African Inland Mission

African Inland Mission
"Christ-centered churches among all African peoples"

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

April 14, 2015

The last two months have melded together in so many ways for me (Ingrid) and I have had on my list of to-dos, to share with you who serve with us here in Moroto through prayer, fellowship and financial support. I want to give to you a peek of what ‘normal’ life is for us here.  We have had many ask, “so what is a normal day for you?”

Neighbor's home from inside our bedroom window
Our answer has been a consistent, “Well, normal is not knowing what the day will hold even if we have a schedule and plans.”  That remains true even today, Monday, which we have designated as a “day off”.  My list for the day includes writing the blog, language study, continue working on the Team Manual for our Moroto District Focus Team, working on our Missiology Course through an on-line class, and taking time to spend with our Lord in deep and concentrated prayer for Moroto District.  It is past noon and what has happened so far is a wonderful quiet time with the Lord, working with the staff on various things, and then the unexpected…helping build a shelter for the neighbor’s dog Japan who unexpectedly got pregnant, (she got out with the sheep), and delivered 7 puppies last Thursday in the veranda area of their little dob house.  Since that time, she has almost bitten several people with no one seeming to understand that she was only trying to protect her puppies. 

Napeok with baby daughter and stepson
Today a young K’jong lady came to help the wife, Napeok, with laundry and almost got bitten.  Napeok’s solution was to tie Japan up to a lean-to where Japan proceeded to go crazy.  I heard the noise outside our bedroom window where I was having quiet time, and went over to help as the Kjong lady hot-footed it to the gate, fearing getting bitten.  As I got to the lean-to the chain holding Japan broke, and I was able to contain her.  Lyle hearing the ruckus came over and with Napeok’s permission and gratitude (as she understood the why of Japan’s behavior), gave Lyle permission to build a shelter away from the people area. Our precious guard Simon
Built of old brick blocks and "iron sheets"
joined him unasked, and together out of spare bricks and iron sheets, they put together a very nice shelter under a tree for shade.  Japan was very happy to be with her pups far from humans. The Kjong lady returned and was willing to start laundry free from fear and Napeok’s gratitude was overflowing.  Out of all this, as I held onto Japan, I found out that Napeok’s little girl will turn two on the 25th of April.  I asked if I could bake a cake for her birthday, which was profusely accepted. So from about 10:00 to 12:30, the schedule was put on the back burner.  Simon’s beans burned a bit as well, but neighbor relations have been strengthened.  Please pray for Napeok, she is 19 years of age, the 5th wife of a Muslim man.  She was raised Catholic and the gap in how these two relate is vast, not withstanding the age difference.

Esther with Ingrid
Our house staff helper, Esther, was so full of gratitude that we had left everything to help our neighbor as well.  It is so second nature for us to do this, that we find the response to our behavior surprising and then have to remember that in this culture, everyone is about helping only themselves even in families.  The character trait of serving others without expecting something from them is not a visible trait in Karamoja.  Esther, is a precious Kjong lady who is growing in her faith in our Lord Jesus.  She shared with me that her parents, who she described as “good Christians”, gave her to a Muslim man for a bride price.  This man was from another tribe, and Esther went to his place to live.  She has had 6 children with him.  He died unexpectedly beginning of last year and as is usual in Uganda, his relatives claimed everything they had owned including the children, and chased her off.  She came back to Moroto to try to find work and survive.  She wept deep profusely grief filled tears as she told me what happened to her.  Within the last six months, the grandmother who was raising her youngest three children, two girls and a boy, contacted her and asked her to come take them, as she was no longer able to care for them.  So Esther has the three with her here in Moroto.  She got them right before she started working for us, which was the beginning of January.  We didn’t know her story until after she started working for us.  She was sharing a room with another family and they had to leave a couple of months ago, so with her income from us, she was able to rent a room all on her own in one of the local slums.  She was so excited to share that with us, and that it had an iron door on it for protection, a luxury for anyone in the slum.  A few days later, she came to me distraught, as she found out of the three units in her building; the other two were rented by a witchdoctor pharmacy.  She had heard from many other “Christians” that she needed to move so their evil didn’t touch her.  She and I sat down and I asked her who had more power, God or satan?  She responded that she knew God did.  I asked her if God lived in her, she affirmed He did.  I asked her if she needed to fear a lesser power, she said no she didn’t, and I could see that she really, maybe for the first time, understood and received this marvelous truth.  I asked her if she understood that God had created all the witchdoctors and that Jesus had died for their sins as well, she thought about it and said yes she did understand that.  I asked her, “Esther, what if God placed you there to be a light of love to these witchdoctors, that they might find a different power to serve and worship.”  I shared with her that she needed to seek the Lord to see if He wanted her to move, because what mattered was what God thought not what people thought.  She said she would pray.  A couple of weeks went by without her mentioning anything, so I asked her if she heard from the Lord.  She said she had, and that they were to stay, (you need to understand how VERY countercultural this decision is) and her children agreed with this and were trusting the Lord to take care of them.  PLEASE pray for this precious family, that their relationship with our Lord Jesus would grow stronger and deeper.  Esther had no Bible and we were able to provide one for her in English as most Kjong do not know how to read their own language.  Pray that God’s Word would become so very alive in her soul.  She shared with me that her and the children were sleeping on the concrete floor, as the mattress they had used was borrowed and the people came and took it.  Well that is hard for me to hear as we have a guest room with three mattresses, which are only used occasionally; actually they have been used on 5 occasions already in the five months we have been here. But I wrestle with the luxury of this in the face of those without anything. So I mentioned this to Lyle and we both began to pray about how to help Esther with this need without it being a handout that devalues her and leaves her feeling powerless to contribute to the solution of her problems.  All of a sudden this brilliant idea came to me, if she found out how much a mattress cost, could she still live ok, if we bought it up front, but deducted it from her wages in installments.  We brought the idea up to her and she was overjoyed and very agreeable to this.  So Esther and her children now are sleeping on a very fine mattress and she is paying for it herself over 5 months.  It felt so good to me to have her be involved in how this could be resolved; I just praise the Lord for all He is teaching me through my daily interactions with these precious people.

