Back in Uganda!!
Those who made July 4th family reunion
This is such a wonderful reality for me.
Since arriving back in Kampala, we have been asked if we feel like we are back
home or if we feel like we left home. Neither Lyle or I could give a
definitive answer to this as we certainly do not feel like this world is our
home. Some of that may come from having no where to put roots down for
the last year and a half, no matter where in the world we have resided.
But I find it comforting and so like our God's plan, for us to know we
have family wherever we are, even if there is no home.
Our
biological family back in the states as well as our family in Christ treated us
royally; and upon our return here, our Ugandan family here greeted us with
jubilation.
Sharing at Redmond Assembly of God
From the boda boda drivers at the local staging area, when our taxi
drove by, to the Matoke Inn staff running out screaming greetings, our return
was a warm, fuzzy one, which brings us great joy. Even the compound dogs
remembered us and jumped into our arms. Since our arrival, we have been staying
at a residence that borders the Inn compound. The dogs hear our voices and
start howling for us and one of them has escaped to try to get us. Even the
staff at the local grocery market greeted us warmly as we had developed good
relations with them over the last year. Many of them remarked, "You were
lost, welcome home."
God had
laid on my heart to review my memory verses from the Bible for the last year,
and this one leapt out as His heart for Lyle and me no matter where He places
us, no matter how long we are there. It is 1 Thessalonians 2:8:
"We love you so much we shared with you not only God's Good News, but our
lives as well." There is no richer way I can think of living than truly
doing life with the people God places in my path. I want to thank you for
willingly doing life with me and for allowing Lyle and me into your lives and
hearts; through the good and the tough times. We treasure these
relationships so much.
Our
immediate future has some order to it. We will mainly be in Kampala until we
leave for AIM's African Based Orientation in Machakos, Kenya in mid January.
God has provided us with three homes to stay in while we are here, we are
grateful to know ahead of time where we will be laying our heads, grin!!!
During that time we will be traveling up to Karamoja with a fellow missionary
for about two weeks, and hopefully during that time will get a better idea of
where we might start our stay in Moroto. We will also head up there right
before we leave for Kenya in January, Lord willing. AIM has a conference
all the Central Region missionaries attend the end of December and we will be
attending that as well. So we really have a full plate already in addition to
looking to buy a vehicle that can take the Karamajong roads. We spoke
with a Dr. well acquainted with the roads to Moroto, and apparently the wet
season was so wet last year that buses were stuck for 3 months on the way to
Moroto. Hopefully we don't encounter that in late November.
I am
currently reading a book given to us by a dear brother in Christ from our home
church in Frenchtown, MT, called "Kisses from Katie". She has
written a lot of things that my heart has really knit with, because it is what
God has spoken to me as well. She just does a much better job of putting it
into words. In one place she writes: "Jesus called His
followers to be a lot of things, but I have yet to find where He warned us to
be safe. We are not called to be safe, we are simply promised that when
we are in danger, God is right there with us. And there is no better
place to be than in His hands." Since coming here, we have had one
veteran missionary call us crazy for planning to go to Moroto. Of course he has
been called crazy as well for where the Lord has taken him. But I truly
do believe that the safest place for me to be is surrendered to His leading in
my life, no matter where it takes me, because Jesus is worth all of my life for
what He has done for me.
Our
prayer requests would be that God would lead us to the right Ugandan who also
has God's heart for the Karamajong people; for guiding us to the right language
teacher, and the right vehicle. We desire to have our hearts beat with Jesus'
heart and His eyes to see no matter our circumstances; so we do not ask you to
pray for smoothness in our circumstances and times, but that we would see as
God sees and love with His love and above all TRUST Him in all things, knowing
that He is in control of all things.
Our love
to each one of you,
Ingrid & Lyle
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| Those who made July 4th family reunion |
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| Sharing at Redmond Assembly of God |
