April 26, 2021

          When we left in 2019 Michael was asking lots of questions about the gospel and following Jesus. He and I had been studying the Lopit language for a while, and translating Bible stories. Listening to one of Paul’s sermons and translating it got Michael angry and asking questions. I left having encouraged Michael to keep reading the Bible, talking to Paul, and studying a book called “Following Jesus.” 

          When I went back last year, Michael had finished the book and was working on it with Paul. He said that he definitely wanted to leave the village system and follow Jesus, and I had encouraged Paul to keep working with him. 

          I got back at the beginning of February and talked to Michael early on. Paul also sat with Michael and talked to him about the gospel and how to repent and believe in Jesus. We found out that Michael had recently been elected as one of the leaders of the monyimiji. The monyimiji are the ruling class of initiated men in Lopit culture. They are the ones in charge of enforcing rules and culture in the village. They are also the ones in charge of keeping the traditional customs, including many forms of ancestor veneration and traditional medicine or spiritual appeasement. I talked to Paul about how someone could be in this position of leadership and still follow Jesus, and Paul told me that it would be really hard to do. 

          The next day we were going to Lalonga for church, and Michael came with us. As we were getting ready to leave, I tried to give Paul the front seat, but he pulled me aside and said “I need to be sitting next to Michael for this trip…next to his ear.” Michael and Paul talked the whole way to Lalonga and the whole way back, and Paul seemed encouraged that Michael would be able to step up to the task of leading the monyimiji in a way that glorifies Christ and communicates the gospel, and said that he would continue to meet with and disciple Michael. We’re praying that Michael is a good person of peace in Lohutok to break through some of the cultural issues that hold people back from trusting Christ. 

          Pray for Michael. We’ve been praying for years that the gospel would break through in Lohutok, and it’s hard for us not to just lay all of those expectations and pressure on him. Alcohol is a huge problem in the village, it’s a normal part of everyday life usually starting early in the morning, and Michael is not immune to that pressure and temptation. Michael is also closely related to some of the spiritual power brokers in Lohutok, so leaving the traditional practices will be a hard thing for him to do. Thanks for praying! Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Cul

March 27, 2021

Paul and I completed four of his Bible courses.  First we reviewed some basic gospel...which road are you on?

          After Chuck left on his flight back to South Carolina, I went back to Lohutok to spend more time with Paul. If you get our prayer calendars you can see the picture I put on the April calendar that came out a few days ago. Front and center is Issaye, Paul’s wife, who is noticeably pregnant. That’s a big deal. 

          Paul and Issaye struggled for nine years of being marriage with infertility. They had gone through so many things with village healers and other traditional ideas about why they couldn’t conceive. By year seven, Paul had met Chuck and heard the gospel, and decided to repent and believe in Jesus. As part of that, Paul, who was overwhelmed with the stress and shame that comes with infertility and living in the village (rumors, gossip, traditional pressure) decided to publicly repent of his trust in human and demonic powers to control his family, publicly renouncing all of those things and profess his trust in Jesus to provide him with a family (or not, if He so chooses). Paul and Issaye were scheduled to go to a doctor in Kenya (arranged by Chuck) for possible treatment for endometriosis, but a week before that flight, we all found out that Issaye was pregnant with their first son, Joseph. 

          That was such a joy, but Joseph is five years old and after many more years of trying and failing to conceive a second child, Paul was again sad but was determined to trust the Lord to provide when the time is right. He has sat in my office many times in tears begging God for another child, and now they’re going to have one! Issaye is always kind of a joker, but is also from a culture where one doesn’t get too happy or excited until the baby has come. We do the same thing in our own way, saying things like “I don’t want to jinx it but…” 

Michael's wife had a new baby while we were away.  Meet Amy!

          While visiting with Paul and Issaye, I started a joke with her that always made her blush (I don’t know if blush is the right word with people whose skin tone is so dark that it never changes!). When we meet I greet her, and then I reach out to greet the “new person” as well, and she laughs and slaps my hand away. We did a Bible study on Psalm 139 that Paul was eager to do with his wife. We talked about how God had written all of our days in his book before one of them had even passed. I told Paul that the first day of life doesn’t start at birth, it starts at conception, and that this new life is one for which God has already provided, planned and blessed. Praise God with us that He provides the miracle of life, even when the process of waiting feels hopeless!

February 27, 2021

Chuck came back for a couple of weeks and helped with the pastor training.  We were all thrilled about the things God had him explain.

