MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 09-20-2010

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Greetings! I'd appreciate your prayer for my Mom and Dad. They were involved in a t-bone, rollover accident last week. Dad was bruised up pretty well, but was able to come home from the hospital on Friday. Mom sustained several broken ribs and severe bruising. She survived, but the recovery will be lengthy (6 to 8 weeks). There is the potential for pneumonia, and it doesn't help any that she's a diabetic. Dad's in an empty house at the moment, when he's not at the hospital, and is worried about his wife. Pray for them both. This is the one great snag of the mission field. Things happen to your family back in the States, and you are unable to rush to their side, even though every instinct in you says you should. It leaves you feeling very helpless and out-of-touch.

Things are going well here. We are going to the Nakivale refugee camp to preach and minister every week with Jeff and Carla Bassett. They have been a real blessing to us, and we're learning a lot from their experience. We're having a mass baptism service on Sunday for all the folks who've been saved at the three churches, and still need to get baptized. I will be taking over the administration of two of the preaching points in the near future, which will leave Jeff free to start another and continue working with the other. It's a great opportunity to learn church planting from someone who's got solid experience doing it.

Meanwhile, I am discipling Andrew and Mordecai. It's progressing well, and I'm enjoying the work of helping them grow as believers. We are assisting Tom and Cheryl Tracht with some of their school ministries here. These, and our Monday through Friday Runyankore studies, are keeping us satisfyingly busy. Lots to do here. This is both a blessing and a curse, because you can perceive the broad expanse of things that need doing, but are immediately limited by both time and the demands of the flesh – you just can't do everything.

Pray about our tires. We need to replace all five (this includes the spare), and it's going to be expensive. The roads here are very rough on vehicles, so you have to invest in good tires just for your own safety and that of your family. We still need to get work permits. We will be doing so the first week of October, and it is quite expensive. These are direct financial needs for which we need prayer. There is one other thing. A fellow I've come to know in town has a Toyota HiAce Regius for sale. It's in excellent shape, runs on diesel, seats 8 (we are fixin to have another body needing transport soon) has 4WD (a necessity around here) and all the bells and whistles. He's asking about $10,000 (I'm sure I can negotiate down). We could really use a family vehicle for getting around, leaving the Pajero for going to the villages. It's a tight fit in the Pajero as it is, without the addition of another family member. It's not a critical need right now, like the tires and the work permits, but it going to become so in the near future. Pray we'll be able to get the funds with which to buy it, as it would be a real blessing.

Pray for the ministry, for the salvation of the lost, and for the churches and their pastors here, and as always, for more laborers for the field.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-25-2010

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Hello again! August 15 came and went, and we got no rain in Mbarara. You see, the Catholic 'church' here has a belief that when the rainy season begins on August 15, it is because Mary is crying. We all prayed it would be dryer than C-SPAN, and so far, Mary hasn't even teared up. Can't even get Miss Immaculate Conception to cry on schedule. What's up with that, Catholic 'church'? Now that we're past the deadline, however, rain would be a good thing, since no rain means people around here don't eat. Please pray for rain, from the only wise God, not made up religious figures that have no power over the weather.

I took the vehicle in to get some fuel on the way to getting the milk (our Thursday routine), and since one of the tires was a bit low, I had the guy at the Shell station air it up. Well, the guy managed to make a slow leak into a fast leak, and they had to take the tire off the rim and patch it from the inside. This barely worked, and our vehicle is back home now, sitting on a flat, in addition to the flat we already had from me going to Kabuye. I have to get new tires. Jeff Bassett has loaned me some of his spares to use in the meantime, so I can at least drive where I need to go now, but the fact remains, we have to have new tires. I have money in the bank I'm saving for work permits so we can get that done next month, so pray that not only will we have enough in September to do work permits, but also to replace our tires. It is quite dangerous to drive around on bad tires around here, so I really need to get that done. We're going to need to get back and forth to the capitol for Anna's pre-natal visits, so we're going to need a reliable vehicle. I also need to get legal permission to remain in the country. Please pray that God will provide. 

