Facebook Us! ;-)

2009-07-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, our blog entries have not been as frequent as they once were! This is mainly because our primary purpose for starting a blog was to keep family, friends, & supporters up to date on our ministry in Uganda. Now that we are home in America, it seems that the only thing we have to share with you of interest is our baby boy Jackson! And we realize that you may not get as excited as we do at seeing pictures of the same baby over & over again!

So... we may still be updating the blog occasionally, but our main source of online communication will now be Facebook! I have not yet broken down & opened a Facebook account, but John has! So if you aren't his friend already, and you'd like to stay in touch with us this way, then please send him a friend request! And for now, here are a few new pictures of Jackson! Hope you enjoy!

Our baby is SO advanced, he can already read at just 3 1/2 months old! Just kidding... he just learned how to hold a book on his own though!

Just hanging out with mom! Doesn't he look like a little man?!?! :-)

Jackson's with the Boys @ his First Baseball Game~
the River Bats @ the Louisville Slugger Field
We love spending time with our family!
Tenth Avenue North Concert in Louisville, KY at the Louisville Slugger Field~ They were here last weekend, and were kind enough to make some time to hang out with us & go out to dinner after the concert! Mike, Jason, Scott & Jeff really are all such great guys, and we always enjoy our time with them! And we like hanging out with their wives too while they play!Super Baby!
Happy Baby!
And one last picture just to give you a laugh!

God is SO good!!!

2009-06-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering why I'm SO happy today....Well, it's because MY DADDY GOT A JOB YESTERDAY!!! He is the new Small Groups Director for Young Couples at Southeast Christian Church, here in Louisville, KY!!!For the past several months, my mommy & daddy & myself have been wondering what God had in store for us here in America... Since my daddy didn't get the first job he prayed about with Southeast, we were a little confused as to what God was doing... But we knew that the Lord just must have another plan... And we learned A LOT about waiting on God and drawing nearer to Him in times of uncertainty...
We trusted that God was in control & that He knows what He's doing... And now we see what God was doing... He was giving my mommy & daddy time to just be with me & each other as they transitioned into this next chapter of their lives as parents! He was waiting for His perfect timing to give daddy the perfect job for him! And now that Daddy has not only a job, but one that he feels called to & passionate about, we are all 3 just so thankful & excited! We can't stop smiling & thanking Jesus!GOD IS SOOOO GOOD! And we knew all along that HE IS FAITHFUL and that He would have something GREAT in store for us! And today, we are just SO THANKFUL to God for providing this job, which is a PERFECT FIT for John & for us as a family! We are so excited to see how God will use us in this new ministry and chapter of our lives!

Oh, and by the way, John had a wonderful First Father's Day too! It was very special & very fun! Jackson and I are so grateful to Jesus for giving us such an AMAZING husband & daddy! We are truly blessed to have him in our lives! And of course, we are so thankful for the AWESOME Heavenly Father we have as well! We have a lot to thank Him for today!

Graduation & Appreciation

2009-05-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were thankful to be home in America to celebrate times like these... On Saturday, we attended two graduations. Many of our friends graduated from Asbury College on Saturday, including Teresa & Tiana Duncan (pictured right), Joanna Ury Pittman (pictured below) , & Elizabeth Key. It was so good to get to be there with them for this special day and see so many friends from Asbury & from Africa!
And then we left straight from Asbury's graduation to see Erica's stepbrother, Landon, graduate from University of Kentucky! We are so proud of him & so thankful we were able to be there to witness this milestone in his life!

And finally, yesterday we had the blessing of being home in America on Mother's Day. As my first Mother's Day, it was very special to be able to spend it with my own mom & grandmother! (Pictured right with my mom, sister, & Granny) And I must say, John did very good at making it special for me~ he's such an amazing husband & daddy, and I am so thankful for him! And even though we couldn't be in New Jersey with John's mom, we were able to talk on Skype with them & use their new web cam for the first time, & it felt like we were right there with them, so that was fun!

I am so thankful for the gift God has given me this year of being a mother! Jackson is such a blessing to us, and having him in our life really is teaching us more about how God's love for us is so unconditional & SO huge for us! I am reminded of one of my favorite verses when I think of how much I love Jackson & how much Jesus loves each one of us!...

Ephesians 3: 18, 19~
¹⁸ And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. ¹⁹ May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

In Awe & Awaiting

2009-04-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Jackson is 3 weeks old now, and we're learning how to live on a lot less sleep & plan our life around our new member of our family! We truly do LOVE being parents & we ADORE Jackson! We find ourselves just staring at him & constantly saying, "I can't believe he's ours!" We can't help but look at him & think of how amazing God is to create life! We are so thankful for this healthy baby boy!

He already has so many people who love him so much! I can already see that we're going to have to be careful not to spoil him! Among the many who love Jackson are my (Erica's) brother & sister, Uncle Ryan & Aunt Ashley (pictured below) & John's parents (pictured right) who just came to visit us from New Jersey for a week. It truly was a blessing having them here! They took such good care of us & spoiled us just as much as Jackson!

I have to say, I think one of my favorite parts of all of this so far is watching John become a father. He is such an incredible daddy & does SO well with Jackson!

And finally, for those of you who are still wondering what's going on with our job situation... John is substitute teaching right now in order to bring in a little money while he continues to look for work. There have been many prospects & John is doing so good at networking & meeting with people to just put his name out there & look for potential opportunities. But we continue to wait on God & trust in Him to provide for our needs now & a job hopefully in the very near future! He hasn't let us down yet, and we know we can hold on to the promise that there is... "More Faithfulness Ahead!"

2009-03-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Jackson Thomas Rinehimer
Born March 25th in Louisville, KY
9lbs 8oz 22 inches
He's finally here!!! Meet the newest member of our family... Both he & Erica are doing very well. We praise the Lord for this precious gift. Here are a few pictures of our new son:)

Still Waiting...

2009-03-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

Waiting seems to be the them of our life so far back in America... As most of you know, we have been waiting on God to provide the perfect job for John in His perfect timing for many months now. And our baby boy was due 2 days ago (on March 10th), but there is still no sign that he's ready to come! We were ready for him to be late, as we know most first babies are... but still, we are anxiously anticipating what day he will come! (Many of you have asked to see a picture of my pregnant tummy, so here you go~ this one was taken on my due date, March 10th)

In the meantime, we are thankful that God has provided work for John as he is substitute teaching at Christian Academy of Louisville while he looks for what career God has next for him. And I am SO thankful to God for the ways He has provided through so many family & friends for us to feel ready for our baby to arrive! Especially through my mom, who has made it possible for us to have the nursery ready! I know we don't "need" all of these things... especially after living where we've lived the past two years of our lives... but it sure does make me feel nested & ready to be a mommy! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get ready for our baby boy!

"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act." ~ Psalm 37:7

Holding on ... !!!

2009-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Have you ever felt like this guy pictured to the left?... Hanging on & not sure of what God has planned next. We all have times in our lives like this where we wonder ... "Where is God in all of this?" Romans 5:3-5 tells us ... There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (the Message Bible).

We have been feeling a lot like this guy pictured above... holding on & not sure what the next step is that God wants us to take. Last week, we heard from Southeast Christian Church about John's job, and they actually ended up choosing someone else. We were so shocked & totally surprised when we got the phone call. We truly couldn't believe it... that we've waited this long (5 months) to hear & go through this process & now this is the outcome. But we truly do trust in Jesus, and we know He has something else planned for John. Although, it is overwhelming to say the least, with a baby due in just 1 week & no jobs yet; we are holding on to Jesus & know that there is more of His Faithfulness up ahead. It is actually so encouraging in our relationship with the Lord to experience first hand that we really do trust in Jesus more than a job.

Our good friend at Southeast Christian Church, Michael, who was involved in the entire interview process, was so encouraging to John. He told him that it came down to John & this one other guy... and out of 55 people, for a position this big, I think that is quite an accomplishment in itself that they considered John so seriously & it took them a whole week to decide. Especially since this other guy is 10 years older with 16 years of missions experience & has been working in a similar job already for some time! Tough competition! They said that it just basically came down to age & life experience when they were comparing him & John, and that was the ONLY thing that kept John from getting it. Which we totally understand. It's a big deal to oversee a multi- million dollar budget with limited experience in that area. But I am still just so proud of John & how far he made it & how much he impressed everyone involved in the interview process. Michael told John that he wishes he would have had a tape recorder when they debriefed after John's interview so that he could hear how highly everyone spoke of him, calling him a rising star & that for just turning 30 he has a ton of life experience. And he said that once they came to the final decision, everyone said that if another position opens up, John will be the first person they call.

So... anyways, we just wanted to thank you all for your FAITHFUL prayers for us over this whole process and let you know how much we appreciate each of you. We have no idea what the next step is for us... For now we will just keep trusting in God to provide & pray that He opens our eyes to see whatever He has for us next! We love you guys and appreciate you & your friendship more than you know!

Jesus also encouraged us with Psalm 32:8~ "I will instruct you & teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you & watch over you"

Love you guys & we'll let you know when the baby arrives!!!:)

Ski Retreat & Birthday Bowl!

2009-02-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend, John had the opportunity to be the speaker for the WGM/ Asbury Ski Retreat at Perfect North in Indiana. He was able to share with over 100 college students from Asbury & Indiana Wesleyan University about where God may be leading them in their lives & where God is calling them after college. John has always had a heart for college age ministry, so this was a sweet time for him and hopefully a challenging and insightful time for the students as well!

And yesterday we finally got to celebrate John's 30th Birthday with a real Superbowl/ Birthday Party! A bunch of our friends came to our house from Lexington (5 of whom had come on a trip to Uganda together while we were there!) and of course our friends & family from here were there too! It was such a blessing to have electricity for the party... since we woke up yesterday and ONCE AGAIN DID NOT HAVE ELECTRICITY!!! It was only out for a few hours this time though, thank God! I was so thankful that the power came back on!

The Past Couple Months...

2009-01-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Dec 20- Jan 12: Spending Time with Family in New Jersey~
It has been so good to be home again with family & friends in America! John's family was so good to us while we were in New Jersey... They took good care of us & even threw us a Baby Shower! And we got to spend New Year's Eve with his extended family who we hadn't seen in 2 1/2 years! Dec 20- Jan 12: Visiting Friends & Supporters in New Jersey~
While in New Jersey, we also spoke at 7 different churches and got a chance to thank those that supported us during our time in Uganda & give them a report of our past 2 years there. (Pictured Below- Brick UMC with JD, Jana, Tim & Kathi~ all 4 of these friends came on a short term trip to Uganda while we were there, so it was so good to see them again!)

Jan 24: Tenth Avenue North in Louisville, KY~
Many of you may have heard of them... They have been around for a long time now, but they've recently become pretty well-known! Their newly released single is "By Your Side," and it is amazing! They came to Louisville to do a conference last week, so we got to go with our friends Sarah & Glenn & hear them sing! We know them from Delanco Camp in NJ, so it was really good to see them again!

Last Week: Updated Prego Pics of Erica~
The first one was taken in October when I was only 4 months pregnant, and the second one was taken just last week, when I was 7 1/2 months! Only 6 more weeks to go now!!!

Jan 28: John Turned 30!!!
Despite the fact that we woke up to no power & an ice & snow storm in KY on John's birthday, he still had a great day! He did shovel 7 driveways over his birthday & the next day, but we still managed to have a birthday dinner, cake & presents that night... thanks to the fact that my parents' house had electricity & we've been staying with them! John is so precious & always has an AMAZING attitude! I am SO thankful for his life & that God has blessed me with such an amazing husband!

This Week in KY: ICE & SNOW STORM IN KENTUCKY!
When we woke up on John's birthday to no power in 20 degree weather, I have to say, a part of us wished we were back in Arua with our solar panels & the warm sun! It has been crazy here... with 600,000 people in KY without power. But it is getting better! We just got our electricity back today (Jan. 30)~ Yeah!!! And we are thankful that my parent's house has had electricy & we've been able to stay with them. Please pray for the MANY people here who are still without power in this freezing weather! They're still expecting it to take another week before everyone has power again.

Feb. 3: John will have his FINAL INTERVIEW at our church here in Louisville for the job in the Missions Department!
Please be in prayer for John extra on this day! Please pray that God's will be done in this situation. We only want God's best for both the church and for us. We know that if John doesn't get this job, then the Lord has something even better in store for him that we don't even know about yet... And we are trusting in Him & waiting on Him in this process. We will not find out if John gets the job or not until the week of Feb. 16th. Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers~ please continue to pray that God will give us confidence in Him to provide for our needs & peace that He is in control as we wait to hear about this job & wait for our baby to arrive... all within 2 weeks of each other.

