Thanks to all of you who prayed for the training two weeks ago in Katakwi. We had 26 participants successfully complete the training. The road was rough (I had to replace 13 spokes on my back wheel over the course of the week) but the week went well. We had good discussions and people were successfully trained in how to teach the Christian faith to people of different ages.
This coming week I will be leading a training in Amuria, one hour Northeast of Soroti. The topic this week is "Preaching Biblical Sermons." This is not my favorite topic (I think partly because I have no training in this area) but believe it is important since people are preaching every week. Please pray that those who attend will successfully learn to prepare and present a sermon that is Biblically sound.
Next week we will be going to Kampala. Mandy and Luka will be flying to Nairobi for another check-up with Luka's kidney specialist. Luka's urine still has excess protien. They will return to Uganda 20 minutes before Josh's parents arrive. That's right, Paul and Carole are coming for their first visit! Please pray for them as they make that long journey and as we spend three weeks together.
Shaarda's Story - It's God's Story! Life & Ministry in the village of Obule, Uganda. 1 Thess. 2:8
Showing posts with label Josh's Journals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh's Journals. Show all posts
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Josh's Journal
June 28, 2009
We just got home from church and have an hour before dinner will be ready so I thought I would take a few minutes and write. The kids are playing with our friend Julia. She is working here in Soroti (came from Indiana) and went to church with us this morning. Julia will only be here another month or so, but she gets along well with our family. She has babysat for us a few times so Mandy and I could go out for supper. She also goes to women’s Bible study with Mandy.
Today we had 37 kids in children’s church. That is such a nice manageable number. We are doing a series on the armor of God. Today’s lesson was standing firm in truth. We looked back at the story of Adam and Eve and how the whole problem with sin starts when we abandon truth and choose the confusion of lies. I also gave each child his or her own box of 8 crayons. The thought the crayons - which they could keep - were incredibly valuable. The crayons were left by the group that came out from Calvin Christian High School (see below.)
The last few weeks have been extremely busy. We hosted a group of 11 from Calvin Christian. Larry and Linda Klein took 9 seniors as part of a Global studies class. They were not here as a serve project; it was more of a tour, seeing what Africa is like and what is going on here. They were here in Soroti for just three days to see missions, culture and history. We took them to church with us where four of them helped out with children’s church. Later that day we had them here testimonies from teenagers who were abducted and traumatized during the LRA insurgency a few years ago. On that Monday we showed them our involvement with the blind. We visited SACAB to see the different things we have been doing with blind people here in town. Then we went to visit the first orchard we had planted two years ago. Nicholas (who owns that orchard) is always so excited to “see” us. He gave us a chicken and eggs. Even more exciting - some of his trees have oranges on them. I challenged him to give them back to God as a first fruits offering. On Tuesday we visited the Bible College and the resource room which Tim is starting up. Then on Tuesday afternoon we visited the Hindu temple in town. It was an eye-opening experience for all of them to see first hand “gods” which were made by human hands. Their visit was a huge blessing to us. They stayed at a Guest house just one block from here. We ate with them each evening. It was a great time of fellowship for us.
The day after they left I began teaching the Timothy Leadership training in a new village called Obule. We had agreed it would be a two-day workshop. About 20 local church leaders from three denominations meant. We had a good two days discussing the importance of visitation ministry. They closed each session by making an action plan for increasing their own visitation ministries in their churches. The following Monday I was off to Otuboi to continue the Timothy training up there. The numbers there are getting a little low - only 7. We are currently learning about how to teach the Christian faith - how to teach with the learner in mind, how to make a good lesson plan, how to teach differently to different age groups.
After all that excitement Mandy and I decided to take a weekend away with the family. It was also our 10th anniversary that week and Father’s day on that Sunday. We went to a hotel in Mbale which has a swimming pool and the only put-put golf course in all of Uganda. Julia went with us. We began the day by visiting Sisiyi falls, a water fall about 20 miles from Mbale. It was a nice view and an easy ten minute hike to the water fall from where we left the van. That evening Julia ate supper at the hotel with Lydia and Grace while I took Mandy (and Luka) out for an anniversary date. We went to our favorite (the food is great but the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired) Indian restaurant. When we got there the waiter asked if we wanted to eat on the roof. Sure. We followed him (since we had never been up there before) through a dark stairway to the top of the three story building. There were just three tables on the roof. It was one of the simplest, most romantic, and memorable anniversary meals we have had. We had such a nice night.
This weekend a few of our team mates had birthdays so we all decided to climb a local mountain and roast hot dogs at the top. Unfortunately, Lydia had the flu so I stayed home with her and Luka. Mandy and Grace went with the group, but the mountain was overgrown (grass more than 6 feet tall) so they were not able to get to the top. They went back to Tim and Angie’s house (I joined them) for a campfire instead, then it began to rain. We all moved into the house, then the electricity went out. On nights like this I have learned to just go to bed and be thankful for your bed, bug net, and the clean water to drink. Be thankful for the stability here in Uganda, the healthy family I have, and screens on our windows. Be thankful that most nights we do have a fan and electricity, that we have others here to fellowship with. Be thankful that…we have soooo much to be thankful for. Yeah, go to sleep on that thought.
We just got home from church and have an hour before dinner will be ready so I thought I would take a few minutes and write. The kids are playing with our friend Julia. She is working here in Soroti (came from Indiana) and went to church with us this morning. Julia will only be here another month or so, but she gets along well with our family. She has babysat for us a few times so Mandy and I could go out for supper. She also goes to women’s Bible study with Mandy.
Today we had 37 kids in children’s church. That is such a nice manageable number. We are doing a series on the armor of God. Today’s lesson was standing firm in truth. We looked back at the story of Adam and Eve and how the whole problem with sin starts when we abandon truth and choose the confusion of lies. I also gave each child his or her own box of 8 crayons. The thought the crayons - which they could keep - were incredibly valuable. The crayons were left by the group that came out from Calvin Christian High School (see below.)
The last few weeks have been extremely busy. We hosted a group of 11 from Calvin Christian. Larry and Linda Klein took 9 seniors as part of a Global studies class. They were not here as a serve project; it was more of a tour, seeing what Africa is like and what is going on here. They were here in Soroti for just three days to see missions, culture and history. We took them to church with us where four of them helped out with children’s church. Later that day we had them here testimonies from teenagers who were abducted and traumatized during the LRA insurgency a few years ago. On that Monday we showed them our involvement with the blind. We visited SACAB to see the different things we have been doing with blind people here in town. Then we went to visit the first orchard we had planted two years ago. Nicholas (who owns that orchard) is always so excited to “see” us. He gave us a chicken and eggs. Even more exciting - some of his trees have oranges on them. I challenged him to give them back to God as a first fruits offering. On Tuesday we visited the Bible College and the resource room which Tim is starting up. Then on Tuesday afternoon we visited the Hindu temple in town. It was an eye-opening experience for all of them to see first hand “gods” which were made by human hands. Their visit was a huge blessing to us. They stayed at a Guest house just one block from here. We ate with them each evening. It was a great time of fellowship for us.
The day after they left I began teaching the Timothy Leadership training in a new village called Obule. We had agreed it would be a two-day workshop. About 20 local church leaders from three denominations meant. We had a good two days discussing the importance of visitation ministry. They closed each session by making an action plan for increasing their own visitation ministries in their churches. The following Monday I was off to Otuboi to continue the Timothy training up there. The numbers there are getting a little low - only 7. We are currently learning about how to teach the Christian faith - how to teach with the learner in mind, how to make a good lesson plan, how to teach differently to different age groups.
After all that excitement Mandy and I decided to take a weekend away with the family. It was also our 10th anniversary that week and Father’s day on that Sunday. We went to a hotel in Mbale which has a swimming pool and the only put-put golf course in all of Uganda. Julia went with us. We began the day by visiting Sisiyi falls, a water fall about 20 miles from Mbale. It was a nice view and an easy ten minute hike to the water fall from where we left the van. That evening Julia ate supper at the hotel with Lydia and Grace while I took Mandy (and Luka) out for an anniversary date. We went to our favorite (the food is great but the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired) Indian restaurant. When we got there the waiter asked if we wanted to eat on the roof. Sure. We followed him (since we had never been up there before) through a dark stairway to the top of the three story building. There were just three tables on the roof. It was one of the simplest, most romantic, and memorable anniversary meals we have had. We had such a nice night.
This weekend a few of our team mates had birthdays so we all decided to climb a local mountain and roast hot dogs at the top. Unfortunately, Lydia had the flu so I stayed home with her and Luka. Mandy and Grace went with the group, but the mountain was overgrown (grass more than 6 feet tall) so they were not able to get to the top. They went back to Tim and Angie’s house (I joined them) for a campfire instead, then it began to rain. We all moved into the house, then the electricity went out. On nights like this I have learned to just go to bed and be thankful for your bed, bug net, and the clean water to drink. Be thankful for the stability here in Uganda, the healthy family I have, and screens on our windows. Be thankful that most nights we do have a fan and electricity, that we have others here to fellowship with. Be thankful that…we have soooo much to be thankful for. Yeah, go to sleep on that thought.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Josh's Journal
May 4, 2009
Greetings everyone. We are supposed to get our internet hooked up today so maybe you will be able to read this by tomorrow. This is not the first time (or even the 2nd, or 3rd) they were supposed to come, but I am actually optimistic they will come today - because I did not cancel my other plans like I did the first few times they were supposed to come. Our old internet was to slow to attach anything, so it was not able to do all we need to do with International Teams. Hopefully we will be up and running again soon.
Last Friday was International Laborers Day and the national celebration was here in Soroti, which meant the president would be here. We thought it would be fun to try to see President Yoweri Museveni so we decided to attend the celebration in the sports grounds in the middle of town. Police were everywhere - hundreds of them. It is not an exaggeration to say they were every 15 feet. We all had to enter through a metal detector. There were a few hundred chairs set up under tents for people who had invitations (not us) and the rest of us had to stand out in the field some distance from the stage. We could not see much so we decided to keep walking around the outside since the president had not yet arrived. As we approached the rope on one end of the field the police decided it was time to fill the chairs which were not filled so they let about 20 people in, including us. We sat right on the outside edge of the tent. There were some traditional dances which was interesting. About 30 minutes later the president came, parked near us, walked right past us and planted a commemorative tree behind the tent. As he was walking back up front, he stopped right by us and greeted Mandy briefly. It took us totally off guard. It was so cool to think the President Museveni greeted Mandy.
Last week we had our team retreat in Jinja. We spent two nights at Kingfisher Safari Resort (an impressive name for a place that has nothing to do with animal safaris). It is a series of little cabins on the shore of Lake Victoria. They have beautiful flower gardens. The best part is their swimming pool. It is the most kid friendly pool I have been at - our girls loved it and spent many hours in it. The retreat was a good experience as a team to get away from the business here, worship God together, and enjoy one another’s company. It was a true blessing.
I have also resumed teaching children’s church. Last Sunday we had about 25 kids; yesterday we had 52 kids. It makes me wonder how many will be there next Sunday. It is overwhelming, but I have seen that many kids come to church simply for that. I know God loves children and I trust He is working in the hearts of many of them. I try hard to make myself available to Him. Last year I went through stories of the Bible from the OT then the NT. This year I started with the resurrection since I started teaching the week after Easter. I plan to go through Acts and then teach on what it means to follow Jesus.
I keep plugging away at learning Ateso. Some days I feel like I can run and not get tired; some days God simply keeps me from fainting. However, last week I went to visit a blind man out in a village. I shared the gospel with him using Ateso. I still feel lost most of the time, but it was exciting to see I had learned some. It also struck me how closely people listen to God’s word when I speak Ateso. Men, women, and children stopped what they were doing to listen as I presented the gospel. Granted, some were probably listening for the entertainment value, but they still listen.
Today I have a meeting to discuss beginning the Timothy Leadership Training in the village of Obule. I am going out there to meet with a couple of pastors. Perhaps God is opening a new door for that. Next week I will be in Amuria teaching it there all week. Please pray for my voice and my family as it is always difficult when I do week-long workshops. Actually, please pray for my motorcycle as well. The road to Amuria challenged the motorcycle last year.
Greetings everyone. We are supposed to get our internet hooked up today so maybe you will be able to read this by tomorrow. This is not the first time (or even the 2nd, or 3rd) they were supposed to come, but I am actually optimistic they will come today - because I did not cancel my other plans like I did the first few times they were supposed to come. Our old internet was to slow to attach anything, so it was not able to do all we need to do with International Teams. Hopefully we will be up and running again soon.
Last Friday was International Laborers Day and the national celebration was here in Soroti, which meant the president would be here. We thought it would be fun to try to see President Yoweri Museveni so we decided to attend the celebration in the sports grounds in the middle of town. Police were everywhere - hundreds of them. It is not an exaggeration to say they were every 15 feet. We all had to enter through a metal detector. There were a few hundred chairs set up under tents for people who had invitations (not us) and the rest of us had to stand out in the field some distance from the stage. We could not see much so we decided to keep walking around the outside since the president had not yet arrived. As we approached the rope on one end of the field the police decided it was time to fill the chairs which were not filled so they let about 20 people in, including us. We sat right on the outside edge of the tent. There were some traditional dances which was interesting. About 30 minutes later the president came, parked near us, walked right past us and planted a commemorative tree behind the tent. As he was walking back up front, he stopped right by us and greeted Mandy briefly. It took us totally off guard. It was so cool to think the President Museveni greeted Mandy.
Last week we had our team retreat in Jinja. We spent two nights at Kingfisher Safari Resort (an impressive name for a place that has nothing to do with animal safaris). It is a series of little cabins on the shore of Lake Victoria. They have beautiful flower gardens. The best part is their swimming pool. It is the most kid friendly pool I have been at - our girls loved it and spent many hours in it. The retreat was a good experience as a team to get away from the business here, worship God together, and enjoy one another’s company. It was a true blessing.
I have also resumed teaching children’s church. Last Sunday we had about 25 kids; yesterday we had 52 kids. It makes me wonder how many will be there next Sunday. It is overwhelming, but I have seen that many kids come to church simply for that. I know God loves children and I trust He is working in the hearts of many of them. I try hard to make myself available to Him. Last year I went through stories of the Bible from the OT then the NT. This year I started with the resurrection since I started teaching the week after Easter. I plan to go through Acts and then teach on what it means to follow Jesus.
I keep plugging away at learning Ateso. Some days I feel like I can run and not get tired; some days God simply keeps me from fainting. However, last week I went to visit a blind man out in a village. I shared the gospel with him using Ateso. I still feel lost most of the time, but it was exciting to see I had learned some. It also struck me how closely people listen to God’s word when I speak Ateso. Men, women, and children stopped what they were doing to listen as I presented the gospel. Granted, some were probably listening for the entertainment value, but they still listen.
Today I have a meeting to discuss beginning the Timothy Leadership Training in the village of Obule. I am going out there to meet with a couple of pastors. Perhaps God is opening a new door for that. Next week I will be in Amuria teaching it there all week. Please pray for my voice and my family as it is always difficult when I do week-long workshops. Actually, please pray for my motorcycle as well. The road to Amuria challenged the motorcycle last year.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
First Days Back
March 25, 2009
We have been in Uganda for a whole week now. On the one hand it is amazing how quickly time passes. On the other hand, it is amazing how much time it takes to get back into the swing of things. One major adjustment has been the heat. All the Ugandans have been complaining about the heat as well - a true sign that it really is hot. Angie said her thermometer read 115 this week.
Another brake on our settling in has been the fact that our new house is not yet ready for us. As a result, we have not yet unpacked any of our luggage. We are just trying to make due with whatever we had hear, while also living around the pile of boxes and luggage in our dining room. The new landlord did give us a three month discount for the inconvenience, which told me a lot about his character. They have been working there ever since we got here and they keep telling us by Friday it will be ready for us to move in; although, some outside work will still be completed over the next month or two.
I was also quite disappointed to see how little progress there has been at Bethel Bible College. Because of this situation, I decided to get back to basics this week: connect with the Vine. Jesus promised in Jn. 15 that if we stay in Him, we will produce fruit. Ultimately, whether or not the Bible College grows is not the issue. The issue is leaders being trained, missionaries being sent, lost people being saved, and Christians growing in their faith. Therefore, I have focused my time this week, not so much on the Bible College, but on asking God to use me to produce fruit. I have been seeking more of His presence in my life.
On a much lighter note, our kids keep us smiling. Soon after our arrival Lydia mentions how nice it was not to have to wear tights. However, as the temps kept climbing, she decided she liked snow better.
On our way home from church Sunday Grace pointed out a chicken crossing the road ahead of us. I absent mindedly asked, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Lydia answered very seriously, “Because it did not want the people to catch it for dinner.” Yup, we are back in Uganda. I am glad to be hear. I know God has called us here. I am just wondering (in a positive way) how He plans to use us this year.
We have been in Uganda for a whole week now. On the one hand it is amazing how quickly time passes. On the other hand, it is amazing how much time it takes to get back into the swing of things. One major adjustment has been the heat. All the Ugandans have been complaining about the heat as well - a true sign that it really is hot. Angie said her thermometer read 115 this week.
Another brake on our settling in has been the fact that our new house is not yet ready for us. As a result, we have not yet unpacked any of our luggage. We are just trying to make due with whatever we had hear, while also living around the pile of boxes and luggage in our dining room. The new landlord did give us a three month discount for the inconvenience, which told me a lot about his character. They have been working there ever since we got here and they keep telling us by Friday it will be ready for us to move in; although, some outside work will still be completed over the next month or two.
