November 17^th, 2011

Our last communication and prayer request--another two part: Hello to all of you who have faithfully and lovingly prayed for us and communicated with us throughout this last month, as Lyle had predicated in his closing line of our last communication, our time did not come to a close. We had the opportunity to continue to serve our Lord even as we were in the airport waiting to board our plane. He showed that His will was continuing to guide our time.

We had wanted to come back on Monday night but British Air could not get us seats on that flight, so we were booked on the Tuesday night flight. Monday saw us heading into the City Center of Nairobi to meet with the Pastor of the church we were at on Sunday. I had left our camera in the back seat of his car when he dropped us back at the guest house we were staying at. I had a sleeping 3 year old in my arms at the time and didn't even think of the camera!! He was willing to meet us and give it back. He wanted us to take a matatu, which is like a 14 seater van which for 40 shillings will take you to the end of their service route. The sign on them says seats 14 so there are at least 18-20 people in each, and we were warned to watch our pockets when riding in them. Fortunately, a friend of ours, the young man who stepped out of Islam to serve our Lord Jesus, volunteered to come with us. We ended up on a bus instead of a matatu and were crammed in the back seat of it. As we rode this roller coaster ride into the city, I was enjoying it and Lyle was getting whiter by the minute because he hadn't taken any motion sickness meds before leaving. We arrived at the place we needed to get off and while trying to do so, as I was the last in line. The bus took off while I was in the open door trying to get out. I shricked and jumped as the bus took off. Wow, what an end to a spectacular ride :)

We met the pastor and our friend asked if we all would like to taste authentic Ethiopian food for lunch. We said yes, not knowing what we were getting into. Our friend called his cousin, one he calls a nominal muslim, because this cousin was one of the only family members that didn't hate him and want to kill him. Gebi, the cousin, met us and escorted us onto another form of transport, I am not sure what it is called, smaller than a bus, bigger than a matatu, and definitely more springy (poor Lyle). Again we ended up in the back seat, and experienced another first in African transport, the transport headed into a gas station and filled up with diesel with all the passengers on board. The driver turned on music and of course the speakers were mounted over the back seats.:) As the transport headed out of the station it's motor died in the middle of the street, centered with two wheels in front of a speed bump and two wheels behind it. The driver couldn't get the motor to stay on long enough to get the back wheels over the bump. Traffic did not stop, it just divided around us with much honking going on. I just sat there and prayed. Finally he reved up the motor long enough that it stayed on and we took off again. We arrived in a definitely muslim area, judging by what most of the people were wearing, and came to find out this was called the Eastleigh refugee camp made up of Somali and Ethiopian refugees. As we walked through this very rough and untended area, I was tendered by girls and women in burka's who dared to look me in the eye. I would say hello and just try through my smile to pass on God's love for them. I was surprised at the love in my heart for them. We ended up at a little restaurant serving Ethiopian food, which is brought out on a single pizza sized metal tray and everyone dips in the same plate to eat. The food was delicious but I was very much on guard as some of the Muslim men eating seemed to be eying our friend who felt no one would try to hurt him at this time because of all the trouble Al-shabab is causing. It was an interesting sensation for me, one I would not vote to repeat. Then we were driven home by a man from the area named Mohammad who had an "Allahu akbar Sticker" on his steering wheel and told Pastor Cyrus that he was a muslim. Our friend had us dropped off a ways from the house so Mohammad would not know where he and his girls lived. Again an interesting side of life we do not have to experience for our Christianity.

Yesterday, we didn't have to leave for the airport til 6:00pm for an 11:30 flight. We had gotten acquainted with the night gate keeper at the place we were staying, and had felt led to give him some food at supper time and water as he had neither. He had a son who had asthma and had an attack right when the public hospital had gone on strike, so he had taken him to a private hospital. The cost for this and his medicine was $20,000 shillings, he makes $5,000/month about $48.00. He had in desperation asked us for help, and we had prayed about whether this was legit or a scam and felt that the Holy Spirit was telling us to help. So we had over the week provided him with half of what he needed for payment. I had also asked him if he had a bible and he said no, so I asked him if he wanted one in his language and he said he wanted one that was Swahili and English. We had not yet had time to look for one, and so Tuesday we did find a bible store and they did have one with both!! He had told Lyle that he wanted his wife to meet us because she had gone from feeling hopeless to having hope because of our support for them. Lyle was to call him on Tuesday after 10 am because they had to have their son rechecked at the doctor's. When Lyle called him, he asked if we could come to their place, to meet the wife and family. Our friend again agreed to help us find the place, as all we knew was it was in a slum. We took a taxi to the slum and when we got to a place the taxi let us out because we had to go on foot from there. The guard, his name is Evance, met us there and walked us back to his place. We walked for about 20 minutes thru an area that just devastated me. There was ditches with green/brown liquid running through it, and I was informed that this is what they have to drink, there are no bore holes or water wells for them. We walked through a part that definitely felt dangerous, and Imam walked behind me because I seemed the easy target. When we got to Evance's place, his home, it was about an 8 ft by 8 ft.room with beds on two sides, a sofa on the third side, with sheets seperating the beds from the sofa, and a charcoal cooker by the door. His wife was a precious woman, the mother of nine children, and we got to meet 6 of them, including the one who had asthma, Chris. When we gave him the bible, you would have thought we had given him a million dollars. He was so ecstatic as was his wife, oh my, I wish we hungered for God's word this way. Please pray for that family, the oldest daughter we met is a teenager, that can't go to high school because they can't pay the fees. She had been bitten by a dog earlier that day and had a dirty piece of cloth around her leg with blood seeping through; please pray for her leg not to get infected!! I hadn't brought my first aid kit with me or I could have cleaned it up. When we left this place we again had to walk out of the slum to an area where we could catch a taxi back, we walked a different way and it was so hard to see how people have to live to survive, but Evance also took us to a "daycare" in the slum, where he is able to drop two of his young boys off once in a while. This woman, had maybe 15 kids in a one room school, with hand drawn alphabet and numbers, on one wall. We got to meet her and she is a Kenyan Christian who feels God has asked her to serve this way and she feels God has told her to expand her daycare. She asked us to pray for her and this vision she has from God. The light in her eyes was the gentle light of Christ shining out, and she radiated hope. What a wonderful encounter for me to have in the midst of what seemed like endless despair. I have told the Lord that I will go wherever He wants His light to shine, no matter how dark and He allowed me to meet someone who is doing just that. I don't remember her name, but as God lays her on your heart, I would be so grateful if you would intercede for her.