 

         Chuck and Shelly Parker were our team leaders when we first came to Lohutok. When we came, the Parkers had already been here for a couple of years as Chuck started Bible studies in at least five Lopit villages, with occasional meetings in a few more. There is a lot of discouraging potential in working here, lots of people will come to your meetings if it might mean gaining something material from the foreigners. Within eight months of Chuck and Shelly leaving, we saw all of those Bible studies dry up, but God left Paul and Issaye. Paul had been coming with us as a translator, there were a few other guys who seemed involved and interested that eventually faded out of the picture, but Paul persevered. Even when we were driving 4 ½ hours to Lacharok every week just to find that nobody wanted to come anymore, Paul was thinking up new plans to evangelize and disciple the few women in his church who were still coming and hungry. Chuck came back with me on this trip. He was hoping to reconnect with and encourage some of the Bible study “leaders” who had stopped coming, but I think what he got was better. Our initial plan was for Robert, our Kenyan team mate who lives about an hour (10 miles) up the road, to bring two pastors with whom he had been working to my place in Lohutok. Paul was set to do a course on pastoring called The Shepherd and His Work and since Chuck is a pastor (I’m not) I asked Chuck to do a short workshop with Paul and two of the other pastors (Thomas and Clement). When we got here we found out that the pastors from up north refused to come. There has been some inter-village fighting that makes people fear driving through that stretch of road, but Paul was immediately willing to drive to Ohilang and have classes there.

          Chuck spent four days talking to six guys (Thomas and Clement brought 2 of their disciples, and Robert was there participating as well) about how to communicate a clear, non-moralistic gospel, and how that gospel affects one’s work as a pastor. He said things like “If, at the end of your sermon, you have not communicated the Gospel, you have not preached a Christian sermon” and “Ask yourself, would this sermon work in a mosque? If it would, you need more Gospel.” The pastors were provoked in some practical ways, and Paul’s fire is noticeably re-lit.

The day we arrived back in Uganda we stopped somewhere to get supper...

Teresa may have been experiencing a bit of culture shock in busy Kampala!

          At the end of Chuck’s stay we went back to Uganda and took Teresa with us so she can start secondary school when it opens. She acted tough, but when we got to the busy city she was noticeably stressed. God made all of the details for her needs in Uganda come together despite my worries, those details will have to come later! Pray that Teresa gets into school without any hassles, and for the rest of my time here with Paul!

Thanks!

 

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb 

January 25, 2021

 

Amy's birthday!  The kids picked flowers to buy with their own chore money...

and then made homemade gifts to go with them!

I’m going back!  In about a week I will be on an airplane to go back to Uganda.  I’m not going by myself, I’ll even have company.  Chuck, who was our team leader when we went to Lohutok in 2010 is ready to go back and visit so he is accompanying me.  The timing works out perfectly, one of the classes that Paul is ready for is called The Shepherd and His Work which is a 10 module course on how to be a pastor.  Since I’ve never actually been a pastor, and Chuck is coming with me on this trip, he will have the chance to lead Paul and hopefully some of the Lopit men who have been working with Robert through this course.

               I got a message a few weeks ago from Scott about Michael.  Scott asked Michael about his work in the book that I gave him, and Michael seems to be repenting and following Jesus.  While I am in Lohutok for the next month and a half I am hoping to have lots of time to sit with Michael, read Scripture, and talk to him about his faith and what it means to follow Jesus as a Lopit man.

               Teresa has been preparing for almost two years to go to secondary school in Uganda.  She now has all of the documents she needs to travel, and I am hoping to help her get there during this trip.  A friend from a church in Kansas gave money last year for us to buy a 4-wheeler, which is sitting in Kenya and I’m hoping to get that to Lohutok while I’m there.  Paul has been preparing for classes that I’m hoping to teach.  There is a lot going on for the next few weeks!  I will be gone until mid-March.

              Pray for Amy who is staying in Kansas City with the kids and navigating homeschool while I am in Africa.  Thank you so much for keeping up with us, and for your faithful prayer and support!

What do you do when one kid is distracting the other one during school? 

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

December 19, 2020

          Merry Christmas from the Culps! 

          We’ve had a somewhat eventful couple of weeks. Vehicle issues, finding a place to move, planning travel, and what in the world do we plan for Christmas? We had planned a small get-together with some family for Thanksgiving, but that was cancelled because everyone was nervous about Covid numbers and stuff. We talked about whether we should travel for Christmas, but all of this exhausting uncertainty just leads to a lot of sitting around! 

          I booked tickets to go back to Uganda and Lohutok next year. We’re moving in mid-January and then I get on an airplane at the end of the month and will be gone for six weeks. Since I’ve been doing extra work to earn the extra rent money and counseling fees that aren’t in our budget, trying to plan for six weeks away was fun. Basically we are praying for a few extra year-end gifts to cover some of that gap and take some of that burden off of my hundred-hour work week. 