2008-12-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-11-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-10-25T04:57:00.003-07:00

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

2008-10-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-14T01:29:00.000-07:00

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 :-(

2008-10-10T02:11:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T02:08:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-29T00:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-08-10T22:08:00.000-07:00

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!

Month in Review...

2008-07-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there everyone!!! You may be wondering why we haven't posted in a whole month ... well between being busy & our poor internet connection, it seems the odds have been stacked against us.

So... let me catch you up on what has been happening. First of all, so many of you have been praying for, giving towards and asking about our car situation. PRAISE THE LORD! Our car has been repaired & is almost paid for too!!!! Thank you so much to all of you who have prayed for this situation & given as well! While we were down in Kampala for a field meeting we were also able to test drive our car out to Mbale, Uganda (Eastern Uganda on the boarder of Kenya) for our annual field retreat (WGM Uganda team pictured left). This year we had Michael & Angela Kelley's parents come and be the retreat speakers & I (John) was also given the privilege of leading the music for the retreat.
While in Mbale, we were also able to visit our Compassion child (Emmanuel pictured left) who we have sponsored for more than 6 years now. It was an amazing trip and real blessing to meet him, his family and even his teacher. We praise God for his commitment to Christ & for the joyous time we had making this once in a life time dream come true!
We have also been having lots of visitors with more on the way, which we love!!! Our good friend Kristen Fogg (friend from NJ:), & Sarah Knowlton (college student from Richmond, VA) have been living in Arua this past month. They have been a blessing & have been able to assist with various children's ministries, Bible studies, pastor training & encouraging the Arua team too. Most recently I took Nick Strong (works with WGM in Kampala), Sarah & Kristen (all pictured left) to visit Gulu, Northern Uganda so that they could visit our friends at Invisible Children & see one of the schools that Sarah helped raise funds for. We were also able to look at Gulu and see the huge needs of this town and how someday WGM may possibly work there. From there we went on to Nebbi, where we met up with Billy & Joanna & her parents who came to visit. We were all able to participate in the training so that all of our visitors could see a pastor training in action. Nick & I then left the training because I had to take him to catch his plane back to Kampala.

Another part of our life here in Arua is making friends, not only with Africans, but also with others who are doing some type of aid or relief work. My friend Jonathan is a doctor from Australia, but born in Hong Kong and works with an agency who travels all over the Arua district teaching about AIDS prevention. He really became a good friend and frequently would come over our house for volleyball & soccer. Another part of our life in Arua is saying good bye to people, like Jonathan (pictured above)

Also this past week I had the privilege of preaching in the chapel service at Uganda Christian University. Like so many times when you prepare to teach others about something, Jesus seems to teach you more. And I learned a lot while I was preparing to preach this sermon ... my topic was praying in the Spirit on all occasions. It was a blessed time and the Lord really helped me as I did my best to faithfully preach His Word to my Ugandan brothers & sisters. (pictured left are our friends from UCU, Joanna's dad Blake Neff & Billy) Thank you all so much for your continued support and faithful prayers for the ministry here in Uganda.

Finally, some of you may know that Erica & I only have a few months left here in Arua! We will be arriving home this November! Please pray that we would finish strong and stay focused on what God has called us to do here, as we are also trying to network and seek God's direction for our future jobs. Please pray that God will reveal His will and His plan for us and for our transition to life back in the US. We appreciate your prayers!

Our Upcoming Schedule
August 1st-3rd ~ travel to Yei, Southern Sudan for Pastor Training
August 1st-8th ~ visit from John & Beth Muelhisein (acting field director)
August 11th ~ travel down to Kampala to pick up mission team
August 13th-27th ~ NJ missions team from Brick UMC with good friend JD
August 15th-17th ~ Pastor Training with the NJ team in Nebbi, UG
August 16th ~ Showing the Jesus film in Nebbi
August 27th ~ Travel back to Kampala to take NJ team to airport

Work & Play

2008-06-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Today (June 29) Billy, John & Erica just got home from our first visit to Torit, Southern Sudan. Our main purpose was to meet Emmanuel, one of the 5 men in Sudan who have been receiving pastoral training. Up until now, we had only known about Emmanuel through our main contact, John Onek (who comes to Arua for training & then goes back to Sudan to train these other 4 men~ John Onek & Emmanuel are pictured right).

In our time with him, we learned that Emmanuel accepted Christ just 6 months ago... So we talked with God, each other & John Onek and really felt like he needs one on one discipleship & basic Biblical teaching before he can be trained as a pastor. At first, this seemed like an overwhelming task to us as Emmanuel lives SO far from us... But God is SO much bigger than us!... Our two missionary friends, Matt & Kyle, who were kind enough to open their home up to us in Torit also volunteered to disciple Emmanuel for the next few months! And then in January, Emmanuel will be moving to ARUA to go to school, so Billy will be able to continue discipling him! God really is amazing!

We also got time to meet with 2 of the other pastors in Sudan, Samuel & Joseph and do some training with them. Please pray with us as we discern God’s plan for WGM pastoral training in Sudan. We are discovering that Sudan is a whole different ballgame, and we have a lot to learn! Southern Sudan is SO different from Uganda. To paint you a picture~ our friends Matt & Kyle are the only 2 missionaries in the town of Torit right now... there are no paved streets, very few permanent buildings (& the ones that are there are burned from the 20 years of war), only 1 bank, 1 gas station, huge trucks with very loud soilders constantly driving by, extremely poor sanitary conditions, trash everywhere, UN aid everywhere, and very much unrest. There is even one tribe that still to this day requires their men to actually kill another person in order to be considered a man. Needless to say, this is a place in great need, especially of Jesus.

On a brighter note... Torit is approximately 250 miles from Arua, which would be about a 15 hour drive!!!! So obviously, they aren’t the easiest roads to drive on… or the safest. The UN has blocked off parts of the road due to LRA (the Lord’s Resistance Army) activity recently. So… we got to travel with AIM AIR, an aviation ministry for missionaries, and we took a 6 seater Cessna 206… a very small plane… to Torit! It was an experience we’ll never forget! As we landed in Torit, the pilot had to dodge a cow, a man on a bike, and a small child playing on the dirt runway (pictured below)!

And… the pilot let all 3 of us fly the plane!!!! Don’t worry~ he’s a certified flight instructor! We are so thankful for these memorable experiences God gives us in the midst of ministry! Some people say their life is "all work & no play." But we have found that when you work with Jesus, he always throws some fun experiences in too!

New Opportunities

2008-06-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

These past couple weeks, it seems the Lord may be opening doors for new ministry opportunities for WGM Uganda. Two weeks ago (June 16-20) Billy attended a conference in Nairobi, Kenya on Chronological Bible Storying. This is something our director, John Mayo, has been excited about us looking into, so it’s exciting that Billy got the chance to attend this conference & learn more about it!

And last week, we got to attend a conference on Community Health Evangelism with all of the WGM Uganda missionaries & AGC pastoral overseers in Kampala. We aren’t sure how this will exactly look in Arua, but we definitely believe in holistic ministry… caring for the whole person, both spiritually & physically. Please pray with us as we seek the Lord's guidance on how to implement this new tool into our pastoral trainings and existing ministries.

And just for fun… here is a recent picture of precious little Elsie Jayne Coppedge taken at the conference! She is growing so much & we are all so thankful for her life!

Last week was also our last week together as the original “Arua Team”~ the Coppedges, Jeannie Banter & ourselves, since Jeannie will be leaving Uganda July 2. It was good to spend her last week in Arua with her as she finished up her many ministries (sex education to high school students, leading Bible studies, discipleship, & children’s ministries). Jeannie said her goodbyes to Arua last week. Please pray for her, as she will be moving to Nashville, TN to continue her education & get her Masters at Trevecca University.

A Very Special Team...

2008-06-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we said goodbye to the mission team from New Hope (pictured right) that was here for three weeks, which included my brother & sister, Ryan & Ashley (pictured below). This team was filled with incredible people, some of who are good friends of ours from home even~ like John Banter & Maddi & Joanna Ury! It was such an incredible blessing having them here, and I will always cherish the memories we made!

Our last entry was about the team’s first week here… A lot of their second week was spent just living life with us here in Arua~ going shopping in the local market, visiting some of our Ugandan friends’ homes, doing a scavenger hunt in Arua town & using local transportation! They also ministered to the children out at UCU once again with more Bible stories, skits, songs & games.

And on Wednesday, we all went to the high school behind our house and led an assembly (pictured below). John gave a message to a few hundred students on how to live a godly life. (if you look closely, you can see John standing up in the middle of all of the students in the picture to the right!) My brother, Ryan, also gave his testimony, and another member of the team, Amanda, performed a solo with her guitar that was really sweet.

After their 2 weeks in Arua, John & I had the privilege of taking the team on a safari to the game park~ That’s always a fun part of being a missionary here in Uganda! And on a 3 week mission trip, I think this break was really good for the team to be able to rest and reflect on what they’d just experienced, and simply enjoy God’s amazing creation! We even got to see a leopard, which is very rare in this park!

And for their final week here, the team went on to Kampala to carry out more ministry, and we were blessed to have some quality time with my brother & sister alone in Arua. It was SO amazing to have them there with me, ministering to the children I've been building relationships with over the past year, having conversations that are too difficult to have over the phone with a delay… And just to see how much they have matured and grown over the past year and a half that we’ve been apart. I am just SO proud of them!

And finally, last weekend, we all met up in Kampala… And this team was ministering up until a few hours before they got on the plane! They ALL led worship along with John at a fellowship we have for missionaries on Sunday nights, and every single person on the team shared a little of what Jesus had been teaching them on this trip. I was SO proud of them! And John & I even got to take the team to the airport to say our last goodbyes until November, when we come home! This team was truly a blessing, and we are so grateful to Jesus for bringing them to Arua! Every person on this team ministered to both us & many Ugandans in such a special way. It was so incredible to see our family and friends from home (Joanna & Maddi Ury pictured right) and get to know our new friends as well! We thank God for these special young people! And thank you for your prayers for them & their time here! We definitely felt them!

New Hope Team Update

2008-05-27T05:41:00.002-07:00

The past 7 days here with the New Hope Team have been extremely busy, to say the least! I know many family & friends of team members have been checking our blog to see how they're all doing & what they've been up to~ And I apologize for not posting a blog sooner! But they're all doing AWESOME! They have really stepped up to the plate and worked so hard and just poured their hearts out to the people of Uganda! You would be SO proud! And I think it's safe to say, that at times we have all been totally exhausted, but it's also been an extremely rewarding week for us all!

So... here's a glimpse of what we've been up to... A LOT of Children's Ministries & Vacation Bible School, Pastoral Training, "Hut to Hut" Evangelism, a showing of the Jesus Film, attending church in the village, and finally... a Sabbath!

First of all, we spent last Wednesday through Friday out at Uganda Christian University, where I've been doing Bible Club with the kids for the past year. They performed skits, taught the kids new games & new songs & just really showed these children the love of Jesus! There were about 100 kids or more that showed up every day, so that was really exciting! (We are all pictured above with the children from UCU)

And then after UCU on Friday morning, we headed straight to the small town of Nebbi, where we've been carrying out pastor training for the past year! It was definitely a village experience and a huge opportunity for ministry for the team. We went straight into pastor training as soon as we arrived in Nebbi & every single person on the team participated in training the pastors! (We are pictured to the right with the pastors & some of their wives) They taught on How to Lead Children's Ministries, How to Prepare a Bible Study, Qualities of a Good Leader, & did a Survey of the New Testament! I must say, I was SO proud of my brother, Ryan & his good friend Ryan, who taught on the New Testament together. They answered really difficult questions & had so much to offer to these pastors! And they really did it with confidence & spiritual authority! It was pretty amazing to witness my little brother leading these men!

In addition to helping with the pastor training, we did "hut to hut" evangelism & more children's ministries (pictured below to the left)~ about 200 kids showed up in Nebbi! And we also showed "The Jesus Film," which is a movie based on the life of Jesus that gives the Gospel message. We set up a huge screen on the outside of the church (pictured below to the right) & we think at least 500 people came to see this film!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing!

