Trip to Kenya

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!

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

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

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?

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!