God's Timing

“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord”… what a comforting verse! We have seen this promise so vividly played out from the Lord this past week in making our plans to go to Congo…. Or should I say “changing” our plans to go to Congo.

As most of you know, John and I were supposed to leave for Congo this past Friday with Billy and Joanna Coppedge. In the beginning stages of planning this trip, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a survey trip to a new part of Congo where we know two pastors who would like to possibly be trained by us. But as the days went on, it became apparent that this was not God’s timing for this trip.

First, on Monday, we found out that the more experienced missionaries who were supposed to be traveling with us were unable to come due to their insurance on their vehicle not allowing them to take their car out of the country. Soon after that, we heard from one of our pastor contacts that the guest house we were supposed to stay in was booked. At that point, we decided as a team that it would be best if Billy & John went without us girls for this trip. Then, late Thursday evening, we found out that the plane we had scheduled with Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) for Billy & John could take them to Congo, but did not have a flight back for them! So needless to say, it was at this point that we sensed God was closing the door, and none of us traveled to Congo this week!

God has confirmed that this change in plans is totally of Him in so many ways. For example, one of the pastors we were planning to meet in Congo found out last minute that he had to go to Kenya right away to deal with some family matters and would not be able to have even seen us for one day in Congo. For us, we were quite tired from hosting visitors and traveling to Kampala. It would have been difficult for John to give 100% in preaching, as they had requested him to. Furthermore, we have some new friends here in Arua who happened to need our friendship more that day than ever. Their little boy, who is not even two, fell from his high-chair onto a concrete floor and got a concussion. (He is okay now.) They have had it kind of hard since moving here to Uganda, and because we didn’t end up leaving for Congo on Friday, we were able to have them over for the day and stay the night with us and just love on them and give them the R&R that they needed. Not to mention that I (Erica) had a little chest infection from the dust on our safari, so these past few days have given me time to rest and heal as well.

God is so good, and His plans are always better than ours. We are so thankful that His hand was so evident in where He was leading us this week. We couldn’t ask for a better Counselor, Father, Leader, or Friend than sweet Jesus! He is so faithful! And THANK YOU ALL so much for your prayers! Although we didn’t go to Congo, Jesus definitely answered your prayers by leading us into His plans, rather than ours. We would love it if you would continue to pray for His leading as to when to re-schedule this trip!

SAFARI VIDEO!

We had the amazing blessing of taking our two friends that visited us from NJ last week, Kristen & Jenna, on a Safari in Murchison Park, just a couple hours from our home! We made a short video of some footage of lions, elephants, & giraffe for you! If you’d like to see it, just click on the “Ugandan Safari” link to the right, under videos! (My favorite is the lion walking straight towards us! It was kind of scary as I was on the roof of the car, but of course it was incredible at the same time!)

Rinehimers’ “First” Pastor Training!

This past Saturday, July 14, was a very special day for John and I… after only four months in Arua, we were able to participate in our first pastor training for our new ministry up here. Although the Coppedges did the first training in Nebbi and John has also been a part of training pastors in southern Uganda on previous trips, this was his first opportunity to teach this time around and up here in northern Uganda! And I had actually never had the chance to even attend a pastor training before, so it was amazing for me to witness John & Billy teach these men who are so eager to learn how to be the pastor God created them to be and to dig deeper into God’s Word! I mainly just observed since it was my first training to see, but in the near future I will be training as well!

The training took place in Nebbi (a small town one hour from Arua). We asked the leader, Cosmas, to choose five pastors to participate in our training so that we can really disciple and invest in a few, rather than take on a big number where they won’t get as much one on one attention. So on Saturday, it was Cosmas, John, John Kennedy (yes, that’s his real name!), Benson, & Andrew. (pictured above) These men are so precious to us! They have such amazing hearts for the Lord and are hungry to learn more. And they ask really great, challenging questions. They are so intelligent and so sweet spirited!

Although we are only going through the “Membership Manual” right now for Africa Gospel Church (AGC), which is the church WGM has established here in Uganda & Kenya, we are hopeful that these five men will be in agreement with what we believe once we have gone through the entire manual with them. We may have an official training center in northern Uganda by January, 2008! Please be in prayer for these five men and for God’s will to be done here in northern Uganda for AGC!

Please Pray for Jeannie!