And it has been SOOOOO good having my brother & sister, Ryan & Ashley here! We've had some good quality time together & great conversations in the midst of the busyness. And they have done awesome here... adjusting to the culture, being willing to be stretched, participating in ministry, loving on kids & so much more! This picture to the right is of Ryan sharing his testimony with the church out in the village that we attended. And Ashley prayed for the service! It has been priceless seeing them minister to people here! Thank you to all of you who made it possible for them to be here & for the rest of the team as well! You have made an eternal investment in each one of their lives & in the lives of innumerable Ugandans! Thank you for your prayers & support! And please continue to pray for the team & we'll keep you all updated!

Smooth Travels & Sweet Reunions

2008-05-20T01:18:00.000-07:00

Imagine yourself stuffed into a small Toyota 14 passenger van, which is actually holding 18 passengers, then driving for 6 hours from Arua, Uganda to Yei, Sudan over less than favorable roads. This is the situation Billy and I found ourselves in last week with both of our vehicles being out of commission for the next few weeks. We traveled to Southern Sudan to conduct a pastor training with the 5 men Jesus has provided throughout Southern Sudan. It was quite an adventure traveling by taxi to Sudan but the Lord's faithfulness was completely evident throughout the trip. Jesus provided a place to stay, new contacts and friends, brought the pastors safely over difficult roads, gave us smooth border crossings, helped us find Billy's phone (which got lost!) and gave us a great time of fellowship and training with our pastors. We are so thankful this training actually happened despite the difficult odds to get to Sudan. Please pray for the future ministry in Sudan.

Just about 24 hours later ... Erica and I traveled down to Kampala to pick up the team from Asbury & Georgetown College (which included Erica's brother and sister, Ryan and Ashley. It was so much fun to see our family again and pack up the van and travel back up to Arua. In good ole African fashion our van had some problems right as we began to leave Kampala ... so we had to get it repaired. Again the Lord's faithfulness shown through and we were able to leave yesterday and arrive very late to Arua last night. So we are a bit tired, but the attitude of the team has been outstanding and they have already been a blessing to us. We are anticipating how God will use this team to help advance His work here in Uganda! Thanks for praying and we'll keep you posted.

Please Pray for John & Billy in Sudan

2008-05-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

John & I just got home from a leadership conference in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday, and we thank you for your prayers. It really was a great opportunity for both of us, and we are thankful that we work with an organization who values us and allowed us to go to this conference, even though we aren't technically in a leadership position. There are times here that we do carry out roles of leaders, and we look forward to being able to use what we learned there in our future! And it was great to be able to spend some time with some of the WGM Kenya missionaries, who we respect & admire very much! We had very memorable conversations & learned some valuable lessons from these experienced missionaries as well!

Today, after being home for not even 48 hours, John left for Yei, Sudan with Billy for pastoral training there!!! And with all of our car problems... there was not a vehicle for them to drive this time, so.... they took a "taxi," which is a large van that seats at least 14 people, and they'll be on pretty rough roads! They are so brave! The drive is about 6 hours from here, so they should have reached there about 2 hours ago... but we haven't quite figured out how to make phone calls between Sudan & Uganda, so Joanna & I haven't been able to be sure they've arrived safely. But I'm sure they are fine! I just ask that you would be praying for John & Billy and the 5 Sudanese pastors they will be training and discipling over these next 3 days. Please pray that God would keep them safe in their travels & work out all the details there & be in their conversations. Also, they will be meeting 3 of these pastors for the first time, so please pray for discernment for Billy & John and for them to have meaningful encounters with all of these men.

Muslim Matrimony...

2008-04-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2008-04-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2008-04-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

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!

What Does Easter Mean to You?

2008-03-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

As I (Erica) was trying to think of what to write for this Easter blog... and think about what Easter really means to me, personally, I came across Romans 6 in my reading for today in my "One Year Bible." And I don't think that it's a coincidence... but rather a "God-incidence" as my mom always says, or a "God wink."

You see, Romans 6 literally changed my life when I read it one day in 2004. It is my "life verse," as some may call it. Because when I read this passage that day, I finally saw the truth and the reality that we are all slaves to either God or Satan. There is no middle ground, no in-between. You serve one or the other. Romans 6:16 says, "Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous and holy living." And that day, I realized that the life I had been living was definitely not controlled by God, so it had to be the latter. I hadn't been fully obeying God... so who was I obeying? And that was possibly the most frightening, eye-opening, freeing realization of my life so far.

You may be thinking... what does this have to do with Easter? How is this a "God-wink" to Erica??? Well, because as I was trying to write this blog, I realized that Easter isn't as personal to me as I'd like it to be. I couldn't think of anything to write. And God had planned for me to read this passage today....

Romans 6:1-5 (NLT)

1 "Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was."

THIS is what Easter means to me... I am FREE! I am truly alive! I was once so lost, and so much under the control of sin & Satan that he had made me think I was just under the control of myself. But now I see the TRUTH! None of us ever really think of ourselves as being a slave to anything. But ask yourself this Easter season, "Who has control of my life?

Jesus died so that we can be free from sin... am I truly free or is there something in my life that has a stronger hold on me than Jesus?" There is NOTHING I want more in my life than for God to continue to be in control over it! Easter is the perfect time to remember the death of sin in our lives and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ in our lives! We cannot thank God enough for the gift of His Son, Jesus, so that we can have REAL LIFE in Him! I hope & pray that this truth becomes a reality for you this Easter, and that you experience the Presence of God and the power of the resurrection in your life as you discover what Easter means personally to you.

Good News

2008-03-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

First of all, we would like to update you on the situation in Kenya. We received very good news last week! As most of you may have heard by now, President Kibaki and Opposition Leader Mr. Raila Odinga signed a deal that will see them share power through the creation of a Prime Minister position in Kenya. People are happy that they have agreed to work together, but people are wondering too if it will really work once they begin the new position. Please continue to pray that God will do His work in peoples' hearts and in this land that needs so much healing.

For us, these past few weeks have been full of activity, ministry and sharing the Good News with many. As Christians, whether in Africa, America or New Zealand we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are thankful for how God continues to open doors for us to minister all over Northern Uganda and beyond.

One of the surprising places the Lord has opened for us to minister is at Uganda Christian University. Erica has been able to teach the children of the students there on a weekly basis and because of this relationship they asked me to come and preach in their chapel service last week. It was a real privilege to be able to speak to this group of university students who want to grow in their walk with God and trust Him for their future plans.

A few days later we were off to Gulu, Northern Uganda for a follow up survey trip to continue to explore the opportunity of ministry there. Billy, Mark and I drove in from Arua and were able to meet Jonathan (our field director) and Rick and Janie Burkhalter (our pastors to the missionaries) from Kampala. It was a short trip but we were able to see many different ministries in Gulu and were able to spend time with our Ugandan friend, Pastor Chris. We were able to attend his Wednesday night church service and preach the Word to a small fellowship. Rick and Janie came back to Arua with us to encourage us and also help with the pastor training in Nebbi a few days later. We are so thankful for their ministry to us. As missionaries, having someone come all of the way to Africa just to encourage, counsel, and love on us is an amazing gift! We have really enjoyed having them with us this past week! (Rick & Janie Burkhalter, John, Mark, Jon Mayo, & Billy pictured above)

Also for the past two weeks, Billy, Joanna and baby Elsie Jayne have been staying with us since their house is having some work done on it. They found out a few weeks ago that termites were eating not only their roof away, but the beams that support the roof too. In Uganda, the construction is a bit different from back home to say the least. The workers had to not only replace the wood beams of the roof, but had to destroy the concrete ceiling all over their house to get to the wood that needed to be replaced. It has been a real messy process, but the workers are about finished and it looks and is a lot safer house to live in now! The Coppedge family moved back into their home today, but we truly enjoyed having them in our home these past two weeks!

Another part of living here in Arua, Uganda is the fact that we have had very little water at our house since January, due to the crisis in Kenya hindering the water company's supply of fuel, which is necessary to pump the water to the town. Apart from praying for water to come to the house every day, a regular part of our routine has been going to get water from the water company. So every few days when our water is getting low, we head over and fill our 15 jugs, that hold 20 liters each and then bring those back to dump into our 5,000 liter water tank. Thankfully, water has come the last three nights~ we are so thankful!

God continues to bless the pastor training in Nebbi and it was wonderful having Pastor Rick along with Billy, Mark & myself to continue giving these pastors practical Biblical training. These pastors always ask great questions and we can really see in them the hunger to know God more and to communicate that passion to their congregations. Thank you for your continued prayers for the work that God is doing and that we get to help out with. (Pastors Cosmas, Billy, David, John, Benson pictured left)

Keeping Perspective ...

2008-02-22T00:33:00.000-08:00

As the saying goes, "the grass always looks greener on the other side." This saying is meant to help you keep perspective. Our perspective has been challenged after returning safely from a great survey trip to Yei, Southern Sudan. There is no grass in Yei, just dirt and dust and we found ourselves saying, "Arua is not looking so bad now." The people of Yei and Southern Sudan have lived in a war-torn country up until about a year ago when a peace treaty was signed between (tank pictured left) the North and South. And that peace may sustain, but then there is an election in 2011, which will very possibly bring more turmoil. As you look at the faces of the people of Yei, you can physically see the pain, anguish, sorrow & hatred on their faces. This is a place that is ripe for the harvest.

This is why we are so excited that Jesus is opening the door for WGM to enter Southern Sudan to train pastors and get involved with Community Health. We were blessed to meet up with fellow WGM missionary & Samaritan's Purse worker Joy Phillips (and NJ native), Terry & Karen Duncan (WGM Africa Regional Director), Jonathan Mayo (WGM Uganda Field Director) & our good Asbury College friend Brent Duncan (who currently is working for Samaritans Purse). (All pictured left) Jesus really worked out our schedule so that we could all meet together and talk about the future of continuing work in Southern Sudan. Joy Phillips has worked up in Sudan for a few years now and we are privileged to hopefully be able to work together and learn from her experience there.

We were also able to meet with John Onek, (pictured left with the team) who has been going through the pastor training with us and then going back to Sudan and training four other pastors. After meeting together with him, we all felt like we should continue to move ahead and open a pastor training site in Southern Sudan some time in April! We are so excited to see how the hand of God is making a way for us where there seems to be no way. Even if the road to Yei is rough, we know God is with us.

Another Successful Pastor Training!

2008-02-12T23:56:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had yet another successful pastor training in Nebbi! The guys asked great questions as usual and were very attentive and eager to learn! And they are really taking this training seriously... they all even turned in their homework that we had assigned them last month, which we weren't really sure would happen!

And it was so great to have Billy Coppedge back! And the 2 future WGM Arua missionaries, Michael & Brenda Guilliam, were in for a visit to see Arua, and they were also able to help out with the training! I was thankful for all of the extra help with this training, as I was able to stay home & get some paperwork done, as well as have some quality time with Joanna & Elsie Jayne! Thank you for praying for the training, and for us!

And after the training, the boys (John, Billy & Mark) were kind enough to pick up some charcoal for some of our friends here in Arua. (It's a lot less expensive out in the villages than it is here in town). I just thought this picture was fun of them after they had taken about 200 pounds down from being tied to the top of our car!

Please Pray for our Trip to Yei, Sudan this weekend!

This Saturday, Feb. 16, we will leave for our trip to Yei, a town in Southern Sudan to meet all of the pastors that have been trained under John Onek, who has been coming to us every month in Arua for training. (For more details, see our previous blog entry). This will be our first trip to Sudan, so we are really excited to see what opportunities God may have for us there! Yei is only about 93 miles from Arua, but it takes 5 hours, because the roads are so bad! So please pray for us as we travel this weekend & see what God may have in store for the future of AGC in Sudan! We return on Tuesday, Feb. 19, so we'll update the blog about our trip when we get back! Thanks for praying!

Coppedges are Back in Arua!

2008-02-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry we are a little late in writing this entry... But we are so happy to tell you that Billy & Joanna Coppedge arrived in Arua on Friday, Feb. 1, with their new precious baby, Elsie Jayne! We are SO excited to have them back here in Arua with us! And I (Erica), personally, am LOVING having Elsie here!!! We are pictured to the right with the Coppedges, Simon, & our new WGM volunteer, Mark Landerholm.

Please pray for our Arua team this weekend & this coming week... We have our 2nd official pastor training in Nebbi tomorrow & Saturday (Feb. 8 & 9). Then we are leaving for a trip to Sudan next Friday, Feb. 15. It will be John & I, Billy, Jon Mayo (our field director), Terry & Karen Duncan (our regional director) and our new volunteer, Mark. The purpose of our trip is to visit the pastors that are being trained there. Up until now these men have been trained by John Onek, who has been traveling to Arua each month to be trained by us. It will be so good for us to finally meet these other pastors, encourage them, see where they actually are, and visit their congregations. We are in the process of making this another official WGM AGC training site for pastors, so this is a VERY exciting time for us! Before we came to Uganda, we said we would go to Arua in hopes of reaching Sudan & Congo, and God is making our vision a reality! Jesus has opened doors we could never have dreamed of!

