MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-31-2005

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You have probably heard the old wives fable "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" or vise versa. Well January came in like a lion and went out like a lion! Our first month of full time deputation was jam packed with more action and excitement then one could possibly handle.

Saturday, we travelled up to Kahoka, MO for an all day Sunday meeting. We had a good evening of fellowship after we arrived. Pastor Wukmer and his wife were very gracious and hospitable. The Sunday meeting went well. I taught my first ladies Sunday School class. I don't know why I was nervous when I started. I've been doing teacher training classes for years. But I was nervous! It went very well. During Sunday School the boys got their first chance to cut with scissors! (Now Mommy needs to hide all scissors in the house!) They did pretty well for their first time. Both services went well. James preached in the morning and showed our slides and gave our testimony in the evening. They had a fellowship time for the church afterward. It was great to visit with people. I got to see a lady who was teaching in the Christian school I went to in kindergarten and first grade! I knew she looked familiar and then she pulled out a year book from my kindergarten year and showed my picture around. Wow! It is a small world!

On the way up to Kahoka the van began making a strange noise. We isolated it to the alternator. The trouble was we'd only had that one put on about two weeks ago. We got up there without any trouble and several of the men in the church looked at it to see if they could tell what was wrong. It appeared that the alternator fan was slipping and scraping the metal plate behind it. Because it was still under warranty we needed to get the van back home to our mechanic to have him fix it or the warranty would be voided. The men thought it would make it home. So we took off from church Sunday night and just prayed that all would be well. About 30 miles down the road the fan broke off and the serpentine belt slipped off. No harm was done to the van but we couldn't drive it. Thank God we had AAA! We called them and they had someone there in about 30 min. The tow truck driver agreed to take us home and let all six of us ride with him (otherwise someone would have had to come all the way there and get us – about 130 miles one way)! It was a long drive, to say the least! The kids all handled it great and even were able to sleep for part of the time. Thank God that the part was under warranty and is already fixed this morning. God had it all under control. Seems the recommended drive belt for the van (which the mechanic put on) was a bit too tight and so put too much pressure on the alternator. The mechanic put a slightly longer belt on after replacing the part and seems to think that will do the trick.

God has blessed us mightily this month. We've seen Him take one van from us but then turn around and work everything out with the other van. He has blessed us with some truly wonderful meetings and also with people being saved. All of our financial needs have been adequately met, even the unexpected ones. It is going to be very exciting to see how He continues to work in the months ahead.

We get a slight break this next week. Our next meeting is February 13-17. We are needing this break physically, especially since we've all seemed to get pretty worn down with colds and such. Everyone is doing better but it will be nice to have a chance to rest a bit in the next week or so.

Thank you for your prayers!

Legacies

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God works in our lives in ways that we could never plan or figure out. Sometimes He places people in our path just at the time we needed it most. Last night was one of those times for me.

This last month has been a very emotional month for me. Visiting Grandpa and having him pass away, being the cause of an accident in which our deputation van was totalled, finding out that another baby is on the way, my emotions have run the gamut from extreme sorrow to great joy. We’ve also struggled with sickness in the last week or so. To say the least I’ve been feeling a little tired and struggling with discouragement, grieving and burn-out. Yesterday afternoon one of the boys woke up from his nap with a slight fever but it was gone after he’d been up for a little while. I tried to talk James into letting me stay home with the kids while he went on to the meeting by himself. He wanted me to go. So we all went.

We got out of the house later than we had planned and so were running late already but the weather wasn’t that great (a little drizzly rain that had all the drivers around us being extra cautious) so we couldn’t go as fast as the speed limit even. The church wasn’t where the directions said it was, at least we couldn’t see it. We drove past it three times because we didn’t know that the street name on the one side of the road we were on was different than the name of the street on the other. Finally we got there, several minutes late and got the children to their various classes. James got up to show the slides and the slide projector broke, not just a burned out bulb, the thing that moves the slides in and out of the projector quit (James was able to fix it today, so we again have a working slide projector.). The pastor was so gracious in everything as were the people of the church. It just seemed like everywhere we turned we ran into an obstacle.

After church an elderly couple, named Dan and Ann Zimmerman, came up to us and began to visit. They had been in Mali and Niger and other portions of Northwestern Africa for about 30 years. He had done Bible translation work in Mali. Most of their children had been born there on the foreign field and all of them are serving God today, one as a missionary in Quebec. They invited us to their home and showed us picture after picture of how God had blessed their work in these Muslim nations. Churches with trained national pastors were left behind when they had to leave because of pressure from Kadafi in Lybia. We sat and visited with them for a long time and looked at hymnals they translated and work they did while on the field. They showed us things the people whom they had helped had made for them as thank you gifts. It was a blessing and an encouragement. Their eyes frequently filled with tears as they thought about the country they had lived in for so long, which they still carry a burden and love for after all these years.