Our great friend and fellow missionary, Jeannie Banter, left Arua for the States last Saturday, July 7, for medical reasons. She had malaria, which worsened and went into her lungs and gave her double pneumonia. The physicians here in Uganda said her liver looked horrible as well, and she has a history of liver problems in her family. She was receiving medical care here, but there was no sign of improvement after a month of medication. So she really needed to get home to the States to get checked out by a specialist.

Since she has been home the past couple weeks, the doctors also discovered that her asthma has resurfaced because of the pneumonia, so she is on medication for that which is helping. And her blood work came back normal, which is a huge praise! She is currently on a swimming regimen which is helping to build back up her lung capacity and get her strength back. As the Ugandans say, “she is improving, slowly by slowly.” She is tentatively returning to Arua on August 10. Please keep her in your prayers as you are praying for Uganda. Please pray that God would heal her body and bring her here in His perfect timing! We know she would greatly appreciate it, and we would too!

Visitors & Voyages:

This past weekend, we also had the awesome blessing of our two friends, Jenna Gaventa & Kristen Fogg, arriving in Arua from New Jersey to visit us! Jesus brought them to us safely, and they are seeing first hand what our life is like here in Arua and are helping us out with many of our ministries here! (pictured right with children they are ministering to at UCU.) Next Tuesday, we will be taking them back to Kampala and saying good-bye. And then, we will get home to Arua on Friday morning and leave Friday afternoon for another trip to Congo! We are going to a different part of Congo this time, and we will be traveling with two Congolese pastors that we hope to work with! We are very excited about this trip! Please be in prayer with us over our schedule, travels, and safety!

July 21- Sunday School Teacher Training at UCU
July 24- Take Kristen & Jen to Kampala
July 27- Morning- Arrive back in Arua
Afternoon- Leave for Congo Trip!
Aug 10- Al & Beth Coppedge (Billy’s parents) & Jeannie Arrive in Arua!
Aug 18- Training #3 in Nebbi!
Aug 27- Field Meeting in Kampala

Crossing Into Congo!

Talk about a rough road!!! We had never seen such a "road" in our lives, but at the same time we were overwhelmed by such a beautiful country. We had always heard that the roads in Congo were a bit difficult but to experience them was a totally different story. Erica and I were able to travel with some German missionaries (Frank & Tony) last week to Congo. Our German colleagues had crossed the border numerous times and were heading to a town called Rethy (pronounced Ready) to do some repair work on a hydroelectric dam. We saw this as an opportunity to travel with some experienced missionaries to see Congo, do some survey work for future ministry and use our Swahili, since French and Swahili are the two main languages of Congo.

The border crossing was a speedy 4 hours, there were no problems, just had to wait for several different people to sign our short term visas. Jesus blessed the waiting time though, with good conversation with the border patrol officer, Jackson. Finally we were on the "road" again. The journey to Rethy could take anywhere from 4-6 hours depending on the weather and therefore how deep the mud would be on the roads. We were blessed to have clear skies and dry roads and made it to Rethy in 4 hours.

The people of Rethy were delighted to see there old friends, the German missionaries (Pictured left) who we traveled with. It was wonderful to see the warm friendship these missionaries had developed over the years and see their shared passion for Jesus. Rethy is a former mission base, which hosted somewhere around 200 missionaries around 10 years ago. A civil war swept across the country of Congo forcing this mission base to evacuate leaving behind all their homes and ministries. The war ended about 3 years ago, and the local church has been able to resume the missionaries' former work.

The main problem now is the fact the hydroelectric dam (Both pictures to the left) is completely broken which has resulted in a chain of other ministries coming to a complete halt. The hydro supports the whole town of Rethy, which includes: a school, printing press for Biblical materials, vocational school, radio station, optometrist training center and a full hospital (Surgery room pictured below). Despite the lack of electricity, it was one of the most beautiful places I've been in Africa, and it was refreshing to meet with the Lord on a mountain top.

Over all it was a great trip and Jesus really blessed our time with our Congolese brothers and sisters as well as our fellow missionaries. Jesus also helped us communicate in Swahili, which we were both nervous about. Erica and I were reminded of how amazing it is that God has created all people in His image and how amazing it is to have so many different languages in the world, yet God understands each person right where they are.

The only challenge of our journey came on the drive back to Arua ... it stared raining ... which meant slippery, muddy roads. But God protected us as we drove, and I was able to gain some valuable experience of driving on some mud pit covered roads. Thanks for praying for us. Please continue to pray for the Lord to open doors in His timing and way.