Karamoja Okkens

Dear Friends, Thank you so much for your many prayers for Lokwii David. When I spoke with him recently, he told me that he believed that it was sin for him to take another wife and that he now regretted his decision. He also recognized that this very public sin had brought dishonor to Christ and his church and he desired to confess his sin and ask forgiveness before the congregation. He did so on Sunday morning. As it turned out, the parents of this second wife have taken her and given her to another man. In Karimojong culture, even when a man and woman have already begun living as husband and wife, parents retain ownership of their daughter until the dowry has been paid in full. And, generally, that does not happen for many years. So it is not uncommon for a “wife” to be reclaimed by her parents and given to a better suitor who can more quickly pay them cows. It saddens us deeply to see persons going in and out of “marriages” this way. It was not Lokwii who orchestrated this ...

This past weekend our 'new' teammates in Mbale, the Tuininga family, finally made it up to Karamoja! Our kids really had a chance to connect and had a great time!

Our youngest turns 5 today! We love you so much Jacob!

Our first born has reached 10! Happy happy birthday Caleb, we love you!

I am afraid that I have to share some very sad news. The first I will mention is sad because it again involves a Christian Karimojong man who has taken a second wife. And it is especially sad to us because it is someone who has been so dear to us. Lokwii David has been around our Mission since we first came to Karamoja when he was just a boy. He has become such a gifted translator and partner in ministry. Now, because of this very public sin, we are no longer able to have Lokwii laboring in this ministry capacity. Lokwii is still a member of our church. Please pray for him and us as we think about appropriate discipline. May our Lord be gracious to bring repentance. We have also been deeply saddened by three deaths which have all taken place in the last two weeks. All three remind us of the tragic and destructive effects of the sin of drunkenness. In one case, five drunk men quarreled with a young woman, the wife of one of our workers. It became violent. They beat her. Though ...

the view out our back door the other day

Our wonderful teacher, Miss Erika, keeps a blog of her own and she has posted some pictures and given her schedule of what she does with Megan and Caleb.  Click Here

School started about two weeks ago, but was unable to post pics. They are still having a good time with Miss Erika Bulthuis. :)

Dear Friends, Thank you so much for your many encouraging words and prayers in response to my last update. I apologize for being slow in following up with a report. The two church members who took extra wives both stood up and confessed their sin before the congregation. We are saddened by the sin but praise our God for the amazing grace of forgiveness which He lavishes upon us in Christ and which, accordingly, we extended to these men. Please pray that these men would walk in faithful purposed new obedience as they have promised. Pray as well that God would use their confession in the lives of others who are facing the same temptation. We take joy in knowing that our Lord can and does bring good out of even the worst of circumstances. That is a lesson which we are taught again in again in the word. I am reminded of this often as we share different stories through our village chronological Bible story teaching. This past week, some villages   learned about the promise that...

Did we really come from So. Cal. all the way to Karamoja to buy a Laker’s uniform? It’s amazing what can turn up in Nakaale, authentic NBA team apparel. It was worn by a local man. A little bartering and now it is David’s.

Our little girl is 7 years old today! Where does the time go!

Well, I finally did it. After some time (I won't mention how many months), our whole family got out of Karamoja! This past Monday we left Nakaale and made the adventurous trip down to Mbale. We were on our own, as Bob Wright was too sick to caravan with us if we needed any help. So we, Heather Foss, and our visitor Monica who was flying home embarked. We only got stuck twice! Below is the spot where we wished we had a shovel to work away at the mud we were stuck in so we could rock ourselves out. We finally did that, but only after Monica, David and a Karimojong friend John Moru did some digging with mostly their hands! But then we had a very nice time playing with friends, brought there by some nicely paved roads... No pictures of the ride back home, but let's just say it had its own 'adventures', but we didn't get stuck!

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) This past week, a friend and member of our church came to me, a man who has been among our most faithful brothers. I was deeply saddened to hear him confess that he had sinned by taking another wife. His first marriage has been troubled for a long time. The struggles have become increasingly difficult. My own feeble efforts to intervene have not proven very helpful. So, even though he knew it was wrong, he followed the counsel of the community elders rather than the commands of Christ. In Karimojong culture, the way to deal with a troublesome wife is to take another one. So they pressured him. So he did. And he did so without mentioning a thing to me. Events developed quickly while I was away on a trip down country. I was happy that at least he came and confessed this rather than trying to keep it a secret. What was disturbing wa...