I was also quite disappointed to see how little progress there has been at Bethel Bible College. Because of this situation, I decided to get back to basics this week: connect with the Vine. Jesus promised in Jn. 15 that if we stay in Him, we will produce fruit. Ultimately, whether or not the Bible College grows is not the issue. The issue is leaders being trained, missionaries being sent, lost people being saved, and Christians growing in their faith. Therefore, I have focused my time this week, not so much on the Bible College, but on asking God to use me to produce fruit. I have been seeking more of His presence in my life.
On a much lighter note, our kids keep us smiling. Soon after our arrival Lydia mentions how nice it was not to have to wear tights. However, as the temps kept climbing, she decided she liked snow better.
On our way home from church Sunday Grace pointed out a chicken crossing the road ahead of us. I absent mindedly asked, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Lydia answered very seriously, “Because it did not want the people to catch it for dinner.” Yup, we are back in Uganda. I am glad to be hear. I know God has called us here. I am just wondering (in a positive way) how He plans to use us this year.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Trip to Kampala
October 29
What a day Monday was. While writing I will use words like “I” and “she”, but I first want to say that God was the one who made the day a success. It usually takes at least three days to process something through the immigration office. To complete the whole thing in one day simply is an act of God and an answer to many of your prayers. All praise and glory to Him!
I woke up at 3:00 a.m. By 3:30 the bus company was at our gate to pick me up so I could catch one of the early buses to Kampala. I thought to myself, “My parents are still in church on Sunday night I am already beginning my Monday.” Strange to consider those things. I found a seat on the bus and settled in. I have not traveled in the dark since last December so it was a little strange, but the bus ride went well. We stopped in many towns along the way to add passengers. By 9:15 I was in Kampala.
After exchanging money I headed to the immigration office. I checked the approval book and found my file number. The officer gave me my file and told me to take it to the cashier. The cashier there does not receive any cash; he just writes the bill for people to take to the bank. The bank is about two miles from the immigration offices, but I was sick of riding so I decided to walk. With the traffic in that part of town I probably only lost 10-15 minutes. I paid my bill at one window and was told to wait at a different window for the receipt. I asked how long it would be. “One hour” was the answer.
I exited the bank and headed back down the street 300 yards to Dominoe’s Pizza. It is different from the American Dominoe’s Pizza, but it still had very good Bacon & pineapple pizza. After eating I went back to the bank to stand in “line” to get my receipt. The line consist of 25-30 people crowding around a little window. I would have sat in a chair, but then would not be able to have heard my name being called. So I stood in that mass of humanity for an hour until they called my name. I stopped a taxi (taxis in Uganda are vans full of people, they are NOT cars you privately hire) and headed back to immigration.
I got there about 20 minutes before the lunch break. The officer was kind but said it would be Wednesday before I could get my passports back. (This was the answer I had expected.) I explained that I wanted to return to Soroti, but he still said he could not have them done before Wednesday. It takes time to get all the files back from the cashier because several offices use the same cashier.
I then went and thanked Kevin for her help. (She was the lady from Soroti who now works in an adjacent office. She was the one who kept checking for me to see if my file had been approved.) She asked if I had finished the process. I explained what the man said. She told me she would talk to him at lunch and see if he could get them done the same day. I should come back at 2:00. At 2:00 she went herself to the cashier’s office to get my file and brought it to the immigration office. She told me to check with the officer at 3:00. At 3:00 it was not done yet. I checked again at 3:30 - not done. I checked again at 4:00 - not done. However, they were working on it so I decided to stay and wait. About 4:15 the officer handed me my passports and said they were finished.
By this time it was getting late so I knew I needed to hustle if I was going to sleep at home. I got a taxi which said he was headed to Mbale (the last major city before Soroti) so I boarded. Riding a taxi is slow-going because they continuously stop for more passengers. After about 90 minutes the van stopped behind another taxi. The driver said I needed to board the next taxi because he wasn’t actually going to Mbale. The second taxi was quite a trip. At one point we had 20 people in a van equipped for 14 (it keeps the fares lower when you overload them.) In our 3-person bench we had 4 people sitting and a 5th person standing bent over at the waste. I would have complained, but it would not have done any good so I bit my tongue and prayed for safety. We continued to make slow progress until we reach the city of Iganga and entered the taxi park. He told me to enter a different taxi, because he wasn’t actually going to Mbale either. By now it was dark and the taxi park was barely controlled chaos. People were yelling at each other and pulling at me. “White man, you come, we go, I take you where you want.” A few of us were trying to get to Mbale so we enter taxi number three. Ten minutes passed before the driver admitted he was going to Mbale, but not right away. Out we went to find taxi number four. By this point I would have paid considerable money to hire a car privately (which is done throughout Africa) but I did not know where to find one and did not dare to walk aimlessly alone considering the environment which I was in. About 5 minutes later we finally pulled out of the taxi park. The rest of the ride to Mbale went quite well. We pulled into town about 2 minutes before the last bus left for Soroti. The price for all that excitement over the 140 miles from Kampala to Mbale: $8.
Buses are not really on a schedule, so it really felt like they were waiting for me. (God at work.) I was their last customer of the day. I climbed on and within 2 minutes we were on the road. When we got to Soroti I hired a motorcycle taxi to take me home. I walked in the house at 11:30, just 20 hours after I’d left. I was tired, hungry (I knew I did not have time for supper if I wanted to reach home), and thirsty. I had a glass of water and washed up. There was no electricity so I just went to bed without supper because I did not want to wake up the kids. I was worn out, but knew it was God who had made my trip a success.
Yesterday (10-28) was Happy Dewali for the Indians (their New Year’s Eve I guess because today they all say Happy New Year to each other.) Some of our friends from OM supermarket invited us to the celebration. We arrived at their store about 7:30 in he evening and immediately went with them to the compound where the Hindu temple is. All the Indians in Soroti had gathered in the courtyard outside the temple to set off fireworks. The police had given them permission to set off fireworks for one hour. They had everything from sparklers to the bonafide fireworks that make everyone go “ahhh, ohm” (Ugandans who gathered on the street to watch reacted the same way Americans do on July 4.)
About ten minutes into the show one of the loud ones tipped over and shot over into the crowd about six feet from where we were sitting. It traumatized our children. Lydia was crying, Grace showed absolutely no emotion. From that point on we sat in the van to watch. It got a little hot, but our girls really enjoyed the show without having to listen to the loud noise.
After the fireworks, they brought out the food. I do not know what it was called, but it was all really good. There were about 10 different things. We got home about 10:00. It was a lot of fun. We felt a little out of place, especially when the conversations were taking place in Hindi, but we still felt privileged that they invited us to come. We pray for our friends. Many of them have received copies of God’s Word. We pray that they will read their new Bibles and believe in Him who is the Light of the world.
What a day Monday was. While writing I will use words like “I” and “she”, but I first want to say that God was the one who made the day a success. It usually takes at least three days to process something through the immigration office. To complete the whole thing in one day simply is an act of God and an answer to many of your prayers. All praise and glory to Him!
I woke up at 3:00 a.m. By 3:30 the bus company was at our gate to pick me up so I could catch one of the early buses to Kampala. I thought to myself, “My parents are still in church on Sunday night I am already beginning my Monday.” Strange to consider those things. I found a seat on the bus and settled in. I have not traveled in the dark since last December so it was a little strange, but the bus ride went well. We stopped in many towns along the way to add passengers. By 9:15 I was in Kampala.
After exchanging money I headed to the immigration office. I checked the approval book and found my file number. The officer gave me my file and told me to take it to the cashier. The cashier there does not receive any cash; he just writes the bill for people to take to the bank. The bank is about two miles from the immigration offices, but I was sick of riding so I decided to walk. With the traffic in that part of town I probably only lost 10-15 minutes. I paid my bill at one window and was told to wait at a different window for the receipt. I asked how long it would be. “One hour” was the answer.
I exited the bank and headed back down the street 300 yards to Dominoe’s Pizza. It is different from the American Dominoe’s Pizza, but it still had very good Bacon & pineapple pizza. After eating I went back to the bank to stand in “line” to get my receipt. The line consist of 25-30 people crowding around a little window. I would have sat in a chair, but then would not be able to have heard my name being called. So I stood in that mass of humanity for an hour until they called my name. I stopped a taxi (taxis in Uganda are vans full of people, they are NOT cars you privately hire) and headed back to immigration.
I got there about 20 minutes before the lunch break. The officer was kind but said it would be Wednesday before I could get my passports back. (This was the answer I had expected.) I explained that I wanted to return to Soroti, but he still said he could not have them done before Wednesday. It takes time to get all the files back from the cashier because several offices use the same cashier.
I then went and thanked Kevin for her help. (She was the lady from Soroti who now works in an adjacent office. She was the one who kept checking for me to see if my file had been approved.) She asked if I had finished the process. I explained what the man said. She told me she would talk to him at lunch and see if he could get them done the same day. I should come back at 2:00. At 2:00 she went herself to the cashier’s office to get my file and brought it to the immigration office. She told me to check with the officer at 3:00. At 3:00 it was not done yet. I checked again at 3:30 - not done. I checked again at 4:00 - not done. However, they were working on it so I decided to stay and wait. About 4:15 the officer handed me my passports and said they were finished.
By this time it was getting late so I knew I needed to hustle if I was going to sleep at home. I got a taxi which said he was headed to Mbale (the last major city before Soroti) so I boarded. Riding a taxi is slow-going because they continuously stop for more passengers. After about 90 minutes the van stopped behind another taxi. The driver said I needed to board the next taxi because he wasn’t actually going to Mbale. The second taxi was quite a trip. At one point we had 20 people in a van equipped for 14 (it keeps the fares lower when you overload them.) In our 3-person bench we had 4 people sitting and a 5th person standing bent over at the waste. I would have complained, but it would not have done any good so I bit my tongue and prayed for safety. We continued to make slow progress until we reach the city of Iganga and entered the taxi park. He told me to enter a different taxi, because he wasn’t actually going to Mbale either. By now it was dark and the taxi park was barely controlled chaos. People were yelling at each other and pulling at me. “White man, you come, we go, I take you where you want.” A few of us were trying to get to Mbale so we enter taxi number three. Ten minutes passed before the driver admitted he was going to Mbale, but not right away. Out we went to find taxi number four. By this point I would have paid considerable money to hire a car privately (which is done throughout Africa) but I did not know where to find one and did not dare to walk aimlessly alone considering the environment which I was in. About 5 minutes later we finally pulled out of the taxi park. The rest of the ride to Mbale went quite well. We pulled into town about 2 minutes before the last bus left for Soroti. The price for all that excitement over the 140 miles from Kampala to Mbale: $8.
Buses are not really on a schedule, so it really felt like they were waiting for me. (God at work.) I was their last customer of the day. I climbed on and within 2 minutes we were on the road. When we got to Soroti I hired a motorcycle taxi to take me home. I walked in the house at 11:30, just 20 hours after I’d left. I was tired, hungry (I knew I did not have time for supper if I wanted to reach home), and thirsty. I had a glass of water and washed up. There was no electricity so I just went to bed without supper because I did not want to wake up the kids. I was worn out, but knew it was God who had made my trip a success.
Yesterday (10-28) was Happy Dewali for the Indians (their New Year’s Eve I guess because today they all say Happy New Year to each other.) Some of our friends from OM supermarket invited us to the celebration. We arrived at their store about 7:30 in he evening and immediately went with them to the compound where the Hindu temple is. All the Indians in Soroti had gathered in the courtyard outside the temple to set off fireworks. The police had given them permission to set off fireworks for one hour. They had everything from sparklers to the bonafide fireworks that make everyone go “ahhh, ohm” (Ugandans who gathered on the street to watch reacted the same way Americans do on July 4.)
About ten minutes into the show one of the loud ones tipped over and shot over into the crowd about six feet from where we were sitting. It traumatized our children. Lydia was crying, Grace showed absolutely no emotion. From that point on we sat in the van to watch. It got a little hot, but our girls really enjoyed the show without having to listen to the loud noise.
After the fireworks, they brought out the food. I do not know what it was called, but it was all really good. There were about 10 different things. We got home about 10:00. It was a lot of fun. We felt a little out of place, especially when the conversations were taking place in Hindi, but we still felt privileged that they invited us to come. We pray for our friends. Many of them have received copies of God’s Word. We pray that they will read their new Bibles and believe in Him who is the Light of the world.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Josh's Journal - Oct. 24
October 24
I survived my week of teaching in Katakwi. Katakwi is located east of Soroti, right on the border with Karamoja. It is a fairly remote place which has suffered greatly because of insurgency and raids. As a result, few people go to that area to strengthen the church or to train leaders. Everyone in Soroti that I talk to agrees that Katakwi is the most unreached area in Teso region. Therefore, I offered several months ago to train church leaders there. Things finally got organized. We met at the PAG in Katakwi town. About 80 church leaders attended the training. I was using the “Pastoral Care” materials written by the Timothy Leadership Training Institute of Calvin Seminary.
The road to Katakwi is TERRIBLE. Katakwi is about 30 miles from Soroti, but it still took an hour each morning and evening, even on the motorcycle. On Monday it rained while I was traveling there in the morning, so I arrived wet, muddy, and cold (yes I did say cold.) By Tuesday the road had turned to dust so the white handkerchief I tie around my face (to keep the dust out) had turned brown. People there were surprised I would drive back and forth each day, but I felt that my children should see me at night. I also know that I wouldn’t feel rested if I stayed with that big group each night. So each day I left home before 7 and returned about 6 at night. Let me give you one more glimpse as to how bad the road is. I have four plastic side panels on my motorcycle. Two of the plastic panels cracked this week, my battery leaked acid all over - even though it says it is sealed, and I lost my license plate even though it was held on with two screws and two pop rivets.
The teaching went well. I taught about 7-8 hours each day. The church leaders seemed eager to learn and had many questions. I think the highlight was probably the discussion we had about the place of our families compared to the ministry. I asked Basil (who helps me organize these events) how this week compared with the week we spent in Amuria. (I felt like Amuria had gone better.) He said Amuria was a little more organized, but the church leaders in Katakwi were much more eager to go back home and begin practicing the things they had learned. He felt like the lessons would be applied more in Katakwi.
On a side note, one of the pastors wore a blaze orange hunting coat to the workshop every morning. Yes, it really was a hunting coat. It had the black quilted lining and the heavy duty zipper. It made me wish I was in the woods. Soon enough, three weeks from now we will be driving up 131 on our way to McBain. I can’t wait.
For now, I am just tired. My body is tired and so is my voice. I am looking forward to a weekend of rest.
The blind have begun making follow-up visits to the people who received the orange tree orchards. They have been impressed with how well people are taking care of their trees. They have also been sharing the Bible studies we recorded. I am excited that this is finally happening. Our biggest hurdle at this point is the money we need for their transportation. Our account for the work with the blind is nearly empty. At that point I guess we will need to rest from that work and wait on God.
I survived my week of teaching in Katakwi. Katakwi is located east of Soroti, right on the border with Karamoja. It is a fairly remote place which has suffered greatly because of insurgency and raids. As a result, few people go to that area to strengthen the church or to train leaders. Everyone in Soroti that I talk to agrees that Katakwi is the most unreached area in Teso region. Therefore, I offered several months ago to train church leaders there. Things finally got organized. We met at the PAG in Katakwi town. About 80 church leaders attended the training. I was using the “Pastoral Care” materials written by the Timothy Leadership Training Institute of Calvin Seminary.
The road to Katakwi is TERRIBLE. Katakwi is about 30 miles from Soroti, but it still took an hour each morning and evening, even on the motorcycle. On Monday it rained while I was traveling there in the morning, so I arrived wet, muddy, and cold (yes I did say cold.) By Tuesday the road had turned to dust so the white handkerchief I tie around my face (to keep the dust out) had turned brown. People there were surprised I would drive back and forth each day, but I felt that my children should see me at night. I also know that I wouldn’t feel rested if I stayed with that big group each night. So each day I left home before 7 and returned about 6 at night. Let me give you one more glimpse as to how bad the road is. I have four plastic side panels on my motorcycle. Two of the plastic panels cracked this week, my battery leaked acid all over - even though it says it is sealed, and I lost my license plate even though it was held on with two screws and two pop rivets.
The teaching went well. I taught about 7-8 hours each day. The church leaders seemed eager to learn and had many questions. I think the highlight was probably the discussion we had about the place of our families compared to the ministry. I asked Basil (who helps me organize these events) how this week compared with the week we spent in Amuria. (I felt like Amuria had gone better.) He said Amuria was a little more organized, but the church leaders in Katakwi were much more eager to go back home and begin practicing the things they had learned. He felt like the lessons would be applied more in Katakwi.
On a side note, one of the pastors wore a blaze orange hunting coat to the workshop every morning. Yes, it really was a hunting coat. It had the black quilted lining and the heavy duty zipper. It made me wish I was in the woods. Soon enough, three weeks from now we will be driving up 131 on our way to McBain. I can’t wait.
For now, I am just tired. My body is tired and so is my voice. I am looking forward to a weekend of rest.
The blind have begun making follow-up visits to the people who received the orange tree orchards. They have been impressed with how well people are taking care of their trees. They have also been sharing the Bible studies we recorded. I am excited that this is finally happening. Our biggest hurdle at this point is the money we need for their transportation. Our account for the work with the blind is nearly empty. At that point I guess we will need to rest from that work and wait on God.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Josh's Journal Oct. 11
October 11, 2008
It is Grace’s Birthday today. We made pancakes to celebrate for breakfast. Mandy asked Grace what she wanted for her birthday. Grace simply said, “Cheese!” Therefore, we had cheese for lunch. Tabitha and the kids will be coming over for cake at 7 tonight. It would have been nice to have Tim and Angie here to celebrate, but that is how it all played out.
