Thursday, January 29, 2015

New Year begins


God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.  Hebrews 11:40

Happy New Year everyone!  We want to start out this letter by saying thank you for all your prayers for us during the holiday season.  The voids of no family and friends were filled with phone calls, Face time, and Skype.  Where would we be without the latest technology?  We were without family and friends, but we still had each other to celebrate the Birth of our Savior.  Because of your prayers, God filled the void.  Amen!


December finished with 12 women finishing the beginner sewing class. From never using scissors, pins or a ruler they ended with putting together a 9 patch square quilt!  Quite and accomplishment for these wonderful ladies!  We also had a teacher trainer come stay with us who worked with the teachers at St. Paul’s on methods of teaching children.   School resumes the first week of February with many good works and plans.


January has gone by in a whirlwind.  We spent the first two and a half weeks hosting two groups of people, the Luckeys and the Actis family.  The first few days we spent some quality time with the Actis family prior to the Luckeys arrival.  Matt and Shelly Actis and their four girls were on a vision trip to Africa and looking at the Afayo Poject as their next possible area of ministry.  We had a wonderful visit and look forward to hearing from them soon about the decision God has placed on their heart. We are praying for God’s guidance for them and their family as they consider joining the Afayo team. 

Stacy & Shelly visited the ladies that were cooking for the builders at the school


back-Mark & Stacy Luckey & Brucefront- Shelly & Matt Actis & Janine


After the Actis family returned home we switched gears to moving the Luckey’s belongings from Kaliro to Jinja for a sale.  This was no easy task. The move was actually easier than pricing the items.  Poor Stacy!  How do you put a price on items of value knowing that if it is too high the item won’t sell and then in the long run you might end up giving it away?  God is good!  Everything in the sale sold and the Luckeys had enough money to fly home. Lol
We had a wonderful visit with the Luckeys and Kelsey Cott (a family friend).  Things are now very quiet around here.  In a way it is good, but a little lonely.  We spent so much time talking around the dinner table.  One night we spent an hour singing old commercial songs and then another night we played a memorization game. (One duck, couple hen, three brown bear, ect…)  If you don’t know it we will teach you some day. 

What a strange turn of events.  In Feb 2013 the Luckeys and Kelsey drove us to the airport to return home, and now Jan 2015 we took the Luckeys and Kelsey to the airport to return home.

packed and headed to the airport

We rounded out the month of January by taking a much-needed break from it all.  We took a trip to Murchison Falls to go on a Safari and a boat ride to the falls, and to rest.  The sights were breathtaking!  Seeing these animals in a zoo does not compare to seeing them in the wild.  God may have given man the ability to think and reason, but what these animals lack in thinking or reasoning they make up for in their speed and size.  While Janine and I were on the top of the vehicle, the driver drove quickly past a male elephant.  This animal was taller than us and larger than the vehicle in size.  I can’t tell how many times Janine tried to push me over the side of the vehicle. 







Bruce loves those babies too!





3 classrooms almost complete. They are getting painted this week and will be ready for the first day of school on Monday!

Thank You!

Looking back at 2014 we had many challenges and changes, but many rewards and blessings!  We were able to help women start to learn sewing, beading and crafting skills, we were a part of building 2 more classrooms for the school, and were involved in Bible studies, and witnessed some come to Christ.  What an Awesome year, looking forward to what God has in store for 2015!
 “God has given us two hands-one to receive with and one to give with.  We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.” Billy Graham

Our Prayer Needs
·       Continued language learning and building relationships with the people
·       Teachers & students start learning English
·       We would be effective in teaching
·       Safety when traveling daily
·       Hearts would turn to Christ