Partners in Ministry

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

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…

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

10 College Boys, 200 Precious Children!

Team in the Park … Team in the Dark

Our first short term missions team arrived in Uganda last Thursday, May 10th! It is a team from IWU (Indiana Wesleyan University) of 10 college students. Billy and I met them in Murchison National Park up near Arua. This is one of the largest safari game parks in Uganda and was the perfect location to have the team’s orientation, spiritual retreat, go on safari and just have some time for male bonding.
Our time in the park was amazing. Jesus really blessed the time of prayers and devotionals that Billy and I shared, and we really got to know the guys and see their passion for the Lord. We also got to see a ton of animals: elephants, giraffes, hippo, crocodile, antelope, water buffalo and warthogs. We got so close to some of these animals we could hear them breathe. We even got the rare opportunity to see a leopard after a chance friendship with a guide we met who led us to a “path less traveled.” As if that wasn’t enough, he also spotted a lioness: after praying to find a lion, we didn’t expect such a direct answer! There was even a twist of irony when I mentioned we’d yet to find a male lion in that park and only moments later, we saw one a car’s length away. It was AWESOME! The guys loved it and so did I!
While in the game park, I had received a phone call from Erica that Arua was going to be without power for the entire next week! As I broke the news to the team I anticipated all the negative feedback I was going to receive, but to my great surprise, they just said that was fine and that they weren’t expecting to have electricity anyway! They have been so flexible and laid back, and just an incredible blessing to us.

So needless to say, this past week was a little challenging, with laundry to do for so many and having no refrigerator to keep food fresh when cooking for so many! The week was filled with cold showers, warm water to drink, candles, the smell of gas from our generator (which ran our deep freeze to keep all of the meat we had bought cold- thank God!) and lots of games in the near darkness. The one great thing about having no electricity is that it provides the opportunity for great stargazing!!! The week did not start the way we thought it would, but everything turned out better than fine! The team is flexible with maturity beyond their years. And on Wednesday, after no power for a week, Jesus provided a bigger generator that could run our fridge! We had no electicity for a total of 9 days, and finally, at 3:00 am on Thursday, we got our power back! Praise God!!!

This team has been such an encouragement to our hearts and to the children of Arua. It has been a ton of fun so far, and we are looking forward to one more week of working with these guys and serving Jesus with them!

Vacation Bible School in Arua!

God is so amazing! I wish everyone reading this blog entry could have been at Uganda Christian University to witness how wonderfully and perfectly He worked out our Vacation Bible School with the children there this past week! We had a great turn out~ about 200 children showed up each day! We have so much to thank Him for today, as we look back and reflect on all of the ways He answered our prayers and worked throughout last week!
First of all, as we were planning this VBS, one of our biggest projected obstacles to the week was the language barrier. As most of you know, we have learned some Swahili, but these specific children speak the local language of Arua, which is Lugbara. We were told in the planning stages, that we would definitely need translators, because these children do not know any English. Well, did God answer our prayers or what! Not only did he provide an abundance of translators each day, but He paved the way for clear communication between us and the children, more than we ever could have dreamed of! Turns out, they know a lot more English than the faculty thought they did!
And not only did they understand us, along with some help from the translators, but we really feel that they understood the messages that we were giving them each day… that God loves them, God provides for them, God cares for them, He protects us, and He died for us! Every day was filled with about an hour of singing, a skit performed by the IWU boys, games, a Bible character’s story and memory verse for each day, and then a series of quizzes throughout the day to make sure they were really learning what we were teaching and also to help them remember it! By the end of the week, they could recite all five memory verses, tell us who they learned about, and what the lesson was! It was amazing!
Yet another answer to prayer, is that we intentionally did not plan this week with exact details of how it would look. We left it general and open, so that the IWU guys could take ownership of the week and what it would look like. And did they ever! We are so thankful for this team who took total responsibility of this VBS, and dedicated this week of their lives to serving Jesus and these children.

