African Inland Mission

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

Monday, January 23, 2017

January 23, 2017

Lyle here…..

Having Fun at Redmond Assembly in our K'Jong outfits with
Pastor Robroy and his wife, Jackie.
I can’t believe six months have gone by! Six months is supposed to be a long time. I remember, as a child, six months seemed like an eternity, now it just blows by, like a fleeting mist on the mountaintop driven by the wind. I think, as we get older we enter into some kind of a bizarre time warp. The older we are, the quicker time passes. Or am I the only one who feels that way? Our time in the USA was wonderful even though it passed all to quickly. Yet, while in the USA being away from our friends in Moroto seemed much too long. Talk about conflicting emotions! Our time in the USA began with a family get together and then throughout the six months we were able to spend time with all of our children and grandchildren. We were able to share at both of our sending churches as well as a few new ones. We traveled from Washington State to Montana to Tennessee to Ohio to Georgia and to Hawaii (although not in that order), visiting family, friends, churches, and AIM USA headquarters. We left the USA feeling loved and cared for in so many ways, by those we knew and by those we came to know. We could see our Lord’s hand in our lives from where we stayed to where we traveled. We are guessing it will be three years before we return to the USA. It seems like such a long time, but who knows, maybe the “older you get, the quicker time passes” time warp will make it not seem so long. We are already missing all of you in the USA, yet we are so grateful to be back. Even today at church they welcomed us back, making it clear that in their eyes we were Karimojong.

Sue and Miriam
When we first arrived back in Uganda we stayed in Kampala for a few days and shopped for some supplies. We also got to meet Miriam at Corsu Hospital prior to her surgery. As most of you know, Miriam is a young lady Ingrid met at a hospital in Karamoja just after she had her leg amputated from above the knee due to benign tumor growth that had infiltrated the bone. We have been able to be part of her life since then, but while in the USA we learned that her prosthesis was beginning to bother her and that the tumors had returned. Thru one of our daughters, we were able to provide for her financial needs, with Rev. Raymond from Church of Uganda in Moroto, acting as a go between, to travel to south of Kampala to Corsu Hospital to be diagnosed and then in January, have the returning tumors removed. Corsu, Praise the Lord, donated the surgery. The only expenses were/are the transportation costs and food/lodging costs while she is at Corsu recovering from the operation. As it also turned out another AIM missionary, Sue, who is a physical therapist, visits Corsu regularly as a consultant and was able to visit with Miriam after the surgery and get more information as to what is exactly taking place. Our concern is that the type of tumors she has, although usually benign, often times do recur and how this impacts her spiritually, emotionally, and in the long run with regard to her future. So please continue to keep her in your prayers as we need to figure out if she will even continue in school at this time.

Pastor Jens at Little Brown Church - Bigfork, MT
Since we have been back in Moroto we have met with many of the boys we support. Four of the boys, Yeno Mark, Moru Rafael, Lotuk Emanuel, and Ariang Augustine are able to transition from primary school to secondary school because they did well on their final exams.  Three of them were 1st grade (A students) and the fourth was a very strong 2nd grade (B student). Many of you have been praying for Yeno Mark, which is very much appreciated! He was the one who scored 2nd grade, which is absolutely amazing. He moved up from 4th grade to 2nd grade in the course of three terms! He went from having no hope of moving onto secondary school to having much hope. This is important because moving from primary to secondary is like moving from grammar school to junior high, except with much greater consequences. If one does not do well enough in P-7 (the final grade level in primary school), they will not be able to move on to secondary school. They may try repeating the grade level, but if they do not score high enough on the exams then they are looking at manual labor or trade schools. Because of this, students here experience a pressure to perform that, I don’t believe, students in the USA feel. Please pray that the Lord and His wisdom will be what leads us in the selection of where the boys go to secondary school. Secondary school can be ten times more expensive in school fees alone. So as more of the boys move on it becomes more challenging for us.  We believe that each of our 16 children here have been placed in our lives for God’s purpose, we pray that we will love them with His love and will for their lives.

Moses & Veronica - Many of you prayed for them when
they were falsely accused and in prison for over two years.
The high court came and found that there were no charges
to be found against them. This is a photo of their church
wedding after their release.
While we were away in the US, the crops in all of Uganda failed due to lack of rain.  So harvests were poor and there is little left to sell on the open market.  What is there is costing much more, and for the impoverished here in Karamoja, that means going days without food.  It is challenging for us personally as we have the means to eat everyday, while we live in a land where food is scarce and so many cannot afford to eat.

