July 28, 2016

View From Deck

Hello, I (Ingrid) am writing this, overlooking lovely evergreen trees from the balcony of the home we are at. I had forgotten just how tall these trees are, reaching way up in the sky (80-100 feet).   We have been in the USA for 3 weeks, have slept in 4 different beds in 4 different locations, and now have a full week plus a few days here in Woodinville, Washington which will be our home base while we are in the US for furlough. 

The cries of our hearts reflect Psalm 136:

Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever. 

We had put out our need for lodging while on furlough and the need for a vehicle to use while here, and the Lord has shown us such generosity in so many reaching out to us to help provide for us while here.  We wish to thank everyone who looked to help us, who offered help and for all the love and generous care we have already been shown even before putting a foot on US soil.  We have places to stay and the generous use of a car for our entire time here.  We do give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy and loving-kindness truly does endure!!!  We are also giving God thanks and all of you who joined us in praying for our future team.  We will be having people joining us after we get back to Uganda.  We know of five teammates coming and in the months ahead, more could be added.  We are sooooo stoked for this to come to fruition.  While here we have already been able to meet with one of our new teammates in person.  She "just happened" to live about 10 minutes away from where we are staying; we will be having a FaceTime call with another family who will be joining us; and finally, on our way to Montana we will be spending a night in Idaho to meet another teammate.  This is such a wonderful blessing to be able to spend even this little bit of time with those who God has called to Karamoja.  From what we understand being able to do this is very atypical.  We are so thankful and do not take these opportunities for granted. 

We didn’t get around to blogging in June, as the busyness and interruptions of our daily lives in Moroto continued and continued. Busyness was the norm. Most was unexpected and some was planned and welcomed. Ones we welcomed were:

Going away party for Thomas

• We had a farewell party for Thomas, who was heading back to Canada to finish his last year of Bible College.  He was able to invite the people he felt closest to, and so we hosted a gathering of about 20+ people to love on him, pray for him and see him off.  Farewells are one of the most consistent bittersweet occasions we experience as missionaries.

• We were honored to welcome for a brief visit the head of AIM for our region, Joel and Jill Skinner and the head of USA AIM, Wade Ewing.  They flew in to the airport outside of Moroto, where we met them and were able to give them a brief tour of manyattas and the town of Moroto.  I then joined Wade in
  the AIM airplane and was able to give a brief aerial tour of the District.  It was encouraging for Lyle and me to be able to have these people take the time to come and see firsthand what our lives look like as far as the road conditions, the isolation from the rest of the country and the precious people the Lord has sent us to.  They were with us maybe 3-4 hours only, but we
  really thank the Lord for this time.

• We are part of a couples group that meets every other Friday and we are finding this a wonderful place to deepen relationships and to hear culturally how people are viewing life and marriage and parenthood.

• We picked up at the airport an 83 year-old man, Bill, from Texas who has a home in the bush outside of Moroto town.  He had been on holiday in Kampala and we were happy to give him a ride back to his place in Rupa 20 minute drive outside of Moroto town).  This is where 5 of our boys live.

Girls from Alakara Girls Home praying for Suzanne

• Shortly after this, our unit leaders and the head of personnel for our region (six countries) visited us for three days.  They arrived the day we had a farewell gathering for Suzanne, our last Short termer.  She was going to head out of the bush with them when our meetings were over.  Suzanne’s farewell, like Thomas’, was for her to invite those she had come to have relationship with in her 2 months in Moroto.  We hosted a group of 25+ for this occasion.  The girls’ home where Suzanne spent much time, had created a song for her and made jewelry as gifts for her.  It was a very touching time lasting many hours. It was a treasure to see how the Lord had moved and worked in Suzanne as well as through her, during these few months.

Now we get to the part that we embrace though difficult because we trust in the Sovereignty of our Lord.

Bill from April of 2016

• As you know from above, our unit leaders came to spend some time with us. This happens periodically so that we can just spend some time together and conduct necessary business. This was a most unusual visit as it was characterized by constant interruptions. The most significant of these was medically evacuating Bill by airplane, who we had just recently picked up. We are still not sure what went on with him medically. It spanned from Typhoid Fever to Septicemia, depending on whom you talked to.  It began when we got a call that Bill was not well and assistance was needed to get him to a local clinic to get checked out. Next we got another call that Bill was not improving and so we coordinated getting a medical officer (there are no doctors in Moroto) out to see him. The determination was that he needed to be in the hospital. We transported him Moroto Referral Hospital. His condition improved to the point of him being able to walk, but then for some reason deteriorated to the point of unconsciousness.  It became clear that if he remained in Moroto he would most likely die and that a higher level of care was needed. We then began working on setting up a medical air evacuation. I received one quote of $4,500 cash up front. Wow!! Who carries that kind of money around? This is where we really see God’s hand in all of this. Our unit leaders are in charge of all of Northern Uganda and AIM Air is part of their unit! Krys was able to talk to AIM Air and set the whole thing up at a much lower cost and deferred payment. What a blessing!  Bill was transferred to Kampala, stabilized, and subsequently was able to fly back to the USA with a mission team who “just happened” to be returning at the same time. We really got to see God’s provision first hand as He intervened in this most difficult situation and pulled all the loose ends together.  Bill is convalescing in Texas at this point.