We had dinner with our friend and his girls and two of the men who had arrived from the Sudan that had rescued the Pastor and family that we spoke about in an earlier update. They were in the bombing and tried to help the Sudanese that had been injured. What they described was horrific. Both of these men are from Tennessee and very gentle, but giants in stature. Lyle and I had gotten very close to our friend’s two little girls and we all had a very hard time saying good-bye. The oldest one Millie*, 5 years old, looked at me seriously and said, "Ingrid I will always remember you." And, Lana*, 3 years old, told me, "when I grow up, I will be named Ingrid." These precious little girls have already been beaten for not accepting Islam and saying they were Christians. Please pray for them!!! That they will never give up their faith.

Hi this is Lyle....Ingrid has done a splendid job detailing our last few days in Kenya. It was so wonderful and God filled each of our days with surprises. The trip ended as it had begun, God filling in the holes. When we first booked our tickets we only knew some generalities of where we were going, but God was faithful to use all of our time. When in Nairobi we thought we were going to Dadaab, then to the Sudan, then nowhere, but God took the time that we had and filled it with what He desired. He is so faithful to us!! In one of the other emails we sent I talked about how things might seem so large and difficult for us, but to the Lord they are really very simple and not complex. Another couple of examples of this happened since that email.

The two men Ingrid talked about that we had dinner with had gone to the Sudan to help extract a Pastor and his family from an area that was being bombed. There were two key people they needed to contact and them finding these men was critical to the success of their mission. The chances of finding either one of them was described to me as "finding a needle in a haystack". One of the men, Tim, told me that when they got off of the plane in Sudan they went to the market place and one of the men they needed to contact just "happened" to drive up in a jeep. The other person they needed to find was one of the first people they met when they got to where they were going. It really reminded me once again of how simple things are for God. It really drives home what we have heard so often: That instead of doing something we think is a good thing and then asking God to bless it, we stop and ask God what He wants us to do and then the blessing comes with it. This group went to the Sudan knowing it was what the Lord was directing them to do and God took care of the details. What seemed next to impossible for them was so simple for the Lord. It is so easy for us to forget that He is the one who calms the seas and stills the waves, that He is Lord not only of our lives, but is the one who through His power simply spoke the world into existence. No wonder things that seem so complex and difficult for us are so simple and easy for Him.

As a final reminder of who was in control of our trip a lady from the U.K. began talking to us at the airport in Nairobi. It turned out that she was a Christian and had gone to Kenya to deliver a message to a Pastor that the Lord had given to her. She had said that we looked like nice people and that is why she came and sat by us. We ended up having a wonderful conversation with her about what a surrendered life in Christ looked like. She asked where we were seated in the plane. We pulled out our tickets and she just smiled and pulled out hers. We were in the window and middle seat and she was in the aisle seat. She said she had prayed for God to have nice people next to her in the plane and He had answered her prayer.

We will be seeing you all soon. Thank you again for all of your support and prayer.

*Names changed for privacy

Nov. 13^th, 2011

Hello everyone,

Wow, it is amazing how things can change in a matter of a day or so. Lyle and I will NOT be going to the Sudan. The team wanted to extend their stay up there for a day or so longer and we didn't have the flexibility next week to comply. So we were able to change our flight to leave here on Tues. instead of Friday. Please continue to pray for this group of 3 who still feel they are to head up into the south of Sudan.

We were able to attend a church here in the area today and Lyle, because we were guests, was the speaker. It was wonderful to hear what God had to say through him. We have been in Nairobi now for 6 days and it is a very metropolitan city, very unlike Kampala. As the pastor drove us to his church, he kindly picked us up, he left Nairobi and headed to a more rural area and the little kiosks and peddlers started reappearing on the road side like it was all through Uganda. I just gasp and exclaimed "Oh Lyle I have missed this, it is like Uganda!!" It was so good to get the affirmation of where God wants us. We have enjoyed our time here and made several new friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord, but we are very thankful to have God clearly let us know that His will for us was not heading to South Sudan. We both had the opportunity this last few days to really be willing to live John 12:23-26, the gist of which is not caring for our life in this world and keeping it for eternity. In this passage Jesus clearly says that anyone who wants to be His disciple MUST follow Him because His servants Must be where He is. That has been our cry to Him, oh Lord wherever you want us, we are willing to be. Oh we are so grateful to Him that He wants to guide us and give us the most amazing life. Lyle is counting pills and bagging them up for the refugees in the Sudan as I write. Thank you all again for being willing to pray for us, our love for our Lord Jesus has just grown deeper and deeper and the vision of what He wants for us in Uganda has taken some clarity. Again, without intercession by other parts of Christ's body, I am not sure how smooth this would have been. So again thank you!!!

Lyle speaking....Our time here is coming to a close. It is hard to believe that we have only one more day in Africa. It is so strange to me how time can seem so long, then when it’s time to leave it seems as if I had just arrived. Just a personal observation, I know some may not see it the same way :-) When we asked if we could go to church with our friend I had no idea the outcome would be me speaking! Fortunately God is faithful and provided a topic and the Lord used Ingrid and the Pastor afterword to really bring some points home. There are lots of other stories to tell, so we look forward to seeing you all again. Through all this time both of us have seen God's absolute faithfulness and we have reassuringly heard His voice throughout the trip.