As we ponder God’s will with those we know who are hungry as well as our many other deepening relationships here, we are soberly looking at how the Lord is directing us…. Have you ever read a couple of scriptures that seem to have no correlation to the other, yet the Holy Spirit uses them as if they were meant to be together? As Ingrid and I have been having our quiet times the Lord has been using Psalms 91:1-2 and 1Corinthians 13:1-3 to bring us more into conformity with His character.

Psalms 91:1-2 – “1Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge my place of safety; he is my God and I trust him.” NLT

1Corinthians 13:1-3 – “1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love other, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” NLT

As we talked about Psalms 91 together we pondered several things. What does it mean to live in the shelter of the Most High? When we live somewhere, we remain there. It is not some transitory place. When we live somewhere our roots go deep. We are known and others know us. I remember hearing of a conversation when we were in Frenchtown during our furlough. As it was related one person was asking another how long they had lived in Frenchtown and the answer was something like 30 years. The response from the other person was, “Oh, you’re new here.” Is this true of us? Do we live in the shelter of the Most High to the degree that it defines who we are? And what is the result of living in the shelter of the Most High? We find rest in His shadow. If we are continually trying to live in different places, then rest escapes us. If one day our shelter is here, then the next day it is somewhere else, we have no rest. Ingrid and I can really relate to this as our lives over the past years have involved many moves and living in many different places. From a physical perspective it was difficult to find rest. Yet in Psalms 91 we are talking about our spiritual lives, where our soul lives. If all I do is visit once in a while, I am never living in His shelter and am never experiencing His rest. The psalmist goes on to “declare” that He (God) alone is his refuge and place of safety. This is not a private  belief, but a proclamation; something that others should be able to see if it is really true or not. If I proclaim something, then I am putting it out there for anyone who hears to evaluate whether my life measures up to my declaration or not. So where do I find my refuge and my safety? Is it food, vacations, the computer, money, my job, my routine? The list could go on for a long time, but the psalmist declares rest and safety is in God alone. This is the point were many of us will quickly insert the statement, “But those are not necessarily bad things.” I think this is where a bright line must be drawn. Meaning we cannot cross the line. If we are to be like Christ, then we must follow the example He set. Jesus did nothing of His own will, but only followed the will of His Father. He did not speak His own words, but only spoke the words He heard His Father speak. Too often we decide, on our own or what our culture says we need to find rest and peace. So this is where the rubber meets the road and where I can so easily struggle here in Karamoja. As we are greeted by the onslaught of peoples’ needs and demands and the reality of the hardness of life here, we are tempted to find our refuge and safety by isolating ourselves or looking for familiar things to comfort us (our refuge). We look too often to our own devices, rather then simply seeking the will of our Lord and then walking in obedience no matter how tough. Yet according to the psalmist, it is only when we live in Him and when He alone is our refuge that we find the rest we desire, but this requires me to trust in Him alone and not in my own understanding.

So now we move to 1Corinthians; the love chapter. Paul states how we can do so many things, but if we don’t have love, they mean nothing. Ingrid and I took the liberty of substituting a few words in these three verses. If we can speak Ngakarimojong, but don’t love the Karimojong, or if we have discipleship programs, or work in the churches, or speak boldly about wrong doctrines, but have not love, then we are nothing. It makes no difference what we “do,” if we don’t love others with Christ’s love, then it means nothing. And yet when I experience the difficulties of life I often look to other things for comfort, or rest, or safety. As we seek the Lord as to what loving the Karimojong should look like, we desperately need His wisdom even to know what to ask.  Are we to try to feed them? If so how do we do this without creating more dependence on people instead of God?

So please pray for us. I’m not trying to lecture anyone as I write these things out, but am sharing the struggles we feel, hoping that we can encourage each other to walk more and more in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ as we hold each other up in prayer.

Our gratuitous "wildlife" photo. Time with two
of our grandchildren. We hope our future team
is up to all the craziness we might bring!!
We are very excited that we will be joined in February by three single female team members, followed by a family of seven and another single female, hopefully in May. There is also the potential of three additional single females who are exploring joining us sometime during the year. Please pray for all of those who are committed to coming as well as those who are exploring the possibility of coming. Our prayer for all of us is that we will be exactly where the Lord desires us to be. Please be praying that the Lord stirs in the hearts of single young men to commit their lives in missionary service. Our understanding is that there is a huge gap between men and women willing to live uncomfortable lives and serve in missions. I have no explanation as to why this is, but would challenge young men to really seek the Lord in this area.

We just want to thank all of you once again for all of the love and support you show us. We love living life with you all, our brothers and sisters in Christ; joined together in one cause, declaring Jesus as Lord and Savior as we live in obedience to Him, so that He alone will be glorified.

Love,


Lyle and Ingrid

No comments:

Post a Comment