• At the same time that all of this is happening with Bill we received a phone call from one of Bill’s boys that one of the boys we sponsor, Joseph, is sick, falling down, and unconscious at times.   Lyle went to the school and picked him up and took him to the hospital. Just as a side note, taking someone to the hospital is not as straightforward as it might seem. Once someone is admitted it also involves making sure there is someone to remain at the hospital to care for them and it also involves making sure meals are provided for the patient as well as the caretaker. So making the long story short it was eventually determined that Joseph had gone out and drank too much of the “local brew.” From what we can determine this was highly unusual behavior for him. They kept him over night and gave him IV fluids as he was vomiting. This also necessitated some follow-up counseling with him.  Lyle contacted Pastor Noah, and the two of them were able to follow up.

• While these other two issues were unfolding simultaneously another one of our boys, Ariang, came to the house to seek our assistance. Evidently Moroto Referral Hospital had gone to all of the schools and tested the students for Hepatitis B.  He was informed that his test was positive and that he needed to report to the hospital.  He had been reporting day after day to sit all day waiting to be seen and was continually being told he needed to come back the following day.  So he had been missing school for almost a week. He is a serious student and working hard to make 1^st grade (the highest ranking one can have – very few achieve this), which would ensure his acceptance into his choice of secondary school. He is right on the cusp and missing school could mean not making 1^st grade.  Lyle was able to ask questions a youth wouldn’t be allowed to ask and sorted things out.  Evidently there is a huge backlog for blood testing and then to complicate matters, the only machine in Moroto was broken.  Instead of telling the people waiting, they were just told to come back the next day.  He was able to put off going back until the following week. We left for the USA shortly after this, and have no idea of the result.  Please pray for Ariang’s health. Subsequent to this we have read a news report that the drugs needed for treatment aren’t available in Moroto.

Boys from MIPP homes (Bill's ministry) supervising jump start

• And finally, just to ensure everything was over the top, the one month old used alternator on our car broke. We discovered this when we went to start the car and it wouldn’t start. We called our unit leader who was able to come and give us a jump-start. We charged our dead batteries (we run a dual battery system) on his vehicle to enable Lyle to take the car to the auto electrician who was able to find another used alternator.  This process took most of one day.  The astounding thing is, the batteries did not go flat until after we had gotten Bill to the airstrip for his evacuation flight. If this would have happened anytime sooner, it would have made it all the more difficult to get Bill taken care of.  You might ask yourself why we just don't buy a properly refurbished alternator.  The simple answer is, they don't exist in Uganda.  We can have a new one imported, but it would cost about $1,000.

These are just a few examples of how our last couple of months went before we left for our furlough. It just seemed to be one thing after another! Yet, by our Lord’s grace everything was taken care of and we left on time not forgetting a thing (at least that we can remember J).   And so we find ourselves back in Washington State, desiring to spend time with our family, friends as well as our sending church from here, RAG, and the one from Montana, FCC, as they are the ones who commissioned us to go to the field in Karamoja, Uganda in 2013.  We will be deepening our relationships in these two churches as well as with other supporters, and to provide a glimpse of what their prayers and finances are doing on the field.  We have found that while not called furloughs in the Bible, the first one is documented at the end of Acts 14:

“They (Paul and Barnabas coming to the end of their first mission journey) gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them….and they stayed there a long time with the disciples.”

Moses & Napeyok

Please pray for our time in the States to be well used by our Lord. And pray also for our 16 boys and one girl back in Moroto as well as our home and the ones caretaking for us, that things will go smoother now than whilst we were there.  Thanks so much for your prayers for us and for the karimojong. We have just found out that two of the prisoners we had asked prayer for, a husband and wife, who have been held for over two years without a charge, have been declared not guilty by the high court and released.  They are now going to be reunited with their two young daughters. 

Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of gods, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever. Oh give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.  

Beautiful Karamoja Sunset

We will come to understand in the days to come how His goodness works in their false imprisonment.  I already know that He used them inside the prison to point people to Jesus.

We are in the USA for 6 months and would love to connect with any of you who would desire to.  Our email address is lilathrop@aimint.org, so send us a line and we will do our best to get together. 

Love,

                                                                                          Ingrid & Lyle