Another need that requires consistent prayer is our support. During our five long years of deputation, there were multiple churches that either expressed a more than casual desire to support us, or specifically said that they were going to support us, and have not. Pray that God will move these churches to begin supporting us, now that we have, I hope, proved our commitment to going to the field, our stick-to-it-iveness, and our general determination to do what God has called us to do. We will be taking a 9 month furlough in 2013 (unless plans change), and I will be trying to raise some more support then, but if I didn't need to because 5 or 10 churches out of the 200 we visited opted to support us, it would be a blessing. Please pray.

Anna is finally past the morning sickness, so that's been a great blessing. I was having to do double duty there for awhile, so the irony is that I currently know how to cook more African dishes than my wife. She is quite grateful to not have to run for the toilet every time she gets within 10 feet of the kitchen, and to actually be able to enjoy cooking and eating again. Thank you for your prayers. I am praying that God will provide $10,000 to buy a 4WD van that seats 8, to accommodate the new passenger that biology will be introducing next February. There's a really great Toyota van in town I've had my eye on, and would dearly love to have. The Pajero is awesome for trips to the village, and for use as a work vehicle, but it's not really a family vehicle. So, this is another need you can pray about. 

I led our guard Mordecai to the LORD. I will be discipling him also. His family has invited us out to their village for a visit, so I'm going to pick a day and drive us out there to see them, and, I'm praying, to preach the Gospel to them and see how many I can win to the LORD from his clan. Everybody around here has family members. Once you win one, it opens up a larger network of people who need to hear the Gospel. You can then follow the human contacts back up the family tree, and win many more, and so on and so on. 

In other news, my Hebrew language stuff arrived with Dan Olachea, who returned from furlough. It's awesome to finally have the tools I need to begin improving my knowledge of Hebrew, and someday, to do a Runyankore translation of the Old Testament. Our study of Runyankore is progressing. We are constructing simple sentences with modifiers now, and learning how to use verbs in different scenarios. It is slow going, but steady. I am excited about the prospects of being able to communicate with the Banyankore people in their own language. This also grants me easier access to the other 4 related Bantu dialects in this region. 

Time is flying here in Uganda. We are staying busy, and it's a little scary how fast time is going. I only hope I can meet all my goals for this term in time. There's lots to do, and a big 'ol country full of people what need to be saved, and I'm trying to do my part to reach them with the Gospel. Keep praying.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-13-2010

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Greetings! I preached in Kabuye Baptist Church this weekend. As always, driving to the villages is an adventure. It was certainly no exception this time. It's about 170 km to Kabuye from Mbarara, and roughly halfway there, we had a blowout. Seriously, the tire exploded and disintegrated. Alright. I felt kind of glad I'd brought my tools, and the nice 20 ton bottle jack that came on our container. I get to work changing the tire AND…. the nuts holding the spare are bigger than the nuts on the tires, and my biggest socket only fits the tires. Sigh. Some guy steps out of the crowd and, seeing a chance to make some money, offers to help. He hunts up a spanner, and we manage to get the tire spare and the blown tire off. He gets the new tire on, I pay him for his work (about 5 bucks), and I start to pull away. What's that weird vibration? Ahhhh…. the rim to which the spare was attached is the wrong kind for my car. The tire is the right size, but the rim doesn't fit, so the tire can't turn. Yippeee…. Alright, for another couple bucks, the guy takes both tires further down the road to a town, and gets the good tire put on the right rim. We put it on, and, after a brief, heated argument about me needing to pay him for buying a tube for my tire (HA! yeah right, tube tire indeed), we finally get underway.

This puts us at our destination hours later than planned. Now, the laws of hospitality require that they feed us supper. It was getting dark when we arrived, but they were determined to do it anyway, so around 9 PM, we ate. It's now 10 when we finish, and Pastor Patrick still wants us to speak to the people, so, I had to whip up a sermon out of thin air (that's that whole "instant in season and out of season" thing). I preached on being controlled by the Holy Spirit, and being Spirit-filled. It was a great time. Now it's 11 PM, and time for bed. We're going to sleep in the church building. No problem. I had my sleeping bag, my bivy sack, and a sleeping pad. They provided a mattress, so I didn't need the pad. No mosquitoes at that altitude (about 7,000 ft), so no need for the bivy. I would need the sleeping bag, because it gets quite cold at night up on the mountain. After a few minutes, I notice that the crowd is not totally dispersing. I need to get undressed for bed. I asked Pastor Claudian (Rwandan fellow, lived in Fort Portal for years) what was going on. Evidently, they were all planning to sleep in the church with us as well. Ah Ha. So, I slept in my clothes. My fan club, a row of village kids, took up position on a bench to watch a mazungu sleep, you know, in case I changed into some kind of hideous beast after midnight or something equally interesting. They found the prospect of a 6'6" tall white man sleeping in a sack to be most amusing.
 