          A couple of Sundays ago we were at church and the pastor was preaching on one of the Psalms. He was using Aslan from the Narnia books as an illustration of safe strength. He talked about how as a child you know your father is strong, and therefore dangerous, but you feel safe around him. He’s safe for you, but dangerous for anyone who seeks to do you harm. Since then, we’ve had a few issues (it feels like it’s daily…or hourly, am I right?) with Ezekiel and Caleb fighting. Usually those fights start with one kid trying to overpower the other, and the other fighting back. I used the illustrations from Pastor Sam’s sermon to explain to the kids why God gave us strength, so when one kid is bullying the other I can say “What is your strength for? Are you using it to make God happy or sad? 

          The illustration of God’s safety and strength is a comfort because, although we don’t like our circumstances and are not particularly satisfied with the way our lives are going, we know that God is in control of it all and that He has good plans. Those good plans don’t always feel good at the time, but they are good nonetheless. As we get into the Christmas holidays, 2020 style, and grieve the things for which we had hoped, we’re keeping that in mind. He doesn’t give us stones when we ask for bread, He doesn’t give us snakes when we ask for fish, and He is already on the other end of this season with complete understanding and control of the outcome. 

Merry Christmas! 

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb Culp

December 1, 2020

Family Prayer Time....Ezekiel is our creative one.

           It’s always a challenge when I sit down to write a newsletter these days. What do I write about? Our life these days is literally the same from month to month….lots of counselling appointments, lots of work to pay rent and counseling fees, not much sleep. Last month I sat down to write something and literally couldn’t think of anything new to write and today I started looking at what I wrote last month and realized that my last newsletter was September 29th…sorry! 

           Last time I wrote, we had just found out we were going to have to move out of the place we’ve been living since June. We had no idea where we were going to go, or even where to look. We started asking around to see if anybody we knew had any ideas that would work and there were a few options that didn’t seem too promising. A few weeks ago I got a tip that there was a church in a nearby town who had a missionary house, when I looked at my records from past home assignments I saw that I had talked to them before but the house was unavailable. I called the church again and told them about our situation. She told me that she had turned down multiple requests in the past few months, but just the day before I called they were informed that the missionaries in their house would be moving, and that the house would be available about a week before we need to be out of Avant. I said “Umm, can we have it?” We applied and were accepted, which is a huge blessing. This is a rent-free missionary house that we are able to have for the next year! I have been doing grocery deliveries about sixty hours per week since March. We’ve been paying rent and counseling fees that weren’t in our budget, and support-raising has been almost impossible with the ongoing pandemic. After the move that load will be a whole lot lighter! Thank you so much for praying for us, This is a huge answer to prayer.

Mommy can I put some eyes on my chest so I can see out of them?

 

           I am planning a trip back to Lohutok after we move in January. I hope to reconnect with Paul, help Teresa get to school in Uganda, visit some friends, follow up with Michael who has been asking about the gospel, and play with my dogs! Thank you for being so faithful in prayer and financial support during all of these uncertain and difficult times. You are a huge blessing to us! Justin, Amy, Caleb and Ezekiel Culp

September 29, 2020

 

               We’ve been blessed for the last five months to have an apartment in Kansas City.  Avant Ministries, another mission sending agency based in Kansas City, had an available apartment that was in a convenient location for us.  The rent for the apartment wasn’t in our budget, so I (Justin) have been doing grocery deliveries to make up the difference.  It’s been a nice place to stay while we navigate Covid, travel restrictions, counseling processes and joining a new church.  God has really blessed us with new friends, a community group and everything we need for this season.

               When we moved in at Avant, they agreed to let us stay for six months and they said they would re-evaluate.  We don’t know what the verdict will be on staying longer, but we’re praying that God will work out the details.  Our ideal situation would be to find available missionary housing that would allow me to get back to the curriculum development and church-raising activities that I would normally be doing while here.  The timing of our return to Uganda and South Sudan is still uncertain.  We’re getting counseling, we’re in the membership process for a new church, we’re waiting for travel restrictions between Uganda and South Sudan to be lifted so that being there would even be possible, and we’re trusting God with the timing and details…but I’m getting impatient! 

               Thank you for sticking with us and continuing to support and pray for us during this season that is frustrating and stressful for a lot of people, not just us.  God has the outcome already and He’s still good and faithful.  Will you pray for us in these areas?

-        - Housing

-        - Counseling

-        - Return Plans

-        - Uganda/South Sudan travel restrictions

-        - Homeschool stress

-        - Patience and Grace in our relationships and daily outlook

-        - Joining a new sending church

You’re a blessing to us!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb

Kill Uncle Chris!  That's a bee sting on Caleb's face...