Josh's Update

April 15, 2009
I hope all is well with you. I have not written for a couple of weeks. In some ways a lot has happened during that time; in other ways it seems like I am still waiting for things to happen here.
I turned 31 since I last wrote. It was not too big of a deal. I buzzed my hair so I could ignore the grey. The team came over for grilled pork which was nice. A few days later Tim and Angie took our family to a new swimming pool in Mbale. We were there on a nice sunny day so we could enjoy the pool even though the water was refreshing!
We had a nice Easter last week. I had been asked to preach in church. The sky was very grey when we arrived at church. During opening prayers it began to rain. This was only the second time since we came to Soroti that it rained on a Sunday morning. Since we have a steel roof, we sang a number of extra songs - the rain was so loud that we could not hear each other speaking, so we just kept singing. Eventually Pastor Francis decided I should begin preaching, hoping that people would be able to hear some of what I said…that rain stopped soon after I began so people could hear what was said.
In the afternoon we had our friends over for supper. We did an Easter egg hunt for the kids, then we ate. After supper we sat down and opened the 12 Resurrection eggs; they enabled us to share the story of Jesus’ arrest, death on the cross, and resurrection. I was greatly impressed how attentively everyone listened. Each one clearly heard the gospel message. Now we continue praying that the seeds planted will begin to grow in their hearts.
Last night we went and played Basketball with the Chinese; it was good to spend time with them again.
On Monday I met with some of the blind to discuss plans for the year. It was good to hang out with them again. We really want to try to reach each orchard beneficiary one more time to check on the trees again and to share God’s word with them again. The last round of follow-up was not very successful; hopefully this time we will have better success getting the people while they are home. (There is no way to notify them we will be coming.) The blind trainers also said they would like to get involved training other blind people again this year. They have not done that for a number of years. This would entail gather blind people in a given location to a sub-county office (the sub-county provides accommodation for the trainers and a classroom). The training would be at least 4 weeks (ideally it would be 4 months) so the blind from that area could be trained in discipleship, mobility, living (washing clothes, fetching water, cooking - which is challenging over a fire when you are blind). If more time allows they would also be trained in knitting, farming, and other vocational things.
Teaching…yeah, I am trying to be patient while things fall into place; however, things at the Bible College are not falling in line very quickly. I am about ready to start investigating new options. I will be leading the Timothy institute Monday in Otuboi. I am considering beginning this training other places as well.
Finally, things on the home front are settling in. Our new house is beginning to feel like home. We are almost finished unpacking, some of the plumbing and electrical kinks have been resolved, and we have met a few neighbors. I have been working on a sandbox and am nearly finished building a grill. We also hired a daytime guard / gardener to be here while I am away. Mandy said she would feel more secure about things if someone were here. Honestly, I think John will have the yard looking much nicer than I ever would. He has worked for three other people who rented this house so he knows how to do things, plus I do not likely investing a large amount of time in the yard.
I hope all is well. I will try to write again in a week or two - hopefully by then I will be busy teaching. Until then, let us live up to what we have already attained