime, I have been sending money to the churches to buy food and medicine, and remain in communication with my deacons via WhatsApp.

Pray for our churches. Pray for our people, who are locked down in the refugee camp and not allowed to go to church. It is especially hard on them. Pray for their health and safety.

Pray the cases will diminish and this lockdown will end so we can go home.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 06-09-2021

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Howdy folks!

It’s high time I gave you all an update on how things have been going.

Our Pastor has improved significantly since my last report. Through pulpit fill and helping with other responsibilities, I’ve been able to take some of the burden off of him during his recovery. Those efforts have paid off. We’ve enjoyed our opportunity to be involved in our local church, and to get to know a lot of the folks who joined after we left for Africa eleven years ago. I also had the privilege of sitting on the ordination council for my brother in law, who is the assistant pastor of our church.

God has blessed and worked in the lives of our kids who were struggling. We have been working as a family on resolving some issues that developed on the mission field, and which really revealed themselves this past year. The result of this is that we are all in a much better place spiritually and emotionally, and can move forward doing all that God has directed us to do, them at college this Fall, and us on the field. I’m grateful for all God has done for us in these areas.

Throughout this time in the states, we’ve been in constant contact with our church leaders in Uganda. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we can communicate with them several times a week. We’ve been able to send regular financial assistance for food and medicine and are continuing to save for the construction projects pending upon our arrival. The churches are doing well, though eager for us to return.

We decided to take advantage of the COVID vaccines available in the US, hoping it would allow us to travel internationally more easily. This has proven to be the case, since Uganda was allowing vaccinated persons to enter the country without requiring a negative COVID test upon entry. About the time we were getting our tickets, Pfizer approved the vaccine for use with 12-15 year olds, so I decided it would be wise to get our 15 year old son vaccinated also. He had his second shot a couple days ago, which leaves two weeks remaining to reach “fully vaccinated” status.

We were making plans to leave after the vaccination processes were complete, and Anna had almost completed the packing (again!) when we received some more unexpected bad news from Uganda. It seems the Indian strain of COVID-19 has reached the country and has caused a swift uptick in new cases. This has prompted the Ugandan government to restore many of their prior lockdown protocols. As it stands right now, we cannot return to the field due to the COVID restrictions. We’ve been in touch with friends there and the restrictions would make our ministry impossible.

Upon consultation with our Pastor, we have decided to remain until early October. This will give the virus time to run its course, and hopefully allow the country of Uganda to lift its lockdown restrictions so churches can meet again and we can travel between districts. It will also bring the cost of plane tickets down, which are very expensive right now.

We are of course grieved by this further delay, as we were all very much wanting to go home and continue our work. God however seems to have other plans for the immediate future. So, we are adapting to the changes as best we can, and are preparing to assist with our church’s ministry for the foreseeable future. I will be sending COVID relief money of my own to Uganda to purchase food and medicine to keep our people healthy and fed while they are on lockdown.

Given our still more extended stay in America, if any of you would like a visit from us, let me know and I will make arrangements.

Thank you for your patience and continued prayers for us.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 02-24-2021

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Greetings! It has been an eventful few months, in so many ways.

Our Pastor’s procedure went well. Thank you for praying. Pastor Spilger was cleared by his doctor, and it appears there was no permanent damage to his heart. God was very gracious.

Shortly before Christmas, everybody in our church, Pastor included, contracted China Virus. It swept through the whole church in about a week. Pastor Spilger got very sick, and had to be hospitalized. He has recovered and come home, but his illness, in juxtaposition with his heart attack, has made him very weak. So we and others are sharing the ministry duties while he works on getting his strength, and his voice, back.

He has asked me to stay in America until the end of May while he recovers. I have agreed. We are very anxious to get back to the field, but our church needs us for a bit longer. I will be teaching Sunday School, visiting the families of some of our Victory Club kids, and providing pulpit fill as necessary. We are also preparing material to teach our church people in Uganda when we return. 

Additionally, during the lengthy lockdown, we observed that some of our children were having a much harder time adapting to America than we realized. Some things happened to us on the mission field that had lasting effects on them, greater than any of us knew. We have been working with them to get them counseling. Our Pastor has advised us to use this time to continue working with our children, so when we return to Uganda in May, they are better established and settled.

I made a promise before I ever became a missionary that I would never sacrifice my children for the ministry. I have seen too many preacher’s and missionary’s kids utterly self destruct because their parents were focused on ministry to their detriment. Missionary kids seem to have a particular problem with this. Our Pastor does not want this to happen to us or our children.

So in addition to needing me to remain and assist, our Pastor is counseling us to remain and make sure our kids are okay before we go back. They are making good progress. Pray for them.

We are staying through this semester, which they are again doing remotely while Covid restrictions at PCC remain in effect. Pray for us. This has been a very unusual interlude in our ministry, but I am confident it will all work out for the best. Our desire is longevity on the mission field and we are confident the steps we are taking with our children will contribute toward this goal. Thank you for your patience with us.