MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY & FRIENDS!!!

Sorry we haven't blogged in a LONG time... We've just been busy settling into our new home, interviewing for new jobs, going to our doctor's visit for the baby, and traveling~ visiting with friends & family in Kentucky, friends in Mississippi, & now family & friends in New Jersey! We just got here to New Jersey last weekend (Dec 20th) and we'll be here until Jan 12th. Then we'll be back in Louisville, KY for good... finally settling into our new life in America hopefully and getting ready for Baby Boy Rinehimer to arrive some time around March 10th! We thank God that both Erica & baby are healthy & her pregnancy is going great!

Also, many of you have been asking us... "What is next??" Well, we have both had interviews for jobs... John is in the interview process for an amazing opportunity with our church in Louisville in the missions department & Erica has interviewed for a position with a hospital in Louisville. John flies back to KY on Jan 5th for his second interview, so please be in prayer for him extra that day!!! And please just pray for clarity for both of our job opportunities & that God would lead us to what HE has for us.

We love you all & hope each one of you & your families have a blessed Christmas today & a Happy New Year! Below are some pictures of our time with friends in Jackson, MS...

Visiting with our good friends, Bill & Amanda Blair (& their new baby Sam, born in July!)Our precious friends, Mike & Janie Jarvis, Jeff & Patty Christie, and Laurie Holloway threw us OUR 1ST BABY SHOWER in Jackson!!! (Thank "ya'll" SO MUCH!)
Mike Jarvis also took John, Bill Ury & Ron Smith quail hunting, which was another 1st for John! :-)
AND... In KY, we got to have dinner with our friends, Matt Pittman & Joanna Ury, who came to Uganda with a team while we were there! (They get married next Saturday, Jan 3rd!!!~ Congratulations, Matt & Joanna!)

We're Home in AMERICA!!!

We are SO sorry that we have not updated our blog in so long! Please forgive us! Things have been just crazy busy as we finally ARRIVED HOME IN AMERICA this past Saturday, Nov. 8th!!! It was definitely sad to leave all of our friends in Uganda, but at the same time, it has been such a blessing to be reunited with our family & friends after being apart for these past 2 years! Since we flew into the Louisville, KY airport, where Erica is from, all of her family & friends were waiting at security to welcome us with tons of balloons & hugs! It was such a sweet reunion! We are really looking forward to that same precious time with John's family & friends when we get to New Jersey!!! And we had a ton of time with our family & friends over the weekend...

But this past week we have been reminded of how hectic life in America is! We have been trying to get cell phones, buy a car, open a bank account, apply for jobs, find clothes that fit my growing tummy, and we move into our house today!!! You can probably imagaine why we haven't had time to update our blog! But God is giving us strength and energy to get it all done!

And this weekend we speak in/ teach a Sunday School class of about 150 people at Southeast Christian Church, and then we head to Marion, IN where our WGM headquarters are for debriefing & to speak in chapel there on Monday & Tuesday! Please pray that Jesus continues to give us extra strength & energy to do all we need to do! And just so you know, Baby Rinehimer is doing great~ he's been kicking a TON lately & LOVING all of the yummy food in America! Thank you so much for your prayers for all 3 of us!

SAYING GOODBYE TO ARUA :-( ~ our friends, Joel, Alice, Alfred, Joyce & EdmondLEAVING OUR DRIVEWAY & FRIENDS FOR THE LAST TIME :-(
JOHN PREACHING ONE LAST TIME AT KAMPALA INT'L UNIVERSITY








OUR LAST NIGHT WITH BILLY, JO & ELSIE JAYNE COPPEDGE (along with the rest of our WGM missionary family in Kampala!)OUR FIRST NIGHT IN AMERICA WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS!ERICA'S MOM MADE US A WELCOME HOME DESSERT WITH THE AMERICAN FLAG :-)FINALLY HOME IN AMERICA WITH ERICA'S DAD, SISTER & BROTHER :-)OUR SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS~