We mailed in our absentee ballots yesterday. I will not tell you who I voted for, but I will say I have prayed often for McCain/Palin to win. I have been saddened to hear how many Christians are considering to vote for Obama. I can’t imagine voting for someone who supports the slaughter of unborn children. Not to mention supporting an assault on something as fundamental and Biblical as marriage. I am not surprised to hear pagans would vote for him; why would I expect them to fear the LORD. Sadly, it seems like the fear of God has also left the church. While we were in Kampala we experienced a small earthquake - no damage, just enough to scare people, including me. I was reminded afresh about the great and dreadful day of the Lord in which He will unleash His wrath on all who opposed Him and His kingdom. Opposing His kingdom would also include opposing His rule and commands now. As a Church we need to positively influence our culture, not just reflect our culture.
Tomorrow I teach the children at church the most important story of all time: the death and resurrection of Jesus. I am going to teach it two weeks in a row, focusing on the death tomorrow and the resurrection next week. I pray that God will use these simple story times to radically transform the lives of some of the kids there.
This coming week I have to teach the Timothy Institute in Otuboi on Monday. Tuesday I might be going to Kampala again. We spent 5 days in Kampala trying to finish our immigration process last week, but made no progress. We finally gave up and came back to Soroti. I will call Monday, if we have been approved it will be on the road again. I hope it is approved because the following week I have to teach Timothy Institute in Katakwi district (a rural district bordering Karamoja) for five full days in a row. I have a cold and soar throat now, so hopefully I will be well by that time.
While we were in Kampala Mandy decided to redeem her Mother’s Day gift so we went to Speke resort for a night. It is a lot of fun because there are two pools and ponies for the girls to ride. The girls really enjoyed it, so did their parents.
While we were in Kampala we also got the stove fixed. Burners had not been working well. Flames were small. It turned out that the piping had been filled with an ants nest. It works now.
It is Grace’s Birthday today. We made pancakes to celebrate for breakfast. Mandy asked Grace what she wanted for her birthday. Grace simply said, “Cheese!” Therefore, we had cheese for lunch. Tabitha and the kids will be coming over for cake at 7 tonight. It would have been nice to have Tim and Angie here to celebrate, but that is how it all played out.
We mailed in our absentee ballots yesterday. I will not tell you who I voted for, but I will say I have prayed often for McCain/Palin to win. I have been saddened to hear how many Christians are considering to vote for Obama. I can’t imagine voting for someone who supports the slaughter of unborn children. Not to mention supporting an assault on something as fundamental and Biblical as marriage. I am not surprised to hear pagans would vote for him; why would I expect them to fear the LORD. Sadly, it seems like the fear of God has also left the church. While we were in Kampala we experienced a small earthquake - no damage, just enough to scare people, including me. I was reminded afresh about the great and dreadful day of the Lord in which He will unleash His wrath on all who opposed Him and His kingdom. Opposing His kingdom would also include opposing His rule and commands now. As a Church we need to positively influence our culture, not just reflect our culture.
Tomorrow I teach the children at church the most important story of all time: the death and resurrection of Jesus. I am going to teach it two weeks in a row, focusing on the death tomorrow and the resurrection next week. I pray that God will use these simple story times to radically transform the lives of some of the kids there.
This coming week I have to teach the Timothy Institute in Otuboi on Monday. Tuesday I might be going to Kampala again. We spent 5 days in Kampala trying to finish our immigration process last week, but made no progress. We finally gave up and came back to Soroti. I will call Monday, if we have been approved it will be on the road again. I hope it is approved because the following week I have to teach Timothy Institute in Katakwi district (a rural district bordering Karamoja) for five full days in a row. I have a cold and soar throat now, so hopefully I will be well by that time.
While we were in Kampala Mandy decided to redeem her Mother’s Day gift so we went to Speke resort for a night. It is a lot of fun because there are two pools and ponies for the girls to ride. The girls really enjoyed it, so did their parents.
While we were in Kampala we also got the stove fixed. Burners had not been working well. Flames were small. It turned out that the piping had been filled with an ants nest. It works now.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Josh's Journal Aug. 21
August 21, 2008
As I write this we are stuck in Kampala waiting for the immigration work to take place, trying to maintain legal status here in Uganda. I find this process so frustrating, but was reminded a couple months ago that this too is part of responding to God’s call to missions. Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to the immigration window 6 times. Each time they managed to notice one more thing that was incorrect or missing. Wednesday they finally accepted my pile of papers, but noticed that Lydia is 5 years old, which means she needs a pupil’s pass instead of a dependent’s pass like Mandy and Grace get. I can apply for the dependents’ passes the same time I apply for my own, but can’t apply for a pupil’s pass until my own work visa has been approved. They said they would make their decision on my own application by Monday. If they approve me I can go to the bank and pay (Uganda does not trust its own government employees with money) then jump through the next hoop. As you can tell I am very frustrated. I have not shared half the details of frustration and helplessness I feel when I deal with the man behind the bars (I think I know why he sits behind a window with bars). However, today I read from Psalm 3 and 4 – I was comforted that God is in control. He is with me. He also sees everything that is being done. Those passages gave me strength to persevere doing things God’s way (it would be cheaper to slide money through that barred window than to keep paying to stay here in Kampala.)
I do think I should also give praise to God for one specific way He provided during my struggles in the immigration office. I needed a copy of the renewed certificate of our NGO here in Uganda. Last year we (Tim and I) went to the NGO office to try to check to see if the NGO papers were complete. The NGO office said we needed letters from our chairman to receive any answers from the office. So this year when the immigration office said I needed this certificate from the NGO office my heart sank. Our NGO chairman is in Soroti – a looong way from Kampala. I decided to try going to the NGO office since it was 200 yards from the immigration office. I prayed before entering. The receptionist sent me back outside and said to try 2 doors further down. That door was locked. At this point I felt like I was being given the run around. However, I could here a woman inside talking so I decided to wait. After about 20 minutes the door opened and I was invited inside. I explained my situation to the woman inside who then became annoyed with the receptionist for not getting me the certificate herself. She told the receptionist to bring our NGO folder. When the woman in charge opened our folder, a photocopy of my passport was the very top sheet of paper. From that point on she was calling me by my first name and within 2 minutes I had the paper I needed. Now I needed photocopy. The immigration office has added a photocopy booth (I guess that is a second way God provided.) Anyway, I don’t feel I adequately communicate the way God worked for you to fully understand, but let me tell you – it was obvious to me.
So now we are in Kampala…waiting. We went with Mandy to get a 3D ultrasound yesterday. We have some amazing photographs of the baby. I was amazed. Is it a boy or a girl? You all will have to wait and see because we didn’t find out. Today we went to the dentist. It was a bit different than in the USA. The cleaning was not quite as thorough (they did not floss our teeth), but it was only $55. After that we went and bought a wireless modem that will work in Soroti. We are so excited. We now have internet access right at home. I know, it doesn’t make sense: we had to come to Kampala to buy a wireless modem through a cell phone company to use in Soroti – but they do not sell them anywhere else.
Last weekend we had a wonderful Safari at Murchison Falls in Western Uganda. The roads getting to the park were TERRIBLE!!! It took us three hours to go the first 65 miles, and not because of heavy traffic. Once we entered the forest preserve at the edge of the park the road was very good; however, our van started having trouble. We were back firing, something was missing, at times it almost felt like we were out of gas, there was no power. We stopped in the little town where the gate was to enter the park. I asked if there was a mechanic; the men pointed to a gravel parking lot with 4 broken tractors sitting in it. Someone ran to find him. About 5 minutes later he came; through an interpreter (don’t forget that) I explained what had happened. He came out of his storage shed with two wrenches and a rope. He was ready to remove my driver’s seat (in my van the engine is under the seats) but then I showed him how to move the passenger seat without taking all the bolts out – oh no, I was not feeling too confident at this point. When I did that he put his two wrenches down and was left with only the rope. About that time a second man decided to help, he appeared to know a thing or two so I did not object. Using only the rope they removed our fuel filter. They then took the fuel filter apart and washed it out. Then they put it back in. A test drive later and I was convinced they had solved the problem. When it was time to negotiate the price, the mechanic could do his own talking – no need for an interpreter. However, the interpreter also wanted me to pay him. It was quite a trip.
Inside the park was simply amazing! Hundreds of animals. Hartebeast, Ugandan kob, oribis, (those are all in the deer family). We saw warthogs. We saw groups of water buffaloes. I did not get too much time to enjoy them because they look like a small tank with a bad attitude and Mandy was quite nervous. They were only about 10 from the road and took the “charge” position as soon as I slowed down. We saw many giraffes (thank God for digital cameras – we have nearly a hundred giraffe pictures.) At one point we were right in the midst of a herd with babies – it is strange calling an animal that is 6 feet tall a baby. Our girls loved it. We also saw a leopard in a tree. Later we saw two lions. We saw 40-50 elephants, but none closer than 400 yards away. The second afternoon we took a boat tour on the Nile river. Hundreds of hippos! I was simply amazed at the number of animals. I asked the guides if they open the park to hunting to limit the number of animals (since it is not good to exceed the carrying capacity). He said they are still trying to increase the number of animals. What made the safari so fun was the cost. It was quite affordable. Our room was only $30 / night (granted we had to share two single beds for our family of 4). Food averaged about $5 per person per meal. We got into the park for $20 per person. Other than that it was only gas and paying for the boat rides. If you ever want to join us, the guide said that the best months for seeing animals are April and May or early June. The invitation is there.
August 22
Today things improved in terms of the immigration process. I went to the office this morning and our special passes (which give us three months to process our work permits) were ready for me to go to the bank to pay. However, instead of going directly to pay for them, I decided to take the approved form to the students pass line to try to start Lydia’s process. I was hoping to get it started so that by some miracle it could be finished by Monday. The lady behind the barred window saw we were from Soroti and asked which part we came from. Turns out she also came from Soroti and is Iteso by tribe. I greeted her in Ateso, she greeted me back in Ateso. Then she asked me a few questions in Ateso to which I actually new the answers (thank God). By now the whole office was laughing. She said to the work permit officer, “he is white, but he is one of my people.” Then I asked her if she could make it possible for me to get a bank bill so I could pay for Lydia’s student pass the same time I paid for the rest of the family. She said it was not possible until the application had been processed; however, I should just wait outside. Five minutes later she came outside and the application had been processed. I was able to pay and return them to the office immediately after lunch I brought them back. The officer said to come back by 5:00 to pick them up. I went about 4:00 and got them. The kind woman from Soroti also agreed to check up on my work permit application for me. I have to call her in three weeks to seek if it is finished. That woman was truly an answer from prayer and a gift from God.
As I write this we are stuck in Kampala waiting for the immigration work to take place, trying to maintain legal status here in Uganda. I find this process so frustrating, but was reminded a couple months ago that this too is part of responding to God’s call to missions. Over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to the immigration window 6 times. Each time they managed to notice one more thing that was incorrect or missing. Wednesday they finally accepted my pile of papers, but noticed that Lydia is 5 years old, which means she needs a pupil’s pass instead of a dependent’s pass like Mandy and Grace get. I can apply for the dependents’ passes the same time I apply for my own, but can’t apply for a pupil’s pass until my own work visa has been approved. They said they would make their decision on my own application by Monday. If they approve me I can go to the bank and pay (Uganda does not trust its own government employees with money) then jump through the next hoop. As you can tell I am very frustrated. I have not shared half the details of frustration and helplessness I feel when I deal with the man behind the bars (I think I know why he sits behind a window with bars). However, today I read from Psalm 3 and 4 – I was comforted that God is in control. He is with me. He also sees everything that is being done. Those passages gave me strength to persevere doing things God’s way (it would be cheaper to slide money through that barred window than to keep paying to stay here in Kampala.)
I do think I should also give praise to God for one specific way He provided during my struggles in the immigration office. I needed a copy of the renewed certificate of our NGO here in Uganda. Last year we (Tim and I) went to the NGO office to try to check to see if the NGO papers were complete. The NGO office said we needed letters from our chairman to receive any answers from the office. So this year when the immigration office said I needed this certificate from the NGO office my heart sank. Our NGO chairman is in Soroti – a looong way from Kampala. I decided to try going to the NGO office since it was 200 yards from the immigration office. I prayed before entering. The receptionist sent me back outside and said to try 2 doors further down. That door was locked. At this point I felt like I was being given the run around. However, I could here a woman inside talking so I decided to wait. After about 20 minutes the door opened and I was invited inside. I explained my situation to the woman inside who then became annoyed with the receptionist for not getting me the certificate herself. She told the receptionist to bring our NGO folder. When the woman in charge opened our folder, a photocopy of my passport was the very top sheet of paper. From that point on she was calling me by my first name and within 2 minutes I had the paper I needed. Now I needed photocopy. The immigration office has added a photocopy booth (I guess that is a second way God provided.) Anyway, I don’t feel I adequately communicate the way God worked for you to fully understand, but let me tell you – it was obvious to me.
So now we are in Kampala…waiting. We went with Mandy to get a 3D ultrasound yesterday. We have some amazing photographs of the baby. I was amazed. Is it a boy or a girl? You all will have to wait and see because we didn’t find out. Today we went to the dentist. It was a bit different than in the USA. The cleaning was not quite as thorough (they did not floss our teeth), but it was only $55. After that we went and bought a wireless modem that will work in Soroti. We are so excited. We now have internet access right at home. I know, it doesn’t make sense: we had to come to Kampala to buy a wireless modem through a cell phone company to use in Soroti – but they do not sell them anywhere else.
Last weekend we had a wonderful Safari at Murchison Falls in Western Uganda. The roads getting to the park were TERRIBLE!!! It took us three hours to go the first 65 miles, and not because of heavy traffic. Once we entered the forest preserve at the edge of the park the road was very good; however, our van started having trouble. We were back firing, something was missing, at times it almost felt like we were out of gas, there was no power. We stopped in the little town where the gate was to enter the park. I asked if there was a mechanic; the men pointed to a gravel parking lot with 4 broken tractors sitting in it. Someone ran to find him. About 5 minutes later he came; through an interpreter (don’t forget that) I explained what had happened. He came out of his storage shed with two wrenches and a rope. He was ready to remove my driver’s seat (in my van the engine is under the seats) but then I showed him how to move the passenger seat without taking all the bolts out – oh no, I was not feeling too confident at this point. When I did that he put his two wrenches down and was left with only the rope. About that time a second man decided to help, he appeared to know a thing or two so I did not object. Using only the rope they removed our fuel filter. They then took the fuel filter apart and washed it out. Then they put it back in. A test drive later and I was convinced they had solved the problem. When it was time to negotiate the price, the mechanic could do his own talking – no need for an interpreter. However, the interpreter also wanted me to pay him. It was quite a trip.
Inside the park was simply amazing! Hundreds of animals. Hartebeast, Ugandan kob, oribis, (those are all in the deer family). We saw warthogs. We saw groups of water buffaloes. I did not get too much time to enjoy them because they look like a small tank with a bad attitude and Mandy was quite nervous. They were only about 10 from the road and took the “charge” position as soon as I slowed down. We saw many giraffes (thank God for digital cameras – we have nearly a hundred giraffe pictures.) At one point we were right in the midst of a herd with babies – it is strange calling an animal that is 6 feet tall a baby. Our girls loved it. We also saw a leopard in a tree. Later we saw two lions. We saw 40-50 elephants, but none closer than 400 yards away. The second afternoon we took a boat tour on the Nile river. Hundreds of hippos! I was simply amazed at the number of animals. I asked the guides if they open the park to hunting to limit the number of animals (since it is not good to exceed the carrying capacity). He said they are still trying to increase the number of animals. What made the safari so fun was the cost. It was quite affordable. Our room was only $30 / night (granted we had to share two single beds for our family of 4). Food averaged about $5 per person per meal. We got into the park for $20 per person. Other than that it was only gas and paying for the boat rides. If you ever want to join us, the guide said that the best months for seeing animals are April and May or early June. The invitation is there.
August 22
Today things improved in terms of the immigration process. I went to the office this morning and our special passes (which give us three months to process our work permits) were ready for me to go to the bank to pay. However, instead of going directly to pay for them, I decided to take the approved form to the students pass line to try to start Lydia’s process. I was hoping to get it started so that by some miracle it could be finished by Monday. The lady behind the barred window saw we were from Soroti and asked which part we came from. Turns out she also came from Soroti and is Iteso by tribe. I greeted her in Ateso, she greeted me back in Ateso. Then she asked me a few questions in Ateso to which I actually new the answers (thank God). By now the whole office was laughing. She said to the work permit officer, “he is white, but he is one of my people.” Then I asked her if she could make it possible for me to get a bank bill so I could pay for Lydia’s student pass the same time I paid for the rest of the family. She said it was not possible until the application had been processed; however, I should just wait outside. Five minutes later she came outside and the application had been processed. I was able to pay and return them to the office immediately after lunch I brought them back. The officer said to come back by 5:00 to pick them up. I went about 4:00 and got them. The kind woman from Soroti also agreed to check up on my work permit application for me. I have to call her in three weeks to seek if it is finished. That woman was truly an answer from prayer and a gift from God.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Aug. 14 Josh's Journal
August 14
I don’t think I have written for a couple of weeks so I wanted to write and give you a little update. The week of teaching the Timothy Leadership Training - Pastoral Care unit went very well in Amuria; however, I was very surprised how much it took out of me. About 65 pastors and church leaders gathered for the week. I was a little worried about how serious they would take it since I was the one providing all the food and notes. However, I was very happy with their response. It took me about an hour to get there each morning. I left home at 7:00 each day. As soon as I walked into the church they rang the bell and within 60 seconds everyone was inside and ready to begin. On Tuesday my motorcycle broke down on the way there so I was over an hour late. (First I had tried to get it running, then I had to push it back to a primary school because I did not simply want to leave it setting along the road. Then I hitch-hiked to the next town. There I waited until a market truck came bouncing down the road - they had room in the back yet so I climbed on and finally made it to Amuria.) However, they had not waited for me to begin. They had begun without me by discussing what I had taught the day before.
