Sunday, August 31, 2014

The Good the Bad & the Ugly

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” is a Clint Eastwood movie from many years ago and also a way of describing our first six weeks in Uganda.  We have experienced many things in the past few weeks that have brought sorrow, joy, and excitement into our life.  I think this is what Christianity is all about.

The Good:  We are very excited that we have begun our language training.  Our instructor has a great personality and speaks better English than we do.  The language course moves quickly and involves a lot of memorization.  We are integrating what we learn while joining the Bible studies in the village.

A team of six from Hillcrest of Hudsonville, MI came out and worked on putting in a playground at the school.  We had so much fun working beside them and seeing the excited and happy faces of the children.  It is the first playground ever in this area.


It brings joy to our hearts as we prepare and plan to get more involved with our own ministries.  Janine is going to start cleaning out the village house in Naigobya so she can purchase the sewing machines she will use for training and to make room to teach beading to the women.  We both will be doing Bible studies with the teachers starting mid September.  I will be preaching in the village in a couple of days and I have been asked to visit a neighboring church, which means I will be asked to speak.  Yeah!

The Bad: I speak of is in regards to the driving to and from various places.  When we travel from Kaliro to Jinja we pass up to five police check points.  Each time we pray we will not get pulled over.  I have been ticketed once and pulled over five times.  Pretty good odds!  We get excited when Bible study goes well on Thursday evenings, but dread traveling back to Kaliro in the dark.  It is very hard to see.  Driving on any road has its own challenges.  The only person that must follow rules seems to be the foreigners.  We have to dodge boda boda drivers (motorcycle taxis), people, animals (cows, chicken, goats…), mini van taxis, and all forms of truckers.  When someone in the opposite lane feels the urge to pass the vehicle in front of him, it is expected we pull over to the side of the road for him to finish passing.


Last, but not least, The Ugly:  I will only grumble about two things.  I can’t explain the feeling we get when we walk around in the city we are living, Kaliro.  It has a heavy Muslim influence.  Very few people are courteous to us when we speak to them or nod to acknowledge them.  We receive glares from the majority of the people in passing, but we do stick out like a soar thumb being the only white people. 
The road to the village
Our 1996 Prado
"Mzugu Mobile"

While doing ministry, we have to travel to the village of Naigobya.  When the Afayo team first moved to Kaliro the travel time to the village was thirty minutes.  Our last trip took sixty-five minutes.  The cause of this delayed travel is the road conditions.  There are three areas that are almost impassable.  I have to admit that I fear the trip when I approach these points.  At one point we are straddling two mounds over top a deep crevasse to get up a hill.  And that is on a dry day.  The clay roads on rainy days we can’t even describe.  This would cause fear in the most avid four-wheeler.

All this to say we wouldn’t trade this ministry for anything!


I just finished reading a book called “Seeking allah, Finding Jesus” Sorry, but I can’t spell allah with a capital letter.  The author, Qureshi, finally accepts Jesus as his savior, but he then anguishes over the hurt and turmoil he will cause his mother, father, and family because they are devout Muslims.  At one point he asked God why He didn’t kill him after he made the commitment.  Qureshi writes that God spoke to him in an audible voice: “Because this is not about you!”


Janine and I do realize this ministry is not about us and we will focus on the positives and not the negative things that happen daily.  Jesus did not promise life would be easier.  Matt 10:34  Jesus said, ”Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.”  Matt 28:20 Jesus says, “ And surley I am with you always to the very end of the age.”  He is with us every step of the way and we feel His presence daily.
We helped give out over 100 pairs of shoes to the
Orphans and needy at the school

Our Prayer Praises
  • We are in the bigger apartment and possibly moving to a house soon!
  • Our camera was stranded at O'hare and has been safely returned to us!
  • Our Laptop crashed, but is back up and running!
Our Prayer Needs
  • Learn some of the language
  • No sickness from mosquitoes, bugs, or food
  • Safety when traveling daily
  • Learning our way around
  • Learn our increased responsibilities as we transition into leadership with The Afayo Project, as Mark is not returning to lead the project, but will be taking a position as Director of EveryChild Ministeries