Kenya Update

2008-02-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to give you an update on how things are progressing in Kenya. Unfortunately, things are not improving there. It seems that they are actually getting worse rather than better. We are truly concerned for the nation of Kenya and for our missionary colleagues who are living there. Reports are not positive. Please continue to pray for a peaceful and meaningful resolution to the unresolved issues that have led to these conflicts.

The fuel crisis in Uganda has become even more of a concern over the past few days. We do have access to fuel for our vehicles and for our generator to run for a few hours a day, but we have to be conservative with how much we use. You never know... it is very possible that we could run out here in Arua again or that they may gouge the prices again (a couple weeks ago, it reached $22/ gallon!)

Our electricity situation is still consistent, but has worsened. We now have power almost every night from 6pm to 11pm, but they can only keep this up for 6 more days. After that, if we don't get more crude oil (which runs the generator for the town), we won't have any power at all. As of right now, there is no plan for crude oil to arrive in Arua.

And our water situation could also possibly worsen very soon here. They need the power on in order to pump the water... so if we don't get more crude oil soon, we could be facing a severe water shortage next week. Also, we just found out yesterday, that Kenya has closed their borders again and that the Ugandan army is stationed at our border to keep Kenyans out. Based on the length and severity of the situation in Kenya, our electricity and water situation is unlikely to improve in the near future.

PLEASE PRAY for this situation in Kenya... not only so that we can have water & electricity, but so that the people of Kenya can rest from all of this and experience peace once again. Please pray that the violence would stop, that God would use all of the many political leaders who have come to intervene to bring peace, and finally, please pray for the Kenyans and for the MANY missionaries serving God in that country. We appreciate you & your prayers.

A Very "African"... Very Amazing Sunday!

2008-01-29T01:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday (Jan. 28) was John’s 29^th birthday! And he got about the best present he could have asked for... His mom was here in Arua to celebrate it with us!!! Betty Rinehimer, John’s mom (pictured right), arrived in Uganda last week, and it has really been fun having her here! We feel so blessed to have just had my best friend Katie here, and then not even 2 weeks later, John’s mom here!

We have been trying to give her an idea of what life in Africa is like… we took her shopping in the city for crafts, we brought her to Arua by car instead of plane (so she got to experience 8 hours of Ugandan driving!), we’ve taken her shopping in the market here in Arua for food, and on Sunday, we took her to her first African church service!

We visited a church in Padel, Uganda, where one of the pastors we are training, Pastor Cosmas, is overseeing. I led Sunday School for the congregation (adults & children together), and John preached the “3 Chair” sermon, which describes the 3 places a person can be in their relationship with God.

It was definitely an African experience… we left for church at 8:00am and got home at 6:00pm… a 10 hour day! It made for a long day, and we were all definitely tired at the end of it, but it was an amazing day and definitely worth it! We first had a brief meeting with the pastor & translator, then Sunday School, then singing, then preaching, then lunch, then the best part of the day… 2 people came forward to give their life to Christ!!!!!!!! It was about an hour after the sermon, after we had eaten lunch, when an 18 year old boy named Dennis came into the hut where we were with Pastor Cosmas and told us that he had “backslidden,” or grown apart from the Lord, because he didn’t think he could live the Christian life until he got married… and that today, He wanted to accept Christ and give his life to the Lord! It was amazing! (Pictured above from left to right: our translator Geoffrey, Dennis, John, Erica, & Pastor Cosmas).

And then just a few minutes later, an older man, probably in his 80’s, named Luigi, also went to Pastor Cosmas and said he wanted to become a Christian as well! (Luigi is pictured to the right in the striped shirt to the right of John). We were able to talk with them about their decisions and pray with them, as they asked Jesus into their hearts. It was such a precious time and amazing day. It is so sweet to me that John & I get to be a team for Jesus, and work for His Kingdom together. What an amazing privilege and honor.

And finally, the 2^nd best part of the day… the gifts! Ugandans are huge on hospitality~ and visitors are a very big deal to them! So… as a gift for visiting their church, they gave John & I each a chicken!!!!!! It was so funny!... Yet so sweet, because it is such a sacrifice for them. And for his mom, they gave her 2 Ugandan wood carvings of a leopard & giraffe! We are pictured above with our chickens & carvings!

Coppedge & Volunteer Update:

We have a new “Volunteer-in-Action” (VIA) with us here in Arua as of Saturday, Jan. 26. His name is Mark Landerholm, and he will be here for 2 months, helping out with the pastor training. And also, Billy & Joanna return with their 3 month old baby, Elsie Jayne, tonight (Jan. 29)!!! They will stay in the city for a few days & come to Arua on Friday, Feb. 1. We are SO excited to see them, to meet Elsie Jayne, and to just have them back in Arua! Praise the Lord for bringing them back!

WGM’s 1st Official Pastor Training for Northern Uganda!

2008-01-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday (Jan. 19), John & I got to be a part of the beginning of an amazing work that God is doing here in Uganda! We held the 1^st official pastor training for WGM in northern Uganda! As you know, we have been working with 5 key leaders/ pastors in Nebbi since June, 07 and going through the “Membership Manual” of Africa Gospel Church (AGC~ the WGM church here in Uganda & Kenya). The past 6 months of training with these 5 key pastors has basically been to make sure they are in line with the same beliefs as AGC, and that they have a basic Biblical understanding of core beliefs.

The 5 pastor that we trained, went on to train 7 others themselves, as we went through the manual. So in December, there was a total of 12 pastors who took the entrance exam for the “official” pastor training, which began this past Saturday, Jan. 19, and they all passed!

So now our WGM Arua team (the Rinehimers & Coppedges) will be training these 12 pastors over the next year! We are so incredibly excited that this dream has become a reality! We knew before we even came to Uganda, that it was very well a possibility that we may never get to train even one pastor. Everything is slower in Africa... it takes time here to build relationships and get to know the culture before you even start projects.... and we knew that our western dream of wanting to start a pastor training in our 1st two years could have been just that... a dream. But God is moving here, and it is so apparent that this is the work of HIM and not us. He has opened doors that we could have never imagined. He has brought these pastors into our lives, and us into theirs. And we are just so excited to be a part of this & work alongside the Creator of the universe!

And the icing on the cake to John & I is this... each level of training takes 11 months. And with us starting in January, we will very likely be able to finish the work that we have started by our scheduled time to come home, in Nov, 08... 11 months from now! That is pretty amazing to both of us! We weren't even sure we'd be able to be a part of starting a training in just a short time of our 2 years here, and not only did we get to be a part of starting it, but we may be able to finish it too, Lord willing!

Also, Jon Mayo, our field director, and Bob & Tom, who are part of the "WGM Media Team," came with us to both help us start the training & get some footage of our ministries here in Arua & Nebbi. It was a real blessing to have Jon there to kick off the first training and answer some of the tough questions! And it really meant a lot to the pastors that he was there. And the media team was great too! Bob & Tom came with Jon all the way to Arua (an 8 hour drive from Kampala) to witness what God is doing up here, and that meant a lot to John & I. They worked SO hard in their 2 weeks in Uganda! We are so grateful that we work with such a great organization who truly cares for their missionaries & the nationals alike.

Our 1st Friend to Visit us!

2008-01-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

Once again, I am writing to you in the dark, since there is no power... Things are getting better here, as they are improving & settling down in Kenya as well, and we thank God for that. Although there is still potential for further violence & crisis to come with the rallies & protests scheduled for next week in Kenya, so please continue praying for this whole situation. Here in Arua, we still have a shortage of fuel, and because of that, we still have rationed power & water... but we have enough to get by, so we are thankful.

We did have one great bright spot in all of this... my (Erica) best friend, Katie Weeter, visited us from Kentucky! She was our VERY FIRST personal visitor from home, and it really was a special time. She arrived on Dec. 30 and left on Jan. 11. And it is only because of your prayers that God gave me the strength to say goodbye to her without even crying! As most of you know, I am very much a "home body," and I used to get homesick so easily... even being just 1 hour from my family when I went to UK in Lexington, KY & they lived in Louisville! So it really is a miracle & an answer to prayer that God has allowed me to be here in Africa and not be incredibly homesick! (I have only been homesick 3 days since we've been here by the way!) He is so good! Thank you for your prayers!

So... here are some pictures from Katie's trip! I hope you enjoy! And to those of you that are coming... Betty (John's mom) on Jan 23, Ryan & Ashley (Erica's brother & sister) in May, our good friends, the Christies (in June), and hopefully even more... we CAN'T WAIT to make memories with you as well & have you here in Uganda!

WHAT WE DID WITH KATIE:

We visited our friends, Alice & Joyce, at their homes. Alice's children & the neighborhood children all came over & sang songs for us! It was precious. Alice is pictured to the bottom left in her house with all of her Christmas decorations~ so cute! And in this culture, hospitality is a big deal... So Joyce & her husband Christopher (pictured with me to the bottom right), had tea, cookies, popcorn, peanuts, rolls & even cokes for us! It is always hard, knowing that they don't have much at all, to accept so much from them... But it is also very humbling and special and, it touched both my & Katie's hearts.

We went to church in the village with our watchman & good friend, Joel, & his children.

We went to the market & bought Rolexes! No... not watches! But food! In Uganda, rolexes are basically a breakfast burrito~ a tortilla (which are called chapatis), eggs, tomatoes & onions. They are so delicious & they are made in the middle of the market by street vendors like the guy below to the left, with a small charcoal stove. Then we went home & ate them with some of our friends, Joel, Edmond, & James, pictured to the right. Katie & I had a good time hanging out with the boys!

We went to UCU so that Katie could see the children's ministry I've been telling her about for so long! Do you remember Alice from one of our blog entries a while back????... The little girl who was so sad and just lifeless really? I could barely get her to look me in the eye the first week I met her. Well, here she is pictured with Katie to the right!!! And do you see her huge smile!?!?! It is just amazing to me! I have invested a lot in this little girl in particular, and I feel like God has really honored that & changed her heart and life. Don't get me wrong... I am NOT taking credit for it by any means! Jesus has just allowed me to show her His love, and I think she's finally getting it! Praise the Lord!!!

Thanks for loving us & caring enough about us to read this blog! Here is a look at our upcoming calendar so you can know how to be praying for us! Thank you for your prayers, support, & friendships!

OUR CALENDAR:
Jan 18, 19- 1st Official Pastor Training in Nebbi!!!!
(with the WGM Media Team & Jon Mayo)
Jan 18- Filming at UCU of children's ministry with the WGM Media Team
Jan 23- John's mom, Betty, arrives in Uganda!!!
Jan 25- New VIA (volunteer in action), Mark, comes to Arua!
Jan 27- Preaching at a village church in Nebbi
Jan 28- John's 29th Birthday!!!
Jan 29- Billy, Joanna & Elsie Jayne Coppedge arrive in Uganda!!!
Feb 4- John's mom leaves.
Feb 5- Short term missions couple, the Guillams, arrive in Arua
Feb 8, 9- 2nd Pastor Training in Nebbi
Feb 16- Trip to Yei, Sudan to visit John Onek & other pastors in training

Crisis in Kenya

2008-01-03T09:50:00.000-08:00

As I am typing this post on our blog the power has just returned and will be shut off again in a just a few hours. Why? You might be asking yourself. This time, it’s not just that we live in Uganda. Here's why...

By now you probably have heard that Kenya is having a crisis over their recent presidential election. Both parties have taken it upon themselves to swear in their candidacy. You may be wondering, as we did, "How can a presidential candidate just swear himself in without winning an election?" We asked one Kenyan this, and his response was, "This is Africa." So sad, but true, unfortunately. And each party is pointing the finger at the other accusing them of rigging the voting system. There are riots, looting, people being murdered for no reason, and just total chaos.

(The pictures above are taken from BBC's website. You can read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7170200.stm)

As a result of all of this, Kenya has closed its borders, which means there is no way for importing or exporting of products. This does not sound so bad at first, but the major product exported to Uganda from Kenya is gasoline and diesel. Right now there is a huge fuel shortage in Kenya, Uganda and all the other surrounding countries. Which is why we do not have power.... Because the whole town of Arua gets power from one huge generator that runs on diesel. And they are having to ration out the the electricity in order to make it last. Currently we are getting power apx. 7 hours a day, and at this rate, there is only enough fuel for 10 days.

