OPUM...Orthodox Presbyterian Uganda Mission

Christi Zekveld, The Tuiningas, Jesse Van Gorkom, The Wrights, Leah Hopp, Erika Bulthuis, Emily Pihl, The Verdicks, The Tricaricos, The Knoxes and The Okkens

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Still Out Here...

Well, we have finally gotten with the times I suppose and have started a blog. We plan to put our updates out here for you all to read. Please forgive the delay in hearing from us. We have just finished a busy season of visitors. It was a blessing to have them here. We had a total of 4 groups that came from the beginning of June until just this past week. Some overlapped, so at one point we had 19 with us! It’s always an encouragement to have short-termers with us and our kids love having new “friends” around. It was also fun to see old friends back here (like Amy DeWit). We even had our own pediatrician here for a few weeks. Free check-ups for the kids! Dr. Gayle Murray was a blessing to have, not just for her expertise, but also her fellowship. We also had two friends from our home church here. Karen and Laura Goodhart came for 3 weeks. Laura, a nurse, worked in the medical clinic. Karen, a 1st grade school teacher did some “school” time with our 5 ½ yr old Caleb while she was here (
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Big News

Greetings from the Okkens! We have some big personal news to share. We praise the Lord for His wonderful guidance and provision with regards to our next place of service. I have received a call to serve as a pastor at Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. During multiple Skype interviews I enjoyed getting to know the pastor, elders and deacons. Then the church graciously flew our whole family from Uganda for a ten day visit in March. The congregation was truly wonderful and the visit went very well. The Lord led us to the decision that, should the call come, we were ready to accept. On April 8 th they voted unanimously to extend that call. We decided to wait on announcing it until it was approved by the presbytery. That happened today. I am so thankful that they allowed me to meet with them by Skype. I was interviewed and the call was approved. I look forward to working alongside Pastor Matthew Holst, whom I so enjoyed getting to know. In addition to helping w
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Sojourns, Snow and Sickness

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Sojourns... Well, as furlough continues so do travels. We stayed in some fun places on the east coast during our recent 10 day trip in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. We were blessed to be with the Tricaricos' (our teammates in Karamoja) old church in Vienna, Virginia as well as a congregation in Leesburg. From there we moved on to meet with the Committee on Foreign Missions of the OPC in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. While in the area we also visited the congregation in Glenside. What fun for me to see my old friend, Chandra, and for David to catch up with his seminary buddy, Lane. From there we moved on and spent a couple of days visiting our friends, the Howards, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A bonus was Chad Anderson (former Peace Corps guy who lived in Mbale, Uganda) driving all the way from Michigan to join us. Then we made our way to Maryland where we visited OP congregations in Frederick and Columbia. Again we saw many friends, some from San Diego days (David & Jolie C
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