MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 02-03-2008

/in /by

Greetings once again, in the name of the LORD! We are in chilly Elgin, IL at a missions conference in Northwest Bible Baptist Church (Pastor Keith Gomez). We had a great meeting with Pastor Karl Ogdie and Lakeland Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX a few Wednesdays back. Pray for them as they have their missions conference in a few weeks.

We went out to the annual Fort Worth Rodeo and Stockshow on Saturday. We had a great time! They opened in prayer, PRAYER, and not some mamby-pamby, not-gonna-offend-anybody everyprayer, but a real live, born again, in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God prayer! Wow! There's something you don't run into every day. The show was tremendous. All our little cowboys had a ball, as did we. I have pictures up in the Gallery at the website if you'd like to see.

This past Wednesday, we drove down to Snyder, TX for a meeting with Faith Baptist Church with Pastor Nicky Johnson. We had a great meeting and enjoyed fine fellowship with the people. Pray for the town of Snyder. They are in the middle of a flu epidemic which had half the church, including the Pastor, out sick. Pray that they would recover soon, and that we would not catch it. Pray for our health the next few months in particular, as this is the time of year that such things tend to nail us.

We got back from that meeting Wednesday night around midnight, and then hit the ground running on Thursday, finishing up our Language Learning class, getting our final assignments ready to turn in, and also getting packed and ready to leave on Friday to drive to St. Louis. We got everything done, and made our way home on Friday. We got a great night's sleep in our own house and our own beds, and then shoved off on Saturday to make the four hour drive up to Elgin.

It's going to be a tremendous conference. Bro. Terry Anglea from Faith Baptist Church in Bourbonnais, IL is preaching. I will be sharing our burden for Uganda on Wednesday night, so pray for me. Pray for the conference that the LORD will work. Be in prayer for Pastor Keith Gomez. He would have been here for the conference, but his wife, Carla, just died of cancer. They buried her on Friday. He has taken a leave of absence to grieve. Their spirit was great this morning, but I know the church is hurting over the loss of their First Lady as well. Pray for Pastor Gomez, their children and families, and for NBBC during this time of mourning.

On Wednesday, we'll be driving back to St. Louis to leave the kids with their grandparents, and then Anna and I will be flying to San Francisco for a conference in Lighthouse Baptist Church with Pastor Bill Bryson. Pray for the trip, our kids, and for this conference that we'll be a blessing and an encouragement as we serve the LORD.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-23-2008

/in /by

Greetings, friends! Things are going well here in Bowie, TX. It has finally gotten down to what a Northerner would consider to be cold, so we are shivering through the 20 degree temps nobly at the moment. The past few weeks, we've been busy with school, and with preparations for the commencement of a new year of meetings, which begins tonight with our meeting in Lakeland Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, with Pastor Karl Ogdie. The free Sundays I've had the past few weeks gave me the opportunity to preach in Eastside Baptist on Pastor Jamie Reed's behalf a few times, while he is recovering from some voice problems he has had of late. Pray for his healing. The services went well, and it was a blessing.

We are doing well in our Language Learning class, which involves a lot of practical study in the process of how to learn a foreign language when there is no formal language school (most of the world's languages). It's pretty basic. You spend a lot of time with the people, and you get them to teach you the phrases "What is this?" or "How do you say…?", "Say it again, please.", "Did I say it correctly?" and "What does it mean in English?". You can then proceed to learn a multitude of object words for everything around you. You then work on Possessives (my mango, your banana, etc.), then simple phrases (I run, I stand, I sit, I sleep, I jump….), and then move on to fancier things like tenses, imperatives, interrogatives, and so on. Finally, you develop dialogues, where you get the language helper to teach you conversations that you might have in their culture, like what they say to each other when they meet, or leave, or when they buy things at the market, or talk about things of interest to them (planting crops, the weather, social issues). All along, you want to know how they would say it, or how would they do in particular situations. The whole point, of course, is not so much learning the language, but building relationships with the people, from which learning their language and culture is a natural outgrowth. We look forward to getting to Uganda and putting this extremely practical and effective process to work on the field, attempting to become a part of the African cultures to which we are called to minister, rather than being American outsiders making occasional forays into their world.

Pray for our meeting tonight with Pastor Ogdie. I will be preaching and presenting our ministry.