Some of the church leaders had been serving God for 20-30 years, others for only 1 year. However, few of them had finished any sort of Bible training. They were all grateful for the chance to receive training. They also wanted to know when I could teach the same course in Katakwi. I would love to, but I am still trying to get over my cold - which started the second day I taught in Amurai. The course lasted a week.
I enjoyed the weekend with our family and Stacey. Then on Monday I headed to Otuboi to teach for the day. We began the 2nd section of the Timothy Leadership Training - Christian Stewardship. I think it will be a good course because those church leaders identified many resources that local Christians have, and many ways the churches need to improve their giving and offering system.
These last few days have been a little less busy. I have been working on my Old Testament Survey course for Bethel Bible college again. I am on Zechariah which means I am nearly finished. Yeah!!
This weekend we are going to Murchison Falls, a game park in Northwestern Uganda. The nice lodges were quite expensive so we decided to stay at the cheap one, called Red Chilis. We will be staying in one of their tents. As the time gets closer we are starting to question the sanity of staying in tents in a game park with all of Africa’s big game animals, but people do it every night. Anyway, it should be fun. Then next week we head on to Kampala to renew our work visas. In many ways that feels more intimidating than staying in a tent in the land of lions and elephants. Hopefully it goes well.
I don’t think I have written for a couple of weeks so I wanted to write and give you a little update. The week of teaching the Timothy Leadership Training - Pastoral Care unit went very well in Amuria; however, I was very surprised how much it took out of me. About 65 pastors and church leaders gathered for the week. I was a little worried about how serious they would take it since I was the one providing all the food and notes. However, I was very happy with their response. It took me about an hour to get there each morning. I left home at 7:00 each day. As soon as I walked into the church they rang the bell and within 60 seconds everyone was inside and ready to begin. On Tuesday my motorcycle broke down on the way there so I was over an hour late. (First I had tried to get it running, then I had to push it back to a primary school because I did not simply want to leave it setting along the road. Then I hitch-hiked to the next town. There I waited until a market truck came bouncing down the road - they had room in the back yet so I climbed on and finally made it to Amuria.) However, they had not waited for me to begin. They had begun without me by discussing what I had taught the day before.
Some of the church leaders had been serving God for 20-30 years, others for only 1 year. However, few of them had finished any sort of Bible training. They were all grateful for the chance to receive training. They also wanted to know when I could teach the same course in Katakwi. I would love to, but I am still trying to get over my cold - which started the second day I taught in Amurai. The course lasted a week.
I enjoyed the weekend with our family and Stacey. Then on Monday I headed to Otuboi to teach for the day. We began the 2nd section of the Timothy Leadership Training - Christian Stewardship. I think it will be a good course because those church leaders identified many resources that local Christians have, and many ways the churches need to improve their giving and offering system.
These last few days have been a little less busy. I have been working on my Old Testament Survey course for Bethel Bible college again. I am on Zechariah which means I am nearly finished. Yeah!!
This weekend we are going to Murchison Falls, a game park in Northwestern Uganda. The nice lodges were quite expensive so we decided to stay at the cheap one, called Red Chilis. We will be staying in one of their tents. As the time gets closer we are starting to question the sanity of staying in tents in a game park with all of Africa’s big game animals, but people do it every night. Anyway, it should be fun. Then next week we head on to Kampala to renew our work visas. In many ways that feels more intimidating than staying in a tent in the land of lions and elephants. Hopefully it goes well.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Josh's Journal July 26
July 26
Lydia reminds us every day that it is nearly her birthday. She turns five on the 31st of this month. Our friend Stacey arrived on Wednesday night. She will be spending a few weeks with us and will be home-schooling Lydia. Even though Lydia kept saying she did not want to do school, as soon as Stacey got off the plane Lydia could not stop asking when they could start. They did their first day yesterday. I don’t know if she learned anything, but she certainly enjoyed it. They made two charts to keep track of their progress, both of which now hang on the refrigerator. Stacey has been fun to have around. WE have not seen her for 5 years, which is hard to believe. Lydia and Grace are talking her ear off - between their attention and the many hours of travel, Stacey is about worn out. Needless to say, she has been sleeping good at night.
We are wrapping up the term at BBC this week. I am ready for a break. If we go until Friday (I do not know which day the students will be dismissed) I will even get all the way through my course outline. They take their final test on Monday, then I planned to teach on the doctrine of the Church to wrap up the week. I hope I get to because I have never taught that section of the notes.
Ben is still struggling with pain from his cancer. He seems to be doing so well, but as soon as he misses a dosage of pain medicine he goes down hill quickly. I think they were surprised he made it last week because relatives from far and wide came to visit him. I was surprised to see how bad things must be inside his body, and how effective his medicine is. He gets it every month from Hospice in Kampala, but the trip is far and expensive so it is quite inconvenient. However, we learned last week to get him to Kampala before the medicine runs out.
The blind are continuing to knit. Barb has been very pleased with the progress this summer (and how much some of them improved since last summer). They only have a couple of mornings left to learn. John and Barb leave Soroti on Thursday. On Monday we sighted people are going to play goal ball against the blind people from SACAB. They are all over 50 yrs. Most of us are under 50. However, the blind are confident they will defeat us. We have to play blindfolded so they just might be right.
We finally got a little rain this week (and I found a sprinkler in Kampala) so I hope to plant the garden this weekend. I would be out there right now, but the sun is baking the moisture out of the ground - HOT and HUMID out there right now.
I have started handing out the Hindi language Bibles to my Indian friends in town. The first one was very excited when he saw that it was in his own language. The second person seemed a little uncomfortable taking it, but took it anyway and said thank you. The third friend seemed grateful to receive his copy (since he had seem the copy I had given his cousin). We pray that they will read, understand, and believe.
Lydia reminds us every day that it is nearly her birthday. She turns five on the 31st of this month. Our friend Stacey arrived on Wednesday night. She will be spending a few weeks with us and will be home-schooling Lydia. Even though Lydia kept saying she did not want to do school, as soon as Stacey got off the plane Lydia could not stop asking when they could start. They did their first day yesterday. I don’t know if she learned anything, but she certainly enjoyed it. They made two charts to keep track of their progress, both of which now hang on the refrigerator. Stacey has been fun to have around. WE have not seen her for 5 years, which is hard to believe. Lydia and Grace are talking her ear off - between their attention and the many hours of travel, Stacey is about worn out. Needless to say, she has been sleeping good at night.
We are wrapping up the term at BBC this week. I am ready for a break. If we go until Friday (I do not know which day the students will be dismissed) I will even get all the way through my course outline. They take their final test on Monday, then I planned to teach on the doctrine of the Church to wrap up the week. I hope I get to because I have never taught that section of the notes.
Ben is still struggling with pain from his cancer. He seems to be doing so well, but as soon as he misses a dosage of pain medicine he goes down hill quickly. I think they were surprised he made it last week because relatives from far and wide came to visit him. I was surprised to see how bad things must be inside his body, and how effective his medicine is. He gets it every month from Hospice in Kampala, but the trip is far and expensive so it is quite inconvenient. However, we learned last week to get him to Kampala before the medicine runs out.
The blind are continuing to knit. Barb has been very pleased with the progress this summer (and how much some of them improved since last summer). They only have a couple of mornings left to learn. John and Barb leave Soroti on Thursday. On Monday we sighted people are going to play goal ball against the blind people from SACAB. They are all over 50 yrs. Most of us are under 50. However, the blind are confident they will defeat us. We have to play blindfolded so they just might be right.
We finally got a little rain this week (and I found a sprinkler in Kampala) so I hope to plant the garden this weekend. I would be out there right now, but the sun is baking the moisture out of the ground - HOT and HUMID out there right now.
I have started handing out the Hindi language Bibles to my Indian friends in town. The first one was very excited when he saw that it was in his own language. The second person seemed a little uncomfortable taking it, but took it anyway and said thank you. The third friend seemed grateful to receive his copy (since he had seem the copy I had given his cousin). We pray that they will read, understand, and believe.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
July 7 -- Josh's Journal
July 7, 2008
Wow, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Today was Timothy Institute training in Otuboi. We finally completed the course work for the first topic: Pastoral Care. We have met 8 times to get through the 11 lessons. Today we did lessons 10 and 11 since they were both quite short. Before lunch we discussed “the Church and HIV/AIDS” (lesson 10). I was struck by a few things. Every pastor had members in their church who have HIV. Every pastor knows of AIDS related orphans. Every pastor knew good Bible passages to use when leading an AIDS related funeral. However, the pastors felt highly unqualified to teach about HIV prevention and AIDS care in their churches. They said that all the training available to them has always been the “safe sex” principles which do not work and are contrary to God’s will (a correlation perhaps). I was made aware how badly Christian AIDS/HIV teaching is needed.
After lunch we made a 6-month action plan (lesson 11) in which each church leader made specific plans about how they would apply the things of this course to their own churches. Many of them made plans regarding visiting the sick. A few wanted to focus on reconciliation ministries. One woman will focus on encouraging married couples within the church. The last pastor wanted to focus on reaching youth by getting them involved in the choir. I gave each member a notebook and told them that they need to write about every visit they make for the next six months to see how this action plan affects their ministry in the church. I was really pleased with how specific their action plans were. I was afraid they would all write vague, pious sounding plans; however, they were quite specific- even predicting what results they hoped to see.
Yesterday, I went to visit a Karamajong village in Moroto district. It is a long bumpy ride from Soroti, but I loved our time in the village. It reminded me a lot of Mahula, which also made me a little homesick. We started out by worshipping under a big tree. The church has begun only recently. Judging from the group gathered when we arrived, I would estimate them to have about 8-10 members. However, after a van full of mzungus (white people) arrived, every child and half the adults in the village soon appeared. We preached a very basic message about the need to turn from sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ. The people felt they had all turned to Christ before; the problem is that they still have not turned away from sin. We could see women wearing crosses and charm bags on the same necklace. Although it is a natural step for new Christians to combine the old with the new, they do need to be continually and clearly challenged to turn away from sin and traditional religion. It was exciting to have an opportunity to share with people who only recently heard the gospel for the first time.
After church we walked through the village for a couple of hours. We tried our best to interact with the people. A few spoke English, but not many. Ateso and Karamojong languages overlap about 50% (my estimation from listening to them) so they could all understand the Ateso that I spoke. I was struck by how badly the people need Jesus and by how open they seem to be. They were at least willing to listen. Oh, and the children -- many, many children. If only there was a good children’s ministry. God, please raise up workers to go into the harvest fields of Karamoja.
Friday night - July 4 - we had foreigners over from 5 different countries to celebrate our American holiday with us. We grilled a variety of meats (every one brought meat to grill and a dish to share). After supper we had a camp fire and roasted marshmallows. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, our party came to an abrupt end when a good thunder storm rolled in about 9:00.
Wow, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Today was Timothy Institute training in Otuboi. We finally completed the course work for the first topic: Pastoral Care. We have met 8 times to get through the 11 lessons. Today we did lessons 10 and 11 since they were both quite short. Before lunch we discussed “the Church and HIV/AIDS” (lesson 10). I was struck by a few things. Every pastor had members in their church who have HIV. Every pastor knows of AIDS related orphans. Every pastor knew good Bible passages to use when leading an AIDS related funeral. However, the pastors felt highly unqualified to teach about HIV prevention and AIDS care in their churches. They said that all the training available to them has always been the “safe sex” principles which do not work and are contrary to God’s will (a correlation perhaps). I was made aware how badly Christian AIDS/HIV teaching is needed.
After lunch we made a 6-month action plan (lesson 11) in which each church leader made specific plans about how they would apply the things of this course to their own churches. Many of them made plans regarding visiting the sick. A few wanted to focus on reconciliation ministries. One woman will focus on encouraging married couples within the church. The last pastor wanted to focus on reaching youth by getting them involved in the choir. I gave each member a notebook and told them that they need to write about every visit they make for the next six months to see how this action plan affects their ministry in the church. I was really pleased with how specific their action plans were. I was afraid they would all write vague, pious sounding plans; however, they were quite specific- even predicting what results they hoped to see.
Yesterday, I went to visit a Karamajong village in Moroto district. It is a long bumpy ride from Soroti, but I loved our time in the village. It reminded me a lot of Mahula, which also made me a little homesick. We started out by worshipping under a big tree. The church has begun only recently. Judging from the group gathered when we arrived, I would estimate them to have about 8-10 members. However, after a van full of mzungus (white people) arrived, every child and half the adults in the village soon appeared. We preached a very basic message about the need to turn from sin and turn to God through Jesus Christ. The people felt they had all turned to Christ before; the problem is that they still have not turned away from sin. We could see women wearing crosses and charm bags on the same necklace. Although it is a natural step for new Christians to combine the old with the new, they do need to be continually and clearly challenged to turn away from sin and traditional religion. It was exciting to have an opportunity to share with people who only recently heard the gospel for the first time.
After church we walked through the village for a couple of hours. We tried our best to interact with the people. A few spoke English, but not many. Ateso and Karamojong languages overlap about 50% (my estimation from listening to them) so they could all understand the Ateso that I spoke. I was struck by how badly the people need Jesus and by how open they seem to be. They were at least willing to listen. Oh, and the children -- many, many children. If only there was a good children’s ministry. God, please raise up workers to go into the harvest fields of Karamoja.
Friday night - July 4 - we had foreigners over from 5 different countries to celebrate our American holiday with us. We grilled a variety of meats (every one brought meat to grill and a dish to share). After supper we had a camp fire and roasted marshmallows. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, our party came to an abrupt end when a good thunder storm rolled in about 9:00.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Josh's Journal
June 16, 2008
Since the last time I wrote, things with the children’s ministry at church have gotten very exciting. As you heard in my May 25 entry, we were hosting a women’s soccer team for Geneva college. They did 7 afternoons of children’s ministry at our church. By the last day they had 200 children coming to sing, hear Bible stories, and do crafts. They also encouraged the children to come to church every Sunday to keep learning. The following Sunday I had 105 kids in children’s church. Last week the numbers had increased to 109. Yesterday Paul, my translator, and I only had 67 kids for children’s church. Honestly, once the number gets over 50, there is not too much difference in the way you teach. I feel overwhelmed and inadequate to teach so many kids. I really wish we had a good music leader who could get the kids to sing with enthusiasm - it might also help if I spoke Ateso better. Never the less, despite all our weakness, God still is bringing many kids each week to learn His Word. It shows the power of the Spirit and the huge hunger and need for God’s Word in this area.
Things at Bethel Bible College do not feel like they are progressing, they actually feel like they are going backward. We have three students signed up, but Ben has not been present for three and an half weeks because of cancer growing in his chest. I visited him this morning. He was full of smiles and said the radiation last week has helped. He hopes to be back in class soon. However, with only two students, the other staff don’t seem to be treating it seriously. Only Francis has been showing up to teach, but even he has not made the teaching schedule like normal. The students never know who is coming to teach or what time. I don’t blame the others for not teaching, but then there needs to be some open communication about what to expect. Our big opening is scheduled for January 2009 so hopefully we will have a full classroom and complete schedule next year. However, at this point I am not optimistic. I am trying to remind myself that every ministry I have been involved in has always had a lull where our numbers dipped to one. I think we are in the lull here. As far as the Bible college is concerned, I am at a low point since our coming 15 months ago. Thankfully it is not the only thing I am involved in.
Mandy and I have been blessed to discover we are expecting another child - due in January 2009. God has some plan, even though it was not what we were aiming for. He knows best. Unfortunately, Mandy has been sick 23 hours a day. I hope she feels better when she hits 12 weeks (in 3 more weeks). Lydia and Grace are very excited for the baby. They are also excited that we will be visiting Michigan for a couple of months so Mandy can deliver the baby in GR. Mandy was also kind enough to suggest we get home by Nov. 13 so we have a day to settle in before the big holiday on Nov. 15 - what a great wife I have!!!
The blind and I have begun orchards 7 and 8 of the year. Rains have been sporadic so I hope all the seedlings survive. Things get busy when we are in the midst of these projects. We hope to complete a total of 10 by the end of June. Barb Buteyn will be returning for the month of July and will again be teaching them how to knit. They really hope to learn how to knit sweaters - we’ll have to see if they can get that far in 4 more weeks of classes. There is also a group from England coming for a visit. One of the men coming hopes to record the Bible studies I have prepared for the blind. I hope it works out. Francis and the others are eager to add the discipleship aspect of this ministry. The Bible studies have been there for several months, but we have not been able to find a place to record them.
I almost forgot, do you remember the motorcycle I ordered January 20 that would take “two weeks” to get here. Customs officials in Kampala finally released the container of motorcycles so I got it this week. It is an off road 125cc motorcycle. It is made by Senke - ever hear of them? I had not either. The dealer said it is the best bike you can buy except for the true Yamahas which cost 2 ½ times as much. As for all the other Yamahas I see driving around, they are not made by Yamaha - someone else just borrowed the name. Now I am just waiting for my license plate and log book so I can start driving.