Nov 8th- Arrived Home in America!
Nov 16th- Speak at ETS Sunday School Class at Southeast Christian in Louisville, KY
Nov 17th & 18th- Debriefing & Speak in Chapel at WGM HQ's in Marion, IN
Nov 30th- Speak to Christ UMC Youth in Jackson, MS
Dec 7th- Speak to Christ UMC Sunday School Classes in Jackson, MS
Dec 21st- Speak at Central UMC in Linwood, NJ
Dec 28th- Speak at Brick UMC, NJ
Jan 4th- Speak at Sicklerville UMC, NJ
Jan 6th- Speak at Leeds Point Community Church, NJ
Jan 8th- Speak at Emmaus UMC in Smithville, NJ
Jan 11th- Speak at Sharptown UMC, NJ
Jan 25th Speaking at WGM Asbury student center, Wilmore KY
Jan 28th- JOHN's 30th BIRTHDAY!!!

We're Having a BOY!!!

For those of you who have been asking us or wondering... we got an ultrasound yesterday & found out that WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!! We are SO excited! It is so fun to know what we're having and to be able to call our baby "him" or "he" instead of "it!" Below is a picture from our ultrasound~ I still can't believe we can get 4D ultrasounds in Uganda... amazing!

And watching this little baby grow inside of me continues to me amaze me & remind me of how awesome God is! I am only 20 weeks (4 1/2 months) along, and our baby already looks like a full term baby! God is so awesome! He is a healthy baby boy from as far as we can tell from this ultrasound, so we are so thankful to God! And I still haven't ever felt sick or tired at all~ what a blessing!

Our Last Training & One More Party

This weekend was our final training in Nebbi... :-(We truly will miss our pastors a great deal. We really have grown to love them and care for them, and they will always hold a special place in our hearts.

It's hard to believe that it was our last day in Nebbi with these pastors we have grown so fond of. And I will even miss all of the same little children (pictured below with Joanna) who come and fill the windows & doorway at every pastor training, just to stare at the "mzungu's" (the white people)! They are so precious!

And we have to give props to baby Elsie Jayne Coppedge! She was such a trooper! As you can imagine, it's very hard for a 12 month old to miss her nap & be surrounded by new people in a new place ALL DAY, but she did great and eventually fell asleep in her mama's arms. I came outside of the church & saw Joanna holding Elsie Jayne as she was fast asleep with all the kids crowded around & it was precious to me, so I thought you'd like this picture! Thank you, Joanna & Elsie Jayne, for being such troopers & coming to our last day of training!

And we owe a huge "Thank You" to Billy & Joanna for the going away party they threw for us yesterday at their home! They invited all of our friends in Arua to their home & we all had a chance to say goodbye to each other. It was really sweet & special to have everyone together and just look around at their faces & think of the real friendships we have formed over these past two years, in a foreign land, where I thought it would be so hard to make real "friends..."

It still seems so surreal to us that we are leaving this country and this phase of our life. And if anyone knows us well (especially me~ Erica), you know that I LOVE America & I LOVE our family & friends there... But I can honestly say that I have also grown to love our friends & our home here. And although there are days that are difficult here, there is a big part of both of us that will miss Arua & our friends here!

PS~ Another BIG THANK YOU to Billy & Joanna for letting us use their computer these past couple weeks, since our hard dive crashed!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Billy & Jo! WE LOVE YOU!

God is a Way Maker

Everything about Sudan is hard. It is hard to get there because the roads are so bad & flying every time is not in the budget. To drive 200 miles will take you a literal week. As you can imagine, the roads are made of mud & enormous pot holes and having Billy's 4X4 Land Rover Defender (pictured above) is an absolute blessing when traveling in such conditions. Thank God we only had to drive for about 5 hours north from Arua to a little town called Yei where we were attending a networking conference & hosting a pastor training. (Just in case you were wondering, the Darfur region you hear about in the news is still a 2 week drive from where we were in Sudan!)