On Saturday, we'll be heading down to Fort Worth for the big annual Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. All our little cowboys are looking forward to it, as are we. We'll be going with several members of Eastside Baptist, so it should be a fun day. I'll be taking lots of pictures, and posting them when I can, so stay tuned!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-05-2008

/in /by

Howdy folks, and welcome to 2008! I trust everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. We sure did. When last we wrote, we were finishing up our first semester at BBTI. That went well and Anna and I both got A's.

Some great news, the Monday night before we flew home, we were having our family Bible reading, which dealt with Jesus' coming crucifixion and resurrection and the short of it is this: Elizabeth got saved! I sat up and talked with her until I was sure she understood, and she prayed just as simple and true a prayer of faith to the LORD as I've ever heard. She was exuberant, and couldn't quit laughing. She ran into the bedroom where her brothers were getting ready for bed and went around hugging all of them, and laughing with them as she gave them the news. They had all been praying for her since they got saved, and were very relieved that she now was as well. It was beautiful.

We flew home to St. Louis, and our guys got their first ride on a plane. When it took off, they were whooping and hollering like it was a roller coaster, and all the adults sitting around got a real kick out of them.

It was great to be home for the past few weeks. Our church raised the funds all on their own to fly us home for the holidays, because we had been planning to just stay in Texas over Christmas break. We got to spend time with both our families, the kids got to be with their aunts and uncles and cousins, and it was tremendous fun. I got to preach in our home church, which was a blessing.

We flew back to Texas yesterday, and have a busy year in store for ourselves. On Monday we began a class in Language Learning, which deals with the practical application of what we covered last semester as it pertains to learning a foreign language, particularly if you are in a situation where you don't have any bi-lingual English speakers to help you. We're really looking forward to that. We have a full complement of meetings for 2008, which will pretty much keep us busy all year as we try to wrap up deputation in lieu of heading to Africa in 2009. Pray for us we finish up school, and do a lot of travelling. We will be going to both Hawaii (just Anna and I), and Alaska (all of us) next year, in addition to several meetings in Texas and Louisiana, and points East. God has given me good success in scheduling, so I don't really have much phone calling left to do, which is a blessing. It's going to be a great year, and we are excited about what the LORD is going to do.

God bless and keep you all, and thanks so much for your prayers and faithful support!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 12-09-2007

/in /by

Greetings! We had a meeting Wednesday in Tabernacle Baptist Church in Roanoke, TX, with Pastor Joe Tims. It was a great meeting. We had some great fellowship with the membership, and with his extended family (his sons and grandchildren go to church there). The service went very well and God really moved in the preaching. It was good to be able to preach. We didn't have many meetings in November, and so consequently, didn't get to preach much.

On Saturday, I went with Eastside Baptist to do outreach in Bowie's big Second Monday gathering (a sort of flea market they run on the second Monday of each month). We handed out a bunch of tracts, which LORD willing will bear fruit during this Christmas season. It was really cold, and the vendors selling fleece blankets did a brisk trade. My strategy was to keep moving so I wouldn't get too cold. We all had a good time, and got to minister to folks, which is always a good thing.

Today, the kids were in Eastside's Christmas program. The boys played various livestock, and Elizabeth played a very pretty Mary. The whole thing went great, and everyone played their parts well.

We will be done with the first semester on Friday, so pray for us as we finish our studies, and prepare for the Final. Then, on Tuesday, December 18th, we will be flying home to spend Christmas in St. Louis! God supplied some money by means of our church, and we were able to get great deals on plane tickets to fly home. The kids are beside themselves with excitement, as this will be their first time ever flying on a plane. We are, needless to say, quite excited about getting to be home again, if only for a few weeks, during Christmas. We have missed our families and our church terribly, and are greatly looking forward to being back home. Pray for our health, that everyone will be hale and healthy for the holidays. Pray for our flight, that all will go well.

Merry Christmas!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-26-2007

/in /by

Greetings, folks! I trust everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did. We got a few days off of school, and spent it doing things as a family, and, of course, eating. We're back at it now, and are going full speed ahead to finish up Morphology, and with it, this semester. In the meantime, the kids are busy getting ready for the Christmas play here at Eastside Baptist. Elizabeth gets to be Mary. She's pretty excited about it. I'm glad we get to be around to be involved. Pray for our support level to continue to rise (we're at 60% at the moment!). Pray that I'll get our schedule in the Fall squared away next year. There are still a few meetings in Alaska that need to be firmed up on the dates. Pray for our final year of deputation, that it will be a very productive one. Pray for the remainder of our studies for this semester. Pray for our health, which is good at the moment, but we'd like to keep it that way.

Thanks for all your prayers!