Karamoja Okkens

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you have a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Most importantly, we pray that you will do so remembering the true reason for the season, the birth of the Savior King, Jesus Christ. Much thanks to you all for your prayers and support which enable us to minister here in Karamoja. God is good! Blessings in Him, David, Sunshine, Caleb, Megan and Jacob Most of our team at our Mission retreat in November

Well, after 15 years we finally made it to Murchison Falls along the Nile River! The kids are finally old enough to actually remember going on safari and we were able to do it in a way that David didn't have to drive, so he could enjoy it as well! Some more over on Facebook...

Greetings from Karamoja! In May I asked you to pray for our upcoming June conference which our Mission was to sponsor. Thank you for your prayers. It took place on the 23rd (this update is overdue). We prayed for dry enough roads for travel, particularly for the sake of one of our speakers, Eric Tuininga, since he was coming up from Mbale. Leading up to the event, very heavy rains made road conditions so bad that we wondered whether he would make the trip. Wonderfully, he was gracious and adventurous enough to be willing to ride on the back of a motorcycle, which could be pushed around and through the muddy places where cars and trucks were stuck and preventing others from passing. He endured the rough journey and the conference went forward as planned. More than 50 pastors and church leaders gathered to receive ...

I have often said that my life in Africa probably looks a lot like yours in America…apart from some very different kind of scenery. In some ways life can be pretty routine. On the other hand, there is always the need to be prepared for the unexpected. A night’s sleep might be interrupted by the 2am whining and barking of our dogs after they have chased an animal (most recently it was a genet) up into a tree.  Just this week the morning homeschool plans were thrown out the window as our whole compound spent almost two hours figuring out how to get to and kill a very large black mamba snake which was hiding up in the under parts of our vehicle. Routine in our home schooling, but not necessarily scheduled. Routine in our weekly activities but with a visitor or teammate usually coming or going. My mornings are filled with school or some other educational experience. Doing my best, well usually my best, at juggling three grade levels of subjects. Thankfully the kids are on autopilot ...

Rains have come in plenty. It is very wet these days. Muddy roads will make for challenging travels again. Yet we are thankful for the plowing and planting taking place in many fields. We appreciate your prayers both for our travels but also for the farms of our friends here. We are thankful for our new teammates, the Robbins. You are welcome to check out their blog ( mygandarobbins.wordpress.com ) as there are interesting adventures going on in their lives about which we ask you to pray. It has been fun getting to know their family and for me to get into a ministry rhythm with my new colleague, the other Pastor David. Actually, our Karimojong friends have given him the name “Pastor Lokut”. His family’s arrival on the field was during the dry season which is very windy. Lokut means wind . (The same name was given to our son, Caleb, who also first came to Karamoja during windy times). This will help distinguish the two pastors, leaving me the lone Pastor David. (Despite attempts earl...

Is it really almost March?! An update is overdue. It has been a crazy time in Uganda leading up to this past week’s election. After all was said and done, we cannot say that we were terribly surprised to hear the result. The nation will continue with the same president. We rest under the sovereign rule of the God of heaven who, in His timing and according to His will, “removes kings and sets up kings” (Daniel 2:21). In fact, a while back we finished teaching through the Daniel stories for our village evangelistic Bible studies. Now we are in the book of Ezra, learning about the Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. The same God who had called Israel out of slavery in Egypt to dwell with Him in the Land of Canaan did great things to return them after the exile. He is the same God who is calling a people out of slavery to sin and into fellowship with His Son, Jesus, who is the true temple, Immanuel, God with us. Please pray His blessing on these studies....