June 21
We serve a HUGE God. Wednesday was our wedding anniversary - 9 years! So Mandy and I went to Sipi Falls, about a 2 hour drive east of Soroti. Sipi falls is about 8,000 feet above sea level. From the banda where we stayed, we could only see about 15 miles, because it was hazy. The workers said that on clear days you can see Soroti rock. Honestly, to sit up on that mountain and look down at the hundreds of square miles of African plain was simply awesome. (Picture the song “Hallelujah, He Reigns” which starts out…The song of the redeemed rising from the African plain…I have been blessed to see the African plain on more than one occasion. Add to it the sound of the water fall (a narrow water fall, but going over a 300 ft. cliff), the gentle breeze, cool temps, and red sunset - it is the most relaxing and refreshing place I have ever been. If we did not have kids, we would probably go every coupe months. However, considering our banda was 20 steps from the top of the cliff, we wont be taking our kids there any time soon.
Thursday morning I went for a hike with one of the guides. I wanted to check out the caves in the side of the cliff, even though I never have had an interest in being underground. My flash light broke on the trip to Sipi so only the guide had a flash light (which was WORTHLESS!!!) Getting to the caves was a little harry, it made me feel a bit like a mountain goat. The cave we went to goes more than 100 yards into the mountain. We had to crouch down and basically crawl to get in. It was dry, but very humid. When we got about 30 yards back into the cave we could stand up straight. There the cave turned, bats became active, and it got DARK - he should have just left his flashlight at home, I am telling you, it gave no light. That point confirmed what I have always felt - I don’t mind being up very high, but I have no interest in being underground. I resisted the urge to run for the exit (since I would have had to crawl) and just stood to try to take it all in a few minutes. I would like to try it again next time, if I have a good flash light.
Later, Mandy and I hiked to the top of the second falls (Sipi is a series of 3 waterfalls). There we met a man from Israel. Earlier in the week I had been struck by the gospel of John of how persistent and hard hearted the Jews were in their unbelief. This guy scoffed at the fact that I claimed to teach Bible, but had never been to Israel. He refused to accept anything the New Testament said. However, later he even admitted he does not live according to the Old Testament either. Poor guy. I have prayed a lot for him this week. The Savior came, but he (and so many like him) missed it completely.
Since the last time I wrote, things with the children’s ministry at church have gotten very exciting. As you heard in my May 25 entry, we were hosting a women’s soccer team for Geneva college. They did 7 afternoons of children’s ministry at our church. By the last day they had 200 children coming to sing, hear Bible stories, and do crafts. They also encouraged the children to come to church every Sunday to keep learning. The following Sunday I had 105 kids in children’s church. Last week the numbers had increased to 109. Yesterday Paul, my translator, and I only had 67 kids for children’s church. Honestly, once the number gets over 50, there is not too much difference in the way you teach. I feel overwhelmed and inadequate to teach so many kids. I really wish we had a good music leader who could get the kids to sing with enthusiasm - it might also help if I spoke Ateso better. Never the less, despite all our weakness, God still is bringing many kids each week to learn His Word. It shows the power of the Spirit and the huge hunger and need for God’s Word in this area.
Things at Bethel Bible College do not feel like they are progressing, they actually feel like they are going backward. We have three students signed up, but Ben has not been present for three and an half weeks because of cancer growing in his chest. I visited him this morning. He was full of smiles and said the radiation last week has helped. He hopes to be back in class soon. However, with only two students, the other staff don’t seem to be treating it seriously. Only Francis has been showing up to teach, but even he has not made the teaching schedule like normal. The students never know who is coming to teach or what time. I don’t blame the others for not teaching, but then there needs to be some open communication about what to expect. Our big opening is scheduled for January 2009 so hopefully we will have a full classroom and complete schedule next year. However, at this point I am not optimistic. I am trying to remind myself that every ministry I have been involved in has always had a lull where our numbers dipped to one. I think we are in the lull here. As far as the Bible college is concerned, I am at a low point since our coming 15 months ago. Thankfully it is not the only thing I am involved in.
Mandy and I have been blessed to discover we are expecting another child - due in January 2009. God has some plan, even though it was not what we were aiming for. He knows best. Unfortunately, Mandy has been sick 23 hours a day. I hope she feels better when she hits 12 weeks (in 3 more weeks). Lydia and Grace are very excited for the baby. They are also excited that we will be visiting Michigan for a couple of months so Mandy can deliver the baby in GR. Mandy was also kind enough to suggest we get home by Nov. 13 so we have a day to settle in before the big holiday on Nov. 15 - what a great wife I have!!!
The blind and I have begun orchards 7 and 8 of the year. Rains have been sporadic so I hope all the seedlings survive. Things get busy when we are in the midst of these projects. We hope to complete a total of 10 by the end of June. Barb Buteyn will be returning for the month of July and will again be teaching them how to knit. They really hope to learn how to knit sweaters - we’ll have to see if they can get that far in 4 more weeks of classes. There is also a group from England coming for a visit. One of the men coming hopes to record the Bible studies I have prepared for the blind. I hope it works out. Francis and the others are eager to add the discipleship aspect of this ministry. The Bible studies have been there for several months, but we have not been able to find a place to record them.
I almost forgot, do you remember the motorcycle I ordered January 20 that would take “two weeks” to get here. Customs officials in Kampala finally released the container of motorcycles so I got it this week. It is an off road 125cc motorcycle. It is made by Senke - ever hear of them? I had not either. The dealer said it is the best bike you can buy except for the true Yamahas which cost 2 ½ times as much. As for all the other Yamahas I see driving around, they are not made by Yamaha - someone else just borrowed the name. Now I am just waiting for my license plate and log book so I can start driving.
June 21
We serve a HUGE God. Wednesday was our wedding anniversary - 9 years! So Mandy and I went to Sipi Falls, about a 2 hour drive east of Soroti. Sipi falls is about 8,000 feet above sea level. From the banda where we stayed, we could only see about 15 miles, because it was hazy. The workers said that on clear days you can see Soroti rock. Honestly, to sit up on that mountain and look down at the hundreds of square miles of African plain was simply awesome. (Picture the song “Hallelujah, He Reigns” which starts out…The song of the redeemed rising from the African plain…I have been blessed to see the African plain on more than one occasion. Add to it the sound of the water fall (a narrow water fall, but going over a 300 ft. cliff), the gentle breeze, cool temps, and red sunset - it is the most relaxing and refreshing place I have ever been. If we did not have kids, we would probably go every coupe months. However, considering our banda was 20 steps from the top of the cliff, we wont be taking our kids there any time soon.
Thursday morning I went for a hike with one of the guides. I wanted to check out the caves in the side of the cliff, even though I never have had an interest in being underground. My flash light broke on the trip to Sipi so only the guide had a flash light (which was WORTHLESS!!!) Getting to the caves was a little harry, it made me feel a bit like a mountain goat. The cave we went to goes more than 100 yards into the mountain. We had to crouch down and basically crawl to get in. It was dry, but very humid. When we got about 30 yards back into the cave we could stand up straight. There the cave turned, bats became active, and it got DARK - he should have just left his flashlight at home, I am telling you, it gave no light. That point confirmed what I have always felt - I don’t mind being up very high, but I have no interest in being underground. I resisted the urge to run for the exit (since I would have had to crawl) and just stood to try to take it all in a few minutes. I would like to try it again next time, if I have a good flash light.
Later, Mandy and I hiked to the top of the second falls (Sipi is a series of 3 waterfalls). There we met a man from Israel. Earlier in the week I had been struck by the gospel of John of how persistent and hard hearted the Jews were in their unbelief. This guy scoffed at the fact that I claimed to teach Bible, but had never been to Israel. He refused to accept anything the New Testament said. However, later he even admitted he does not live according to the Old Testament either. Poor guy. I have prayed a lot for him this week. The Savior came, but he (and so many like him) missed it completely.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Josh's Journal (April 9-16)
April 9
Last night Mandy and I went on a Date. The NCAA Basketball finals were going to be rerun on International ESPN at 7:00. We went to the restaurant to watch. It was quite exciting, Memphis was ahead by 5 with one minute to play…and the electricity went out. I would not believe it. I had to wait until today to find out who won (Kansas, after a last second shot tied the game to force OT - and I missed it)…I should have never looked and lived with the notion that Memphis won.
I had my birthday Saturday. It was a very fun day. We spent some time in our little pool as a family and had a nice birthday supper with chocolate cake. Mandy and the girls decorated the house and tried to make it real special. I am 30 years old now. Jesus was 30 when He began His ministry, up to that was just preparation I guess. It makes me excited to see what God has been preparing me to do. May He help me deny myself, pick up my cross and follow.
I am quite frustrated with the Bible college. Only one student has shown up - they were all supposed to be there Monday. Anyway, I got sick of waiting and I felt bad for the one student, so today I started teaching, just Abraham and I. I figured I would give him a head start on the group. Being patient can be hard.
April 16
Last week Mandy had a miscarriage. I know, most of you did not even know we were expecting. We had been celebrating privately with plans of making it public on my mom’s birthday (4-14-08), but we lost the baby a few days before that. I am really surprised how much we have grieved for this baby. Mandy especially has been having a very tough time. I also found myself thinking strange thoughts: will that child be in heaven? What do you do with a baby that small (including the sack it was only the size of a baked bean)? It has been a hard week.
From Sunday to Tuesday Mandy was in Kampala with her friend Tabitha. Tabitha had some medical issues that needed to be dealt with and it also gave Mandy a chance to see a better doctor than is available here in Soroti. I was home alone with Lydia and Grace. I gained a new appreciation for Mandy and what she does every day. I decided it is good for a woman to get away for a day or two - she deserved it.
Tuesday morning when I got up and walked into the kitchen, I could HEAR the ants in the back room / pantry. I know ants typically do not make noise, but when there are thousands of them, chewing, and laying eggs everywhere they do make noise. I am totally against using a DVD as a babysitter, but I broke my own rule for an hour Tuesday morning while I was cleaning up ants. Everything I moved revealed more ants, wings, and eggs. Bugs were absolutely everywhere. I hate ants!!!
Last night tragedy struck. About 10:30 the worst storm in 50 years went through the area. We drove around today to visit people who had been affected. The devastation was astounding. My language helper called to say he would not be coming because the roof blew off his house. After lunch I went to visit him - I have never seen anything like it. His house was not so bad: the walls were still standing even thought the roof was gone, and all his belongings were spread out in the sun to dry. Many of his neighbors lost not only the roof, but walls as well. His next door neighbor (a man with some mental retardation) had a one-room house. The roof and 3 walls fell, all of it fell out so the man was OK. Hundreds of houses were destroyed. Roofs, steal, belongings were everywhere. You could not look away from the destruction because it was everywhere you looked. The power company said power would be back within a few weeks. Hundreds of poles are down. Thankfully the power was knocked out early on, because many houses have lines draped over them. Today people were using power lines for drying their clothes. Trees were also down throughout the area.
When I got back home Mandy said she wanted to go out and see. We decided to drive over where we go to church. The roof of our church had been picked up and spun so it was now setting half on the church and half on the house next to the church (the house had lost its roof before the church roof landed on it). Stella is a member of our church who lives across the road from the church (she is a sister to Faith, the woman who died of AIDS two weeks ago). Stella cares for a number of children. They lived in a 3 room house. They were all huddled in the end room; it is the only room left standing. The roof landed about 20 feet away; all the other walls were leveled. We thank God she is alive. She knew of 6 people in their area who had been killed (walls fell on them or they were hit with flying debris). Even the Red Cross compound was leveled. People are trying to mobilize for disaster relief, but the devastation is severe. People with almost nothing lost everything they had. This afternoon we asked where people would sleep tonight, some said outside, others had no idea - they were still trying to sort out the pieces. Our end of town (the north end) was not hit nearly as hard as the South end. It is raining here again now. I pray it is not raining on the south side of town.
Please pray for all these people who have lost so much. I am having trouble processing what I saw today. A million dollars would help - but people would still be sleeping under the stars for several days (no one can begin rebuilding, because there is no electricity at the saw mills to cut lumber). This morning I was frustrated that the Bible College’s roof had been put on hold because they were waiting for lumber - it seems trivial now.
Speaking of the Bible College, only one student has reported to class, so I have been teaching one student for the past two weeks. He is from Karamoja, a place with almost no believers. He came to Christ a couple of weeks before coming to Soroti. He was a drunkard before that. He wishes their were more students, bt the teaching he has received has been more beneficial than if there were 20 students. We are studying Systematic Theology and he is eating it up. He is so excited by the verses we read, because he never read the Bible before. He is eager to change and apply God’s word to his life. But he also has a lot to learn. He had identified a girlfriend, but he is also married. However, as soon as someone showed him that the Bible condemns this, he stopped making plans. Seriously, he had no idea it was wrong, no idea where to find the book of Psalms, no idea if 2 Peter was in the Old or New Testament. But every day he is amazed at the things he is learning from the Bible - and so far we have only studied why we need theology, what is the Bible, and what is God like. I am excited at how God might change him, and use him to spread the gospel among the Karamajong. I have prayed often for Teso missionaries to be raised up to disciple in Karamoja, here God has brought a Karamojong to learn His Word. He will be a permanent missionary there.
Last night Mandy and I went on a Date. The NCAA Basketball finals were going to be rerun on International ESPN at 7:00. We went to the restaurant to watch. It was quite exciting, Memphis was ahead by 5 with one minute to play…and the electricity went out. I would not believe it. I had to wait until today to find out who won (Kansas, after a last second shot tied the game to force OT - and I missed it)…I should have never looked and lived with the notion that Memphis won.
I had my birthday Saturday. It was a very fun day. We spent some time in our little pool as a family and had a nice birthday supper with chocolate cake. Mandy and the girls decorated the house and tried to make it real special. I am 30 years old now. Jesus was 30 when He began His ministry, up to that was just preparation I guess. It makes me excited to see what God has been preparing me to do. May He help me deny myself, pick up my cross and follow.
I am quite frustrated with the Bible college. Only one student has shown up - they were all supposed to be there Monday. Anyway, I got sick of waiting and I felt bad for the one student, so today I started teaching, just Abraham and I. I figured I would give him a head start on the group. Being patient can be hard.
April 16
Last week Mandy had a miscarriage. I know, most of you did not even know we were expecting. We had been celebrating privately with plans of making it public on my mom’s birthday (4-14-08), but we lost the baby a few days before that. I am really surprised how much we have grieved for this baby. Mandy especially has been having a very tough time. I also found myself thinking strange thoughts: will that child be in heaven? What do you do with a baby that small (including the sack it was only the size of a baked bean)? It has been a hard week.
From Sunday to Tuesday Mandy was in Kampala with her friend Tabitha. Tabitha had some medical issues that needed to be dealt with and it also gave Mandy a chance to see a better doctor than is available here in Soroti. I was home alone with Lydia and Grace. I gained a new appreciation for Mandy and what she does every day. I decided it is good for a woman to get away for a day or two - she deserved it.
Tuesday morning when I got up and walked into the kitchen, I could HEAR the ants in the back room / pantry. I know ants typically do not make noise, but when there are thousands of them, chewing, and laying eggs everywhere they do make noise. I am totally against using a DVD as a babysitter, but I broke my own rule for an hour Tuesday morning while I was cleaning up ants. Everything I moved revealed more ants, wings, and eggs. Bugs were absolutely everywhere. I hate ants!!!
Last night tragedy struck. About 10:30 the worst storm in 50 years went through the area. We drove around today to visit people who had been affected. The devastation was astounding. My language helper called to say he would not be coming because the roof blew off his house. After lunch I went to visit him - I have never seen anything like it. His house was not so bad: the walls were still standing even thought the roof was gone, and all his belongings were spread out in the sun to dry. Many of his neighbors lost not only the roof, but walls as well. His next door neighbor (a man with some mental retardation) had a one-room house. The roof and 3 walls fell, all of it fell out so the man was OK. Hundreds of houses were destroyed. Roofs, steal, belongings were everywhere. You could not look away from the destruction because it was everywhere you looked. The power company said power would be back within a few weeks. Hundreds of poles are down. Thankfully the power was knocked out early on, because many houses have lines draped over them. Today people were using power lines for drying their clothes. Trees were also down throughout the area.
When I got back home Mandy said she wanted to go out and see. We decided to drive over where we go to church. The roof of our church had been picked up and spun so it was now setting half on the church and half on the house next to the church (the house had lost its roof before the church roof landed on it). Stella is a member of our church who lives across the road from the church (she is a sister to Faith, the woman who died of AIDS two weeks ago). Stella cares for a number of children. They lived in a 3 room house. They were all huddled in the end room; it is the only room left standing. The roof landed about 20 feet away; all the other walls were leveled. We thank God she is alive. She knew of 6 people in their area who had been killed (walls fell on them or they were hit with flying debris). Even the Red Cross compound was leveled. People are trying to mobilize for disaster relief, but the devastation is severe. People with almost nothing lost everything they had. This afternoon we asked where people would sleep tonight, some said outside, others had no idea - they were still trying to sort out the pieces. Our end of town (the north end) was not hit nearly as hard as the South end. It is raining here again now. I pray it is not raining on the south side of town.
Please pray for all these people who have lost so much. I am having trouble processing what I saw today. A million dollars would help - but people would still be sleeping under the stars for several days (no one can begin rebuilding, because there is no electricity at the saw mills to cut lumber). This morning I was frustrated that the Bible College’s roof had been put on hold because they were waiting for lumber - it seems trivial now.