As Ingrid said, thank you so much for your prayers and please continue to pray for our final day here and our travel home. We have no idea what God has in store and it's not time to assume the trip is over.

Love to all of you,

Lyle and Ingrid

November 10^th, 2011

Hello everyone,

We have been in Nairobi for almost 3 days and things have been very surreal. The woman that picked us up from the airport has spent time in the bush of Sudan with a group of people who live in a village that is now targeted by the North Sudanese. Background on what I am going to tell you: She came out 6 months ago when things got very dangerous. The village she was in had a Christian Sudanese pastor and wife with 5 children the youngest being 2 months old at this time and they were escaping to go further to the south. Two men one from the states and one from Great Britain went in last week to find them and bring them out of the danger zone. So the day we arrived, Monday evening, we were in a store getting groceries when she got a text message the wife of the man from GB, saying that her husband had called by Sat. phone to say they were being bombed and people were dying and injured all around them. Karin, the woman who picked us up, read this and just started weeping because there was no way for her to help them, physically. We all started praying and were so sobered that just hundreds of miles from us, people are leaving everything they know to save their lives because some tribe wants to annihilate them. We so do not have a clue of what a challenged life looks like. We have heard that the two men and the family have made their way to a town that so far hasn't been bombed yet. Please pray for them all. The man from the USA has had a fever for days, is a medic but doesn't know what is wrong.

We got the definitive answer from the UN today. It was NO, the rains have come, the camp is flooded, cholera has broken out, dysentery is rampant and the camp is basically a cesspool. Oh I cannot imagine what it must be like to be trapped in there with no way out. It was explained to us that the security is so thin that none could be sparred to work for our group. So God has answered our request. We are praying about going into northern Kenya or to work just in the slums of Nairobi. We so appreciate your prayers for our time here.

We met a young man who stayed at the place we are staying from South Sudan. He and his wife have a ministry there called "In Deed and Truth" He had been at a conference in California and so stayed here on his way back home. Lyle and I had the most amazing time with him last night, and he knows Giir (for those of you who know Giir). What a small world it is!! The focus of their ministry is discipleship and they have made this such a focal point that every patient that comes to the medical clinic in their village is referred to a pastor who is there as well as for physical treatment. We very much connected with his heart. Please pray for this ministry.

There is a young man from Ethiopia staying with us here with his two young girls, 5 and 3. His father named him to be a spiritual leader of a mosque and he was one, and says he actually killed Christians for Allah. God came to him and he gave his life to Jesus all the way!! There is a bounty on his life in Ethiopia, and his wife left him and his girls. He has dedicated his life to making Christians out of Muslims, and God has blessed his efforts. Please pray for them. The girls are sooooo precious. They climb in my lap and snuggle in so much. Oh I am enjoying this!!

We have had no water from the city since we have been here, so we have had to ration water, we are all a little ripe:) because of no showers. Reminds me of a couple of Nica trips. Right now we are having a water truck pump water into our existing tanks. Hopefully a shower soon.

We met with the head of the East Africa AIM branch today, and she asked if we had considered teaching over here. That thought hadn't even been a trickle in our brains and it showed on our faces. She said that secondary (high) schools welcome mzungu as English teachers. She said that they have had requests from schools for this kind of teachers...So we will add that to our list to pray for.

This is Lyle....This time has been quite interesting to say the least. We expected to come to Kenya and hopefully start doing some kind of preparation for the trip. As it turned out a local Doctor and a journalist who was also going to go to Dadaab with us were already working on the arrangements, so there was nothing to be done. As Ingrid explained, that door ended up being closed quite tightly. Now we are continuing to wait. Dr. Kelley won't be here until Saturday, so we are still in a holding pattern. Waiting to see what happens next seems pointless, yet God is so good in letting us know who is in control!

One of the things He has shown me the last few days is that no matter how far we travel, to God this vast world we live in is not so vast. When we arrived at Nairobi airport, traffic had kept our ride from arriving on time. Waiting in the same location as us was a young lady that Ingrid and I began talking to. As it turns out she grew up in the same place I did and even went to the same High School. I thought that was so amazing. Then it turned out that she had spent six months at New Hope Uganda, the first place we visited. She writes curriculum for universities and secondary schools. Later on, as Ingrid explained, we met a gentleman who was from Southern Sudan who knew Giir. What are the chances of meeting someone from a foreign country who knew the only other person we knew from that country!!!

Here is the lesson....what seems vast to us is a small thing for our Lord. Distance is not so distant. Time is not so long. What is big and impossible for us is ordinary for Him. He is in total control. When we walk with Him and surrender to His will in our lives we can trust every detail of our lives to Him. Nothing catches Him by surprise and everything has a good purpose in His eternal will.

Now, having said that, pray that I am really able to keep this in mind and live it out in my heart as Ingrid and I pray for God's direction in our future!!

We love you all and thanks for your prayers and love,

Lyle and Ingrid

November 8^th, 2011

We can't believe this day is here...the day we fly to Kenya. There were times when it seemed like this day would never come and last night Lyle and I were marveling at how quickly it has come. We both are conflicted about leaving, but take comfort in knowing that we will be back, Lord willing. We spent yesterday with a young woman from AIM (African Inland Mission) by the name of Julie. She is a fifth generation African of US citizenship. And like her predecessors before her, has surrendered her life to serving Jesus here. She has a master's in special ed. teaching and is trying to educate and unite the few who have committed to care for this special group. Because spirituality is such a huge reality here, any mental or physical illness is thought of as a curse from the devil or witch doctor depending on the belief in place. Still today, the belief is so strong that anyone who touches one of these affected will "catch" the same thing. So these people are isolated, if they are feed and clothed it is without touch or relationship of any sort. Anyone who can afford to warehouse these people, do so. Julie took us to a boarding school that is trying to improve both the physical and intellectual levels of these kids, because no matter how old, they really are precious children. She wanted me to take a look at the unit that houses those affected with cerebral palsy to see if from a therapy perspective I could give the teachers and her any suggestions on how to help some of them write given the level of handicap they have. I was shown two sweet children, Kato, age 16, and Smyrna, whose age I didn't get but, she had the most brilliant smile. Lyle had his own experience as every child, those that could verbalize and those who couldn’t, wanted him to hold their hands and to come with them. I think this was his first experience in this environment and he was amazing. He was so kind and welcoming to them all no matter how dirty or slimy the hands were that were held out to grab his, it was so sweet to watch.