And the best part about the week was the children’s response. Our last day’s lesson was about Jesus, and the children were given the opportunity to accept Jesus in their heart! The response was overwhelming! I would say about 90% of the kids there asked Jesus into their hearts! We have to admit, there is a sense of skepticism in our hearts, when every child raises their hand, comes forward, and prays “the sinner’s prayer.” We asked ourselves, “are they just doing this because the Americans are here?” But God has convicted our hearts to not be skeptical and to just REJOICE with Him over these children and their open hearts! And we are rejoicing, because we know that all things are possible with God!

The Privilege of Love

The highlight of my week was in the arms of one little girl in particular. Her name is Alice. She is about three years old, and she is possibly the saddest child I have ever come in contact with. She breaks my heart. But God pointed her out to me this week, and He gave me the privilege and opportunity to love on this little girl. I talked to many of the staff and faculty and parents about Alice and why she was so emotionless and sad, and every one of them told me that it was because of lack of attention and affection from her family. Her mother is very young, her father is very old, and she has a baby sister who requires and receives the whole family’s attention.
The first day I held her, I could not get her to even look me in the eyes. I couldn’t get her to hug me back. I just held her. I learned to say, “Jesus loves you,” “God loves you,” and “I love you” in her language, and I just said them over and over again in her precious little ear. By the end of the week, God gave me the gift of response. She made eye contact with me, from across the field, while she was in my lap, and as I was holding her! She even hugged me back! About the third day, I felt her little hands clinch my arms, and it was the best feeling!
I was telling one of my best friends, Katie, about this whole experience. She is a social worker, and she told me that lack of physical touch, affection, and love is one of the main problems she sees in her foster children. She told me that just holding her and giving her attention is the best thing I could do for Alice. And I just thought to myself, what a blessing that God has given me the privilege to give this little girl the love that she needs! And the best part about it is that I will be able to continue to love this little girl, since we live here and I will be going back to where she lives many more times! Please pray for Alice, and that she would feel the love of Jesus.

Keep It Balanced

Not all of missionary life is formal ministry (ie. leading Bible studies, vacation Bible school, training pastors), but I do believe all of life is ministry. Our days, like your days often feel and look like this picture of the woman to the left, a delicate balance. All of what happens in our lives is a direct result of God’s sweet Holy Spirit, often making a way where there seems to be no way. This is how we fill our calendar, one day at a time. Some days are filled with friends visiting from Kampala, others full of running errands, meetings and planning for mission teams to come from America. This was one of those weeks full of friends and planning for the Indiana Wesleyan University missions team to arrive.

The highlight from this past week was having our dear friends Brad & Annie Brown (pictured left) come and visit us from Kampala. They have such great hearts for the Lord and are just about to finish up a 5 months term in Uganda before heading back to Boston for seminary. Our time together was like a breath of fresh air. We ate good food, talked about their time of ministry in Uganda, played volleyball and laughed a ton!!!

The rest of the week, and this week too, are devoted wholly to final preparations for our missions team that is coming this week. Billy and I go to meet the team of 10 college guys this Thursday in a game park for safari, orientation and a spiritual retreat before bringing them to Arua on Saturday. We have been busy finalizing all the schedules, programs (VBS at Uganda Christian Univ. pictured left) and projects for them as well as anticipating the return of Billy & Joanna, who arrive home tomorrow morning.

In the midst of all this planning and daily life in Arua, I am constantly confronted with the fact that the only way I can keep my life balanced is if I let Jesus do something in my heart daily to love and live as Jesus. I have to guard against treating Him like someone who can just help me get my “to-do” list done. Jesus has to take the lead each day and we’re all privileged to be able to join Him in the work He wants to accomplish that day, whether in America, Uganda or anywhere else. This is how I prayerfully live life. It is in the “daily grind” of life where the Holy Spirit wants to meet each of us and if we are not careful we will miss Him.

Jesus, today help me live in such a way to move with You and accomplish your agenda for the day. Amen.