Speaking of the Bible College, only one student has reported to class, so I have been teaching one student for the past two weeks. He is from Karamoja, a place with almost no believers. He came to Christ a couple of weeks before coming to Soroti. He was a drunkard before that. He wishes their were more students, bt the teaching he has received has been more beneficial than if there were 20 students. We are studying Systematic Theology and he is eating it up. He is so excited by the verses we read, because he never read the Bible before. He is eager to change and apply God’s word to his life. But he also has a lot to learn. He had identified a girlfriend, but he is also married. However, as soon as someone showed him that the Bible condemns this, he stopped making plans. Seriously, he had no idea it was wrong, no idea where to find the book of Psalms, no idea if 2 Peter was in the Old or New Testament. But every day he is amazed at the things he is learning from the Bible - and so far we have only studied why we need theology, what is the Bible, and what is God like. I am excited at how God might change him, and use him to spread the gospel among the Karamajong. I have prayed often for Teso missionaries to be raised up to disciple in Karamoja, here God has brought a Karamojong to learn His Word. He will be a permanent missionary there.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Josh's March Journal
March 11, 2008
Last weekend we took a long weekend to Kampala. We had to bring a speaker here who is leading a marriage conference for local pastors for two weeks, so we decided to enjoy the trip and spend a few relaxed days as a family. Thursday we spend the day at the pool at Jinja Nile Resort. It was a beautiful hotel complex on the banks of the Nile river (steep banks - hotel is probably 200 feet higher than the water) with lots of gardens and flowers. There by the pool side was a group of about 15 people having some sort of business meeting. It was then that I verbalized how overrated meeting and teaching outside is. Sure, it has a romantic relaxed feel, but from a practical perspective - worthless. Mandy was surprised I would say such a thing so she asked why. I have taught outside a lot more than I have taught inside. Wind makes it hard to hear each other, blows notebooks off desks, even blew the blackboard off the stand the other day. Chickens crowing and scratching in the “classroom” are fairly well ignored, but a nanny-goat-in-heat followed closely by a billy-goat running between me and the students is both loud and distracting (not to mention a target for a swift kick).
While we were in Kampala we had a nice time relaxing a couple days as a family. I had had a cheese burger and a milkshake the first night in town and two milkshakes the last night in town. We also took the kids to Didi’s World - the disney world of Uganda. It is really nice because it only costs $3 per person, then when you are sick of it (which you are after a few hours) you are free to leave and don’t feel like you have to stay several hours to try to get your money’s worth. We went on Saturday night from about 5-8. It had rained so it was cloudy and cool. I went on the bumper cars and the elevated train - that was it, unless you count the merry-go-round, which I stood on, but was not allowed to sit on the horses. Our girls really like that place though.
March 16
This week a couple people from Set Free Ministries in Grand Rapids are here leading a marriage conference. It has made for a very busy week. I was not planning to be involved, but Tim’s van was not running the early part of the week, so I ended up doing a lot more than I expected. About 50 local church leaders are attending the conference. I spent five hours Friday and again Saturday leading freedom appointments with some of the students from the Bible College who are also attending the conference. One of the set free ministries pastors from Kampala is also here. He knows about a half dozen languages. After church this morning he said he felt Ateso is the hardest language in all of Uganda. He travels a lot in Uganda and is exposed to a lot of languages. He felt Ateso is the hardest of them all - based on word length, way of speech, and exclusive vocabulary. It made me feel good about how far I have come in Ateso, but also makes me feel bad about how far I have to go. It is too bad people here don’t use Ki-Swahili, a much simpler language used throughout much of East Africa.
I did train the blind to measure out orange tree orchards this week. They were very excited and left Friday to start three orchards in Amuria district. I find it to be a step of faith to entrust this project to blind people. I made them lay out an orchard from start to finish before I would let them begin the project. Although their orchard was not perfectly square, it was close and was certainly good enough to grow trees. The thing they struggled with the most was picking up the ropes (we use ropes with knots in to mark the fence posts and tree locations - one knot for a fence posts, two knots for a tree location.) Weather people are predicting drought this year for Amuria and Katakwi (where half our orchards are supposed to go) so we are praying the meteorologists are wrong.
In my free time then I am still working on courses for Bethel Bible college. I am currently working on an Old Testament Survey course. I am up to king David (about 1/3 of the way through the course). The biggest struggle continues to be deciding what to include and what to exclude.
March 19
There is still no internet, so this letter just keeps getting longer. Today we got a major rain storm, complete with wind, hail, thunder and lightning. It lasted about an hour, almost as long as it took us to clean up after it went through. Houses here vents above the windows; however, they have no way to be closed. Every window on the North or East side of the house let water in - and not just a little bit. It accumulated enough in the girls room that it flowed out into the hall way. Tabitha and I spent an hour mopping up water once the wind died down. What a mess!!!
March 30
I had a nice talk with Basil, one of the Bible school students, this week. We had been talking about the students’ outreach to Karamoja. I explained that we had three reasons for sending them on the outreach: 1. To show the Teso people that the Karamojong are real people. 2. Hopes that some of the students might be led by God to bring the gospel to places where it has never been heard. 3. So all pastors who graduate have a knowledge of the responsibility that all members of the body of Christ have to spread the Good News. The literal meaning of “missions” is not going as so many people think. “missions” actually means “to send”. Missions is the work of the church, not of the missionary. Churches here in Teso are not exempt from that responsibility, but so far they have missed out on the privilege of being involved. I think young people would be willing to go if churches were willing to send.
Basil said before coming to BBC he had a dream that he was supposed to attend a Bible college along the Lira road. He was expecting a nice school with good housing and electricity. He was very disappointed in BBC so he looked for another school but could not find one. He felt strongly that the dream was from God, so he thought he better stay at BBC, even though he has often been frustrated with things there. Basil also said he once worked with a pastor who visited Soroti. While they were praying, the pastor had a vision of a bright light going out from Teso to other areas of East Africa. They understood the light to be the Light, the gospel of Jesus, but Basil couldn’t understand how the Gospel would ever be sent from Teso to other areas. After talking with me about the outreach and why we are here in Soroti, Basil said he felt our coming there was the beginning of the fulfillment of the vision that the gospel would go out from Teso land.
The last month here has been a real struggle. We have felt as though Satan is really opposing us. It seems as though so many little things are going wrong. I was so encouraged to hear Basil’s comment and celebrate the fact that at least one student out of this group has caught the vision for raising up missionaries from here in Teso and sending them to place like Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Middle East. Praise God!!! May He open the hearts of others - both church leaders and youth - that missionaries can be trained at BBC and sent to all parts of the world.
On a much less important note, we planted the garden yesterday. Lydia and Grace helped me. Mandy supervised - an important role any time Grace is nearby. We don’t have a rotatiller so I had to work it all up by hand. By the time I got done I took my boots off and poured the sweat out - Mandy was totally grossed out. We had a nice rain last night and again tonight, so hopefully things are beginning to germinate.
I also started teaching Children’s church this morning. Our church had no children’s program and many of the kids were distracting during the sermon (including our own); others simply went outside to play. I have been trying to get it started for a few weeks, but was not successful. Today we had about 15 children on three benches on the porch of the house next-door to the church. I taught them Gen. 1:1 - we memorized it in Ateso: Ko toma ageunet, obu Edeke, kosub akuj ka akwap. I then told them the creation story, asked them some questions, sang one song (I was afraid singing would distract the congregation 15 feet away from our group since there are just openings for windows.) I was happy how it went for a first time. The kids listened well.
Last weekend we took a long weekend to Kampala. We had to bring a speaker here who is leading a marriage conference for local pastors for two weeks, so we decided to enjoy the trip and spend a few relaxed days as a family. Thursday we spend the day at the pool at Jinja Nile Resort. It was a beautiful hotel complex on the banks of the Nile river (steep banks - hotel is probably 200 feet higher than the water) with lots of gardens and flowers. There by the pool side was a group of about 15 people having some sort of business meeting. It was then that I verbalized how overrated meeting and teaching outside is. Sure, it has a romantic relaxed feel, but from a practical perspective - worthless. Mandy was surprised I would say such a thing so she asked why. I have taught outside a lot more than I have taught inside. Wind makes it hard to hear each other, blows notebooks off desks, even blew the blackboard off the stand the other day. Chickens crowing and scratching in the “classroom” are fairly well ignored, but a nanny-goat-in-heat followed closely by a billy-goat running between me and the students is both loud and distracting (not to mention a target for a swift kick).
While we were in Kampala we had a nice time relaxing a couple days as a family. I had had a cheese burger and a milkshake the first night in town and two milkshakes the last night in town. We also took the kids to Didi’s World - the disney world of Uganda. It is really nice because it only costs $3 per person, then when you are sick of it (which you are after a few hours) you are free to leave and don’t feel like you have to stay several hours to try to get your money’s worth. We went on Saturday night from about 5-8. It had rained so it was cloudy and cool. I went on the bumper cars and the elevated train - that was it, unless you count the merry-go-round, which I stood on, but was not allowed to sit on the horses. Our girls really like that place though.
March 16
This week a couple people from Set Free Ministries in Grand Rapids are here leading a marriage conference. It has made for a very busy week. I was not planning to be involved, but Tim’s van was not running the early part of the week, so I ended up doing a lot more than I expected. About 50 local church leaders are attending the conference. I spent five hours Friday and again Saturday leading freedom appointments with some of the students from the Bible College who are also attending the conference. One of the set free ministries pastors from Kampala is also here. He knows about a half dozen languages. After church this morning he said he felt Ateso is the hardest language in all of Uganda. He travels a lot in Uganda and is exposed to a lot of languages. He felt Ateso is the hardest of them all - based on word length, way of speech, and exclusive vocabulary. It made me feel good about how far I have come in Ateso, but also makes me feel bad about how far I have to go. It is too bad people here don’t use Ki-Swahili, a much simpler language used throughout much of East Africa.
I did train the blind to measure out orange tree orchards this week. They were very excited and left Friday to start three orchards in Amuria district. I find it to be a step of faith to entrust this project to blind people. I made them lay out an orchard from start to finish before I would let them begin the project. Although their orchard was not perfectly square, it was close and was certainly good enough to grow trees. The thing they struggled with the most was picking up the ropes (we use ropes with knots in to mark the fence posts and tree locations - one knot for a fence posts, two knots for a tree location.) Weather people are predicting drought this year for Amuria and Katakwi (where half our orchards are supposed to go) so we are praying the meteorologists are wrong.
In my free time then I am still working on courses for Bethel Bible college. I am currently working on an Old Testament Survey course. I am up to king David (about 1/3 of the way through the course). The biggest struggle continues to be deciding what to include and what to exclude.
March 19
There is still no internet, so this letter just keeps getting longer. Today we got a major rain storm, complete with wind, hail, thunder and lightning. It lasted about an hour, almost as long as it took us to clean up after it went through. Houses here vents above the windows; however, they have no way to be closed. Every window on the North or East side of the house let water in - and not just a little bit. It accumulated enough in the girls room that it flowed out into the hall way. Tabitha and I spent an hour mopping up water once the wind died down. What a mess!!!
March 30
I had a nice talk with Basil, one of the Bible school students, this week. We had been talking about the students’ outreach to Karamoja. I explained that we had three reasons for sending them on the outreach: 1. To show the Teso people that the Karamojong are real people. 2. Hopes that some of the students might be led by God to bring the gospel to places where it has never been heard. 3. So all pastors who graduate have a knowledge of the responsibility that all members of the body of Christ have to spread the Good News. The literal meaning of “missions” is not going as so many people think. “missions” actually means “to send”. Missions is the work of the church, not of the missionary. Churches here in Teso are not exempt from that responsibility, but so far they have missed out on the privilege of being involved. I think young people would be willing to go if churches were willing to send.
Basil said before coming to BBC he had a dream that he was supposed to attend a Bible college along the Lira road. He was expecting a nice school with good housing and electricity. He was very disappointed in BBC so he looked for another school but could not find one. He felt strongly that the dream was from God, so he thought he better stay at BBC, even though he has often been frustrated with things there. Basil also said he once worked with a pastor who visited Soroti. While they were praying, the pastor had a vision of a bright light going out from Teso to other areas of East Africa. They understood the light to be the Light, the gospel of Jesus, but Basil couldn’t understand how the Gospel would ever be sent from Teso to other areas. After talking with me about the outreach and why we are here in Soroti, Basil said he felt our coming there was the beginning of the fulfillment of the vision that the gospel would go out from Teso land.
The last month here has been a real struggle. We have felt as though Satan is really opposing us. It seems as though so many little things are going wrong. I was so encouraged to hear Basil’s comment and celebrate the fact that at least one student out of this group has caught the vision for raising up missionaries from here in Teso and sending them to place like Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Middle East. Praise God!!! May He open the hearts of others - both church leaders and youth - that missionaries can be trained at BBC and sent to all parts of the world.
On a much less important note, we planted the garden yesterday. Lydia and Grace helped me. Mandy supervised - an important role any time Grace is nearby. We don’t have a rotatiller so I had to work it all up by hand. By the time I got done I took my boots off and poured the sweat out - Mandy was totally grossed out. We had a nice rain last night and again tonight, so hopefully things are beginning to germinate.
I also started teaching Children’s church this morning. Our church had no children’s program and many of the kids were distracting during the sermon (including our own); others simply went outside to play. I have been trying to get it started for a few weeks, but was not successful. Today we had about 15 children on three benches on the porch of the house next-door to the church. I taught them Gen. 1:1 - we memorized it in Ateso: Ko toma ageunet, obu Edeke, kosub akuj ka akwap. I then told them the creation story, asked them some questions, sang one song (I was afraid singing would distract the congregation 15 feet away from our group since there are just openings for windows.) I was happy how it went for a first time. The kids listened well.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Feb. 19 - Valentines Date
Feb. 19, 2008
Last Friday night, the day after Valentine’s Day, I planned to show my wife more appreciation than I had shown her in a long time. I spent the afternoon making dessert - Finnish Apple Tart. I had the drinks ready (tropical punch and 7up). Lydia even fell right to sleep - which never happens…Oh yeah, it was going to be a good night. I started to fill the bathtub for phase two (it takes a long time to fill the bath tub) when I discovered that the water heater had been turned off so we could use the generator earlier in the day, as a result, there was no hot water. No problem, still had to do phase one so I flipped on the water heater and began to set up the porch. We had porch lights, music, drinks, dessert. We had just settled down and were enjoying dessert when I heard Grace calling from bed.
I arrived to the bedroom just in time to see Grace vomit all over her pillow, pillow case, sheet, mattress cover, bug net, bed frame, wall, toys, and floor. I called for Mandy so Grace turned to look my direction and vomited on that side of the pillow too. Mandy arrived to take Mandy. I took the whole bed apart, sheets, frame, mattress, and washed it all. Before I could get the floor and wall cleaned up, Grace walked into the dining room and vomited all over her second pajamas and the dining room floor. Back to the bath tub for her. I cleaned up most of the dining room mess using a broom and dust pan (quantity). Then got out the bucket, rag, and brush to finish the bedroom mess before cleaning the dining room floor. So, 45 minutes and a whole lot of sweat after paragraph one ended, I finally had the mess contained to one laundry tub full of nasty looking things. Mandy told me I should be glad I have a Shaarda nose. Oh yeah, anyone in the mood for romance?
Things got pretty tense Saturday as Grace’s fever reached 104. Thankfully, by Sunday she was doing a little better, although very crabby. Today she acts better than she has since Friday, but has been passing blood with her stool. The doctor gave us two medicines for her so hopefully she will be completely healthy soon.
Things here have been very heavy and frustrating lately. Our good friend has been through some very tough times and it has affected our family greatly. The girls’ Bible study did get going Wednesday, but not without some confusion. I was supposed to lead Timothy Institute training, but it was cancelled due to things outside of our control. The Bible College students are supposed to go to Karamoja for outreach in two days; now it seems like even that might not happen due to confusion about the timing of their return. It just seems like every way we try to move forward, there is opposition, resistance, and set backs. These problems are beyond what I would say is normal; I truly think there is spiritual opposition. I try to take this as encouragement, since it means we are doing things worth opposing; however, in the midst of it I find it very heavy, frustrating, and sad. I have found myself reduced to prayer now more than ever. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord” is much more than a cliché at this time.
Last Friday night, the day after Valentine’s Day, I planned to show my wife more appreciation than I had shown her in a long time. I spent the afternoon making dessert - Finnish Apple Tart. I had the drinks ready (tropical punch and 7up). Lydia even fell right to sleep - which never happens…Oh yeah, it was going to be a good night. I started to fill the bathtub for phase two (it takes a long time to fill the bath tub) when I discovered that the water heater had been turned off so we could use the generator earlier in the day, as a result, there was no hot water. No problem, still had to do phase one so I flipped on the water heater and began to set up the porch. We had porch lights, music, drinks, dessert. We had just settled down and were enjoying dessert when I heard Grace calling from bed.
I arrived to the bedroom just in time to see Grace vomit all over her pillow, pillow case, sheet, mattress cover, bug net, bed frame, wall, toys, and floor. I called for Mandy so Grace turned to look my direction and vomited on that side of the pillow too. Mandy arrived to take Mandy. I took the whole bed apart, sheets, frame, mattress, and washed it all. Before I could get the floor and wall cleaned up, Grace walked into the dining room and vomited all over her second pajamas and the dining room floor. Back to the bath tub for her. I cleaned up most of the dining room mess using a broom and dust pan (quantity). Then got out the bucket, rag, and brush to finish the bedroom mess before cleaning the dining room floor. So, 45 minutes and a whole lot of sweat after paragraph one ended, I finally had the mess contained to one laundry tub full of nasty looking things. Mandy told me I should be glad I have a Shaarda nose. Oh yeah, anyone in the mood for romance?