I was able to fabricate out of low temp. plastic, a splint for Kato that would hold a pen so he could use his left arm to make marks. His spasticity is so strong that only his left arm has any hope of use. Smyrna can only use her mouth and when she tries to write with her mouth the crayon slips through into her mouth or she bites off chunks. I was able to make her a mouthpiece out of plastic with an opening for a pen or pencil. They were both so elated. I was able to share with Kato that Jesus loves him, and he just looked at me. I was praying so hard that this wouldn't come out trite, and God just showed me that how could he feel God's love, twisted in a wheelchair and deserted. I relayed that basic idea of how hard it must be to believe that given his life, then I shared that God understands why all things are as they are, and that even tho God has allowed him to be in this state, God thinks he is precious and loves him dearly. He looked at me and had tears filling his eyes. Oh please pray for this precious young man, that satan will not be allowed to do what he wants with him. That Kato will come to know and receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and the author of his salvation.

Please pray for our time in Kenya, as I am troubled by the attacks so close to Dadaab. The church hit was Baptist and about 30-40 miles from the refugee camp and we are staying at the Baptist compound in Dadaab.

Hi it's Lyle.....Thank you all so much for your prayers. I don't have anything to add, but was so blessed by our time in Uganda. God's church is alive and well although plagued by the same deceit of materialism that we see in the US. Please pray for them.

November 5^th, 2011

As we ask for prayer for us while here in Uganda, I feel pressed in my spirit to ask all of you to pray for Uganda, that deceit and corruption would lose its hold on this country. It is a cruel task master. We read in the Ugandan papers every day of political corruption at every level, that Uganda is becoming an autocratic government with less freedoms all the time. But what isn't written about is how this plays out in everyday life. Lyle and I got a micro-slice of this experience the other night.

We had asked a man driving us, if we could stop at a shopping mall so Lyle could exchange some dollars into shillings, when the driver was near the entrance Lyle jumped out to go inside and I stayed in the car. The driver was backing up to go to a parking place ( the parking garages are as insane as the roads), he accidently hit the metal bar encompassing a pillar at the entrance. Immediately the car was surrounded by security guards with AK 47's and men with dress shirts and ties. They "escorted" him to a parking spot and when he got out to check the car for damage, he was taken away. I was left in the car, in the back seat, with it running and a security guard with a rifle in front of the car. Well I sat there for a few minutes praying and asking God what I should do, and I decided to get out, lock up the car, and wait for Lyle to come back. The guard informed me the driver would be back very soon, I thanked him, looked for damage, just some scraped pain on the bumper, and saw Lyle coming out of the doors. When I explained what happened, he went to talk to the guard who directed him to an office right inside the front entrance. I waited by the car, I saw Lyle go into the office and then get escorted right back out. What he said happened was they invited him in and the driver told him "No, do not get involved". What the driver explained later was that the security manager saw Lyle as a "mzungu," a white person with more money than the driver. The manager was trying to get the driver to pay 20,000 shillings for nonexistent damage to the pillar. After many minutes, they all came out to the garage examined the pillar and told our driver that he could go. He and Lyle no sooner got to the car when they rushed back out and took the driver back inside. So true to my nature, I had to use the bathroom :-), and so I told Lyle I would go and be right back. When I got back, the driver was deciding to call the police because the security manager was wanting his driver's permit and he was refusing to give it to the manager because he didn't want to have to pay a bribe to get it back from him. The manager asked all of us to come into the office, and when we did, he told the driver that we could all go but the car would be impounded. The driver agreed to this and the manager wanted to get Lyle's phone number. Lyle refused and said "you already have the driver's number, you don't need mine." Then the manager pretended to call his boss and discuss the driver's release. He was saying that the car was crushed and that he was the first on the scene. I spoke up and informed him of this inaccuracy, he was insistent until I mentioned that I was in the back seat the whole time. Then he suggested we go back out and re-look at the pillar, Lyle inserted that there was no way a plastic bumper damaged a metal ring. By now I think we had been there an hour. So this manager did a great job of looking at the metal ring, I reiterated that the bumper had only paint damage and invited him to re-look at it. As he looked at me, I said," I hope we can go back to the USA and tell people that people in Uganda have integrity." He then after some thought and drama told us we could go, as we profusely thanked him for his kindness and I added integrity. We saw that they had put a boot on the front tire of the car, but were in the process of removing it. The guard and another security man sadly shook our hands as if to say, sorry (my interpretation). I truly believe that if Lyle and I had not stayed with the driver, he would have had much more trouble, because they definitely wanted pocket money.

Lyle has spoken with an NGO being developed here in this arena and was told that corruption in Uganda is saturated from the top down, so the poor are extorted with no recourse, and mzungu's get stopped frequently with hopes of bribes. It was definitely not in my comfort zone and we praised God that He allowed goodness to prevail this time.

Please, please pray for this country that claims to be Christian, but what the majority experience is injustice, with justice being in the minority.

