Karamoja Okkens

Greetings from Nakaale! We seem to have left the dry season behind. Evenings can be quite chilly and the roads quite muddy as the rains are here. We had a heavy one earlier this afternoon. In fact, even as I write this at about 9pm we can hear the sound of a stuck vehicle from the main road working hard to get out of the mud. To their discouragement, no doubt, I hear the rain starting up again. They will likely have to give up the fight and take the night on the road while hoping for some morning sunshine to dry things up and enable them to continue their journey. It is a common occurrence in Karamoja. I’m thankful that I have not yet slept out on the road in all my years here. Just today, Bob Wright was putting some heavy duty mud tires on some of our Mission vehicles for when we do have to travel. Rains can interrupt travels as well as gospel ministry. Often village Bible studies are rained out. Other times, folks are pretty busy working in their gardens during the week. Of cour...

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

This past week has been spent traveling. Our whole team made our collective way down to Jinja where we spent three days retreating and meeting. Our 'bosses' from the home office came to lead the meetings during the retreat and to provide some counsel and encouragement to our team. The adult members of the mission met for several hours discussing how things are going (using a Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats assessment), brainstorming future plans and finding out some things we can start working on now to improve our work and our engagement with the community. We all came away with lots of opportunities to chew on. While we were tucked away in meetings, three young ladies took care of all the young kids! Christi is here working with our Mbale teammates, the Tuningas. Jessica and Alisha are visiting the Tuiningas for a couple of weeks. They graciously put on a great kids program and it was a big hit. Thank you again! Then there was some good pool time as well. Ve...

Megan's garden spot Jacob's garden spot Mom's garden (although can't take credit for much of the hard work)