So commenced a long, peaceful night of non-sleep. You see, there were at least 2 screaming babies, and scream they did – all night. Another child had to have whooping-cough or something, so between the lung cancer ward and the screaming meemies  , we got zippo sleep all night. Sleep deprivation – my favorite. So, shortly after daybreak, I decided I'd pretended to sleep long enough, and opened my eyes – yep, there was my fan club, hanging around still to see how a mazungu wakes up. I think they must have been up by like 5 AM or something. Thankfully, I'd brought a thermos of coffee, so I staggered out to the car to get myself properly caffeinated. Since my fan club was determined to not let me out of their sight, I had a bit of a dilemma figuring out how I was going to change clothes for church without causing psychological harm. It finally occurred to me that the only private place there seemed to be was the toilet ('bout like my house), so I went up to the latrine and got into my preachifying clothes.
 
Services were at 10 AM, so we got started promptly at 12PM (this is normal here). We met outside in a kind of pole structure pavilion with a tarp roof, because the church building wasn't large enough to hold everyone. The reason for this is that several other Pastors (I use the term loosely) from the Pentecostal and Anglican congregations in the area were also in attendance, along with delegations from their respective churches. After the introductions and speeches (all public gatherings must begin with introductions and speeches), and comments from some local politicians (no trouble with separation of church and state here), I finally got to preach. I didn't pull any punches. I preached salvation, and I made it very clear that religion is useless, as are "miracles", speaking in tongues, being slain in the spirit, praying to Mary, and being baptized for salvation. It is faith alone in Jesus Christ that saves us from our sins. Nothing else can do it.
 
Overall, the service went well, I thought. Now, we cannot leave, because the laws of hospitality require they feed us lunch, so we have to wait for it to be cooked. It was worth the wait: goat stew, roasted matoke and millet. You dip everything in the broth, and it's awesome. We head out to the car, and now begins the leavetaking process. First, one of the ladies wanted to give us a stalk of matoke (green cooking bananas). Not a problem. I love the stuff. Next, the Pastor wanted a picture with me. Good idea. I'm filthy, unshaved, unwashed, and sleep deprived, so of course I think we should preserve this photographically  . This opens quite the can of worms, since now everybody in the clan wants a picture with me. Thank God the photographer didn't have a digital camera, or I'd still be there.
 
Claudian makes some closing remarks (all public gatherings must end with a proper goodbye and greetings to everyone gathered), and we finally made our getaway. I'm driving on four questionable tires, with no spare, and praying they remain whole, 'cause we're out of range of any kind of cellphone to call for help if we have another flat. We made it home, just as it was getting dark. It was an exciting, tiring, and most profitable weekend.
 
Pray for us. We are continuing language study (as always). I still have discipleship duties, and now that Dan Olachea has returned to the field with my Hebrew stuff, I'm going to begin studying that as well. Pray for our health. Pray for the coming school year with the kids. Pray for the growing baby.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 08-06-2010

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Agandi! We are doing well here in Uganda. Our container arrived a few weeks ago, and we've been busily unpacking. It's a blessing to sleep in our own beds, and to be surrounded by our own belongings. We got rid of lots of things, and tried to limit our move to only what we really needed, but it still seems like we have truckloads of stuff. Mostly we just need to get some furniture built to help organize it better (bookshelves, cabinets, and what not). Poor Ethan had to wait a few weeks to get the birthday presents we had for him on the container. The transit time greatly exceeded our estimations, but he handled it graciously. I took a bus trip to the capitol (bit like riding coach on an airplane; painful to the very tall) to get the contents verified. Nothing was broken, which was nice, but the customs guys disturbed the packing unnecessarily I thought. In spite of this, our things arrived undamaged in Mbarara. Several other missionaries and Ugandans came and helped unload, and we got it done quickly and without issue. We have made a lot of progress already, and will keep plugging away 'til we get it done.