Lyle speaking.....Just to give an idea of how ingrained this is culturally, I was reading a story in the local newspaper. In the story a young boy left school during a break to go to the market and eat his fill of sweets. He was concerned of how he was going to get back to school without being caught. Sure enough, when he arrived back at school he was caught by a very strict teacher who asked him if he wanted 20 swats with a cane or to be expelled from school. The boy quickly thought and pulled out his remaining money. He told the teacher he had just found this money and was going to turn it in to him. The teacher looked around, saw no one was watching, took the money and let the boy go. When he got to class he was 5 minutes late. The teacher in the class asked him why he was late. Again, quickly thinking, he told the teacher he was in the bathroom and was constipated. One of the other boys began laughing. The teacher told the boy who had come in late to take his seat while he punished the other boy by telling him to come to the front of the class and explain what constipation means.

The whole tenor of this story lauded the quick thinking and cleverness of the young boy as he so deftly escaped any sort of punishment. One can see from this story how ingrained deceit is in the culture. It really seems to be valued. If you can get away with it, then it must be OK. As NGO's come into the country and are trying to work for justice on behalf of those who never see justice, they are fighting a spiritual battle that is deeply ingrained into the hearts and culture of this country. It will only be by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individuals and by God's purpose and design that change takes place. Some NGO's are trying to do some good as they are able, but whether they realize it or not, the battle is first spiritual. Please pray for them that our Lord would transform the hearts of key leaders in this country.

November 4^th, 2011

Hello,

We have had such dramatically extreme changes in each of these last few days, well last 5 days. It is hard to absorb.

The first of the week we were able to have the privilege of meeting our World Vision sponsored child, Andy*. We were picked up in Kampala by two precious young men from the World Vision offices in Andy's area, which we didn't realize is 4 hours from Kampala. Andy lives in Rakai district which is the south most districts before Tanzania. After a briefing at WV headquarters here in Kampala, and grocery shopping for Andy's family as this was suggested as the best kind of gifts to give them, we headed south for a very long drive. The joy was that our two escorts, Samuel and Barack are both Christ followers with very loving tender hearts for Jesus. So our hours were filled with questions, testimony and just wonderful fellowship that can only be had with like minded believers. We crossed the equator from the northern hemisphere into the southern one, and the landscape changed into more mountainous region. When we left the paved road (tarmac) life got exciting. I am not kidding we bounced and jarred over ruts that I thought our Toyota 4/4 truck was going to get high centered on. It was an interesting trip for Lyle and my back’s :) We finally arrived to pick up the WV supervisor in Andy's village area, James, who again just embraced our hearts for Jesus. He directed Barack how to get to Andy’s school where when we drove up a swarm of children greeted us. We got out and began shaking as many hands as we could grab, when James brought Andy up to us. He was dressed in his best uniform and was so very sweet and humble. We were asked to sit down in the playground on a bench with Andy and the school had prepared several dances of welcome for us. The whole group was so open and welcoming to us, I thought, ok God I could just stay here!!! Oh they are so precious and I feel God's love for them so deeply. We then had to get back into the truck with Andy to go to his home. It was such a blessing to share Andy’s first ride in a motor driven vehicle. James speculates that he has never even been to a town before. You cannot comprehend how far out in the bush they are, mountains, steep valleys, for mile after mile with almost un-drivable roads (Andy walks an hour each way in this terrain to school every day). Well the truck finally stopped, and we were told we would be walking the rest of the way, UP the mountain side. With my long skirt on, and arms laden with goods, I set out up a 30 degree or more grade mountain, through the banana trees. I thought I had gone back in time about 2-3 hundred years. We finally arrived at a mud daub house carved out of the mountain side, to meet Andy’s mother and father and two younger brothers. We stayed with them for probably an hour, interacting through the WV guys interpreting. They were as blessed as anyone by our reception and the love shared by us all. James is the pastor of Andy’s village church and teaches him in Sunday school. Only Andy and his older sister go to church, so we encouraged his parents that if they love Jesus as they said they did, that they would be examples to Andy of how to live for Jesus. Oh please pray for them, I cannot give you their names, but will share their pictures when we get home. We had to say good bye to Andy and family, and many bouncy miles down the road in Rakai town toured the main WV center for that area. It was good to see that they really are invested in people and are living Christ's love as they serve here. Please pray for them, they told us how encouraged they were by us coming and how it spurred them on to keep working for the lives of people who seem to have no way up.

We got home very late that night and had to be up the next morning early to meet a young man we were put in touch with by a Christ follower who had been in Uganda a few years ago. His name is Fred and him and he and his wife's ministry is to give street boys a safe place to live and to go back to school and to be taken care of. Fred was a street boy, he is now 27, and a Ugandan Christian man took him in at about 16 and let him sleep on his sitting room floor each night so he didn't have to be exposed to the street. Fred took us to the home where the boys stay, a church in the Netherlands supports this ministry, and we had the opportunity to spend the greater part of the day with these young men, ages 6-16, they think cause none of them knows when they were born or what year. The youngest one, Donald*, came to Fred as a 4 year old. I tried to play with him and interact and thought of my grandson Brayden, who is 4, being alone on the street, trying to survive by himself. Oh it breaks my heart, but more importantly, it breaks God's heart. The boys live in a nice home that a Ugandan man generously rents out at a very low price to the ministry. There is room outside for "football" (soccer), which both Lyle and I at different times tried to join in. Me in my skirt did not fair very well, haha. We were then graciously invited by Fred and his wife Claire to go to their home for coffee. So they drove us to their home, a nice two room place inside a walled security gate in the middle of the slums. The drive there was miles of humanity, exhaust, smells and dirt--as I thought of the contrast with our day before of miles of miles in the mountains. Different scenery but souls seemingly without hope or ways to break out of invisible prisons of poverty. Please pray for Fred, Claire and their 10 month old baby Benji as they choose to invest in others lives while trusting God for their own. I am amazed and in awe of these two, I want to be their "Mama" as neither has mother or father that they know of and they initiated calling Lyle and me papa and mama.