Last week was also a little hard personally for several reasons ... our dog died, our computer died, we received some discouraging news in an e-mail & all of this while I was in Southern Sudan apart from Erica. Although this has all the makings of a #1 country music hit, it also had the potential for making us easily forget all that God has done & hindering us from finishing well here in Uganda & Sudan.,, While thinking about my own problems I was also at the networking conference (pictured above)being confronted with all the major issues Sudan is facing: land mines all over their country preventing farming & road development, post war trauma, poor education, corruption of the government, poor distribution of billions of dollars a year in domestic & foriegn aid, not to mention drought & flooding & the razor thin peace agreement between the North & Southern part of the country.

The conference actually went very well & proved to be an excellent time of networking for our WGM team of 6 (pictured right: Reuben, Joy, Karen, Terry, Billy & John) representing various aspects of ministry & development. There were more 130 people from across the globe representing 60 organizations, churches & institutions. It was really a vision of what the Kingdom of God is to look like. There were many good ideas exchanged, several good sermons & great times of relationship building. It looks like WGM has a promising future ahead of them in Sudan, so that is exciting!

As I reflected about these issues & our uncertain future I will be honest & say that I was a little frustrated, sad & a bit overwhelmed as each day last week seemed to bring difficult news that was hard to hear. Now, none of these issues by themselves were really that horrible, but the combination of them was challenging to trust Jesus with.

As I was thinking about all of this Jesus reminded me ... I AM the Way Maker. God has a history of making a way where there seems to be no way. Even more than God simply making a way and telling us to get out of His way, He says, "I want to teach you My ways & guide you so you can know Me & we can fellowship together." Psalm 25:4 & 5 says, "Show me Your ways O Lord; teach me Your paths; guide me in Your truth & teach me, for You are God my Savior, & my hope is in You all day long." Other verses began to flood my mind & I soon realized there is a place for problems, whether a computer crashing, an uncertain future or a nation that needs healing ... God says, "I AM the Way Maker."

As we then began the training of the Sudanese pastors (pictured right) later that same week, I had a renewed sense of God's presence in both the troubles of Sudan & also the personal issues we are facing. God continues to teach me that when difficutlies arise, these are opportunites to either go deeper in my walk with Jesus or I can view them as negative circumstances that will poison my relationship with God & others.

It was sad to have my final pastor training in Sudan & our days here in Africa are rapidly coming to a close. But inspite of all the issues in the world I still trust in the fact that the Lord is a Way Maker!

There's a Reason There's No Pictures :-(

Well, this blog entry isn't so fun, because I just lost all of our pictures on our computer! I was going to write this entry about saying goodbye to friends & John speaking at UCU chapel one last time, and I had pictures of our Ugandan friends & the chapel service to post... But yesterday, I was working on a project on our computer & lost the entire hard drive! It is so sad!

But I was on the phone with Apple for a while last night & they told me that there is hope that they can recover our data when we get home to America... which includes 2,000 pictures!!! So I am hopeful! And I am thankful for Joanna Coppedge who is letting me use her computer, since ours won't even turn on! Please pray that our hard drive can be recovered & please be patient with us as we may be slow on returning emails & updating our blog, as we will be without a computer for the next month!!!

Also, John is in Sudan with Billy & other WGM missionaries right now, so please pray for them. They attended a conference these past few days (Tuesday to Friday) called the Cush Consultation, which has been a great networking time for WGM to get connected with other organizations working in Sudan & strategize how to go forward in our ministry there. Tomorrow, they start pastor training with our pastors in Sudan, and then they will return home on Sunday night! Joanna & I sure are missing them! Please pray that God continues to make their time in Sudan fruitful & that He brings them home safely to us!

