Saturday, July 26, 2014

Greetings from Uganda








Isaiah 12: 2 See, God has come to save me.  I will trust in him and not be afraid.  The Lord God is my strength and my song; He has given me victory. 
                                                                                                        
Where to begin?  The past couple weeks have gone by so fast.  We have gone through several different emotions: joy (for seeing the familiar faces in the village), sorrow (leaving loved ones behind), depression (for the poverty that has plagued this country), hope (for the upgrade we will receive to a bigger apartment), and excitement (knowing we will be able to share the love of Jesus with all we meet!)

Just like knowing you’re going to get a shot it doesn’t take away the pain of the moment.  Preparing for this chapter of our life doesn’t take away the feelings of each experience.  We are thankful for everything we are going through.  We know God is teaching us something from each of these experiences.

Our team leader, Mark Luckey, flew here with us, but will only be here for three weeks.  We are spending as much time with him as possible to help him accomplish his tasks while he helps us get settled and set up.  We feel fortunate that we don’t have to look hard for a vehicle, because we will be purchasing his. We still have many things to purchase and set up in our living quarters. Learning to shop and convert dollars to shillings can drain the brain (One dollar = 2,600 shillings). A fun challenge! 

Trying to accomplish something here is done on Ugandan time.  Everyone moves slow and at their own pace.  We have spent many hours traveling back and forth. We have traveled once from Kaliro to Kampala (3 ½  hours each way) and a couple of times from Kaliro to Jinja (1 ½  hours). We will never complain about road conditions in the US again!  We have so much to get done each day.  The sun comes up at 7 and goes down at 7, and we have a policy of not traveling in the dark (too dangerous).  So, we settle in every night by 7 and start preparing for the next days tasks.

We have been to the village for the bible studies with the men and women. We attended the village church on Sunday.  The school in the village was preparing for an area wide musical competition and they practiced it for us.  What fun!  Being back in the village and seeing those beautiful faces instantly reminded us why we were to return. We feel so blessed to be back in Uganda and are looking forward to the future here in Kaliro and in being a part of the work being done in the village of Naigobya with the Afayo Project. 
Living Small

Our Quarters are tiny(2 rooms 10x10), but this is temporary.  We will be moving to the larger apartment in a couple weeks when Mark returns to the states.  No drywall or wall-to-wall carpet, just cement walls and floors.  We have no dryer for clothes, only God’s beautiful sunshine!  Simple, but good!

Meet Courtney
She is our teammate and has been a part of the Afayo Project since May of 2013.  Her heart for the Ugandans is as big as the state she is from, Texas.  She is willing to go the extra mile (literally she drives a motorcycle) to do what needs to be done.

                                                                         Simon & Family
Simon does it all!  He is the interpreter, our driver, men’s Bible study leader and everything else, including assisting us.  He is the man for the job!  He lives with us in the complex with his wife, Doreen and their 3 beautiful daughters.

Prayer Praises
We arrived safely with all our luggage.
A truck was purchased for Afayo with money from a little church in Hart, MI
Prayer Needs
·      We can understand and learn some language and their cultures

·      No sickness from the mosquitoes, bugs, or food
·      Safety when traveling.  Roads are bad and so are the drivers.  And we will be on them daily.
·      Learning our way around
·      Our team will work well together and we will accomplish much for the Kingdom