MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-01-2007

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Happy New Year!

It's been a great holiday for us around here. The kids got to be in our church's Christmas play, which went very well. Everybody involved did such a great job, and the LORD blessed.

Christmas has come and gone, and we were able to give the kids some great things, thanks in no small part to the many extra gifts people gave us to help with that.

As I mentioned in our paper letter, the LORD has truly blessed us this year. Financially, it's night and day different from where we were this time in 2005. We're looking forward to what the LORD has in store for us in 2007, and to finally finishing deputation.

Last night, our church had a New Year's Eve service, which included a baptismal service. Our sons, James, John, and Ethan had been saved a while back, but we had held off on baptizing them until we were sure they understood. They wanted to be baptized, and went forward during the invitation a few weeks back to say as much publicly. It's great to see them take each new step of obedience to our LORD.

It's a new year, and with it a new schedule of meetings (I'll have those up on the internet soon). We'll be heading to Simpsonville, SC next weekend for a missions conference with Pastor Bill Cole in Bible Baptist Church. We're looking forward to hitting the road again and getting to minister in more churches in 2007. Pray for the meeting. Pray for our health this year. We tend to get sick and stay sick around this time of year, and would like to avoid five weeks of stomach flu this year if possible.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 12-06-2006

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We're back in the 21st century again around here. Thanks for praying for us. A fleet of linemen showed up shortly after dark on Monday evening, and had our power back on in a couple hours. Internet connectivity was restored last night, so that's why you're getting an update just now.

It was a very cold couple of days. We all bundled up to stay warm. We sealed up the house, burned candles, and boiled water to add heat to the mix. On Sunday, a church member let us borrow their propane-fueled catalytic heater, which was a HUGE help. It was still dark, but at least we were warm. Needless to say, we were quite happy to get our power back on Monday. As far as I know, none of the over 4,000 linemen who labored tirelessly to restore power were hurt, which is an answer to prayer.

Thanks again for praying for us!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 12-01-2006

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Just a quick note so you can be praying. St. Louis was hit with a major winter storm last night. The ice and snow combined has knocked out power to over 500,000 in Missouri and Illinois. The ice is making repair difficult for Ameren UE. With no power, and temperatures expected to be in the teens tonight, it is understandably cause for concern, especially for the elderly. It may be days before we get it back. We're keeping warm ourselves, and thankfully, we have natural gas, so we can cook, and have hot showers, but we can't run the furnace without power. The church has electricity, tho', so services should proceed normally on Sunday.

Pray that the linemen will restore power soon. Pray that they'll be safe (during the power outage in July, two were electrocuted). Pray for the many people without power, that they'll keep warm.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 11-27-2006

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Hello, folks! I trust everyone had a good Thanksgiving. We went over to my parent's house, and then swung by Anna's folks' house on the way home. The day after Thanksgiving is the day we traditionally get decorated for Christmas. We put on the Christmas music, put up the tree, set out the Nativity and assorted other Christmasy things, and lastly, put the ornaments on the tree. The kids enjoyed it tremendously, as always. The weather was unseasonably warm this year, so I was able to get the Christmas lights put up without losing fingers to frostbite, so that was good. Of course, it was more poignant knowing that this time next year we'll be in language school in Texas, and the year following in Soroti, Uganda, so this is basically our last Christmas in St. Louis. We try not to think too hard about it, but you can't help feeling a scoche sad as you contemplate these things.

Friday night, we were visited by the Grim Reaper – our old nemesis stomach flu. Anna spent the next 48 hours in the valley of the shadow of death, while I got to be Mr. Mom, cleaning up puke, doing laundry and dishes, and trying to keep the healthy kids entertained. We're okay today, and it appears that neither I, James, nor Elizabeth have had it, which is good, but those who did were wiped right out. Anna had the works – fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, aches, vertigo, and weakness. Poor thing.

We got a new family picture today, in lieu of new prayer cards which we'll be getting to press soon. I'm working on getting our Christmas prayer letter ready to go. Other than that, all that remains is to plug a few gaps in next year's schedule, which is pretty well packed now. Pray that I'll be able to get those slots filled. We're looking forward to doing all the cool holiday things, like baking, Christmas shopping, visiting family, and what not. The kids are all in the Christmas play at our church coming up on December 10. Pray that it will go well, and that the participants will be healthy enough to make all the practices and get prepared for the play. Pray that a lot of the mostly Catholic folks from the area will be willing to come to a Baptist church to see a Christmas production, and that we'll see folks saved, baptized, and added to the church. Pray that God will bless the service, and make it an edifying and profitable time for all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy thanksgiving, everyone! We're thankful we're saved, we're thankful God called us to be missionaries, and we're thankful for your faithful prayers this past year.

Have a great holiday!

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," Philippians 1:3