4:9-12 Two people are better off than one, for they
can help each other succeed. If one
person falls, the other can reach out and help……….Three are even better, for a
triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Well, when we told you the month of June was going to be
busy the word busy is an understatement.
You all know Murphy’s Law, if anything can go wrong it will go
wrong. When we received the news that
the container was going to arrive around the end of May we thought its arrival
might interfere with our hosting the team of teachers from America in the
middle of June. Oh, how right we
were! The container did arrive in June,
but it was held up in Customs for several weeks for various reasons. I think the biggest reason was there was a
conspiracy to try and steal all the Doves chocolate Janine and I had packed in
our personal tubs. Well, it worked we
never received the chocolate. LOL It was
still a blessing to receive everything else.
Simon and I (Bruce) went to Kampala on a Thursday to pick up
the Afayo belongings and were told after the second day that the container
would not be released until Monday or Tuesday of the following week. We both laughed because it only made sense
that the container would be released in time for Mark Luckey to arrive from the
States and he could be there to help unload the very container he helped pack and
ship while he was home at the ECM office
in Indiana.
Just for your entertainment I will share the events of the
unpacking of the forty-foot container from the time of its release. The container was released at 5:00 Pm and
then had an hour plus trip to make it to the field where we could transfer its belongings
to our smaller trucks. It gets dark here at 7:00 Pm! I repeat, it gets dark at 7:00 Pm, and there
are no lights in the field where we had to unpack. Thank God for the use of torches (flash lights)
and car lights while trying to unload Thousands of boxes.
If the light issue wasn’t a big enough problem, the two
trucks I hired to ship our belongings didn’t show up until 9:00 and 10:00
pm. The second truck was late because
the driver got mouthy with a police officer and ended up spending the night in
jail. I followed the first truck at 5:00
am the next morning to the village, and Simon rode with the other truck once
the driver was released from jail at 9:30 am.
After spending three days in Kampala the trucks were unloaded on Friday
June 12th in the village.
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| David, Theresa, Lyla, Natalie, Sarah |
On June 13th Janine, Simon and I went back to
Kampala to pick up Mark and then traveled to Entebbe to pick up the team of
teachers from the States. The team of
five had been coordinating their efforts and making plans months before
arriving in Uganda. Keep in mind this is
not a team from one church or from any one given area. They all volunteered their services through
the ECM website which was assembling a team to work at St. Paul Primary
Learning Centre. They had never met
before this trip. The team came from
Michigan, Texas and Colorado.
After spending a few hours with them it was obvious to
Janine and me that they were assembled by God to do some much-needed training
at the school. The team, directed by
Lyla Martin, spent each night preparing for the following days events. We truly enjoyed listening in each night to
hear how enthusiastic they were and how well they teamed together. Each person brought something different to
the table in regards to subject and in techniques of teaching. They came with a humble heart to share the
gifts God had given them. In no way did
they think their way was the only way to teach, but a different way to teach.
Dave Davis who will tell you he is not a teacher in the
vocational sense was a joy to work with and along side of. Before he arrived he asked for some small
projects to do, but he finished the small projects on the first day. Dave is an individual who is very
self-motivated and very creative. He
interacted so well with the students and even taught them how to wrestle. Dave planted a variety of vegetables and
fruit trees around the school compound for future harvest.
Janine and I had such a good time with the team we had a
hard time saying goodbye. Even though we
were returning home to America two days later, we would have enjoyed a couple of
more weeks with them. We all had a great
time and look forward to seeing them all again, if they decide to make a return
trip.
You all may have been wondering about our new teammates the
Actis’s. They arrived a week or so prior
to the above-mentioned events. It is
obvious they are seasoned missionaries and that they will need little, if any,
help from us. They were missionaries in
Colombia, South America for 4 years.
Their vision, hearts, and skills will be such a blessing to us and The
Mission. The Actis family has four girls
and they have a heart for missions just like their parents. The twins, Sophie and Chloe, are a natural
with babies and their sisters, Lindsay and Kennedy (KC), have a passion for
communicating and reaching the people of the village and helping.
This is what our team looks like now. Simon Mugulusi (a local Ugandan). Bruce and Janine Coker (one year on the
field). Matt and Shelley Actis and their
four daughters from oldest to youngest: Lindsay, Kennedy, Sophie, and
Chloe. Together we have some new and
exciting things planned for the coming year 2016. We are excited to be working with them
all!
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| Kennedy, Lindsay, Shelley, Sophie, Matt, Chloe, Simon, Janine & Bruce Your AFAYO TEAM |