As we left their house Mrs. Zimmerman gave me a hug and said “The Lord bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you.” This old warrior of the faith had pronounced a blessing on me. It brought me to tears and reminded me the torch MUST be passed on to a younger generation. She had lived in the desert for so many years. I could leave the security of the familiar and move to a land that I don’t know. She had done it and could tell me about it. One day, I will be in her place, telling another generation what God has used me to do in Uganda.

We left that house greatly encouraged, the “burnt-out” feeling gone, a reminder given to us that this mission we are on to Uganda is so much bigger than we are and spans far more than we could do on our own. We go in the power of our Lord who will give the grace to go day by day and do the thing He has called us to do.

Thank you all for your prayers!

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-25-2005

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Greetings! Things are going well on the deputation trail. Last Wednesday, I was in New Franklin, MO, in Bible Baptist Church (pastor: Rodney Haggett). I was flying solo, with just myself and the three boys, as Anna and Elizabeth were driving back from South Dakota. They had gone up for Grandpa Brush's funeral. The meeting went great, and I was able to influence more young men to answer God's call for their life. Then, as it worked out, we were able to meet Anna and her sisters in Columbia, MO. You should have seen those boys. They sure were missing their momma. The next few days we spent resting and trying to get caught up again. I picked up whatever Elizabeth had when she left, and ran a fever and had a splitting sinus headache until yesterday. I don't think we've really had a chance to slow down since the first of the year when we went up to Rapid City. We drove out to New Hope General Baptist in Silva, MO (pastor: Dan Ross), and had another great meeting. It was good to have Anna back. I can make it without her, but it isn't very pleasant.

Good news! We're expecting another baby! This will be our fifth. I'm personally hoping for a girl, because Elizabeth NEEDS a little sister. The 2005 model is due for delivery on or about September 15. Please pray, for health for the baby and mom, and that Anna will be able to start labor on her own this time, and on time (she tends to run long, develop high blood pressure, and have to be induced and be juiced up on Mag Sulfate – no fun). Pray that the morning sickness will tone down a bit, as this go round seems to be more brutal than previous pregnancies. Also, be in prayer for me as I continue to line up meetings. We're doing very well, but I still have to schedule about 15 or so more to fill up the year. Pray that our support picks up this month. Pray that God provides a larger van to replace the one we lost earlier this month. Pray for safety as we travel.

That's all for now.

MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 01-17-2005

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Greetings, one and all. Much has happened since our last update. On Friday, we received news that another soldier has left us. Burton Brush, my wife's grandfather died of cancer. He'd battled the disease for 4 years, and Friday morning the fight ended. He was a longtime BIMI missionary in South Dakota, and his creation, the Pioneer Bible Institute curriculum, is being used by missionaries and pastors all over the world. He will be missed terribly. We were in the middle of a missions conference at Lafayette Bible Baptist Church in Manchester, MO (pastor: Ed Bragg)at the time. We finally decided that, since all we have to drive in now is my cramped old mini-van, and it's a sixteen hour drive, Anna would go to the funeral with her sisters and cousin, taking Elizabeth, and I would remain to finish the conference and keep the three boys. I have a meeting at Bible Baptist Church in New Franklin, MO on Wednesday (about 2.5 hours away). Anna should be back late on Wednesday.

The missions conference was great. I got to teach a mission lesson in Children's Church on Sunday morning. I taught a missions lesson about a boy named Madugu, which involved the wordless book, a tool for giving the gospel to children. Afterwards, a nine year old boy named Anthony asked Jesus to be his Savior. That afternoon, after Anna left and we said our goodbyes, I went over to a nursing home in Eureka, MO and reached from John 3. Afterwards, an elderly gentleman named Bob also asked Jesus to be his Savior. Tremendous! Old or young, all need to hear the gospel, and all are precious to the LORD.

Then we drug our weary bodies home so the kids could get a nap. They got an hour. I got everyone up and fed them rapidly (had to finish on the way). Made it on time, tho'. We finished up the conference, and came on home. All in all, it was a great conference, with great preaching, and, in spite of fierce opposition from the Enemy, God's will was done and the Church was edified.

Home today, holding down the fort. We're resting up, running errands, cleaning house and what not. Missing my wife and daughter, tho'….

Well, that's all for now.

Prayer Request

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Looks like the possibility of getting a van from North Carolina may not work out after all. It had set for a few years, and the pastor didn't feel comfortable letting it out on the road without getting it worked on first. There was no one available to do so, and no way to get it to St. Louis to be worked on here. We still need something large enough for our crew, so be praying that God will provide something else.

God bless, and thanks for praying for us.