August 4th, 2012

Hello everyone,

Well it has been a few days since I (Lyle) made any entries and we have been here a full week! We have been busy learning our duties. Ingrid and I have been learning two memory verses a month, one the first half of the month and the other the second half. For the 1st half of August the Lord led me to Acts 20:24: "But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” As I look at this verse a couple of things come to my mind. The first is that Paul could not make this statement unless it represented who he was, not what he did. We can all try to “do”, but in the end who we are will come out. Think about it, a lazy person might work hard occasionally, but people will still look at this person and think “lazy”. Why, because lazy is who the person it, not something they do. The second thing that came to my mind was the question of whether Acts 20:24 is something I do or who I am. I really desire that this is who I am, but too often I think it is something I do, but it does not have to be. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells me, “that if I am in Christ I am a new creation; the old has gone the new has come” and Romans 12:2 tells me that I am transformed by the renewing of my mind. Please pray that I will let my Lord transform and renew my mind as I draw closer to Him and that Acts 20:24 will become who I am, not what I do.

More on the update side of things – the young lady who was having trouble booking a flight to Southern Sudan with Mission Aviation Fellowship is now in Southern Sudan. The following day she went to MAF with someone who had experience with them. She found out that a reservation had already been made and there had been a miscommunication that on their part that had caused her to believe she did not have a confirmed flight. This just really spoke to me how what might seem hopeless to me, or what might seem really messed is well under God’s control and authority. The key for me is being fixed squarely in the center of God’s will.

Changing topic completely, Ingrid had a close encounter of the reptilian kind and her knight in shinning armor was a dog named Rafiki. Ingrid was on her way from the manager’s house to the guesthouse when she noticed Rafiki was doing something. She was not quite sure what because it was dark, but when Rafiki saw her she spun around and barked at Ingrid. Ingrid told Rafiki to be quiet. Rafiki then turned away from Ingrid and started moving around but was definitely focusing on something. Ingrid then shined her flashlight in front of Rafiki and saw a snake that was moving and following Rafiki’s movement like you would see a cobra do. Well in fact this was a baby cobra. Ingrid kept trying to pull Rafiki away, but Rafiki was intent on keeping between the cobra and Ingrid. Fortunately one of the missionaries staying at the inn called her husband who was able the kill the baby cobra. We really do thank the Lord for His protection. Had Rafiki not been there Ingrid would have most likely stepped on the snake! God uses donkeys, dogs, and yes, He can even use us.

Hello, Ingrid here, my last communication pleaded for prayer as Lyle and I were expected to learn how to use the public transportation system here in Kampala including boda bodas.  The day we were assigned this daunting task was our anniversary, August 2^nd.  We left with the chief cook to experience the market place, and as she briskly walked us down the hill, she headed right toward the boda bodas:(  She hired two, one for her and one for the two of us, so the driver, and Lyle with me sandwiched in between them tore off down the hill to the main road.  As we are tearing along, I turned to Lyle and said “Happy Anniversary, honey.”  He smiled at me and I don’t think ended up with any bugs in his teeth.  That day we road a total of four boda bodas, and two “taxis” which is really public transit vans.  The thing that kept going through my head as we navigated by foot through 4 and 6 lanes of moving traffic as well as on the boda bodas was please don’t kill the muzungo ( white person).

The market was almost overwhelming for all the sensations it impacted: sight, smells, sounds and getting hit over and over by people passing each other on foot paths only wide enough for one person with their feet placed one in front of the other, but like the streets having 3 or more people barging through the same path.  There are no personal bubbles here, people knock you around and don’t seem to even know it. The market was around a couple of acres big with a sea of humanity filling it, vendors and buyers.  Our guide, Biafa, knew what she was doing. She only used certain vendors and they were in the middle of the market!! But she was amazing with skill and wisdom on buying vegetables and fruit, making them take out any that had any marks or bruising, even if they had put these under the good looking ones.  This woman is an amazing woman, and I am praying that God allows us to become close sisters.  She handed us off to a young Ugandan woman named Rhona who showed us central Kampala on foot most of the time.  We had such a good time with her, and the one time I tried to whine about the boda bodas, she shut me down with these words, “you will be fine, so get over it.”  And glory to God she was rightJ.  She went out of her way to help us find rice vinegar, and some shopping items to try to help us have a little familiarity here.

Please pray for us to find God’s wisdom and grace for the staff we are managing.  They are all Ugandan and we see some things that will need to be addressed but our desire is for this to touch them in their souls as a point of godly transformation through loving relationship not boss to employee, as we are all children of our heavenly Father and we really want them to know we are all on a level playing field.