Please pray for peace in the near future for Kenya. This crisis affects World Gospel Mission and Africa Gospel Church ministries all over Uganda & Kenya. We are looking at canceling several of our upcoming planned ministries due to lack of fuel for us and high transportation costs for our pastors. There is a large peace rally that has been planned and will take place on Tuesday in Kenya, and if this goes well it could really expedite the process of re-opening the borders and restoring order in Kenya.

Please pray that God would bring peace to this situation and that His will would be done as to who becomes president of Kenya. Please pray for our WGM missionaries in Kenya, especially, and all of the Kenyans that are in the middle of chaos and riots. And please don't worry about us! We are completely safe here in Uganda!... Only lacking fuel & electricity. Thank you for lifting this situation up to our God, who we know will hear our prayers!

Our 2nd Christmas in Uganda!

2007-12-26T07:38:00.000-08:00

Many of you have been asking how our Christmas was here this year, being so far from home... or what we did to celebrate the birth of Jesus... So we thought we'd post some pictures from the day!

First, on Christmas Eve, we went to Michael & Angela Kelly's house (they are WGM missionaries that live in Kampala~ the capital). There were a total of six families, 13 kids, & a partridge in a pear tree! And we had a delicious dinner, just like home... ham & all! The Kellys were so gracious to open up their home to all of us. And it really was so helpful to be with so many other families and friends during the time when we are missing our family & friends back home extra!

On Christmas Day, first we went to our field director's house, Jon & Lisa Mayo, for brunch. It was good to just be with a family & see all the presents their two boys (Jordan & Ethan) had received & eat some more yummy food! There's just something about being in a home with children, piles of wrapping paper & good food on Christmas Day!

After spending a couple hours with the Mayos, we went to our good friends, the Ironsides (pictured left)... you may remember seeing them in our videos & pictures from last Christmas. And you may have seen Pamela Ironside in our blog before~ she, her husband Kevin & their 4 kids, Christian, Blake, Addison, & Collin have become very close friends of ours over the past year here. This is the same family that took us to the orphanage last year to be a part of fifty precious children's lives. And this year was just as special!

Pamela invited about 12 of the neighborhood children and a couple of the parents over to their house, and she allowed us to be a part of celebrating Christmas with them. We made cookies for them & had snacks, read the Christmas Story to them, watched a Christmas movie, played outside in their yard, & even made snow! My sister, Ashley, sent us "snow in a box" last year for Christmas, and we finally got to use it! It was the first time for these children to ever see snow, and they each took a turn making it~ it was so fun! After all the Ugandan children left, the Ironside boys & I played with the snow & it was hilarious! Here we are, in Africa, in 90 degree weather, in shorts & t-shirts... playing with snow!!! We had a blast! Thank you, Ashley! :-)

Here are some pictures of the Ironside boys with their friend, Andrew, "playing in the snow!" Andrew, the Ugandan pictured here, was so precious! It was so unforgettable to see this grown man, jumping up and down, almost singing... "This is my first time to see snow!"... over & over and just genuinely having fun! We'll have to post a video of it later! What a memorable Christmas this has been for us!

Pamela also prepared a little gift bag for each of the children with candy, a small toy, & a t-shirt... The t-shirts we actually donated to John & I by Christ United Methodist Church, the church we attended when we lived in Mississippi. They were extra shirts from a VBS there, that my friend Rachel sent us to share with the children here. We are so thankful for her & so many others of you who have reached out to the children & people of Uganda to share what you have with those less fortunate, who don't have much. Pamela went over to visit some of the neighbors today (the day after Christmas), and she told me that all of the children were washing their new shirts! So cute! They need new clothes so much, and they appreciated these simple t-shirts more than many of us Americans would appreciate a whole new wardrobe. Thank you, Rachel & everyone at CUMC!

It was really nice this year, again, to be able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas... the gift of Jesus Christ, born for every single person on this earth. And all we have to do is be willing to accept Him, trust Him, and love Him in return for the gift of salvation and TRUE joy, happiness & peace in this life and the next!

Intense Week, Continued....

2007-12-09T22:28:00.001-08:00

Pastors & Parties!

As soon as we got home from Gulu, we "hit the ground running." First, on Friday, John Onek (pictured left), the pastor we are training from Sudan, came to our house to do the final training session of the AGC Membership Manual! Yeah! Then John went to the Congo border to pick up one of our friend's children from boarding school. Then that night, we had a going away party for Kim & Sam Trenwith, our friends from New Zealand~ they leave on Tuesday to go back home. :-( It will be so hard to say goodbye to them!

The next day, we went to Nebbi to give the pastors we have been training there, along with John Onek, the exam over the AGC Membership Manual... they were so serious about the test and had really studied and given 100%! It was awesome to see how much they care about this training and how eager they were to pass so that they can begin the official pastor training program in January with us! After the exam, we taught the guys some old fashion Christmas carols! It was so fun! They did not really know the songs, but they tried so hard to learn them & were so passionate singing them in their Ugandan accents~ it really was a precious thing to witness! Plus, we laughed a lot! And as soon as we started singing, the kids crowded at the doors and windows to listen and dance along! It was a precious time for sure!

Sunday, we had the chance to go to the ORA (Orphans & Refugee Aid) Christmas party for all of the orphans they sponsor here in Uganda! (ORA is the organization Kim & Sam are here with). It was a sweet time... the kids performed songs & dances for us, which were actually pretty funny... not as impressive as the kids with HEALS that we wrote about in the Gulu blog entry, I must say! But they were sweet! John & Sam also had yet another opportunity to "lead worship" together for these kids... They had some songs planned, but the kids didn't really know them, so they just improvised and learned very quickly how to play along to their Lugbara songs! It was great! My favorite orphan I met is Norman~ his love language is definitely physical touch, which is mine too, so we got along well! He played with my hair & held my hand every chance he got!

And just for a taste of Ugandan cooking... these pictures are of how they cooked lunch for the day! Pretty awesome how they make a stove out of a few branches and a hole in the ground, isn't it? And how about that meat? They really know how to improvise... palm branches as a counter top! We didn't actually get to eat the lunch... instead, Jesus had it planned for us to have possibly the most intense day of our lives...

Our Most Intense Experience Yet...

Sam & Kim were on the way back into town to take their 2 little boys, Zak & Leejay, home for naps. They weren't on the road but for a few minutes when they came upon a horrible accident. A huge truck had blown a tire and turned over... people were stuck under the truck, screaming & crying for help, blood everywhere, chickens and goats were dead all over the place. Kim immediately called John & I to come and help carry the people out of their car and also stay with the boys. Kim (pictured right) is a nurse in the ER in New Zealand, so it was such a "God-incidence," as my mom would call it, that she was there to help these people. I don't know what would have happened to them without her. She almost didn't come with Sam to take them home. Jesus definitely ordered her day.

When we arrived at the hospital, there was absolutely NO DOCTOR to be found ANYWHERE. And there was only 1 nurse, who you could hardly even call a nurse. So Kim stepped right in and started IV's in everyone, cleaned up their wounds, relocated one woman's ankle, and even made a splint out of a cardboard box! She was amazing! And the facilities were unimaginable.... these people were laying on a concrete floor with no pillows or blankets, and they were shivering from being in shock. So we found an old, dirty towel hanging up & used it as a pillow for one woman, and John found a vinyl covering to use as a blanket for another woman. Because it was a Sunday, everyone was off work. The operating room was closed, the x-ray room was closed, there was only 1 nurse to be found in this huge hospital, we couldn't even find a decent IV pole. I felt so helpless... all I could do was PRAY, call all of the doctors we knew in Arua to try to get some help, PRAY MORE, hold an IV up for a woman and tell her she's going to be okay, and PRAY. The only other hospital here ALSO had NO DOCTOR, because the doctor on call was sick. Our friend, Dr. Mbarak, couldn't help us because he only has a clinic, and these cases were too severe for him to handle with his limited facilities, and he's not allowed to come operate in the public hospital, since he isn't affiliated with it. We did not know what to do.

Meanwhile, John was running all over this huge hospital trying to find even one doctor... He finally found one, and he told John that he "wasn't feeling good and couldn't help us." John gave him a good talking to and reminded him of the oath he has taken as a physician, and the doctor FINALLY came into help us after we had already been there for 1 whole hour!!!!! Once he came to see the patients, we questioned how much he really even knew. Kim was suggesting things, like... shouldn't we give this person a muscle relaxer or pain reliever before we relocate her ankle? Or shouldn't we have a splint ready to put on it as soon as we do this? And the doctor was like, "Oh yeah, that's a good idea..." We couldn't believe it! It was unreal.

Kim and I went back to the hospital today to check on these people and make sure they got medical attention, since we knew they wouldn't get into surgery until today with everything being closed yesterday. One woman was just going into surgery and another STILL had NOT EVEN BEEN SEEN BY A DOCTOR, and this was 21 HOURS LATER!!!! We kept saying, "I know this is Africa... but this is ridiculous... it is inhumane." Why is it like this here? Maybe it's because the doctors don't get paid hardly anything, or maybe it's because there's no sense of urgency in this culture... I have no idea. But please pray that we never get sick here! Please pray that God would put a hedge of protection over the people of Arua, especially on Sundays when every one is off work, EVEN IN THE ER!!! Please pray that God would bring good physicians here.

Update on Gulu Trip- An Intense Week...

2007-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

“Once one has been to these challenging, terrible places, they’re always strangely drawn back… because there’s nothing that can compare to seeing the raw reality of the basic need for survival. It disgusts and inspires.” ~ Dan Eldon

Where do I even begin??? This week has been extremely intense for us… as we started this week with a 3 day trip to Gulu, Uganda, the home of the Acholi Tribe, the “Invisible Children,” the “Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA), Joseph Kony, war, hundreds of thousands of child abductions, child soldiers, child mothers, internally displaced people camps (IDP camps) with up to 50,000 people living in huts practically on top of each other, and all just a 3 hour drive from our doorstep. It is almost impossible to describe what we have witnessed this past week in a blog entry. For the past 21 years, the people of northern Uganda have suffered from this war of the rebels, the LRA, who have tried to overtake the government of Uganda by taking children captive as their soldiers, since no adult in their right mind would fight for them.

It is just recently, since we have been in Uganda, within the last year, that Joseph Kony has left this country, that the LRA has stopped abducting the children here, that peace, hope, and a future are finally a part of the people of northern Uganda’s life. But the affects of this war are still so extremely visible still today.

Perhaps the most shocking thing you would see if you were to come here are the IDP camps (the internally displaced people camps)~ (pictured right). It was about 10 years ago that HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Acholi people were given 48 hours to pack up all of their belongings and forced to move from their villages to these camps to be protected from the LRA. It was not a choice; they were forced to move to these camps, or as some Acholi would call them, “prisons” or “zoos,” where they are “living like animals.” Can you imagine… being “displaced” in your own country, your own home?... And not for just months, but for over a decade now. We were able to visit one of these camps during our time there, and it was one of the saddest things we have ever seen. The camp we visited had 10,000 PEOPLE living in it, and that is considered a SMALL camp in Gulu!!!!!!! Larger camps have up to 50,000 PEOPLE living in closer quarters than most of our bathrooms are from our bedrooms.

Now that the LRA is gone, it would be safe for the people to move back “home” to their villages… EXCEPT for the fact that the LRA planted over 3,000 landmines all over northern Uganda, of which ONLY 300 have been found and removed. Needless to say, people are still very fearful of going back into the “bush,” or the villages that they once called home. Also, their villages are now overgrown with grass and no longer have homes or gardens. One man told us that it will take about 10 years from now for things to go back to “normal”… for everyone to move out of these IDP camps and back into their villages. In addition to losing their homes, these people have lost their jobs, their sense of purpose in life, their identity, and hope for their future. They don’t even have land to farm, so they have no way of getting food. All of their food comes from the UN World Food Program. We passed their warehouses which were at least 10 tents about the size of 3 tractor trailers each, filled with food.