Food for Thought~
Yesterday, as I was wanting to just get frustrated & upset with the whole computer situation... I was quickly distracted by the fact that I had no distractions... This week was going to be a week that I got some projects done on our computer in preparation to come home (like making DVD's for our speaking engagements), so I didn't have too much else planned... So in an instant, I went from being stressed out about getting everything done to realizing I had nothing to do! I had no computer, no TV, no Ipod, no company, and no John :-( ... But I realized that in that moment, I could either get upset that I had nothing to do or be thankful that I had no distractions. And I decided to be thankful~ I mean, what a blessing that I could just have some extra time with Jesus these next few days or get some reading done or be more welcoming to our visitors at our door because I'm not pressed to do anything else.

I feel like God is preparing me to come home even in this & reminding me that life easily gets too busy (especially in America!), and we have to guard our days & our time with Him. I know this will be a challenge for us to not get too busy when we come home to America, and I want to make an intentional effort to never be too busy for Jesus. And I challenge you to do the same in your busy life, today, tomorrow, every day this week & forever!

Our First Goodbyes

Rinehimers & Coppedges with our Pastors in Training in Nebbi

As many of you may know, John & I will be leaving Uganda soon! Our commitment here with WGM has been fulfilled as of November, and we will be heading home! We have always felt that God was asking us to come just for these two years. We have been seeking His guidance & direction for our future ever since we got here it seems, and we continue to feel that He is still leading us back home. So we will be returning to the States on November 8!

This past weekend began our goodbyes, as our pastors in Nebbi threw a going away party, Ugandan style, for us! It was so humbling & special! As soon as we told our pastors we were leaving, the first thing they thought of was giving us a party! And a party it was! We left our house with the Coppedges at about 9 am & got home around 5 pm! That is very African~ it isn’t a party unless it lasts 6 hours or more! And I even got a chance to finally wear my traditional Ugandan dress I had made in the market here!

Our 10 pastors in training represent 8 churches in the Nebbi area, and they had representatives from all 8 congregations come to the party! This is huge, because it takes some of them all day just to get there~ so many of them traveled on Thursday to be there on Friday just to honor us… so incredibly humbling! And they gave so extravagantly! We had no idea they’d be giving us even one gift, but each church presented us with a special gift in a special way~ they all lined up & danced their way to us in the front to give us their gift! It was so sweet! Erica is pictured right with Joyce, our only female pastor in training, who gave her a matching hat! And John is pictured right with the Ugandan warrior wood carving~ when the pastors presented this gift to him, they said he gets a hunter, because John is a hunter for Jesus! Precious, isn't it! John preached a sermon as well, challenging them to not miss Jesus in their daily lives, and they had lunch for us and singing too. It is a day that John & I will always remember.

We are so thankful for these pastors & churches that God has placed in ours & the Coppedges’ lives over these past 2 years. And we continue to be amazed at the extravagant love & generosity of our precious friends here in Uganda! We really are so blessed!

Partnering with Pastors

We have made so many great memories while in Africa that it would be impossible to try and list them, let alone rank them, in any kind of order. One of my most recent favorite memories happened just this past Friday & Saturday at pastor training. Two friends of ours from Kampala, James & Kennedy (pictured above with Erica & I) were able to travel up to Arua & help us teach in our most recent pastor training in Nebbi, Uganda. James & Kennedy pastor two of the Africa Gospel Churches in Kampala that World Gospel Mission partners with. Pastor James is a senior pastor and also oversees all of the pastoral training centers around Uganda. Pastor Kennedy planted a church inside of a Muslim University and has nearly 1,000 students and faculty worshiping at the church. These are two guys who really love Jesus and are making a significant difference in the lives of all they come in contact with.