Thursday we spent with another young man, Ivan, again we met through the same contact, and ended up again in the slums where he rents a house with his sister. These two have Christ's light shining out of their eyes and while I spent time chewing on sugar cane amidst chickens, playing with children with little clothing or very torn cloths on, it was a joy and pleasure to be able to be there and share life with Ivan and Shamim. Please keep them in your prayers for Christ's purpose for creating them to be their all.

We had the privilege to pray for all of these precious ones I have mentioned and as they responded to our love I was reminded of the scripture in 2 Cor. 4:7: We now have this great light in our hearts but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This is to show that our great power is from God and not from ourselves. I believe this week I had the honor from our Lord to live this, as only Jesus was lifted up and glorified.

Today we met with African Inland Mission and again experienced most gracious hospitality and love. But once again such contrast, it is situated on the outskirts of Kampala in an area that made me almost think I was back in Redmond. Large shopping centers, large gated homes and abundance probably 3-4 miles from the slums but up on the hills. The slums are all down in the valleys. AIM is not an affluent place just situated in that area and from the looks of it was there before the area was built up. Pray for a young woman named Abbey from Plain, MT we met there who is embarking to South Sudan next week as she lives her life for Jesus; again a contrast as we heard about people taking time out of their lives to do so short term work for Christ. We have so much to pray about!!!

This is Lyle.....I'm sitting at the hotel and one would think we were back in Nicaragua in the rainy season. We drove home from the AIM office in a deluge of rain and there were literally rivers of water flowing down the street funneling all together to form small lakes in the intersections. It was a good thing we were in a van otherwise we might have floated into Lake Victoria. The drainage on the sides of the road are open washes that range from 3 to 5 feet deep. The water had filled many of these and was overflowing the road. I kept thinking the driver was going to drop the van into one of these culverts. On top of that the deep holes, sometimes 3 to 4 feet across and 5-8 inches deep were covered in water. As I was trusting the skills of the driver, the Lord reminded me that He is the one in control not the driver! It was still a relief to arrive safely at our hotel.

Ingrid has already explained much about what our last few days held so I’m not going to repeat what she has said, but the great needs of so many is what stands out so starkly in my mind; from the street kids, orphans, and the abandoned, to the young adults who by God’s grace saw their way through these tragedies and are now trying to minister to other in similar circumstances. They are so often only equipped with a desire to serve. In the states we wait to raise awareness, we try to find the right location for the ministry. From what I have seen at New Hope and with Fred’s ministry is that they simply did what God called them to do and then began doing it. We can see how so many ministries are just touching the tip of the iceberg and so much help is still needed; not only financially, but with willing workers. The question for Ingrid and I will not be finding a need, but letting God direct us to what needs He desires us to meet. We really desire to do what He purposes for us and it would be easy to just start doing rather than following Him.

Something that God is continuing to place on my heart is defending the rights of those whose rights are simply being ignored or trampled on. I will be talking with someone from International Justice Mission later on today and hope to gain some insight.

Please keep us in your prayers that among this vast sea of needs we will let God direct us specifically where He desires us to serve Him. Also, we are both going through round two of having eaten or drank something we shouldn’t have (thank goodness for Cipro and Imodium AD), even though we are really trying not to. So please pray for us in this area.

Thank you for all your prayers, support and comments. We look forward to sharing with you all when we return.

*Names changed for privacy

Lyle and Ingrid

October 30^th, 2011

Hello everyone,

We are writing this from Kampala, we made it here safely!! I think riding in a vehicle is the biggest test of my peace in the Lord so far. Between trucks loaded way above their limit with heavy bags of charcoal, to motorcycles (boda's) zooming in and out, bicycles doing the same, cows, and goats, children on the streets and highways, and autos passing in your lane going the other way while you are headed at them!!! OH my.

God has so orchestrated our time and it is a comfort to get this affirmation. Before I left Frenchtown, God had prompted me through Kevin Fitts first and then through Joseph Mambo, to bring bibles. I had tried to find ones in Luganda a language spoken in this area and they were $80/bible so I didn't get any of them, but went to the Christian bookstore in Missoula and Josh McNeal helped me get 10/$20. I was still hesitating because they were English and Josh said to me "who knows who you will meet." Well Josh you were so correct. I was leaving my room to go to breakfast yesterday and the cleaning lady was sweeping the floor in the hallway. I greeted her and she responded with asking me where I was from. So I stopped to talk to her, she asked why I was in Uganda and I explained why. She responded by telling me two pastors died in car crashed the day before going from Jinja to Kampala. I said that is sad but what matters is where we go after we die. She agreed and said "yes, if we do many good works, we will go to heaven, if we don't we won't." I replied, “Well actually God says that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ His Son." She then said, "Oh maybe but if a thief knows Jesus, but is a thief he won't go to heaven." I said, "If a person knows Jesus, he won't be a thief." She looked at me and said, do you have a bible? OH MY!!! I joyfully said "yes I do, would you like one in English or Luganda (I bought two after getting here), she said in English!!! So I went back to my room and got one for her and after giving it to her asked if I could pray for her to come to know Jesus and she was very willing for this. Her name is Betty; please pray that God's word would be living in her and that she will receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

After breakfast we left the Lodge to catch the ferry across the Nile to come back to Kampala, it was suppose to be on our side before 10:00. We got there and the ranger, George, who seemed in charge told us that it wouldn't come till 11. It was 9:30, very hot and sticky, but we just praised God for hurrying up and waiting. Not too long after a group of baboons strolled into the ferry area, probably 10 or so, one with a little baby. We kind of kept away from them but were taking pictures. We had left our van doors open and one of them grabbed the sack I had given U. Dan for his children. I had put 3 rubber balls, and candy in this sack along wit a note to Dan, I felt was from God. U. Dan yelled at this baboon and started after him to get the sack back. One of the other men stopped U. Dan from the chase. Our escort from NH was a precious young woman named Mallari, she also was going after the sack which had been ripped apart and dropped for the candy I had put inside. I told her to let it go and we would trust God. After eating all the candy, they moved away and I was able to retrieve the balls (which the baby baboon wanted but his mama didn't want him to have :) and the sack with my note to U. Dan, the only thing intact on this sack. George, the ranger then came up to me and asked if I had any more balls as his grandchildren had no toys. I had one sack of them left and when I opened my suitcase (with him standing guard so the baboons didn't grab it) he saw the bibles and asked me if he could have one. I asked if he wanted two and he was so very grateful. So he got not only toys, candy but the precious Word of God as well, which wouldn't have happened if the ferry had been on time and the baboons had not stolen U. Dan's sack.