Although this is extremely sad to us of course, we also saw it as a huge opportunity to fill a need. WGM has a vision and a dream of working in Gulu one day. There is a university there, and a HUGE need for work with these children, and training, of any kind, but mainly of pastors. This is a huge reason we went on this trip~ to network and survey the town for possible ministry there in the future (for WGM, not necessarily for us). We met with Pastor Chris, who has a church in Gulu and is friends with Kennedy, an AGC pastor in Kampala. When we asked Pastor Chris what the greatest need in Gulu was, he said that it was churches. These people have lost all hope and have no reason to live really. This is where the opportunity comes in… We thought, while the people are living in these IDP camps, with no work, and absolutely nothing to do all day, it would be the perfect opportunity to invest in these people and train them. They need training in community health, agriculture, literacy, children’s ministry, and WGM’s main passion, pastoral training. Pastor Chris said that the Acholi people need the message of hope, the message of Jesus, more than anything, in order to keep on living and actually do something with their lives. And if WGM were able to train up a number of pastors in each camp while they are living there, then that means there could be hundreds of churches out of that training, once they move out of the camps and back into their villages! What an amazing thing to dream about!

We were also able to visit 2 up and coming organizations while we were there… “Invisible Children” and “HEALS.” Many of you may have heard about “Invisible Children” or seen the “Rough Cut” video made about the children who used to walk at night to the nearest hospitals, bus parks, or verandas and sleep literally piled on top of each other, to stay protected from the LRA rebels. Well, we were able to witness this AMAZING ministry first hand, and we were so incredibly impressed. In just 2 years, they have started an education program, where they are sponsoring about 550 children to go to school. They also give each child a mentor, all of which have experienced the war themselves and all of which are Christian, so the children have someone to open up to, to be held accountable to, to be challenged by, to be influenced by, and to be loved by. They also have the “Bracelet Campaign,” where they provide about 140 Acholi with jobs making these bracelets, so that they can have income for their families. And then the bracelets are sold in the US with stories of a few of these children. (You may recognize Emmy from one of the videos~ pictured above in the "IC" shirt) We also met a girl named Vanessa, who has just started a new program with child mothers. These are young girls (ages 5-18) who are abducted at night from their village homes or boarding school dorm rooms and taken to the rebel camps to be raped by the soldiers. This new program allows them to get back on their feet, making bags, which will be sold in the States soon! If you are interested in learning more about “Invisible Children,” you could check out their website: www.invisiblechildren.com And if you are wondering why they are called “invisible,” here is a quote from their DVD~

“Invisible because they roam distant battlefields, away from public scrutiny. Invisible because no records are kept of their numbers or age. Invisible because their own armies deny they exist.” ~ “Invisible Children Rough Cut Video”

Finally, we were able to visit an organization called “HEALS,” which stands for “Health, Education, Arts, Literacy, & Sports.” This center has been created to give the children of Gulu a chance to start over, to begin to heal the scars of war, and to be educated and learn life skills. A woman named Jolly, who is also the country director of the “Invisible Children,” began the project by renting a four bedroom house in Gulu with a large front yard and started a series of evening classes for children ages 6-18. Taught by local volunteers, these classes include Math, English, Art, Photography, Music and Dance.. We were able to see some of the dancing, and it is just AMAZING how different these children are from the children in the IDP camps. They are filled with joy, laughter, and HOPE. In the music, they sing about the war; in the dancing, they incorporate the war; in their art, they draw pictures of visions in their heads from the war; and they even act out being abducted or other terrible things they have seen from this war. At first, I though it seemed so horrible for these children to have to relive those awful things all of the time. But I was reminded how recently this all occurred, and how well this therapy is working to help them process all they’ve seen and help them heal.

Just like I didn’t know how to begin this entry, I also don’t know how to end it. We are still processing all that we have witnessed, and we are carrying these children in our hearts, minds, thoughts, and prayers, as we hope you will as well. Please pray for the WGM Uganda field, as we seek our role in all of this and also that these children come to know the HOPE and the JOY and the PEACE that can ONLY come from Jesus.

Update on Jeannie's Ministries

2007-12-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

Many of you were praying for Jeannie and her ministries last week, so we wanted to thank you and give you an update of how it all went! First of all, her seminar on sex education was amazing! She was able to present her talk to about 20 teachers, which represented 12 out of the 15 high schools in Arua! It was very interactive, and Jeannie did amazing! She was so confident and had a wealth of knowledge to share with these teachers! She said that her confidence definitely came from your prayers, so thank you for praying! There were even representatives from the Muslim schools, and in her talk on sex ed. she was able to incorporate abstinence, God's plan for sex within marriage, that He gives us this boundary to protect us (physically & emotionally), and she was even able to walk through the plan of salvation!

And our trip to Uleppi (a village just outside of Arua) was another huge success! (I am copying & pasting most of Jeannie's blog entry for this one, since she can explain it much better!) Jeannie & Dr. Stella (the agriculture director for Arua) met with 10 cattle owners and the sub-county chief to discuss the details of breeding some of their cattle in the near future. The way they have arranged their herd is that everyone contributes and buys a few cows. Then as needs arise in the community they can sell cows to provide money for sicknesses, funerals, school fees, etc. It really is a brilliant system that they have come up with and it not only works, but benefits the entire community. In our meeting they discussed how to keep accurate records, how to determine when to breed the cows, and how to invest in these cows for their future. They then assessed the cows together to determine which sperm to select for insemination. They have done a very good job choosing the cows to breed, and we were impressed at the care they had taken of these animals!

After working with the cows we moved to the church to meet with some of the congregation. And there, Jeannie had the opportunity to preach her first sermon in the village! She preached on the "Power of a Praying Village." She did amazing again! Jesus really showed up and helped her! Thank you so much for all of you who were praying! Please continue to pray for the village of Uleppi, that it would become a beakon of light for the surrounding villages and for all of Uganda!

Survey Trip to Gulu

2007-12-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

Today we are writing to let you all know that we are going on a survey trip tomorrow (Tuesday) to Gulu, Uganda and to ask for your prayers. As you can see on the map, Gulu is located just east of Arua, and it is about a 3-4 hour drive from us. Gulu is the home of the “Invisible Children,” which you may have heard about or seen videos about before. They are called the “Invisible Children,” because they have been suffering the horrible, traumatic effects of war, mainly from a rebel group called “The Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, for over 20 years now. And people, or at least Americans, have just recently in the past few years, noticed what is going on and finally taken action.

WGM is hoping to start ministries with the university students in Gulu some time in the future (at Gulu University). And as most of you know, John’s heart and passion is for university students. WGM has not reached Gulu yet, but it is in our hearts and our dreams. We are so excited to see this place and dream about what God may do there one day with WGM.

There is a huge presence of NGO’s (non-government organizations) there already, but we aren’t sure of the number of missionaries, churches, or spiritual support that the children of Gulu are receiving. We will go and meet with staff from the “Invisible Children,” see some of the camps where these refugee children are living, and we even get to hopefully be involved in “play therapy” with some of these kids. We can’t wait to share pictures with you and tell you all about it in a few days!

And for those of you who may have a tendency to worry, please don’t! We will be completely safe! The LRA no longer has a presence in Uganda at all, at the moment. We will be home on Thursday evening. But although it is a safe place for the most part, we can still definitely use your prayers for safety traveling and that God would go with us on this trip and give us His heart and His vision. Thank you for praying & caring! We appreciate you SO much!

Thanksgiving & Worship

2007-11-27T07:22:00.000-08:00

This past week has been for us, as it has been for many, a week full of Thanksgiving and worship! On Tuesday, we headed off to the big city, Kampala, to spend Thanksgiving with all of the other missionaries and our friends in Kampala. Since we are the ONLY Americans in Arua right now, we thought it may be good to spend that special holiday (when you’re missing your family most!), with some other American friends! There were 30 of us in one house to thank God for all He has done for us this past year. It was really great to see everyone and get to have some quality time with the others there. (I am pictured with my good friend, Pamela Ironside to the left. She reminds me of a perfect balance of my mom, my sister, & my best friend~ God has truly blessed me with her friendship!)

While we were in Kampala, John was able to do some more ministry with the universitystudents at Kampala Int’l University (KIU). On Saturday, Sam Trenwith, our rock star friend from New Zealand, came down from Arua to help John lead a worship seminar, teaching the worship team at KIU the fundamentals of worship…for example, the true meaning of worship, that it’s not just a song- it’s a lifestyle, and that it isn’t a show or about bringing attention to yourself- but it is about praising God and focusing all of our attention on him. They also taught a lot of basic skills dealing with the sound system and how to properly play instruments. John & Sam are both so gifted in this area, and they really enjoyed teaching these young leaders.

That night, the students were able to put into practice what they had learned all day… John, Sam, and all the students participated in leading worship together at KIU for their Saturday night church service. It really was a precious thing to see, just how these young people look up to John & Sam so much, and to see the impact that they had on them in just one day of teaching. Although it still may not have been perfect…. Or anything like the worship we experience at Southeast J, you could definitely see, and hear, a difference!

The rest of our weekend was spent enjoying Kampala and our friends there. We celebrated our field director, Jon Mayo’s birthday on Sunday with all of the WGM missionaries at a new restaurant that makes us feel like we’re in America! It’s a lot like Chili’s or Friday’s, but after being here for a year, it feels like Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse! Jon is pictured to the right with his wife, Lisa, & son, Ethan~ his older son,
Jordan, was off playing with the other kids!)

AND… we sold 2 puppies last week to a pastor in Kampala! Thank you for your prayers! And you may find this amusing… we flew to Kampala, and the airline let us take our two puppies on the plane with us! There’s no cargo space really, since the plane is so small, so one sat in each of our laps! It was so cute, and so funny! And it was a first for our small airline here in Arua! We have already had calls on 5 of the others, so it looks like we may be left with just one to sell after this week! Praise the Lord!

And... if you are by any chance reading this blog today (Tues, Nov 27) or any time tonight…. Please pray for our colleague, Jeannie Banter. She is teaching 45 teachers tomorrow on sex education, including abstinence! The mayor and many other government representatives will attend the seminar! We are so excited about this privilege she has been given, but she is a little nervous as you can imagine. It is a huge task for a 24 year old woman! So if you could please pray for her, we would greatly appreciate it! We’ll let you know how it goes! Thank you for your prayers and for just caring enough to read this blog! We are so grateful for you!

And last but not least, Dec. 1 will be the last day of preliminary training with the pastors in Nebbi, and then they will have completed the AGC Membership Manual, which qualifies them
to enroll in our official pastor training program. Please pray for them as they take their exam over this material on Dec 8~ they are so nervous! It really is precious to see how important this training is to them. Then in January, we will begin the actual pastor training program with them. (Pictured to the right is us with the Nebbi pastors on Saturday, Nov 24. John, Jeannie, and myself all taught, and they asked really good questions and had great insight as usual. Praise Jesus for these special men! They really are so amazing!)

1 Down 1 to Go!!!... 1 Year in Uganda!!!

2007-11-11T04:13:00.000-08:00

We can hardly believe it, but it was ONE YEAR AGO TODAY (Nov. 11th) that we boarded the plane and LEFT FOR UGANDA! Jesus has met us with extraordinary amounts of grace to handle all the transitioning of a new country, culture, language, house, job and life. There have been struggles and difficulties of course, but we are thankful for how God has given us His strength and discernment to fix our eyes on Him.

AND.... Billy & Joanna gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl on November 3rd!!!!!!!!!!! Elsie Jayne Coppege!!!!!! They are still in the States and are not sure of when they will return to Uganda. Please keep them in your prayers as they are going through this huge time of transition in their life. Also, many of you have been praying for Billy's dad. He is steadily recovering from his heart attack, but still suffering from memory loss. The doctors are hopeful, but the entire Coppedge family still need our prayers.

And... Jeannie Banter has returned to Uganda!!! She is in Kampala right now & arrives in Arua tomorrow (Nov 12), and we can't wait to see her! Thank you for your prayers for her and her health. The doctors say she is healthy enough to be here for one month. She will be leaving in mid-December, which was her original date to return home. Please continue to pray for her health and that the short time she has here would be fruitful!

Also, in case you were wondering... our puppies are getting very big! They are really cute, but a lot of work! They are almost 8 weeks old, so we are needing to find good homes for them. Please pray this happens soon!

Finally, we just wanted to point out that we posted 2 blog entries today... It has been so long since we've blogged; we just had too much information for one entry! Sorry! We hope this isn't too much to read at once! Thank you for caring enough to read about our lives and keep us lifted up in prayer! We appreciate you so much!

Our upcoming schedule:

Nov. 11 - Jeannie Banter returns to Arua!
Nov. 16 & 17 - Pastor Training
Nov. 24 - John & Sam teaching on worship @ Kampala Int'lUniversity
Dec. 1 - Pastor Training
Dec. 8- Pastor Assessment Exam given.