Simon with Lyle
Simon our weekday guard is a joy to us.  He is the exception among Kjong men.  He is a hard worker and has been very honest with us in all our dealings with him.  God answered our prayers with him, as we had been warned seriously about the dangers of getting the wrong guard.  He also has a very tender heart toward the street boys we are helping.  We have met his wife and three children, two boys and a girl.  When we interviewed him, Lyle gave the normal speech about no drinking on the job (that is a normal thing here, drunk guards). All the other interviewees had assured us they didn’t drink, but Simon said, “well I do occasionally drink, but won’t on the job.”  Lyle told him, what he did on his own time was fine, just no drinking while working.  They agreed and he has been very faithful to keep that commitment.  Simon and I were walking together to go to a neighbor’s place, and he said to me out of the blue, “Ehh, my wife, she has become born again.  For me I am a Catholic.  But I will let her have her own religion.”  I silently was seeking the Lord for how to respond and this is what came out. “Simon, do you both not believe in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross?”  Simon answered, “Yes.”  I asked, “Do you not believe in the same God and the need to repent of your sins, and follow Jesus to go to heaven?”  He answered, “Yes.”  I then asked, “Then how is it a different religion?”  He thought about that and after a few moments of complete silence, he said, “Well maybe I will join her.”  He has also asked for a Bible, and we have shared with him, the following books that he has read: Crazy love, Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Kisses for Katie (which is about the Kjong in Jinja).  So far he has not been interested in having a Bible study with Lyle, but it was a joy for us to see the Lord working in his heart in an unexpected way.  We had been given a second puppy by a little shepherd boy, from the Tepeth tribe. According to this little boy, the puppy was alone in the bush and refused to come into town, and he wanted us to take her so she wouldn’t die.  Our weekend guard Luke was the one who brought her to us with this story.  Well the little boy came to Simon after we agreed to take her, he had been beaten by his employer for giving us this puppy.  The employer, an older Kjong lady, came to us very angry about the puppy claiming it was hers.  We met with her and Simon as interpreter, and in the end she admitted she had 6 dogs already and didn’t need another one. But out of all this, Simon learned that the shepherd boy’s mother was dead and that the father took what little he earned.  Simon came to us and said that he wanted to help this little boy go to school and had a plan for how to do it.  He contacted the father who lives in the foothills of Mt. Moroto, and he and Lyle met with this man.  The father agreed to have the boy go to school next term, and they notified the employer to start looking for another shepherd boy.  Our first reaction was to applaud Simon and then take over, but the Holy Spirit helped us to see the absolute miracle of this heart in Simon and how he needed to be able to follow through and serve the Lord by helping this boy.  So we have encouraged Simon to do what he can and we will support him in this effort.  Again, this is very countercultural, to help someone from another tribe.  Most Kjong won’t help anyone with school outside their immediate family clan.  So PLEASE, pray for what God is doing in Simon’s heart.  I continue to be amazed at our infinite God, who used a little puppy to save a little boy when the boy thought he was saving the puppy.  By the way, Luke and Simon named the puppy Namoni, which is the female version of bush, since she lived in the bush.  We also bought dewormers for the 6 dogs and one cat of the employer as a sign of gratitude. 