Then, another young man approached me and asked me if I was a believer in Jesus. I said yes I was born again, and he shyly said he was as well. I smiled and said well that makes us brother and sister. He grinned and we hugged!!! HE then asked if I had any bibles, he wanted one in English. (Josh you were so right) So I was able to give him one as well, and he got my email address, so we can exchange prayer requests. Then the ferry came and we were on our way. Please pray for both of the Georges. What a wonderful way to start the day. I will give this to Lyle to continue as he hasn't shared this journey through his eyes.

I (Lyle) have really noticed the contrasts of beauty and splendor with that of poverty and hopelessness. The natural beauty in Uganda is incredible. The colors of the birds, flowers, and the variety of plants are amazing. The food on the trees as well as the bugs in the air provided ample food for the birds to eat (although we did not appreciate the bugs as much as the birds and lizards). The soil is rich and it seems anything can grow in it. Yet, as I look around, I see hopelessness and vacancy in people’s eyes; people looking and searching for fulfillment in life. While at New Hope Uganda the contrast was so much different. Even though the people did not have much (by American standards) there was a light in their eyes and joy in their hearts. As I saw this contrast I thought about the scripture in the Bible that tells us not to worry about tomorrow. It tells us how God clothes the lilies of the fields in splendor and gives the birds food to eat. It tells us that if our Lord pays attention to such small details as flowers and birds, how much more will He care for us! What a difference the Lord makes in our lives. It reminds me that the greatest thing we can bring to anybody is the hope we have in Jesus Christ. Ingrid talked about Uncle Dan and others that we met while at New Hope. It was as if they were family, which of course they are. They are our brothers and sisters. It is amazing how we can be in an entirely different culture with people we have never met, yet there is an instant connection and bond that is only possible in Christ.

Another thing I have thought about is what John Piper said, "Humanitarianism without the Gospel is condemnation in disguise." For me, my mind races about all the things that could be done, but without Christ, what would that mean? It would mean nothing. As Ingrid and I are asking the Lord when He wants us to move, where in Uganda He wants us to move, and in what capacity He wants us to serve, please pray that I keep in my heart the reason behind this. That is, the gospel of Christ.

As far as other prayer requests I can't think of anything right now that Ingrid has not already mentioned. The relationships we have made are wonderful and how we have seen our Lord work is amazing. What satan intends as evil, God uses for good!! Ingrid talked about the baboons stealing the bag with candy, balls, and the note to Uncle Dan. Uncle Dan was so disappointed, yet God not only restored what was lost, but he multiplied what was given!!! I really do believe that as we (not just Ingrid and I, but all of us) choose to die to our own desires and let Christ rule in our lives, that He will restore what is lost and multiply beyond anything we can imagine what He alone can give.

Spending time with Uncle Dan was such a blessing. I saw depth of faith and trust in what God is doing and will be doing in his life. What I did not see was a reflection of how this benefited him. What he talked about was how his life could be used to bless others. Uncle Dan is testing to become a nationally certified auto mechanic. This will open many doors for him, such as being able to work for the government or get better jobs, but it seemed what he was most excited about was being able to go back to New Hope's vocational institute and teach others. Do I reflect that kind of attitude in my life? Do I view the blessings God has given me as a means to give to others, or are they simply MY blessings. Too often they are my blessings. What Uncle Dan as well as others at New Hope have shown me is that this life is not about what God is doing in my life. Yes, He does work in my life and does give me blessings following blessings, following blessings, but if I stop there I have missed it all. I am to seek first the Kingdom and God and His Righteousness and then all these things will be added to me. Too often we (me foremost) seek the blessings instead of His Kingdom and His Righteousness. Please pray that I seek first and foremost His Kingdom and Righteousness.

We look forward to what the Lord will be doing during the remainder of this trip and how we will see Him manifest and glorified!!

Many blessings and with love,

Lyle and Ingrid

October 28, 2011


Hello, we are at Merchant falls game reserve. We arrived yesterday and will leave tomorrow for Kampala. I had an email from my daughter Moe asking me if I saw a lion, so I thought I would include what we did see. We went on our game drive yesterday and no lions or cats of any kind, lots of giraffes, elephants, many kinds of deer, wart hogs, water buffalo, birds, hippo's, monkeys and baboons but no cats. Our driver tried very hard and we didn't get back to the hotel until way after dark, because we spent so much time on the savanna looking.

It was very hard leaving New Hope yesterday, two children in the family we were assigned to, Samuel Family, very much didn't want us to leave. A young girl named Debra*, 8 years old, whose mother left her there at age 4, but kept all the other children, just cried and cried when I had to say good bye. God reminded me of Moses and I was able to share that with her, that Moses' mom had to leave him and not the other siblings and yet God had a wonderful plan for his life and does for Debra's as well. I think she really listened. Also hard to leave was a young boy, John*, 12 years old, who wrote us a letter and asked us to not leave and to let him be our son. Oh my, it is so hard, the family "Auntie and Uncle" of Samuel house have 4 children of their own and another on the way, with 18 orphans to care for as well in a 4 hut complex with a center one for eating and studding. It has one solar light for the children to study by, they have to work a 4 acre garden as well, even the little ones, and they are not given piped water like we had, because the thinking is that when they leave and go to live in villages or even the city, they will not have this luxury and giving it to them now would not really be loving them. So we got to hear them rolling wheel barrels full of gerry cans by our room before the sun was up, usually around 4:30 am to fill up for the day and then they do it at night as well. I understand the thinking but was so conflicted that I had running water, it felt like I should have to fill gerry cans as well. We had hardly any electricity there, much worse than Nicaragua, and of course no hot water. The cacophony of sounds was deafening most morning as dawn broke through; roosters, wild animal sounds, dogs, birds and insects. Last night at the hotel, was probably the first good sleep we had because it was quiet.