Things got pretty tense Saturday as Grace’s fever reached 104. Thankfully, by Sunday she was doing a little better, although very crabby. Today she acts better than she has since Friday, but has been passing blood with her stool. The doctor gave us two medicines for her so hopefully she will be completely healthy soon.
Things here have been very heavy and frustrating lately. Our good friend has been through some very tough times and it has affected our family greatly. The girls’ Bible study did get going Wednesday, but not without some confusion. I was supposed to lead Timothy Institute training, but it was cancelled due to things outside of our control. The Bible College students are supposed to go to Karamoja for outreach in two days; now it seems like even that might not happen due to confusion about the timing of their return. It just seems like every way we try to move forward, there is opposition, resistance, and set backs. These problems are beyond what I would say is normal; I truly think there is spiritual opposition. I try to take this as encouragement, since it means we are doing things worth opposing; however, in the midst of it I find it very heavy, frustrating, and sad. I have found myself reduced to prayer now more than ever. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord” is much more than a cliché at this time.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Jan. 28 - Josh's Journal
January 28, 2008
Hi everyone. I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Things have been terribly busy. I do not know where the time has gone, but it has flown - I have not even started taking Ateso language lessons again yet, but need to start that one of these days. Life has been filled with ups and downs since I last wrote. I know I was discouraged last time; truth be told I am quite discouraged today as well. So I am sorry if this comes off as a downer, please know that we have had some nice days and nice times since I last wrote.
Two weeks ago on a Saturday we went to Mbale. We were eating at an Indian restaurant when a circus came on TV. The food is great there even though the atmosphere is not the classiest. Lydai, Grace and I enjoyed the circus while we waited for our food (Mandy was next door grocery shopping). I also ordered my motorcycle that day. They said it would be ready by the first of Feb.
I also tried to go teach Timothy Institute in Otuboi. I made the trip only to discover that a couple of funerals had really messed up a lot of the pastors’ plans. Needles to say I spent an hour driving then an hour waiting only to spend the next hour driving back home. We rescheduled for yesterday. Yesterday we tried again. It did go much better, but the numbers were quite low. Only 9 pastors returned from the previous time, plus three new people. At lunch time we learned that a few pastors had come, but went to the wrong church (our venue had been changed for reasons beyond my control); we also learned that a few pastors had not been informed about it until 48 hours prior to the starting time so they had made prior commitments. I was disappointed that some pastors wanted to come but were unable to come; however our day went really well. Every pastor except for one paid the money for his photo copies. One old pastor named Fasfik had lost all his belongings in a house fire - and he still paid for the photocopies - even the ones burned in the fire. I did replace the lost copies free of charge and bought his lunch as well. All the other pastors also bought their own lunch. At the end of the day they started discussing money again, in Ateso. I could tell they were discussing payment, but could not quite follow exactly what they were saying. They finally said in English that they realized they should also be giving me gas money but are not able to do that at this time; I should be patient and not grow tired of coming because they really appreciate the teaching. I also made them give reports about their action plans which they had made the previous time. (The theme and action plan for last time was visiting people who did not follow Jesus.) For the total of the nine pastors who were present; they had visited and shared the gospel with 15 families / individuals who had never followed Jesus and 7 people who had fallen away from the church. Although no one gave their lives to Christ, relationships were built with those lost people and responses were positive. 4 of the 7 people who had left the church have become involved in the church again since the visit. Other than the fact that I was gone from 8 am to after 6 pm, it was a very good day.
The Bible college continues to try my patience. The students have been late coming back from their holiday. Some were in class for the first time today - three weeks late. One still has not returned. Francis had said he would not allow this so I hope he puts his foot down and sends them away. They have already missed enough to fail the course I was teaching so its not like they would graduate anyway. The others who were present were late for class every day last week. I felt something had to be done so I told them on Friday that we were going to have class on Saturday - time had been lost and it needed to be regained. I felt like I was punishing myself, but it really got their attention. Three of the four had hope to go home for the weekend. I went to class Saturday morning prepared to teach the one student who had no intentions of going home, but found all four present. They were not very talkative, but they were there. I learned today that they had gone privately to Francis on Friday afternoon to tell him the situation and ask for permission to go home anyway. I was impressed with Francis. He told them if they skipped my class to go home they might as well take all of their things home from the college because they would not be allowed back.
This morning Kristine came. We visited her last night and she warned us she would be coming. She was in tears because of the way her “husband” treats her. He does treat her poorly. Neglect would be an understatement. Half the problem is that they moved in and started a family without a wedding. Elaborate weddings and high bride prices make it nearly impossible for many people to get married, so shacking up is a huge problem here. When the fun wears off, there is no commitment, so people leave. The children suffer the most. It is part of the culture here - part that needs to change. Changing a culture is hard. We have not really changed it at all yet, but a few people have appreciated our observation that these practices nearly force people to sin. We also have a good friend who got his girlfriend pregnant in December. Her dad is a pastor so you would think he would be open to God’s Word -- NOT. Today there was a long meeting to discuss the fine our friend will have to pay. My heart broke to hear the way that pastor spoke and acted; God was not glorified in any way. A mockery was made of the gospel. His bishop was there. When I confronted the bishop on the behavior of this pastor, he told me it is a matter of culture and clan, not a matter of the Bible. I told him that we are not to set the Bible aside in any situation only to pick it up on Sunday. This issue is a church issue. As leaders of God’s people we should set an example for others to follow, even when that means doing things different than the culture. I am not going into detail here, but I am really upset by the way that pastor acted (and even by how passive the bishop was). I privately talked with the pastor, but his heart was as hard as stone; he wanted nothing to do with God’s word. Even here our friend has accepted church discipline and wants to marry the girl so he can raise the child. The girl wants to marry our friend. However, no money for fine, bride price, wedding = just live together without getting married, which is a perfect solution according to the pastor (father of the girl). Tonight it feels like Satan won for today. We have to cling to the hope that the true Victory has already been decided. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see. I certainly can’t see it today. Isaiah 50:4 says “The Lord has given me words of wisdom so I know what to say to all the weary ones.” I am closing now so I can go spend some time with Him who has words of wisdom, because I am the weary one.
Hi everyone. I am sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. Things have been terribly busy. I do not know where the time has gone, but it has flown - I have not even started taking Ateso language lessons again yet, but need to start that one of these days. Life has been filled with ups and downs since I last wrote. I know I was discouraged last time; truth be told I am quite discouraged today as well. So I am sorry if this comes off as a downer, please know that we have had some nice days and nice times since I last wrote.
Two weeks ago on a Saturday we went to Mbale. We were eating at an Indian restaurant when a circus came on TV. The food is great there even though the atmosphere is not the classiest. Lydai, Grace and I enjoyed the circus while we waited for our food (Mandy was next door grocery shopping). I also ordered my motorcycle that day. They said it would be ready by the first of Feb.
I also tried to go teach Timothy Institute in Otuboi. I made the trip only to discover that a couple of funerals had really messed up a lot of the pastors’ plans. Needles to say I spent an hour driving then an hour waiting only to spend the next hour driving back home. We rescheduled for yesterday. Yesterday we tried again. It did go much better, but the numbers were quite low. Only 9 pastors returned from the previous time, plus three new people. At lunch time we learned that a few pastors had come, but went to the wrong church (our venue had been changed for reasons beyond my control); we also learned that a few pastors had not been informed about it until 48 hours prior to the starting time so they had made prior commitments. I was disappointed that some pastors wanted to come but were unable to come; however our day went really well. Every pastor except for one paid the money for his photo copies. One old pastor named Fasfik had lost all his belongings in a house fire - and he still paid for the photocopies - even the ones burned in the fire. I did replace the lost copies free of charge and bought his lunch as well. All the other pastors also bought their own lunch. At the end of the day they started discussing money again, in Ateso. I could tell they were discussing payment, but could not quite follow exactly what they were saying. They finally said in English that they realized they should also be giving me gas money but are not able to do that at this time; I should be patient and not grow tired of coming because they really appreciate the teaching. I also made them give reports about their action plans which they had made the previous time. (The theme and action plan for last time was visiting people who did not follow Jesus.) For the total of the nine pastors who were present; they had visited and shared the gospel with 15 families / individuals who had never followed Jesus and 7 people who had fallen away from the church. Although no one gave their lives to Christ, relationships were built with those lost people and responses were positive. 4 of the 7 people who had left the church have become involved in the church again since the visit. Other than the fact that I was gone from 8 am to after 6 pm, it was a very good day.
The Bible college continues to try my patience. The students have been late coming back from their holiday. Some were in class for the first time today - three weeks late. One still has not returned. Francis had said he would not allow this so I hope he puts his foot down and sends them away. They have already missed enough to fail the course I was teaching so its not like they would graduate anyway. The others who were present were late for class every day last week. I felt something had to be done so I told them on Friday that we were going to have class on Saturday - time had been lost and it needed to be regained. I felt like I was punishing myself, but it really got their attention. Three of the four had hope to go home for the weekend. I went to class Saturday morning prepared to teach the one student who had no intentions of going home, but found all four present. They were not very talkative, but they were there. I learned today that they had gone privately to Francis on Friday afternoon to tell him the situation and ask for permission to go home anyway. I was impressed with Francis. He told them if they skipped my class to go home they might as well take all of their things home from the college because they would not be allowed back.
This morning Kristine came. We visited her last night and she warned us she would be coming. She was in tears because of the way her “husband” treats her. He does treat her poorly. Neglect would be an understatement. Half the problem is that they moved in and started a family without a wedding. Elaborate weddings and high bride prices make it nearly impossible for many people to get married, so shacking up is a huge problem here. When the fun wears off, there is no commitment, so people leave. The children suffer the most. It is part of the culture here - part that needs to change. Changing a culture is hard. We have not really changed it at all yet, but a few people have appreciated our observation that these practices nearly force people to sin. We also have a good friend who got his girlfriend pregnant in December. Her dad is a pastor so you would think he would be open to God’s Word -- NOT. Today there was a long meeting to discuss the fine our friend will have to pay. My heart broke to hear the way that pastor spoke and acted; God was not glorified in any way. A mockery was made of the gospel. His bishop was there. When I confronted the bishop on the behavior of this pastor, he told me it is a matter of culture and clan, not a matter of the Bible. I told him that we are not to set the Bible aside in any situation only to pick it up on Sunday. This issue is a church issue. As leaders of God’s people we should set an example for others to follow, even when that means doing things different than the culture. I am not going into detail here, but I am really upset by the way that pastor acted (and even by how passive the bishop was). I privately talked with the pastor, but his heart was as hard as stone; he wanted nothing to do with God’s word. Even here our friend has accepted church discipline and wants to marry the girl so he can raise the child. The girl wants to marry our friend. However, no money for fine, bride price, wedding = just live together without getting married, which is a perfect solution according to the pastor (father of the girl). Tonight it feels like Satan won for today. We have to cling to the hope that the true Victory has already been decided. Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see. I certainly can’t see it today. Isaiah 50:4 says “The Lord has given me words of wisdom so I know what to say to all the weary ones.” I am closing now so I can go spend some time with Him who has words of wisdom, because I am the weary one.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Josh's Journal Nov. 18
Nov.18Nov. 18, 2007
I met a Ford Explorer on the way to church this morning. I know you don’t think that is too big of a deal, but it startled me. I have not seen one of those in 9 months.
On a much more serious note, Lydia came down with malaria Friday night. She was playing at a missionary friend’s house in the afternoon. She came home tired. She fell asleep on the couch at 6:30 p.m. and slept until 9:00 Saturday morning. She seemed OK in the morning but spiked a fever just before lunch. Immediately after lunch I took her for a blood test at the clinic. Within 20 minutes the test results were back that she has malaria. We treated her with Co-artem, plus Tylenol and Motrin to keep the fever down. Even with all that medicine in her system she still had a fever about 102 all night long. Today it is a little better, down to about 100.5. I try not to panic, but it is kind of worrisome when my kids get these deadly diseases.
Things with the blind have been going very poorly. We met about a week ago to make a plan to market the knitted items. We had a great plan, until I learned of all the other problems involved. I became aware of severe disunity within 24 hours of our meeting. I called a second meeting two days later. Tim also came to help me with this meeting. At this meeting we seemed to pinpoint some of the problems (specifically those involved) so Tim told those people to come to our house for a third meeting last week. At that meeting we learned that the problems dealt not simply with unity; there has been a history of abortion, divorce, immorality on the part of some of the members. When others rebuked them it did not go well. Some were denied membership for this immorality, which only caused them to start their own organization. I was very distressed. I was upset that some who claim to be leaders in church and have leadership roles in SACAB live in sin like this. I was sad, frustrated, distressed. I was ready to abandon the project because I felt like I was funneling money (so far small amounts, but orange tree orchards will begin soon) and time into a group with so many problems. Should I take back the knitting needles? Should I tell them to forget about the orange trees? Should I just quietly disappear from their group?
After I had considered these things I felt that instead of leaving, I need to get more active. The verse that came to mind was the words of Jesus: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I need to confront those who have lived in a pattern of sin. I need to share the freedom that can be found in Christ, the grace and forgiveness that is available, but also the fury of God’s wrath for those who continue to live in sin. I need to disciple these people as much as they will allow me. I went over to Francis and Angelina’s last night about 10:00. I had to bring Angelina some money so she can get Ben his CT scan and X-ray. We took a few minutes to pray together. I felt much better after that, but we still have a long way to go.
On Wednesday I will be going about 60km into the bush to a center / town called Otuboi. I will be beginning a leadership training course based on The Timothy Institute materials produced by Calvin Seminary. I have been trying to get this going for 6 weeks. They knew I was leaving for December and wanted to have at least one session before I go. We are going to be meeting once a month. The course about Pastoral Care is 11 lessons long. I hope to be able to complete two lessons each time we meet so we can finish in 6-7 months.
On a lighter note, Pastor Danny, a missionary from the Philippines, and I are going fishing tomorrow morning. I will let you know how it goes. I hope all is well with you. Have a happy Thanksgiving!!
I met a Ford Explorer on the way to church this morning. I know you don’t think that is too big of a deal, but it startled me. I have not seen one of those in 9 months.
On a much more serious note, Lydia came down with malaria Friday night. She was playing at a missionary friend’s house in the afternoon. She came home tired. She fell asleep on the couch at 6:30 p.m. and slept until 9:00 Saturday morning. She seemed OK in the morning but spiked a fever just before lunch. Immediately after lunch I took her for a blood test at the clinic. Within 20 minutes the test results were back that she has malaria. We treated her with Co-artem, plus Tylenol and Motrin to keep the fever down. Even with all that medicine in her system she still had a fever about 102 all night long. Today it is a little better, down to about 100.5. I try not to panic, but it is kind of worrisome when my kids get these deadly diseases.
Things with the blind have been going very poorly. We met about a week ago to make a plan to market the knitted items. We had a great plan, until I learned of all the other problems involved. I became aware of severe disunity within 24 hours of our meeting. I called a second meeting two days later. Tim also came to help me with this meeting. At this meeting we seemed to pinpoint some of the problems (specifically those involved) so Tim told those people to come to our house for a third meeting last week. At that meeting we learned that the problems dealt not simply with unity; there has been a history of abortion, divorce, immorality on the part of some of the members. When others rebuked them it did not go well. Some were denied membership for this immorality, which only caused them to start their own organization. I was very distressed. I was upset that some who claim to be leaders in church and have leadership roles in SACAB live in sin like this. I was sad, frustrated, distressed. I was ready to abandon the project because I felt like I was funneling money (so far small amounts, but orange tree orchards will begin soon) and time into a group with so many problems. Should I take back the knitting needles? Should I tell them to forget about the orange trees? Should I just quietly disappear from their group?
After I had considered these things I felt that instead of leaving, I need to get more active. The verse that came to mind was the words of Jesus: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I need to confront those who have lived in a pattern of sin. I need to share the freedom that can be found in Christ, the grace and forgiveness that is available, but also the fury of God’s wrath for those who continue to live in sin. I need to disciple these people as much as they will allow me. I went over to Francis and Angelina’s last night about 10:00. I had to bring Angelina some money so she can get Ben his CT scan and X-ray. We took a few minutes to pray together. I felt much better after that, but we still have a long way to go.
On Wednesday I will be going about 60km into the bush to a center / town called Otuboi. I will be beginning a leadership training course based on The Timothy Institute materials produced by Calvin Seminary. I have been trying to get this going for 6 weeks. They knew I was leaving for December and wanted to have at least one session before I go. We are going to be meeting once a month. The course about Pastoral Care is 11 lessons long. I hope to be able to complete two lessons each time we meet so we can finish in 6-7 months.
On a lighter note, Pastor Danny, a missionary from the Philippines, and I are going fishing tomorrow morning. I will let you know how it goes. I hope all is well with you. Have a happy Thanksgiving!!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Nov. 8 Josh's Journal
November 8, 2007
Our internet worked yesterday (it was on for about 24 hours) but not today, so I decided to add to my communication to you. I am still plugging away at learning Ateso; although, it again feels like an impossible task – amazing how moods fluctuate regarding language acquisition. I am also working on the course for BBC called Christian Doctrine / Systematic Theology. I am enjoying the study, but it is slow progress as far as getting the course outline done.
