Muslim Matrimony...

A few weeks ago when we started having car problems, we were introduced to a mechanic here in Arua town. His name is Yaser, and he's not only a mechanic, but also an aspiring politician & a public speaker. He's also Muslim, and he has quickly become a friend of ours. (Yaser is pictured left w/ John.) This past weekend, we had the privilege of being invited to his sister's wedding! It was definitely an event & an experience we will never forget!

Although we attended every event held throughout the weekend, we still do not fully understand how it all works, but I'll do my best to try & explain! It all started on Saturday night with "The Henna Ceremony." The Henna ceremony is held at the home of the bride-to-be on the eve of the wedding ceremony, and ONLY WOMEN are allowed to attend! The women all come with their hands & feet decorated with temporary tatoos made from henna. There were a few hundred women, and there was a lot of dancing, colorful dresses & beautiful faces! And then for the actual ceremony, the bride came out for just a short time, dressed with a veil covering her face, and they brought out the henna on a platter with dancing & the sister of the bride painted henna on the bride's hands. That all started at 8pm, and then around midnight we ate!

The second event was the actual marriage ceremony. It was held on Sunday afternoon at the Mosque. At this cermony, the father of the bride gave his daughter away to the groom. ONLY MEN attend this ceremony... This is so foreign to us, because not even the bride is allowed to be there! Her father represents her. And only those of Muslim faith are permitted to enter the mosque... so they set up chairs & a table just outside of the mosque for John & our friend he attended with.

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View Pernille in Africa's map Taken in a place with no name (See more photos or videos here)

After the ceremony at the mosque, the men went back to the father of the bride's home & met up with the women, but they still stay pretty separated. The bride was so beautiful! (pictured right)

My friend Vikki & I are pictured here with some new Muslim friends of ours, and Yaser's father, Gamo, is pictured with John & I. I really feel like this wedding has been a blessing to give us relationships outside of the Christian circle.








And the final event is "The Ring Ceremony," where the bride & groom finally come together & are seen together for the first time! This was held on Sunday night from about 8pm to 1am at a hall here in town, and it was again women only! Except for when the groom comes in with all of his groomsmen!!!!!! Then all of the women went crazy after going for so long without being in the presence of men! The bride was SO GORGEOUS~ she literally looked like a porcelain doll!

And finally... if you're wondering where I got my Indian attire... my friend Vikki (pictured with me above) took me to her Hindu friend's house here in Arua & we borrowed a few outfits! It really was fun dressing up & just showing these new friends that we really care about them and want to know more about their culture & their religion. We want them to know that we really are trying to identify with them and that we are expressing a genuine interest in their lives. Please pray with us as we step into "uncharted territory" for us, and we try to reach out to those of a totally different faith. Please pray they would see Jesus in us, and it would make them want to know Him!

Trouble on the Trail

Wednesday was a train wreck of a day... not literally... just what I call a classic day in Uganda. Recently we went through a lot of effort and money getting both our car and the Coppedges' car repaired. Our car had recently returned from the mechanic here in Arua, but the Coppedges' vehicle was still having some problems. They were needing to travel to Kampala (an 8 hour journey), so the obvious choice was for them to borrow our car. The next morning they departed, and about 1 hour into their trip, they called to tell me that our car's engine had just suddenly died. So I called some good German missionary friends of mine to join me on the rescue team. On the way to "rescue" the Coppedges and Stan & Katy Key (Billy's uncle & aunt) , we blew out a tire! After changing the flat, we then discovered the spare had a leak in it! We limped along till we reached our broken down car. Incidentally, the car broke down just outside of Nebbi, where we hold our pastor trainings. This turned out to be a real blessing~ some of our pastors were able to come out and help us. They took us to a "local" tire repair place in Nebbi town. This process took several hours, and then we towed the car back to Arua, which took another couple hours. So now we are at a place where we have to wait and see. Sunday a real mechanic will come up to Arua and tell us the extent of the damage... which I think is code for "your engine is ruined". Honestly this was a long day, but we are all so thankful to be safe. It could have been a lot worse, and we trust God to see how He will work all of this out. And what a "God-incidence" that this all happened just a few miles from our friends in Nebbi! Jesus always takes care of us, and we are so thankful!

PASTOR TRAINING UPDATE
Pastor training continues to go well. We are continually challenged with whether or not our teaching is really being retained. So we have begun to make more of an effort to make our trainings more interactive. This past training I was to teach on leading a church service. Instead of just lecturing for 1 hour I decided to write up three different stereotypical church services in Uganda and have the pastors act out the services. It took a little explaining at first, but they caught on and it was both fun & educational. I think this is a more culturally acceptable way of teaching and a style that really helps them not just learn the "right" answers, but apply what they are learning. We are trusting Jesus for more ideas like this for future trainings.

Rested & Ready to Go Again!!!

Hi there friends and family!! You might be wondering why we have not posted in a while. The reason is Jesus provided us with a wonderful vacation to Cape Town, South Africa. For those of you who do not know, after living in a cross-cultural environment continuously for 6 months or more you desperately need to take a break in order to continue to be effective in your ministry. We had heard Cape Town was so beautiful and modern, so we figured "when will we ever be this close to South Africa again in our lives?" This was a wonderful opportunity for us to get rested up and recharged before we head into a very full summer of mission teams coming from May to September, as well as continue the regular ministry of training pastors in Nebbi, Uganda and Yei, Southern Sudan.

South Africa is a very advanced country compared to many other countries in Africa. It was almost like being in America at some points. They have paved roads, traffic lights, beautiful shopping malls, full size supermarkets, water you can drink from the tap without getting sick, awesome restaurants, great seafood, mint chocolate chip ice cream, and you can even get KFC & McDonalds! (I realize these may sound like normal things to you, but after living in Uganda for a year and a half, these were real luxuries to us!)

Cape Town is actually considered 1 of the top 10 most beautiful cities in the world. We were able to drive all over the peninsula and see the Cape of Good Hope, African penguins, Table Mountain, an awesome aquarium, and we even went to the most southern tip of the continent of Africa, where the Atlantic & Indian Ocean meet! And we stayed in a wonderful bed & breakfast that was perfect for our budget too.

On Easter Sunday we went to a local South African church and had a wonderful time of worship. At the end of the service I went up to thank the guest preacher (from England) for his message. As I was thanking him, he invited Erica and I to have some coffee with him. He and his friends then asked us about our work in Uganda and wanted to hear all about it over lunch. After lunch they invited us to dinner. It really seemed like this whole day was a God-incidence just the way we all connected and how warm and kind they were to us. So at the end the night our new friend Glynn (the pastor from England) insisted that we should stay a few extra days with his friends there in Cape Town for free. He said that we really needed to rest and seek God's face before we headed back up to Uganda to continue the ministry. So the next day he called and arranged it so we had a place to stay for free.

We ended up making great friends with these guys and really felt blessed by our new South African friends. They were so eager to show us around Cape Town and get a real experience. They took us to a Cricket match, threw us a real BBQ (called a Braai) while watching Rugby (a real man's game as they say), and took us to where the locals go to the beach. Our new friends, (Andre, Leanne, & Maggie~ pictured above) really demonstrated and showed us the love of Christ and made us feel like we fit in. Once again Jesus was so gracious to us and gave us such a wonderful vacation full of rest, fun, unforgettable memories and new friends.
And to be honest with you, there is a part of us that feels guilty for going on vacation, when we're supposed to be missionaries, living in Uganda... But we can truly say we needed this break from our life in Arua. And now we really feel refreshed & ready to get back to work here in Uganda! We are so thankful to the Lord for providing for us in such an extraordinary way!