Having James & Kennedy around was such a blessing because they are just so genuine & authentic. It doesn't take very long before one can tell there is something different about these guys, and the difference is Jesus. They are also two of the funniest guys around and having them in our home was truly a blessing. James & Kennedy really carried the major load of the teaching during this training because of the subject matter. Part of our system for teaching is not just teaching all of the lessons ourselves, but doing our best to schedule the best teachers for whatever topics we are covering. In case you were wondering what topics I had these guys teach, it was: "Angels, Demons, Evil Spirits, Witchcraft & Deliverance Ministries." You may find this hard to believe, but we don't have a lot of experience in these areas, and somehow throughout my seminary experience there was never a course offered on casting out demons! This is such foreign material to us as Americans; so we decided the best thing to do would be to use our extended network of AGC pastors and have them come and teach since they are well trained academically and have so much life experience as well.

The Nebbi pastors loved James & Kennedy and the Biblical teaching they brought. They confronted many of the myths that are prevalent in this culture and contrary to a Biblical world view. They reinforced that the Bible needs to be the main source that guides the way we think, the way we live our daily lives and what we base all our decisions on. You would not believe half of the stories and experiences that Kennedy & James have had and how they have seen God move in miraculous ways. They even said, "Bible college never taught us this, we just had to study the Word of God and learn through experience."

This truly was one of the best experiences that I have had while in Uganda, because there was a true sense of interdependency, teamwork and commitment to equip these pastors. Erica and I felt so blessed to have James & Kennedy with us to teach these culturally sensitive lessons, help us to understand how to relate further to this culture, and just have fun serving Jesus with our African brothers. This was a great reminder of how the Body of Christ works together to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

A Heart Full of Gratitude!

Last week while the team from NJ was here, Joanna led a devotion on gratefulness and challenged us to stop and be thankful to God for every little gift He has given us. And I couldn't stop thinking about how much time I have spent in prayer asking God for certain things just over the past couple months, and how He has answered so many of those prayers. Yet I have only said "thank you" to Him maybe once or twice... So today, I just wanted to take time to thank God for all He has done for us and to challenge you to ask yourself, "Have I spent as much time thanking God as I have spent asking Him for my needs?"

The most recent thing that we are thankful for is the team that just came from NJ (pictured right). They were just so awesome & such an incredible blessing to us & our friends here in Uganda! And it was so amazing for John to have time with one of his dearest friends, mentors, & also his pastor when he was young, John DiGiamberardino (pictured below). And as if their presence wasn't a blessing enough to us, they also brought a very generous gift from an anonymous member of the church who just wanted to bless us! So since we can't thank that person properly, as we don't know who they are, we would like to use this blog to say THANK YOU!!! We hope you read our blog! (The team left on Wednesday and got home safely by the way.)

God has also answered our many prayers for the funding of the new engine for our vehicle! It is almost fully paid for! Many of you have given so generously, and we are SO incredibly grateful! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And some of you may remember the entry I wrote last year about a little girl named Alice. (It's in the May 2007 archives to the right if you want to check it out) Alice holds a very special place in my heart. Since the first time I met her, I felt a bond with her. She was the saddest little girl I have ever seen when I first met her. Some people said it was because her parents abused or neglected her, some said it was because she was sick, and some said it was because she didn't receive enough love from home. I still don't know why she used to be so sad, but I took a special interest in this little angel over the past year~ taking her to the doctor when she was sick and just holding her & loving on her every chance I got. And if you could only see Alice today~ she has gone from a completely unresponsive child (pictured above in May, 2007) to a little girl who smiles, laughs, sings, plays & responds to people who show her love (pictured right last week with her little sister)! I'm not saying that I am the one who made a difference in her life... I know it had to be Jesus. And I am so thankful for the new life that He is able to give even to a 3 year old little girl!

And finally, we are just SO incredibly thankful for the little life I'm carrying right now! We prayed over the decision of when to start trying to have a family for months before we actually tried, and we truly feel that this is God's perfect timing. And He has confirmed that through so many of you & your encouraging emails! Thank you all for being so excited with us & so supportive of us! We are so grateful for each & every one of your friendships! Today, we are thankful for every one of you who is reading this blog!