At New Hope our quarters were in the center of the primary campus so we got to hear and see all the activities of the Centre all the time. There are probably 200-300 people who live there and because of how the houses are built with screened open windows, everyone can hear everything, plus it echoes sooooo much. I got to go with Uncle Francis who is in charge of the oxen and watch how they plow with them and pet them :). Ugandans are VERY hard workers but there is just sooo little for them to improve themselves in because the infrastructure is so ancient. There was one cobra bite while we were there. It was a teenage girl walking down a path early in the morning before the sun was up and she felt a bite on her foot, she turned and shined her flashlight down on her heel and saw the cobra. She started running to the first home closest to her and the Auntie there turniqueted (misspelled) her leg in 3 places and had the RN at the clinic come. She was driven to the nearest hospital about 10 minutes away. She lived!!Praise God, because her running increased the blood flow, so the auntie who helped her lectured her on next time not running and why and to just scream for help. As the auntie was telling us this, she quietly said…we all die it is just a matter of how here in Uganda, auto crashes (the leading cause of death in Uganda), snake bite or malaria, God only knows. There was also a black mambo killed in a shed at the home of the man Lyle worked with. I looked down whenever walking, but thankfully never saw any.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ALL OF THE FAMILY FATHERS AND MOTHERS; IT IS SO DIFFICULT FOR THEM, but God's love shines through them.

We asked our driver Uncle Dan(he drove us from Kasana to Merchant Falls) to join us on the game drive, he was so touched and blessed, we are trying to see if we can pay for him to join us this afternoon on the Nile cruise, as he is not included in anything usually. The young woman, who met us at the airport and was our liaison at New Hope…when we had asked her about him joining us when she and U. Dan picked us up from the airport, said "Oh they really don't want to be with us, when we asked them they say no". Then she said, "Would you ask your gardener to have tea with you?" We looked at her and said well yes we would. So when we got here to the Falls and asked U. Dan (who is about 25-26 yrs old, if he wanted to eat with us here at the hotel and to go with us, he immediately said yes. I think people everywhere can tell when they are really being asked and when it is just polite gibberish. Oh it grieves my heart as these are our brothers and sisters!!! We had dinner with the founders of New Hope, and we think they were disappointed that we weren't ready on the spot to say we wanted to be a part of New Hope. We didn't get any AH HA conviction that this is where we are to be, but I definitely could see myself there. One thing I noticed while we were there was that the children have NO toys, foreign staff or Ugandan but there is a playground with swings and teeter totters and gym bars which they all love. I gave one of our rubber balls to the two year old daughter at Samuel house as well as bubbles, and her mother told me later that she said to her mother, "Do I have to give this back?" It made me so sad :(


I was able to make splints for 3 children with handicaps. a little boy named Hank*, who had trauma induced CP from his father, is fed by a tube in his tummy, and lots of spasticity. An 8 year old girl that is Lincoln's size torso, and arms and legs the size of a broom handle. She needed leg splints as her legs stay bent at the knee and they are having trouble getting them straight. I was able to give them some suggestions on how to give her therapy to increase her mobility. She bites her left hand so deep and frequently that she has open wounds and digs into her eye balls with her right hand. She has not wanted the two hands to touch each other. I was able to work with her for an hour and at the end of that time, she grasped her left hand with the right one and kept touching her hands together. The lady in charge of the special needs children, Kate from Great Britain, who has given up her teaching job in GB to come care for these children, is a teacher trying to do therapy with these kids. She was so thrilled to see this little girl Allie*, do this, And Allie just smiled at me so much, oh she is one of the least of these, but so precious to God. Then another boy named Eric*, I don't know his age but probably at least 3-4 whose got the same body type as Allie, his legs scissor across each other and his hands have lots of spacisticy, I was able to splint both for better position, hopefully to improve his function. Allie was propped by him, and she reached over and grabbed his hand and he just smiled so big. You would look and him and think he is not even aware of life, but it is so obvious he is. Another little boy named Bob* who has spina bifida so his legs are stubs and he is in a wheel chair, but with a wondrous smile, was getting therapy from a Ugandan helper and would just cry in pain when this man would attempt to bend his knees, so I was able to suggest a different technique that lessened the pain of movement. I told Lyle, I NEVER wanted to work with special needs children, EVER, and when I was told that was where I was being placed while at NH, I asked God for special grace to get me through, and oh did He. Lyle was placed working with the maintenance man and a man from the states building cabinets. He had lots to do. We both have had intestinal stuff, I am out of Cipro, and Lyle has 3 left. so prayers for health would be much appreciated.

It looked like we were not going to get to go to Dadaab prior to leaving Seattle. The UN had put a moratorium on aid workers because of the kidnappings, but we just received an email from Dr. Kelley asking for our passport numbers to give the UN so, we pray that it is a go.

PS…The lady at the hotel desk just stopped me and let me know that U. Dan could go with us on the cruise. They had said an hour ago that the cruise was full and there was no room for him. sooo Yea!!!

Tomorrow we start another leg of this journey in Kampala. Please pray for us, that we find our way around this teaming city safely. When I said that auto crashes was the leading cause of death I wasn't kidding, there are seemingly no rules and we have very close calls for head ons every time we get in the car.

Thank you every one for your prayers, we sense God's hand on our time everywhere we have been so far and desire that our lives serve HIS purpose each day we are alive.
Hopefully I will be able to update you soon.

*Names changed for privacy


Love, Ingrid