Meanwhile, we have a renter for our house in America! Our church has gone above and beyond the call of duty getting the house into shape to be marketable, and our property manager has worked tirelessly locating a tenant. So, we no longer have the financial pressure from a house we are no longer using, which is a great blessing and an answer to prayer. Pray it can be sold eventually so we no longer have THAT to deal with.

This weekend, I'm going with one of the national pastors to a village way down by the Congo border (SW corner of Uganda) to preach in a thanksgiving service they are having (the Biblical kind of thanksgiving, not the holiday called Thanksgiving). I'll be staying overnight Saturday, preaching Sunday morning, and then driving back once we persuade them to let us leave. 🙂 It should be a lot of fun, but ministry usually is.

We are still learning Runyankore. We are learning simple verbs now, and reviewing the two hundred or so nouns we have studied. Soon we will be able to construct simple sentences. I am pleased with the progress, but learning a language takes time and labor. It's just one of those things we'll have to work at, Monday through Friday, week in and week out until we get it. Pray for our memory and learning, and our comprehension.

Pray about the work permits. I have about half of the money I need for them saved, and will need to get those done in the next month or so. I am not looking forward to another trip to the capitol, but it will be nice to have them finished. The Somali terrorist attack in Kampala has ramped up security considerably. It's a bit like airport security, only it's at every store and shop you want to enter practically. It scuttled our Internet, which is why we've had difficulty maintaining contact. All told, 67 people died including the suicide bombers. This also included members of an American church group. Folks were sitting there watching the final match of the World Cup when the bomb went off. Evidently, Somalia is grieved because Uganda and Burundi committed troops to a peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu. Pray that the East African Federation will respond well, and slap down further terrorist endeavors before they materialize.

Pray we get more support, particularly from churches who said they wanted to, or would, and have not. Pray for our health. Pray for the health and growth of our new child. Pray for the souls of Uganda, and for the churches and pastors here.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 07-08-2010

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Preaching in NakivaleGreetings! It has been a productive few weeks. I went with the Bassetts down to the refugee camps on Sunday. I got to preach in two of the three preaching points. God blessed, there was conviction, and at least one was saved, possibly more. It was a great day. The need is great in these camps. Here you will find over 54,000 refugees, some from Rwanda, some from Congo, some from Sudan and elsewhere. They are  here because their countries are at war, or have engaged in genocide.  You establish preaching points, these develop into churches, you train leaders, then move on to establish more. It’s a true church-planting ministry, and I can feel God leading me to continue to go.

On Tuesday, I had another of my weekly discipleship classes with Andrew. He has such a burden for his neighbors and family. He invited some of his neighbors, two women, and asked me to come early so I could preach the word of God to them also. We spent about an hour sharing the Gospel with them (me in in English, and Osbert translating into Runyankore), and when it came time to choose, they wanted to be saved, and did so. So my discipleship class has grown to three. Andrew is already making plans on how we can reach their husbands also. They’re both boda drivers, so they’re gone a lot. He will be seeking permission to have us come over, and then LORD willing they will get saved also. Pray for Andrew, and Kate, and Delores, and for the people of Andrew’s village, that they will continue to get saved.
Meanwhile, our container is in Kampala now. I will be going to the capital soon to supervise its final clearance through customs. It is necessary, because I have the keys to the locks, and told the clearing agent that under no circumstances were they to attempt to open the container unless I was present. Once they’ve confirmed that we’re not smuggling narcotics, guns, or yellow cake uranium, we’ll be good to go, and a week or so later, we’ll have our stuff! Pray the process will advance smoothly, and that we’ll get our container soon.
Our language study is progressing. The Tracht family has joined us, so that’s two families now working on learning the Runyankore dialect. Our desire is to be able to communicate well so we can preach and teach the Bible and disciple the saved well. I am only using a translator because my knowledge of Runyankore has not advanced enough to do without one, but believe me, I am working hard to reach the day where I no longer need one. Pray for our study and our memory so we can learn Runyankore, and any other languages needed, to do the work of ministry more effectively.
Pray for our health, the health of the baby, and our finances here. Pray for the ministry, for the churches, leaders, and for souls to be saved.