Sunday, March 24, 2019

March 26, 2019

During our stay in Torit we went to a church, in a building, with instruments.  Something that our kids aren’t so accustomed to!

           Last month we had a visit with Amy’s parents, who came to see us in Uganda.  We got to do some fun stuff with them and had some sweet time!  A few days after they left, we hit the road to come back to Lohutok.  We always stay overnight in Kitgum on the way home, sometimes for an extra day to finish shopping and paperwork needed to leave Uganda.  The morning we were set to leave, Caleb got a fever.  It seems like every time we try to get back to South Sudan, something happens!  It seemed like he had malaria or some kind of viral thing, so we decided to head home.  The next day he started to get a rash on his body, which is a little concerning with Caleb.  In the past he has had something called HSP and we were told that he needed to see a doctor if it recurs, so thirty-six hours after we got home he boarded a plane with Amy to go to Nairobi!  Amy and Caleb spent the week in Kenya while Ezekiel and I stayed home, went to some local funerals and paid visits to people we hadn’t seen in a while.  It turns out Caleb had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease which is a virus that goes away without treatment.  Praise the Lord! 
           While Amy and Caleb were gone, there were some issues in our village.  We were asked to go to Torit for a few days by our leadership, so Amy’s flight was changed and Ezekiel and I met them there the following day.  We stayed in Torit for about a week while we met with various people, I had some lessons with Paul, and tried to make most of the time, and two days ago I came back.  This weekend I’ve been visiting people in the village, helping with some of the needs they have, and practicing language while getting to know more people in the community.  Amy and the kids are coming back by plane tomorrow! 
           Please pray for the people in Lohutok.  There is lots of fear and uncertainty, and people desperately need the hope of Jesus Christ to rule in their lives.  Pray that God would provide for the extra expenses of evacuating Amy and Caleb, and pray that we would be able to stay and have time to keep learning language and that our new relationships would lead to gospel opportunities.  Thanks as always for your prayer and support

Me: Carol, I know he’s fixing your hair but I think he’s actually unravelling your braids… 
Carol: That’s okay, I don’t want to miss out on the sweetness. 

Friday, March 1, 2019

March 2, 2019



           I love reading heroic stories to my kids.  I just finished reading The Book of Three, and the series which follows, to Ezekiel.  There are so many good lessons about self-sacrifice, heroism, humility and, as Elizabeth Elliot once said, “Sometimes fear does not subside, and one must choose to do it afraid.”  At the very end of the last book Taran, who had gone from “Assistant Pig-Keeper” to leading a war party as commissioned by the High King of the land was realizing that all of the glory that he had once sought as a boy was overrated in light of the sacrifice and personal loss that comes in the fight against evil.  He was faced with abandoning one of his friends to certain death, or completely ruining his plan for battle and his friend said, “Leave me!  Are you a war leader or an assistant pig-keeper?”  Taran’s response was, “Don’t you know, friend?  I’m an assistant pig-keeper.” 
           I was sad when these stories ended, but it meant that last week I got to start reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a book with which most of you are familiar.  If you’re not, you should go read it and then finish this letter!  We are still in the early parts of the story, but last night we read the part where Edmund, having just returned from his first trip to Narnia, decides to betray Lucy in his plan to help betray the other siblings to the Witch.  Lucy had her hopes up that Edmund would corroborate her story, when he surprised her by saying it was all a child’s game of pretend.  After Ezekiel went to sleep, still angry that Edmund would do such a terrible thing, I was meditating on what I know is eventually going to happen.  Think about it, at the end of the book Edmund is sitting on a throne, reigning equally with his other siblings.  He’s not a second-class citizen who just gets to be forgiven, he is utterly and completely forgiven and reinstated to equal kingship as the rest!  This is the gospel that keeps us going when we fail, and that is absolutely worth giving up our lives to take to the unreached! 
           We’ve had a good visit with Amy’s parents, and will be headed back home in a few days.  Thank you for your support and prayer as we continue the language-learning process, and work toward new gospel relationships that will turn into churches!

My generator needed fixed…this is what the generator repair shop looks like in Kampala!