Ministry Update


The rainy season seems to be nearing its end as we have experienced some very hot days lately. It did not turn out to be a very wet year. We have been thankful that we have not repeated last year’s experience of such horrendous road conditions. For the most part travel has been unaffected. However, we are concerned that the harvest has not been very good. For many it will be a challenge to feed their families adequately. We welcome your prayers for our Karimojong friends. We know that even with a poor harvest God is able to provide in ways which amaze us and we pray that He will. Please pray as well for our Mission that God would grant us wisdom when requests for assistance come to us. We want to respond in ways that honor Christ and adorn His Word.
With this in mind I was recently reminded that Jesus knows so well the pains of hunger. I was at the medical clinic for our mid-morning preaching and prayer for patients. I was sharing from the beginning of Matthew 4 where Jesus fasted for 40 days after which He was tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread. Unlike His ancestors who in their wilderness experience sinfully grumbled and complained about their hunger, Jesus resisted the devil. He had come into the world not to live a life of comfort but to obey – “…every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Praise the Lord that He did so even unto His death on the cross! Truly, life eternal comes from Him, not from eating bread. Nor does it come from modern medicine, as I reminded the patients waiting for medical care. We usually offer copies of the sermon (both in Karimojong and English) for those interested. I did so and received a more enthusiastic response than ever before in all my years in Karamoja. Folks thronged about me to get their copies as my supply quickly diminished. May God use His word to bring fruit in many lives!
How blessed we are to have the privilege of spreading the Word of life at the Clinic and in so many different venues. Village Bible studies continue. Medical outreaches are now taking place most weeks. This past week I had the privilege of instructing the teachers whom Martha Wright and others have been training for the new school – KEO (Karimojong Education Outreach). All profess to be Christians. We want to help ensure that they are on the true foundation of Christ and his Word. Please pray for them and the new school which begins soon, Lord-willing.
These days the morning devotions for our workers are always led by a Karimojong. We spend a couple of hours each week studying with them to help them to think about the text and how to prepare some teaching from it. The times have been rich. After finishing the gospel of John, Lokwii David suggested that we next take up the book of Philippians. Our studies began. We spent some time thinking about the background and message of the letter. It is fun to see these growing believers excited about the Word of God.      
We are also thankful for the continued albeit slow growth of our church in Nakaale. A couple of weeks back we received two new members along with their children. Tomorrow we will receive another young man named Aleper Simon Peter.
Our family will leave Uganda at the beginning of November for furlough. Life will be a bit crazy preparing for our departure. We appreciate your prayers and so look forward to seeing many of you!

      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 (...
Read more

Sojourns, Snow and Sickness

Image
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...
Read more

Clinic Crisis Update

Thank you for your prayers for us our regarding our conflict with the community. Another meeting took place yesterday. This one included the Local Chairman (LCIII) of our sub-county. We had hoped that his presence and leadership would bring a more peaceful and orderly environment in which to address the concerns of the community. As it turned out, the meeting was anything but peaceful and orderly. Never in my life have I been verbally assaulted and maligned like my fellow Mission members and I were yesterday over the course of that 5 hour meeting. In one passionate speech we were even called ‘killers’ and ‘Satan’. It would be difficult to recall all of the specific issues raised. Much criticism flowed out of a general frustration over our Mission’s failure to help the community to the extent and in every way that they believe that we ought to be ‘helping’. Just to give one example, there was protest of the charges, which patients incur at the Clinic. We were accused of being in Karamoj...
Read more