Trip to Kenya

2007-11-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

We are SO sorry that it's been so long since we've posted a blog entry... We had a field retreat in Jinja, Uganda (the source of the Nile River, about 1 hour from Kampala) and also traveled to Kenya to visit some other WGM fields and missionaries there. We had a great field retreat led by our field pastors, Rick and Janie Burkhalter. It was very refreshing to be able to spend time with our other Uganda missionaries, and it renewed us spiritually and physically.

While in Kenya, our first stop was Nairobi, where our Regional Director of Africa, Terry & Karen Duncan live. Terry & our field director, Jon Mayo, just completed a survey trip to Juba, Sudan. They were able to meet with one of the pastors we have been training, John Onek, and they were very excited to see the potential for WGM & AGC in Southern Sudan. It was great to talk to Terry about their trip, and we feel optimistic that God is opening doors for us to begin to plant churches there! We also had the opportunity to talk with their son, Brent, and another WGM missionary, Joy Phillips, who both work with Samaritan's Purse. We were able to discuss future possibilities of partnering in ministry and working together in Sudan. It was really exciting to dream about the future and where God is leading us and WGM. Brent also took us to the Giraffe Center in Nairobi, which is basically a field where they keep a few giraffes, and you can come into CLOSE contact with and feed the world's tallest animal, the giraffe! It was pretty cool!

We then traveled to see Staci Wells and the Africa Gospel Church Baby Center (a WGM project in Nakuru, Kenya). This is a ministry for babies who have been left abandoned by their parents on the side of the street, at the gate of the Baby Center or somewhere else where, by God's grace, they were found. It was a truly a special time with Staci and these adorable babies. It was so hard to not take one of these precious angels home with us. And Erica nearly decided to serve her last year of service in Kenya and commute to Uganda! Just kidding!

Next we traveled to visit the world famous Tenwek Hospital region of Kenya. Dr. Ernie Steury (retired WGM missionary) was one of the founding doctors, and for years, he was the only doctor in Bomet, Kenya. Tenwek is an amazing place. It was started in the 1950's, and today it is a beacon of health and hope to a whole community surrounding Tenwek. (To learn more check out: Stories from Tenwek, a recently published book in memory of Dr. Steury) The purpose of this hospital is stated on their sign, "We treat. Jesus heals". Our friend Dr. Carol Spears is one of the doctors who has dedicated herself to this motto. She is a practicing surgeon at Tenwek and also trains and disciples Kenyans to become surgeons. We had a great time catching up with Carol as well as with the Roberts, Vanderhoofs & Bemms (fellow WGM missionaries).

From Tenwek we were off to visit the work in Masai land, near the border of Tanzania. Our dear friends Jon and Vera Steury live and work with the Masai people. The Masai are famous for their wearing red clothes & tons of beads, jumping sky high when they dance, being fierce hunters and a living in a culture who are happy to live in mud huts. This WGM project in Masai is called the "Olderkesi Development Project." It includes an Africa Gospel Church, a pastor training center, a welding facility, a farm that yields many crops that they provide for the Masai people, a well, production of bio-sand filters so that the Masai can have clean drinking water, a carpenter, and much more! And it's all in the middle of nowhere! It is amazing! We were blessed to see the ministry Jon & Vera have out with the Masai people and also had a great time of catch up. Plus, they have a pet Thompson Gazelle, that Erica got to feed with a bottle! So cute, and so cool!

Finally, we made it back to Nairobi to end our trip in Kenya, where we got to spend some more quality time with the Duncans, which was so special to us. AND we got to visit the "Animal Orphanage" in Nairobi where they bring in abandoned animals and care for them. We got to actually get in a huge fenced in area with THREE CHEETAHS, and we actually got to pet a cheetah! It was so amazing!

Over all, our time in Kenya was quite fast, but it was so beneficial to see what our fellow missionaries are doing in Kenya and try to coordinate ways to work together in the future as we begin to plant churches in Sudan, Congo, Northern Uganda and beyond.

First Time for Everything!

2007-10-15T05:49:00.000-07:00

We thought this might be a good title for this post, because we have had a lost of "firsts" in the past week and a half, which is why we have not posted until now.
For the first time Erica and I are in Arua alone. Billy & Joanna, as many of you have heard, had to leave very unexpectedly. Billy’s dad had a heart attack and the prognosis was not looking good, so they did what any child would do and began the journey home. We prayed with Billy and Jo for traveling mercies and off they went. Jesus has really helped Erica and I handle being in Arua alone as the only World Gospel Mission missionaries. He continues to send us more and more grace and also so much encouragement through you prayers and e-mails. Please pray for the Coppedge family during this difficult time, as Billy’s dad begins this slow recovery process and also pray for wisdom for when they should return to Uganda. (The picture above was taken in August when Billy's parents were here visiting them here in Uganda.)

Erica also had her first battle with malaria. She also experienced her first time being healed from malaria, praise God!!! We are so thankful this was not a more serious case of malaria and so thankful for your prayers for Erica’s healing. And now that she's feeling better, she has time to feed the puppies! We've been feeding them with bottles! They are so cute! And I think this is yet another first for both of us!

I had my first opportunity to speak to the teachers of Alliance Secondary School, the high school behind our house, where I play volleyball with the students. The headmaster, James (pictured right), and I have become good friends, and he invited me to give a Biblical, inspirational lesson to the teachers there. It was an awesome privilege. One of the teachers even said that he hardly ever reads his Bible, because he never sees how it applies to his life. But he said after the talk I gave, he was much more interested in God's Word and what it has to say about his life and that he was going to start studying his Bible more! God is so good!

We have also just experienced our first Ugandan Independence Day, October 9th. We were told there would be a gigantic parade and the whole town of Arua would be there. So we decided to check out this Ugandan holiday that rivals Christmas. There were a ton of people at the parade, but there was not so much music really. In good Ugandan fashion there were a ton of speeches being made from the least to the greatest political office. It was very cool to see all the military, police and school children stand in battalion formation at the Arua Hill campgrounds as all these people gave speeches. There was some music and cultural dances presented by various groups in the town, but there was more talking than filibuster. Overall it was a good time and very educational.

We also had our first visit from the Burkhalters. Rick & Janie are based in Kansas City and are pastors to missionaries. Rick had been a pastor for nearly 20 years and Janie a teacher, when they felt God’s calling to become pastors to missionaries. Often times missionaries never are able to discuss difficulties they are having, culturally, with home sickness, marriage issues, conflict with others or spiritual struggles they might be having. Missionaries often can feel like they should never let anyone know they are struggling or having a bad day because then people might think they aren’t spiritual enough. I know you may find this hard to believe, but missionaries need someone to pastor them too!

Rick, Janie & Courtney (their daughter, 19), were also able to help us teach at this past Saturdays training in Nebbi, another first. It was a real blessing to have Rick and Janie teach and share about having a solid devotional life, family, & ministry based on such a wealth of experience. Our 5 Africa Gospel Church (AGC) pastors in training really appreciated all the Burkhalters had to share and the Lord really blessed this time of training together.

It was a blessing to get to know the Burkhalters, and we are looking forward to their return to Uganda in the spring. Their visit was a breath of fresh air and it was nice to have these caring, wonderful people invest so much time in us. We had a ton of fun together, and they prayed for us in such a powerful way, where we experienced God’s grace, refreshing us for ministry.

Our last first is we are heading to our first World Gospel Mission Uganda Field Retreat (Oct. 19-22) where Rick and Janie will be our speakers. We are looking forward to this time of seeing our fellow missionaries and good friends. We also are praying this might be a powerful time of prayer, worship, growth in the Lord and strengthening the Uganda field of missionaries. Please continue to pray for this time of spiritual renewal.

Week in Review

2007-09-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 9/15-
Erica had a Baby Shower for Joanna Coppedge~ Baby Elsie Jayne is due Nov 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, 9/16-
Billy & John took a trip out to the village of Yumbe~ Billy preached & John played some African music! (notice the streamers they hung from the ceiling of the church~ so cute!)

Monday, 9/17-
Erica's Birthday~ she turned 27 (I think I found my twin!~ my friend Kim below)

Wednesday, 9/19-
Our German Shepherd, Scout, gave birth to 9 PUPPIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (they are SO cute!)

Somewhere in the middle...
A big truck ran John off the road & our car got stuck in ditch! (John & the car are both okay!) &...
John & Billy enjoyed some soccer in our front yard with our Ugandan friends!

Saturday, 9/22-
The whole team went to Nebbi for a pastor training together! This is us pictured with the five pastors we are training in Nebbi. (We are missing the 5th member of our team, Jeannie Banter~ please pray that God heals her & brings her back to Arua in His perfect timing!)

Just another week in Africa! Thanks for praying! We love & appreciate you all!

***John also just added a video of him & Sam leading worship in Kampala~ you should check it out! ***

God's Economy

2007-09-18T13:11:00.001-07:00

Waiting on the Lord is a phrase full of meaning and complexity at the same time. It raises the question, should I literally do nothing but sit here and wait? Or does it mean I wait for the Lord’s timing and as I am actively walking with Jesus He brings more clarity to how and where we should spend our time.

This is a question our team has wrestled with and I have found waiting on the Lord's timing means actively pursuing God as I daily walk with Jesus. The Lord has definitely gone before us and prepared a way that none of us were fully expecting to experience this first year of ministry.

This past Saturday we held 2 pastor trainings at two different locations, which was a first for our team here in Arua, Uganda. While Billy and Joanna were in Nebbi training pastors, I was in Arua training John Onek (pictured above) from Sudan. We had a great time and he is very well educated. He actually works for the Sudanese government, but his real passion is training pastors and planting new churches.

Both trainings are growing too!! The Nebbi pastors are now teaching 7 more of their fellow pastors the church membership manual, so that we will have a total of 12 pastors when we open the official pastor training in January. Our Sudan training, of the church membership manual, is now up from 1 to 4. So while it is not all about the numbers by any means, God does have a unique economy where HE multiplies the ministry. The Lord is really opening doors and providing the right people without us having to go and "make things happen." It is amazing to see how God is working in this corner of the world and what a privilege we have to participate with God in this work.

Billy and I also just returned from Nebbi this past Wednesday, where we were meeting the local government officials. In Uganda, as in most places, it is a good idea to introduce yourself and the work you are doing in order to develop true friendships and let the local officials know we are here to help and have nothing to hide. There have been some groups who have just shown up and started administering medicines, training pastors and giving out food without going through the proper channels and these types of people are viewed as cults or sects. So we wanted to make sure World Gospel Mission was NOT identified with this group at all. By the end of out visit we had been welcomed to work in the Nebbi Region and I think made it clear we are here to help the people of Uganda. Benson & Cosmos, pastors in training, accompanied Billy and I to these meetings (pictured above).

Not every week is a “red letter” week and often we can feel home sick for our own family and culture as we are faced with the real life challenges of living in Uganda. Then there are those weeks, like this one, that remind us why we are here and bring our focus back to how God sees the world.

Life of a Rock Star?

2007-09-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Life as a missionary isn’t all that similar to life as a rock star! This past week has been filled with less than glamorous duties, like fixing our car, getting our melted power lines fixed (we were the only house in Arua without power!), getting papyrus at the market to make a new fence from where our neighbors cut down a huge chunk of bushes that line our property (just so they could see our house!), and just loving on the people that Jesus brings to our door~ whether it’s taking them to the doctor when they’re sick, helping them budget their money, or just sitting and talking with them.

But last weekend, John and I got a little taste of what life as a rock star would be like! You may remember us mentioning our new friends, Sam & Kim Trenwith (pictured left). They are missionaries here from New Zealand, and Sam truly is a real-life rock star! He has a band in New Zealand called Radiator, and they are very well-known there! And John, loving music the way he does, had this great idea to do some worship leading with Sam in Kampala! And so they did!

It was a busy weekend, to say the least! John and Sam led worship at Kampala International University (KIU- pictured right) on Saturday evening. And it turns out that Kim has a gift in teaching, so she gave the message that night! It was so great! We were there from about 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Then we woke up bright and early Sunday morning to do it all over again! John worked so hard~ he and Sam led worship again at KIU on Sunday morning, AND John preached the sermon that morning as well to about 500 people! (pictued left) I was so proud of him! And as if that wasn’t enough, John & Sam led worship AGAIN on Sunday evening at a small, missionary fellowship service!