Monday and Tuesday Mandy and I took the girls to Mbale for a little get away. We had a very nice time. It is rainy here Monday morning so we almost did not go, but we called Mbale and they said it was sunny there so we decided to go. Monday was partly cloudy, Tuesday was hot and sunny so we enjoyed the pool for hours each day. We had a great time. We tried a new Indian restaurant (new to us) and it was excellent. The room at Mt. Elgon Hotel was very nice (a hot shower was sooo nice once). I was able to buy Bible for the group of girls Mandy meets with on Wednesday nights (since I have not been able to get them here in Soroti). I also priced motorcycles ($3,000). I hope to buy one when we come back to make trips into the bush much easier, cheaper, and quicker. I have plans to start a leadership training program an 60 km from Soroti (it took 90 minutes by car) so that is the biggest reason I hope to get a motorcycle. We even got to watch Sunday night football and Monday night football. Actually, Sunday night football was frustrating because every room in the hotel watches the same channel. They told me I could watch ESPN but it took 90 minutes to find the man who knew how to change the channel. Granted, changing the channel in Africa is more complicated than in the USA, but honestly…by then it was in the third quarter and the Cowboys were ahead by many more points than the Eagles will score this month. Tuesday morning we woke up at halftime and the Steelers were already ahead 35-7, but we watched the rest of the game before breakfast anyway. We were also able to find some cheeses and a couple of cans of Mountain Dew to buy – oh the highlights.
Here is a funny story: Tim bought this eagle back in July because it was being abused. He hoped to release it, but it can’t fly – so that was exhibit one of our zoo (actually it was exhibit two, but number one escaped). Eventually it needed food and the frogs by our house decreased in population so Tim made a sign advertising that he would buy frogs from kids. Tabitha said people in the neighborhood began talking about us. On Thursday two reporters from ETOP, the newspaper, showed up at our house because they (their office is in town) had heard that some whites were buying frogs to eat and they wanted to write a story about us.
Here is not a funny story: Patrick killed a five foot long Egyptian Cobra outside our gate Tuesday night. (It should have stayed in Egypt.) Thanks for every prayer offered for the safety of our kids.
Our internet worked yesterday (it was on for about 24 hours) but not today, so I decided to add to my communication to you. I am still plugging away at learning Ateso; although, it again feels like an impossible task – amazing how moods fluctuate regarding language acquisition. I am also working on the course for BBC called Christian Doctrine / Systematic Theology. I am enjoying the study, but it is slow progress as far as getting the course outline done.
Monday and Tuesday Mandy and I took the girls to Mbale for a little get away. We had a very nice time. It is rainy here Monday morning so we almost did not go, but we called Mbale and they said it was sunny there so we decided to go. Monday was partly cloudy, Tuesday was hot and sunny so we enjoyed the pool for hours each day. We had a great time. We tried a new Indian restaurant (new to us) and it was excellent. The room at Mt. Elgon Hotel was very nice (a hot shower was sooo nice once). I was able to buy Bible for the group of girls Mandy meets with on Wednesday nights (since I have not been able to get them here in Soroti). I also priced motorcycles ($3,000). I hope to buy one when we come back to make trips into the bush much easier, cheaper, and quicker. I have plans to start a leadership training program an 60 km from Soroti (it took 90 minutes by car) so that is the biggest reason I hope to get a motorcycle. We even got to watch Sunday night football and Monday night football. Actually, Sunday night football was frustrating because every room in the hotel watches the same channel. They told me I could watch ESPN but it took 90 minutes to find the man who knew how to change the channel. Granted, changing the channel in Africa is more complicated than in the USA, but honestly…by then it was in the third quarter and the Cowboys were ahead by many more points than the Eagles will score this month. Tuesday morning we woke up at halftime and the Steelers were already ahead 35-7, but we watched the rest of the game before breakfast anyway. We were also able to find some cheeses and a couple of cans of Mountain Dew to buy – oh the highlights.
Here is a funny story: Tim bought this eagle back in July because it was being abused. He hoped to release it, but it can’t fly – so that was exhibit one of our zoo (actually it was exhibit two, but number one escaped). Eventually it needed food and the frogs by our house decreased in population so Tim made a sign advertising that he would buy frogs from kids. Tabitha said people in the neighborhood began talking about us. On Thursday two reporters from ETOP, the newspaper, showed up at our house because they (their office is in town) had heard that some whites were buying frogs to eat and they wanted to write a story about us.
Here is not a funny story: Patrick killed a five foot long Egyptian Cobra outside our gate Tuesday night. (It should have stayed in Egypt.) Thanks for every prayer offered for the safety of our kids.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Oct. -- Josh's Journal
October 10, 2007
Hello Everyone,
Grace turns two tomorrow. We do not have much of a party planned since we had a party when Mandy’s parents were here. She is getting to be a big girl and communicates with lots of expression. Her new favorite song is “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” She wants to sing it as often as possible after every meal. We are getting pretty good at singing it with a very quick beat. She loves it, but she is consistently one line behind when doing the motions. She sings about the last word of each line with us, but is smiling the whole time.
Lydia is doing well too. She has gotten over her infatuation with the pet monkey. She still goes over to see it every day, but does not spend the whole day with it like she did the first few days. She is getting pretty good at recognizing letters and the sounds she makes – she will be ready for school too soon.
Mandy is starting her Bible Study tonight with ten girls from the hostel across the street. If she tells you that I am making her do it, she is lying to you; although, she was tempted to back out. She is nervous about it, but it was her idea. Every Wednesday night (about the time you eat lunch) she will be leading Bible study so you can pray for her.
Yesterday, Tim and I went with Pastor Francis and a man named Jorem to do an evangelism outing near our church. We visited with a family that Jorem had been witnessing to. Tim and I each gave them a presentation from the Bible, then we invited them to follow Jesus. Five adults and eight children prayed to renounce sin and follow Jesus. Being a part of something like that is a privilege. We invited them to church this Sunday, so we will see if they are ready when I get there to pick them up. They live close enough to walk, but I thought it would encourage them a little bit if I offered to pick them up this time.
I know you are still wondering about my white-water rafting experience: fun!!! I like water a lot so I really enjoyed it, but if you only a mild fan of water (and being under water or being thrown around by water) you would probably not like it. We went rafting with Nile River Explorers down what is possibly some of the best rafting in the world. We covered 20 miles of river and passed through 8 class 5 rapids, plus a number of smaller rapids as well. Our raft flipped over 4 times. The first time I panicked a little because I did not know what to expect or how long it would take me to get my lips above water again. The second time we flipped I ended up under Tim, under the boat. At that point I decided to abandon my paddle and the idea of staying with the boat and just swim for oxygen. By the third time I felt like a pro at flipping over: forget about everything else and just hang on to the rope that is connected to the side of the raft. The river is deep enough that with all this I never hit a rock. However, Mandy’s promise that “kayakers will be there to help you” was a farse. The only kayaker I came in contact with did not see me so as he came over a wave to help someone else he his kayak landed right square on top of me. The next time I was dunked one just told me, “keep swimming.” The last one said, “Don’t grab my kayak, go that way” (where nothing but water awaited…the food raft finally picked me up).
While in Kampala we visited Didi’s World, the amusement park. We each had to pay $3 to get in. Most of the rides were working. The girls loved the Merry-go-rounds and other little rides. There were even two water slides. They were a blast, but unregulated. People were going down in big groups. Some figured out how to slow to a stop and walk down. My last time down I passed two people. The first one was going real slow so he leaned to the inside and I passed him on the outside – thankfully we were on a curve. The second one I passed was walking down the slide (you have to walk with your legs apart so your feet are on the dry part), I went right between his legs and heard a loud “thump” then “HEY” but by then I was long gone. We will certainly have to go back there some day.
Now back here in Soroti, I am working hard on lesson plans and on language learning. We are not teaching right now because the students have gone home for Christmas. A little early, yes, but the schedule got messed up. The floods have closed the roads out of town, so there is not much else to do. The internet got hit by lightning again yesterday. That is the forth time since we came (twice at the main office, twice it was our own modem) so I am not sure when you will get to read this.
The girls are awake now, so I have to go. See you all in less than 2 months.
October 21, 2007
We still do not have our internet up and running, so I thought I might as well add on to the last letter. I have been enjoying the break from teaching. I have spent many hours preparing lesson plans. I finished the course on Titus and should finish 2 Timothy this week without any problem. We still have not received any of our books (don’t ever send things via Mbag) so I only have my electronic library. As a result, I can’t do quite as much research as I might like, but that is only because I get a headache reading from a computer screen. There are actually more resources on my electronic library than the physical books I own. After I finish 2 Timothy I think I will be planning a course on Christian Doctrine, unless one of the other teachers has done that since I last talked to Francis.
I have also increased the intensity of my Ateso language study. I have actually held a few short conversations with people this week. At the neighbors’ house the other day I talked with an older lady who did not know English. Yesterday I went to the village of Obalanga, I spoke a little Ateso in front of the church and talked a little with people outside as well. Conversations are short, but it is further than I was two weeks ago. I am also encouraged people can understand what I am saying. I am not sure if it is just because people in Mahula spoke no English, but it certainly seems to me that Ateso is much more difficult that Tsuva’di was (or I just forgot how hard Tsuva’di was at first). The sounds of Tsuva’di were more difficult, but Ateso has a very complicated verb system, a remarkably irregular system for making nouns plural, and a sentence structure that puts the verb before the subject. For example, instead of saying, “I went to the market” they say, “went I to market.” With a three word sentence it is not so difficult, but with a more complicated sentence (and with words in a foreign language) it is a lot to think about.
October 26, 2007
Hello everyone,
Even though it has not been that long since I last wrote, I have a few minutes before bed so I thought I’d write. Grace has been much less defiant this last month; actually, she is a joy to have around. She plays well with Moses; she has a tender heart as well. She is getting very sweet.
I started preparing my “Systematic Theology” course for BBC. “Christian Doctrine” would probably be a more accurate name, but I will stick with the name pastor Francis gave it. I have completed the introduction and am currently studying the doctrine of the Bible – it’s authority as God’s word, inerrancy, sufficiency, clarity, and necessity. I find doing this type of course much more challenging than courses on specific books of the Bible. Thankfully I have three doctrine books to help me with this process.
I have also been studying Ateso five days a week. Some days I feel good about it; today I was in a complete fog by the time the lesson got done – so much so that I ended it early. However, I am making progress. Mandy wrote Maryamu a letter which she needed me to translate (she lives in Nigeria). I found that while translating I kept wanting to think in Ateso. Ateso has certainly replaced any Hausa in the forefront of my mind; it is even crowding out the Tsuva’di. Part of me is sad about that, but I suppose it is also progress in the current situation.
I went to see Awoja swamp today because we hoped to go to Mbale for the day tomorrow. Police have barricaded the road – I guess the bridge needs repair so it will be a long time before we are able to pass that route.
We have been without water for 10 days, without internet for 3 weeks, and were without electricity for 48 hours. I was so tempted to complain. However, I am reading Secret Believers, a book about Muslim Background Believers in the Middle East; I have nothing to complain about. They pay such a price for their faith. Compared to them, we have it so easy here. I encourage all of you to read it, not just because it keeps you on the edge of your seat, but because every Christian should read it.
Hello Everyone,
Grace turns two tomorrow. We do not have much of a party planned since we had a party when Mandy’s parents were here. She is getting to be a big girl and communicates with lots of expression. Her new favorite song is “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” She wants to sing it as often as possible after every meal. We are getting pretty good at singing it with a very quick beat. She loves it, but she is consistently one line behind when doing the motions. She sings about the last word of each line with us, but is smiling the whole time.
Lydia is doing well too. She has gotten over her infatuation with the pet monkey. She still goes over to see it every day, but does not spend the whole day with it like she did the first few days. She is getting pretty good at recognizing letters and the sounds she makes – she will be ready for school too soon.
Mandy is starting her Bible Study tonight with ten girls from the hostel across the street. If she tells you that I am making her do it, she is lying to you; although, she was tempted to back out. She is nervous about it, but it was her idea. Every Wednesday night (about the time you eat lunch) she will be leading Bible study so you can pray for her.
Yesterday, Tim and I went with Pastor Francis and a man named Jorem to do an evangelism outing near our church. We visited with a family that Jorem had been witnessing to. Tim and I each gave them a presentation from the Bible, then we invited them to follow Jesus. Five adults and eight children prayed to renounce sin and follow Jesus. Being a part of something like that is a privilege. We invited them to church this Sunday, so we will see if they are ready when I get there to pick them up. They live close enough to walk, but I thought it would encourage them a little bit if I offered to pick them up this time.
I know you are still wondering about my white-water rafting experience: fun!!! I like water a lot so I really enjoyed it, but if you only a mild fan of water (and being under water or being thrown around by water) you would probably not like it. We went rafting with Nile River Explorers down what is possibly some of the best rafting in the world. We covered 20 miles of river and passed through 8 class 5 rapids, plus a number of smaller rapids as well. Our raft flipped over 4 times. The first time I panicked a little because I did not know what to expect or how long it would take me to get my lips above water again. The second time we flipped I ended up under Tim, under the boat. At that point I decided to abandon my paddle and the idea of staying with the boat and just swim for oxygen. By the third time I felt like a pro at flipping over: forget about everything else and just hang on to the rope that is connected to the side of the raft. The river is deep enough that with all this I never hit a rock. However, Mandy’s promise that “kayakers will be there to help you” was a farse. The only kayaker I came in contact with did not see me so as he came over a wave to help someone else he his kayak landed right square on top of me. The next time I was dunked one just told me, “keep swimming.” The last one said, “Don’t grab my kayak, go that way” (where nothing but water awaited…the food raft finally picked me up).
While in Kampala we visited Didi’s World, the amusement park. We each had to pay $3 to get in. Most of the rides were working. The girls loved the Merry-go-rounds and other little rides. There were even two water slides. They were a blast, but unregulated. People were going down in big groups. Some figured out how to slow to a stop and walk down. My last time down I passed two people. The first one was going real slow so he leaned to the inside and I passed him on the outside – thankfully we were on a curve. The second one I passed was walking down the slide (you have to walk with your legs apart so your feet are on the dry part), I went right between his legs and heard a loud “thump” then “HEY” but by then I was long gone. We will certainly have to go back there some day.
Now back here in Soroti, I am working hard on lesson plans and on language learning. We are not teaching right now because the students have gone home for Christmas. A little early, yes, but the schedule got messed up. The floods have closed the roads out of town, so there is not much else to do. The internet got hit by lightning again yesterday. That is the forth time since we came (twice at the main office, twice it was our own modem) so I am not sure when you will get to read this.
The girls are awake now, so I have to go. See you all in less than 2 months.
October 21, 2007
We still do not have our internet up and running, so I thought I might as well add on to the last letter. I have been enjoying the break from teaching. I have spent many hours preparing lesson plans. I finished the course on Titus and should finish 2 Timothy this week without any problem. We still have not received any of our books (don’t ever send things via Mbag) so I only have my electronic library. As a result, I can’t do quite as much research as I might like, but that is only because I get a headache reading from a computer screen. There are actually more resources on my electronic library than the physical books I own. After I finish 2 Timothy I think I will be planning a course on Christian Doctrine, unless one of the other teachers has done that since I last talked to Francis.
I have also increased the intensity of my Ateso language study. I have actually held a few short conversations with people this week. At the neighbors’ house the other day I talked with an older lady who did not know English. Yesterday I went to the village of Obalanga, I spoke a little Ateso in front of the church and talked a little with people outside as well. Conversations are short, but it is further than I was two weeks ago. I am also encouraged people can understand what I am saying. I am not sure if it is just because people in Mahula spoke no English, but it certainly seems to me that Ateso is much more difficult that Tsuva’di was (or I just forgot how hard Tsuva’di was at first). The sounds of Tsuva’di were more difficult, but Ateso has a very complicated verb system, a remarkably irregular system for making nouns plural, and a sentence structure that puts the verb before the subject. For example, instead of saying, “I went to the market” they say, “went I to market.” With a three word sentence it is not so difficult, but with a more complicated sentence (and with words in a foreign language) it is a lot to think about.
October 26, 2007
Hello everyone,
Even though it has not been that long since I last wrote, I have a few minutes before bed so I thought I’d write. Grace has been much less defiant this last month; actually, she is a joy to have around. She plays well with Moses; she has a tender heart as well. She is getting very sweet.
I started preparing my “Systematic Theology” course for BBC. “Christian Doctrine” would probably be a more accurate name, but I will stick with the name pastor Francis gave it. I have completed the introduction and am currently studying the doctrine of the Bible – it’s authority as God’s word, inerrancy, sufficiency, clarity, and necessity. I find doing this type of course much more challenging than courses on specific books of the Bible. Thankfully I have three doctrine books to help me with this process.
I have also been studying Ateso five days a week. Some days I feel good about it; today I was in a complete fog by the time the lesson got done – so much so that I ended it early. However, I am making progress. Mandy wrote Maryamu a letter which she needed me to translate (she lives in Nigeria). I found that while translating I kept wanting to think in Ateso. Ateso has certainly replaced any Hausa in the forefront of my mind; it is even crowding out the Tsuva’di. Part of me is sad about that, but I suppose it is also progress in the current situation.
I went to see Awoja swamp today because we hoped to go to Mbale for the day tomorrow. Police have barricaded the road – I guess the bridge needs repair so it will be a long time before we are able to pass that route.
We have been without water for 10 days, without internet for 3 weeks, and were without electricity for 48 hours. I was so tempted to complain. However, I am reading Secret Believers, a book about Muslim Background Believers in the Middle East; I have nothing to complain about. They pay such a price for their faith. Compared to them, we have it so easy here. I encourage all of you to read it, not just because it keeps you on the edge of your seat, but because every Christian should read it.
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