Week with the Team

Last Friday we left for Nebbi with the team~ I think I can safely say that it has been an experience for them like they've never had before! But they have all been such troopers~ not complaining at all & just giving 100% to all they are involved in! We are thankful for their hard work, great attitudes & love for Jesus & our friends here in Uganda!

The team is pictured above with all of our pastors in Nebbi. Everyone on the team participated in the pastor training and helped with teaching the lessons. They were also able to help our pastors evaluate their sermons and give them advice on how to be effective in evangelism. (Tim & Kathi are pictured above left as the pastors practice their preaching & evangelism with them!) They also had a great time taking pictures of all of the children in Nebbi~ the kids get SO excited to see themselves on the screen of a digital camera! (pictured above right with Erin)

On Saturday night, we showed "The Jesus Film" on a large screen with a projector out in one of our village churches! It started with about 20 people & by 20 minutes into the movie, we looked around & there had to have been over 500 people watching this movie about Jesus!!!!!!! It was awesome! (pictured above~ sorry it's blurry because it was taken at night!)

Finally, on Sunday, we split up & attended different churches out in the villages of Nebbi. The chruch that John, Jana, Erin & myself attended was just under a tree~ no building. It always amazes me how the people here don't need anything more than a willing heart to worship God. The team has reminded us how refreshing it is to witness the simplicity of life here!

And this week, we started Vacation Bible School (VBS) out at Uganda Christian University (UCU) where I have been doing children's ministry over the past year. The team is doing great with the kids~ they've all learned a little of the language (Lugbara) to communicate with them better & the kids are SO attentive and really learning a lot from them! I am so honored to be a part of God's work here & witness all of this! Thank you for your prayers for the team & the people they are ministering to this week! We can feel them!

The NJ Team has arrived!

We just wanted to let you all know that the team from New Jersey has arrived safely in Arua! We picked them up from the airport yesterday (Wed, Aug 13) at 7:40 am and put the poor guys straight in the van for a 9 hour drive to Arua! We arrived safely last night, and we were all exhausted! But everyone got some good rest last night and woke up feeling rested & ready to go today! We go to Nebbi tomorrow for pastor training, where we will also show the Jesus Film and attend a village church. Everyone on the team has really stepped up to the plate & has volunteered to take part in training the pastors, and they will also be sharing their testimonies & teaching Sunday School in the churches! Please pray for the team & the pastor training this weekend! We get back on Sunday & will write more later! Thanks for praying!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!

We just wanted to share some very happy news with you all today!... WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!!!! I am 10 weeks along, and our baby is due on March 10! We are SO incredibly excited and thankful that God has blessed us with this AMAZING gift of life! Words can't describe how excited we are to become parents!

On Friday, we had an ultrasound & were able to see how awesome God is~
our baby is only 2.75 cm & it already looks like a baby! He has hands & feet, and if you can see in this first picture, he just found his thumb this week & has already learned how to suck his thumb! (If you look closely, you can see it in the picture!) It's incredible! And yes, this is a 3-D ultrasound! Uganda is high tech!


















And to answer a few questions... no, we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We're just calling the baby a "he" so that we don't have to call it "it!" And yes, we do want to find out, but we have to wait another month or so until we can know! And a huge blessing that I am thankful for is that I haven't had morning sickness or felt tired or anything! I feel great! And finally, we won't be coming home any earlier, for those of you who are wondering! We are planning on arriving home in Louisville, KY on November 8! Thank you all for your prayers & for being excited with us!

As for the rest of our life... Sudan went really well last weekend. Only 2 of the pastors were able to make it, but Billy & John felt like they had some good quality time with them. And the roads were super bad, but God protected them & allowed them to make it there & back safely, without a hitch! And our time with John & Beth Muehleisen, our acting field directors, was a blessing as well~ it was really great to have some good conversations with them & get to know them better!

Now, we have the team from NJ arriving this Wednesday, and we're so excited to see all that God has in store for them! Please be praying for the team's time here, and that God would use them & us over these next couple weeks! Thank you for praying!