Friday, March 27, 2020

March 28, 2020


On Sunday only children showed up, so Paul altered his program and changed his sermon accordingly.


          I am writing this letter from the basement during day 3 of the 14 day quarantine directed to me by the CDC because of my travel through Europe.  Our whole family is under the 14 day quarantine but I am also supposed to keep distance from them during this time in case I picked something up on one of my connecting flights.

           A few days after I wrote my last letter I was able to find a place to move in Uganda.  God is good, the place is bigger than what we had, which means we can make it available to other missionaries who need more space, and the price is the same as what we were paying before which means it’s actually cheaper!  After a few days of moving, unpacking, getting machines to work and loading, I left and went back to Lohutok.

           Back in Lohutok I was able to finish two Bible classes with Paul.  The day we did his last course was on another trip to Torit.  When we got back from shopping in Torit, Paul stayed over at our place to study for his exam, take it the next morning, and meet with Michael (Our guard who has been asking about the gospel).  The next morning Paul sat with Michael and talked to him about how every person in this world is walking on one of two roads, one leading to death or one leading to life.  You can’t be on both roads at once, and there is only one way to walk the road leading to life – following Christ.  The road leading to death is easy to stay on, and there are many ways to follow it, and it is Satan’s goal to fool and distract people into staying on that road.  At the end of the discussion, Paul asked Michael what he thought about the lesson, and Michael said “I think I need to be on the road that follows Christ.”  

           I told Paul that, although prayers don’t save people, it is a good idea to talk to Michael about what he is understanding and hearing from the Holy Spirit and then hear him pray and tell God about what he wants to do.  Paul said that he would do this with Michael, but first he wanted to spend more time explaining just what it means for a Lopit person to repent.  Michael and Paul agreed that they would start meeting to talk about this every Monday, pray that these meetings continue!  Paul asked me if I would be talking to Michael as well and I told him that I would do a little bit, but I am on my way back to the USA for a few months and Michael will understand it better coming from Paul.  Now Paul gets to take the responsibility for this himself.I was planning to drive back to Uganda on Sunday and leave on my flight back to the USA on Thursday.  With the whole world going crazy over this new virus, all of that changed…frequently…until I finally left and got back to Kansas City three days earlier than planned.  I found out the Wednesday before I was supposed to leave Lohutok that Brussels Airlines had cancelled all of their flights for two months so I called the travel agent to see if I could rebook.  She was able to get me a flight for Monday night (the day I was planning on driving out of Lohutok), so I immediately started packing my stuff and left Lohutok that night to get to Uganda.  On Saturday the Uganda government announced that they were shutting down all incoming and outgoing flights as of midnight Sunday, so I had to look again for different options.

Caleb's birthday is on Monday...He wants a suit of armor


               It seemed for a bit that I wouldn’t be able to leave!  The only flights back to the USA were $8000 flights that left 4 hours later, but eventually I was able to find a flight to Dubai and I asked the travel agent to just get me home from there.  The flight to Dubai got booked, but then I would be there for 48 hours, and another 24 hours in London before flying back to Dallas and then getting to Kansas City Friday night.  So I was to travel from Sunday afternoon until Friday night!  I was waiting in line at the airport on Sunday, and was actually next in line to check in, when I got a message from the travel agent telling me to leave.  She had heard that the Dutch embassy in Kampala negotiated with the Uganda government to let the Monday night flight go, and that meant short connections, getting home sooner, saving a bunch of money, and not taking the risk of getting caught in Dubai or London.



               So as counterintuitive as it seemed, I got out of line, rolled my luggage out of the airport (past all of the hundreds of people in line looking at me like I’m crazy) and went back home!  The next day I was able to get on my flight as planned, and I had even read about more restrictions happening in Dubai AND London, and eventually I got back to my family on Tuesday night.
Pray for us as we do this 14 day quarantine where nobody can leave, but I’m also in the same house as my family who I can’t really touch and have to avoid.  Pray for our counseling process which is delayed in starting because of this whole shut down.  Pray that God would provide us a new house to stay in after June 1st because the one we currently have is booked (let me know if you have any leads!).  Pray that Michael would hear, understand, be changed by and cling to the gospel.  Pray that we can get back to Lohutok soon, and that we (including the kids who are begging to go) would have patience and joy as we accept God’s timing and care.  Pray that our support is maintained during this time where so many people have financial uncertainty.



Thank you so much for your prayer and support, we could not do this without you!

Justin, Amy, Ezekiel and Caleb