One of the most tangible things that has changed for me within, is that here in Moroto, for many I am no longer Ingrid.  I am “the Lyles, Mrs. Lyles, or Mama Lyles.” I grin as I write this, cause never in a million years would I have considered that becoming one with this man, Lyle, would mean I would lose both my first and last names.  In church a couple of weeks ago, during the worship part of the service, the Bishop ask Mama Lyles to pray for families and children.  I only heard the Lyles part, so I looked at Lyle as he stayed seated, and he whispered to me, it is you he asked.  Ohhhh, I thought, I need to listen better.  Also our home is known as the Lyles home.  We have both been given Ngakarimojong names; my name is Nakut, which means wind.  I was given it by a dear lady whose name is Nakut Rose.  She wanted me to have her name, but she also gave it to me during the windy, dusty season, so it was very appropriate.  Lyle’s name is Lopeok, (which means one who brings visitors, or visitor) the male version of our lady neighbor.  In fact, Napeok calls Lyle her namesake, which makes me smile.

We continue to be amazed at how little of what we do is goes by unnoticed by literally most of Moroto.  A few days ago, we were informed that one of our streetboys, Peter, has left the home he has been in for almost a full year now.  He gave no explanation, and he has not been willing to come and speak with us about the reason.  Lyle was in one of the stores, one that is our idea of a real store.  A man named Omar, from Yemen, owns it.  We like Omar; he has always been very pleasant to us.  Well Lyle was informed by the boy that works for Omar, that Peter had left school and home.  We didn’t even know these ones knew we had anything to do with Peter.  Lyle asked the boy to let Peter know we were back in town, (Peter left while we were in Kampala).  Things like this continue to stretch us in what community looks like in this culture.  We are praying that we will continue to learn and be pliable in all the areas the Lord wants to grow us.  This afternoon our
Sutured head of Denis
youngest boy in school from the street showed up with a 4-inch sutured deep gash on the top of his head, compliments of some man on the street. He had been in the hospital for 3 days while we were gone because of this injury. This one’s name is Denis, and we enrolled him in school in February.  He has dropped out because there is no soap to wash his uniform and his books and pencils got stolen.  I spent about two hours with Denis on the veranda with Simon interpreting.  I fed him and stroked his little skinny arm and had no words of comfort for him.  Lyle came home and with Simon’s help and encouragement, we will go with Denis to school tomorrow and see if it is too late for him to get back in to finish the term.  I gave him soap to wash his uniform tonight.  Denis said he wanted to stay with us or go to boarding school because it was too challenging trying to do school and live in the streets.  PLEASE keep this valuable young boy in your prayers; it is so hard to send them back to the street.

Another example of our thinking being challenged to change happened a few months ago.  A man who goes to the church we attend passed us as we walked down the road.  He pulled over and asked if we were attending the wedding in Soroti that weekend.  I answered, “Phillip, we don’t even know the couple.” To which Phillip replied, “The bride comes from our church. She is your daughter nonetheless.” Talk about mind blowing!!!  She is Karimojong, and I have been accepted as one as well, so she is my daughter, even if I don’t know her.

When we were in Kampala, we had the pleasure of meeting a young couple from Canada who had come over here on a short-term mission with 3 little children.  It continues to amaze me and strengthen my faith to see young couples trusting the Lord with their families in this very challenging way.  The husband was disciplining the middle child who responded to him most appropriately, “Yes dad.”  I was very impressed, and said as much, and the father said, “yes he is good with saying the right thing, but following through in action, well not so much.”  I laughed and said “isn’t that just like us with Father God.  We are good at saying the right things, but our actions, not so much.”  Oh I desire that my actions match the theology that comes off my lips, that my Lord would be pleased with me.  That 2 Corinthians 2:15 would be completely true of my life: Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.  Oh that is the cry of my heart, that a Christ-like fragrance would be who I am, day in and day out wherever I am, whomever I am with.

For those of you who have joined us in praying for the Vision Strategy Plan, it has been completed, as have the requisitions that allow people to see if the Lord would have them physically join AIM and us here in Karamoja, in living the Gospel among this precious people group, for His glory.  Both the VSP and requisitions are in the hands of the AIM sending regions all over the world.  Oh may we ask you to pray for the team the Lord would have join us here.  They will need to be people who desire to live completely for the Lord and willing to endure hardship to bring Christ to these people.  We are asking for a tough thing here, 85% of the people in our district here of Moroto, live out in the bush in very harsh conditions, and to bring Christ to them, they will be called to live in very much similar conditions but with pit latrines, our closest version would be a squatting outhouse , and concrete instead of dirt for floors inside their huts and some sort of energy but even with all that, it will seem tough and very isolated.  The prayer team that was here in January had a word for us regarding the VSP and our team: “Faith is seeing and believing the things yet not seen.  Faith is walking a pathway for which there is no road map and has not been walked before. Write the Vision Strategy Plan with words and plans that are by faith and with wisdom from God and that are for God and not for men.” 

A reminder of God's beauty even in a fallen world
Well, there is no road map for what God desires for us to do here in Karamoja, and with the Matheniko clan here in Moroto district it doesn’t seem to have been walked before in living incarnational among the people.  Please, please remember us with fervent prayer for this tribe to become a transformed people by the power that can come only from the Holy Spirit.


No comments:

Post a Comment