Three “gigs” in 24 hours, literally! It was pretty tiring for John, and even for me and all I did was work the Power Point! But Kim & Sam
said it just reminded them of what it would be like at home, in Sam’s life as a rock star! They were used to it! And even though we were all a little worn out, we were tired in a good way. It really was a fun, fulfilling time, and I don’t think we’ll ever forget that weekend! We look forward to more fun times like these and hope to do more ministry at KIU in the near future!

2007-08-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

New Steps in Nebbi!

We had our first pastor training together as a married couple this past Saturday, and it was such a blessing! John taught on prayer, and I taught on temptation. We both really felt like Jesus gave us His words to say and His message to teach. Our lessons were TWO HOURS each! Jesus gave us both a lot to say!

I've always been willing to train pastors, as I was fully aware before we ever got here to Uganda that training pastors is our primary focus with WGM here. And I must admit, I was kind of nervous when I first volunteered to participate in my first one~ never having taught men. I’ve always done children’s ministry or worked with youth or young women, so teaching men was quite intimidating to me! But as soon as I started preparing, God gave me a real peace that He was going to help me, and a confidence that the day was in His hands!

We thought you would like to see what an actual pastor training looks like, so here are a few photos. The training takes place in a small brick church, with mud used for mortar, concrete

floors, and children peering through the windows. As we’ve mentioned in previous blog entries, there are five key pastors that attend our trainings in Nebbi (Cosmas, Benson, John, John Kennedy, & Andrew)- there are more that would like to be trained, but we really wanted to start with a small, core group, so that we can invest in their lives individually.

Thank you all for your prayers for this day! We definitely needed them in preparing, and we definitely sensed them in our teaching! Jesus really helped us both, and we are so grateful!

2007-08-16T04:15:00.003-07:00

Precious Faces, Forever in My Heart

As some of you may know, I (Erica) have been going out to a university (Uganda Christian University) for the past few months and doing children’s ministry with the children of the theology students. It has definitely been a group effort, with so many people helping out- John, Coppedges, Banters, mission teams & visitors. Many people have invested in the lives of these children. And after spending almost every Tuesday and Thursday with these precious children for the past four months or so, they have really won a special place in my heart.

And I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it, but this Sunday will be the last day I will ever see some of these children. The university is just finishing up the semester this week, which means that a lot of the students are graduating! They will be moving back to their home villages to go and use their education, and they will be taking their precious children that are so close to my heart with them.

I have grown to love these children so deeply, and I just wanted to share their sweet faces and stories with you. There are about 15-20 kids who consistently come. The rest are in school, so I spend most of the time with the little ones who aren’t old enough for school yet, or with the older sisters whose parents or guardians require them to stay at home to take care of their younger siblings instead of allowing them to go to school.

Mauzu (pictured below) is one of the latter, and she is particularly special to me. She is the oldest one of the group, so she helps me a ton~ she helps me lead the music, plays the drums, listens extremely well, and is usually the one to answer most of the questions, as most of the other children are so much younger! Some days I feel like Jesus may have me out there just for her. We have a special bond, and I can honestly say that I truly love her. She is living in a bad situation right now, with her aunt, who mistreats her. It breaks my heart. She always asks me if she can come stay with me… meaning, can she come “live” with me. Oh, how I wish she could! But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see her again after Sunday. She is going home to the village to her parents next week, and I hope and pray that the situation there will be better. Please pray for Mauzu.

Amos (pictured to the left) is one of the fortunate ones who gets to attend school, but he always comes and participates in our lesson or activities when he has a break in school, or even when he is sick. He has a hunger to learn about the Lord. He listens more carefully than any child I’ve ever met and has an extraordinary memory! I wish I could see the future and see how God will use this precious boy!

Juliette (pictured to the right) touches my heart every time I look at her. She is ALWAYS smiling~ I don’t think I’ve ever looked at her once and seen her not smiling! And she ALWAYS has her baby brother tied to her back. And she never lets the responsibility of caring for her brother get in the way of having fun~ She loves to sing, and we always dance together! She has so much joy in her eyes and in her heart! I just love her!

Fred, Monday, & Benedict (pictured to the left) are three of my favorite boys! The faithfully show up every time we come, and they always bring so much joy to the day! They are always laughing and goofing around, and they just make my heart happy to see children with almost nothing materially, but with hearts full of the joy of the Lord!

John & I will be attending the students’/ parents’ commissioning service (a sort of “send-off” for the new pastors) this Sunday, so I will get to see the families and the children one last time. That day will for sure bring some sadness with it, but I know it will be a very sweet day at the same time! Please pray for these precious children, that they would know Jesus and feel His love in their families and sense His Presence in their lives.

Prayer Requests for the Coming Week:

Saturday, Aug 18- John & Erica will be training the pastors in Nebbi! We will be teaching on "Prayer" and "Temptation." This is Erica's 1st time to train pastors! Please pray for effectiveness and clarity of teaching!
Wednesday, Aug 22- We leave for Kampala for a field meeting and mentor meeting with Jon & Lisa Mayo (our field director)
Saturday, Aug 25- John is leading worship at KIU (Kampala Int'l Univ) with our new friends from New Zealand (Sam & Kim- Sam will help lead worship & Kim will preach!)
Sunday, Aug 26- John & Sam are leading worship at KIU again & John is preaching!

It's All About Being Flexible

2007-08-04T04:10:00.000-07:00

This week has been full of surprises & being flexible (which in case you were wondering is one of the top five attributes needed as a missionary). Our friend Bokwa (a pastor and contact in Congo) who had been helping set up and plan our trip to Congo was coming through Arua on his way home, so we planned to meet him for dinner on Wednesday. At the same time, another pastor, John Onek, from Sudan, was also passing through Arua on Wednesday. So it seemed like we were going to have one big night of food and fellowship.

Well, in good African fashion neither of the guys showed up on Wednesday night, instead Bokwa came on Thursday and John Onek came on Friday. While at first glance this would seem like an inconvenience, it turned out to be a blessing.

Erica and I were able to have good quality time with each of these men. Bokwa (pictured left) has a real passion and vision for the people of Congo, especially the college age people. He really wants to disciple them and see each of them serve the Lord fully no matter what their vocation may be. He has such a great heart for the Kingdom and also has a good education. It is awesome how God continues to bring such quality people into our lives to partner with in ministry.

We also had a great time of fellowship with John Onek from Juba, Sudan. He has just recently planted a church there, and it is growing rapidly. His vision is to not only plant a church, but to train other Sudanese pastors to plant churches all over Juba and wherever else Jesus would lead him. He is a highly educated man, with a degree in theology and development and currently is not only one of our pastors, but works in the Sudanese government helping with social development. We had such a great visit with John (pictured above) too and just listened to him talk about Sudan and its history and how he has a passion to reach the people of Juba, especially the Muslims.

I'm often amazed when I stop and think about how God continues to bring people together to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. What a great surprise of a week!!!

P.S.~ We were finally able to upload the Safari Video to the Blog! Sorry it took a while! Our internet is slow! But it is there now! Enjoy!

God's Timing

2007-07-30T12:14:00.001-07:00

“’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!)

2007-07-19T06:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-07-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Partners in Ministry

2007-06-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a lot of fun. Our Arua Team organized an appreciation party for all our Ugandan friends and workers here in Arua. We wanted to thank them for all their hard work and also let them know more about the big picture of World Gospel Mission and Africa Gospel Church, which includes our work of training pastors. Our Regional Director of East Africa, Terry Duncan and his family (pictured above), were here with us too; so he was able to explain a little more about who WGM is and what we are about. It was a great time of celebration and we all felt like our Ugandan friends understood both our ministry a little better and they felt like they were partners with us in ministry too. We praise Jesus for such great friends and such a wonderful day of deepening friendships.

The next day we (Billy, the Duncan family, Erica and I) all went to Nebbi, where we just started some pastor training two weeks ago. Billy, Terry and myself each were privileged to preach at three different churches and there was even one young woman who accepted Jesus!!!! We really had a blessed time and we are trusting God’s Word to continue to take root in the messages that were preached. It was a bit of a long day (9 hours totally time with travel, preaching, lunch etc…) but Jesus truly blessed the time with our new friends in Nebbi. (Pastor Cosmos from Nebbi pictured right)

These past few days have been a great reminder of the reality that we have been blessed with so many partners in ministry: the Coppedges, Duncans, all the other WGM staff, all our Ugandan friends, our pastors in Nebbi, our family and of course all our supporters back home who are bathing us in prayer daily. We are so thankful for each of you and how Jesus continues to help us spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. (Pictures from our staff appreciation party)

Light of the World

2007-06-21T00:02:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Jesus opened the door for the very basic stages of pastoral training to begin in Northern Uganda. Billy and Joanna Coppedge traveled to Nebbi, Uganda which is one hour west of Arua (our home). Out of the original group of twenty-five pastors who Billy and I had met with a month ago, we asked them for five key men who we could train to be the leaders of this training center. These five men they chose are top notch and have a genuine hunger for God and a passion to plant churches where there are none. This is a real exciting time to be in Uganda and see what God is doing.

While the Coppedges were up in Nebbi, Erica and I were down in Kampala taking some much needed R & R and also leading some teaching and worship time at Kampala International University (KIU). Being involved with college-age students is something that is close to my heart, so I jumped at the change to lead some worship time with these guys and also talk a little about what true worship really is.

It was a blessed time of worship, and the students were very receptive. Within the first fifteen minutes of singing, the power went out along with the projector with the words. Erica soon jumped up with the laptop propped up on her shoulder so the crowd could at least attempt to see the words to the songs. I played the guitar for a total of an hour and half, and all in all, Jesus really met us as we sang in the candle lit room.

One of the highlights for us was that our good friend Josh (who had been our Swahili teacher and we led to the Lord about three months ago) came to the service! He had a great time singing and hearing our friend Kevin (pictured above with his wife Pamela) preach about what worship is and how our lives are to be our worship to the Lord every day, resulting in our lives being a light to the world around us. Josh really enjoyed the night, and it was great to catch up with him and hear how he is growing in the Lord.

One last thing you could be praying for is this Sunday. Terry Duncan (our Regional Director for Africa), Billy and myself will all be preaching back in Nebbi. The pastors we are training want us to each come and preach this Sunday. It is a great opportunity and a great responsibility; so please pray we will know what to preach and that God’s Holy Spirit will lead us.

Here is also our up coming calendar so you can know how to be praying and where we will be:

June 22-26 Duncans Arrive (WGM Regional Director for Africa)
June 24 - Preaching in Nebbi
June 25 - Discipleship with young Ugandan women (Every Mon)
June 26- “Bible Club” (VBS) at Uganda Christian University (Every Tues & Thur)
June 28 - 30- Our first trip to Congo!
June 30- Banters Arrive (Jeannie’s family)

July 13- 25 Team of 2 girls from NJ Arrive
July 14- 2nd Pastor Training in Nebbi
July 21- Training for Sunday School Teachers @ Uganda Christian University

Saying Goodbyes…

2007-06-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

We are learning quickly that as missionaries, saying goodbyes becomes as commonplace as having a cup of coffee to start your day. I remember when our first friend came to visit us here in Arua. When she got on that plane, there was something different about that goodbye… for the first time, maybe ever, for either of us, we were the ones staying, while our friend left us behind. (IWU Team pictured left)
This past week has been filled with the reality of people coming and going, a reality of missionary life. First, for Joanna & I, our husbands left us last Thursday to go to the city for a week to take with them the team of ten IWU students that we had grown so fond of. Then, John and Billy said their goodbyes to those ten young men at the airport as they returned home to the States. Only two days later, we said goodbye to another missionary family who is very special to us, the Vandermeers (Pictured left). They left for Canada to spend the next year and a half there. A few hours later, we greeted Lisa Fish and Lisa Mayo, as they came up to Arua for the day just to spend some quality time with us and mentor us. We turned around only 24 hours later to say goodbye to them once again. Tomorrow night, we will be attending a going away party for three missionary families. Finally, on Saturday, we’ll have to say goodbye to two very special friends of ours, Brad & Annie Brown(Pictured below), who have spent the past four months in Uganda as they also return to the States! That’s a total of roughly 25 goodbyes in one week!

My natural, human tendency in saying all of these goodbyes is to start to feel lonely… and maybe even sorry for myself, because everyone is leaving me. But in all of these goodbyes, I am reminded of the sweet, constant, steadfast presence of our God. He has promised us that He will never leave or abandon us! No matter where we are on this Earth, or how lonely we are feeling, you can rest assured that you are never alone!

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid… For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” – Deut 31:6

“For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Joshua 1:5