Hello Everybody, Lyle here!!
It
has been a while since we have written. Last you heard we were in Nairobi. As
Ingrid had said in the last blog, this was an emotionally difficult time as we
heard stories of what being a Christ follower cost as well as seeing a little
of this for ourselves. One had a loved one murdered and another fled for their
life, leaving everything they knew behind. Spending time with them we saw the
joy of the Lord in them while at the same time seeing the pain from separation
from their loved ones. None of them said they would do differently. They had
counted the cost knowing what could happen to them as Christians and they
continue to know Jesus is worth it all! Please pray for these dear believers in
Kenya and those who are ministering to them.
After
leaving Kenya we returned to Uganda and were going to spend one night as guests
at Matoke Inn before traveling on to New Hope Uganda. Ingrid was not feeling
well when we arrived and by the next day it was obvious we were not going
anywhere. God was so good. We spoke to New Hope and as it turned out, others
were delayed a day, so the start of the institute was also delayed a day.
When
we arrived we were assigned to our new home for the next 5 months. The home is a large circle about 25’ in
diameter. It is divided into two halves. One half is the bedroom and the other
half is the sitting room. It really is
quite comfortable. It has electricity when there is electricity, but our only
water is a jerry can that I fill close by. We have a washbasin and a laundry
basin in our hut.
Our new home (top) and our outdoor shower (right)
It
was really good coming back to New Hope. We spent about 10 days here in 2011,
which is when we found out about the Institute we are attending. While we were
here we met two children/orphans that we have been able to reconnect with and
also continue spending time with Uncle Dan and his family. This has been
particularly special and Uncle Dan has invited us to be part of family
devotions once a week. The Lord continues to grow our adopted family. It is
wonderful!
The
institute did not begin the first week we arrived because as an organization
New Hope was having their annual “envisioning week,” which actually went into
the middle of our second week here. The term envisioning week conjured up
images of sitting around and doing a lot of praying and long range planning. I
was totally wrong. While there was praying it was not about future plans as an
organization, it was about self-examination. As it turns out envisioning was
about taking a biblical theme and applying it to your life. Last year the theme
was “Immanuel with Us” and this year the theme was “In Christ Alone”. The
accompanying scripture quotation was, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
All of the talks revolved around this theme and this scripture, all in all it
was really fantastic teaching. What was really profound was that one of the
speakers came to New Hope as an orphan many years ago. Now he is a pastor and
an incredibly gifted and anointed speaker. It was clear that he really loves
the Lord and understands Him as his heavenly Father. His intimate relationship
with his Father was obvious. Envisioning was so refreshing. The teaching was
sound, biblically grounded, and relevant to everyday living;. The rest of our
second week here was spent sharing individual testimonies (there are 22 people
in the institute only 6 of us from the rest and the rest from Africa) and some
brief introductions into “world view”, which is where we have spent our time
since then. We have covered African worldview, Western worldview, and have
explored how our worldviews impact and shape us, even as Christians, and how
they have impacted and shaped our churches. It would take too long to go into
all of this, but it has been very enlightening. All of this is simply to
understand how we view life and the Bible and then compare our worldviews to
the biblical worldview. So instead of having my worldview shaped by how I interpret
the Bible, it is the Bible that should be shaping my worldview. This is nothing
new, but until we really began looking into the Western worldview, I did not
realize how much my culture (western and church) had influenced what I see as
“Godly” and not the Bible.
It
may come as a surprise to you, but Ingrid and I are the oldest students at the
Institute. In fact, we are older then any of the instructors we have had so
far. Actually, as we have told people in Kampala where we were going they all
assumed we were instructors! They were astonished when we said we were not,
that we were students. It is so good to know that the Lord knew that this is
the class that we would be in and He knew every student that would be there as
well. Being the oldest has been a blessing. As we have been getting to know the
other students and they have been getting to know us we have had more of an
opportunity to “do life” with them. Several of the single ladies have asked
Ingrid to meet with them weekly and we have been asked to be part of the
delivery process for a young couples first child!
Even
though class ends at 1 p.m. each day, our time has been full and rewarding. The
Lord has given us the privilege of doing life together with so many men, women,
and couples whose desire is to grow more and more into Christ’s likeness. The Institute’s
title is about child and family care, it is about how we view children, even
ourselves as God’s children and His family the body of Christ as well as
orphans and the family unit. It is about each one of us fully understanding and
applying what the Bible says about being a man of God and a woman of God, and
what the biblical model of fatherhood and motherhood are as well as husband and
wife.
Group car washing at the Institute with James, Uncle John, and Aunt Immaculate
Cultural night for all of New Hope Uganda educating everybody about the Buganda Kingdom and its culture. I was chosen to be the family father for 1/2 the Institute family while Ingrid was the family mother. This meant I sat on my throne, I meant chair, and did nothing while Ingrid, seated on the ground to my left had to do everything. The staff I am holding across my lap is carried by the Chief. Ingrid was a very good sport about all of this even though no instruction was given about how to do a thing.
My obligatory wild life picture. This was one Ingrid took. We think it was a Waterbuck.
We
are so looking forward to the rest of our time here and seeing how our Lord
continues to transform our lives!
Love,
